A look back at the 1996 Olympics AA: "live" blog

I picked this one because it's arguably the deepest field of any all-around competition. It is one of the least disputed all-around results, but one of the most exciting too. Russia at this point was suffering a bit from the break-up of the Soviet Union but still had 3 talented all-arounders in the mix- Svetlana Khorkina, Dina Kotchetkova and Roza Galieva- Galieva of course fuelled by being unceremoniously chucked out of the 1992 all-around. Romania had a deep field of Simona Amanar, Lavinia Milosovici and Gina Gogean. This Olympics also saw an unfair switch- Amanar replaced Alexandra Marinescu who qualified and was deemed 'lazy' by Bellu. Lovely. USA had an incredible pool of talent and even though Kerri Strug was out due to injury, Shannon Miller coming off the back of Olympic AA silver and two consecutive world titles, Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu were all in the mix. Rounding off the top contenders were Mo Huilan of China and Lilia Podkopayeva of Ukraine- the reigning world and European champion, both of whom were most notable for not having a weak event, though both had suffered with inconsistency. Svetlana Boginskaya now competing for Belarus brings up the rear. So, 12 great gymnasts vying for the title. WOW.

Once again, can only get NBC's coverage. Complete with fluff of course. Opens with Dominique Moceanu who was probably one of the most hyped gymnasts never to actually achieve notable individual success. Now Kerri Strug's team final moment. Nice bit on Shannon Miller. Spicing it up now with some evil music for Tatiana Gutsu and tears from Roza Galieva. Lavinia Milosovici looking like a badass in a church, interesting. Some triumphant music introduces Dominique Dawes, Lilia Podkopayeva and Svetlana Boginskaya. The hell are they doing as afterthoughts when Moceanu is first? Nice, NBC. Okay back to the dome. On a side note, I hated this audience. Too loud for home gymnasts, barely reacting at all to superb performances by others. London this year got it right I think- loving their own, but so impressed by the others and really enthusiastic. great stuff. Moving on.

D'aww Tim looks so young. Nice close-ups of Kerri's seriously swollen ankle, delightful. Bigging up Lilia, good stuff.

Rotation One

Moceanu BEAM Looking terrified to be up first. Nice Silivas mount. Nails the BHS-LOSO-LOSO-LOSO combo. Love that combination, so hard to not wobble on it but she doesn't flicker. Her height here is ideal for it of course, 4'4 or something like that. Nice leap series, almost comes off on her punchfront but miraculously saves it. Lots of prancing going on here. Struggles to hold a handstand, she's rattled now. Really nice double tuck dismount, just a slight movement on the landing. Pity the huge wobble will take her right down on her first event. Fairly boring white leotard with some hint of red and blue, she looks well in it though. 9.6

Kotchetkova BARS Beautiful form, great handstands. Nothing too exciting, but really nice height and flight on all elements. Great looking double layout dismount, piked the first bit though. A red white and blue leotard, looks fine but a bit dull.  9.787 Nice


Podkopayeva VAULT I absolutely adore her vaulting and this vault is gorgeous- yurchenko half-on pike front-half out. Beautiful. Small hop back, nothing major- really flawless in the air. Second vault is the same one but she sticks the landing. Just gorgeous. And John Tesh comes out with the classic 'We talk so much about landings but it seems unfair to me that the bulk of her score is not coming from what she does in the air'. WTF?? Very elegant black leotard with a jagged sweetheart neckline, not gone on the mesh stripe on the sleeves though. 9.781

Khorkina BEAM Seems too tall for the beam, odd after the last routine shown was Moceanu. Nice acro mount straight into two layout-stepouts. Lots of random arm and leg posing. No real hesitation on anything though. Great dismount, gainer double full. Holds the stick for forever, bit like NCAA. I absolutely hate this leo, makes her look like a clown. Black with spiky white neckline. 9.787

Cut to Marinescu in the stands chewing gum, looking about 10. She doesn't look angry, just interested in the competition. Good for her. Cheers for Gogean.

Gogean BARS The eternal model of boring efficiency. Very boring transitions, but by no means the only one to use them. Nice pirouette, seriously low Tkachev, no air on it whatsoever. Really nice form and sticks a textbook double layout. Job well done. Romanian standard issue leo, I cannot remember anything about it except the colours as soon as she dissapears off the screen. 9.7

Mo VAULT Lovely DTY, great form and very speedy twisting. Big step forward to steady the landing though. I don't know if that was her first or second vault or what. Red white and yellow leotard but I like how it's done, one yellow sleeve, one white sleeve joining the red bottom half. And her second one is shown after Miller's bars. It's beautiful, lovely landing.

Miller BARS Gorgeous straight form and bodyline, nice hop full into Geinger, looks like some leg seperation but with this angle it's too hard to tell. Perfect double laout, stuck landing. I am bored of double layouts. White leo with giant red, blue and silver stars. Not a fan of giant stars in general but this looks pretty good. Enormous white scrunchie to match as standard. And that earns her a pat on the arse from Nunno.

Galieva BEAM Opens with a fluff on her in 1992. Contains Alexandrov stating that it was very difficult to take her out, but the pressure was on to bring home medals. Lots of lingering close-ups of her huge eyes. Also shows Tatiana Gutsu saying she understands but had no say- like duhh. She looks 20 years older! Back to the actual gymnastics. Gorgeous backhandspring mount. Really nice acro series, perfectly in line. Nice Rulfova. Chorepgraphy contains too much back arch-back arch for my liking, very Bai Chunyue. Double tuck dismount with a tiny hop back. Same clown leo. 9.825

I'd like some scores now?

Milosovici VAULT Milo wearing an ill-fitting leo with no bra and a fluffy fringe. Hmm. Really nice vault, handspring half-on pike off..or maybe it's supposed to be laid-out. Only a slight shuffle on the landing but if you listen to the commentary you'd swear she rolled off the mat. White leo with red and blue on the shoulders and sides, probably the same as Gogean's. Second vault takes a big step forward, but nice in the air. 9.743

Dawes BARS The original high flier. Fantastic Hindorff- HUGE height. Nice form throughout, some unusual moves. Great full-twisting double dismount but takes two steps back. Same leo as Miller, suits her also. And we are told she was prom queen, err..interesting. 9.812 With those steps, that's too high.

Boginskaya FLOOR I am still missing loads of scores here. Bogi looks like's raided the local MAC. Probably one of the best at using great chorepgraphy that broke the mould. Nice full-twisting double tuck, stuck. Very nice combination front tumbling pass into punchfront and runs right into another. And now a flail around the floor bit. A master as resting in the corners with arm movements. Nice last pass, twist into punchfront but out of bounds. Nice routine all the same. 9.6

End of rotation standings: Galieva leads, followed by Dawes and Huilan.

Rotation Two

Khorkina FLOOR Nice twisting first pass. Fast paced music slows down a bit for her second, which looks like a 1.5 into 1.5 from the very bad angle shown, takes a step. Nice leap series into prone. Lots of posturing with her hands on her hips. Clean front tumbling pass into a very dramatic end pose.Well done. 9.7 Ever so slightly generous.

Podkopayeva BARS Woah big form break at the start, completely bends her knees on a transition. Working well with the rest of the routine, great form. Laughable to hear that hop full-hop-full-geinger is considered three releases in a row, but it is cool. Nice dismount. Hmmm. 9.8 Slightly generous too. And the camera pans to Lilia's bleeding rip on her hand being looked after, lovely.

- AA ad break intro shows a serious amount of Moceanu. Hello, Miller? Dawes? Interesting that the only Karolyi gymnast is set as the biggest hope when in reality the other two far outranked her.

Miller BEAM Love her series of back rolls into handstands, a favourite of mine. Sadly this the worst case of flexed wrists ever. Nevertheless, a gorgeous routine so far. Very tidy punchfront. Nice layout-stepout series, moves her foot back to steady but no wobble. Yay a Valdez, love them. Ughh wrists. Into the dismount and sticks a full twisting double back, albeit with a low landing. Crowd goes NUTS. Replay shows her foot actually slipped off, great control not to even wobble on that. 9.862 WOW

Galieva FLOOR Oh no, I knew this was coming, Galieva not being able to hear her music again. I really love this music, very lively and suits her. Nice whip into full twisting double back, tiny bounce on the landing. Nice front tumbling pass, though I'm getting sick of these pretty fast. Here comes Shannon's dismount and the noise is seriously unreal. Galieva is determined but you can tell she's a bit lost. Nice combination pass into fabulously high straddle jump at the end. Noise has died down a bit but goes nuts again over Shannon's score. This is a joke. Galieva has a nice full-in again, but is rattled. Can't hear anything and struggles at the end into her end pose. This is hard to watch. 9.637 And she is devastated. She has had one of the worst Olympic experiences considering her talent and considering that nothing was down to injury or a mistake.

Mo BARS First transition has so much flight you can almost see her being able to sit on top of the high bar with it, it looks tough to actually catch. Here comes the Gaylord, superb. Second transition is really difficult, no sitting on the bar in straddle and jumping for her. Lovely high Tkachev. This is beautiful stuff, gorgeous lines. Nice double layout, tiny leg seperation and a small shuffle on landing. The best bars routine of the whole competition, bar none. 9.8 Pfft underscoredl. Dawes got higher with much bigger steps back. Joke.

Dawes BEAM Oooh another Valdez. Nice leap series. Acro line is impressive, roundoff into 3 layout-stepouts but they are seriously choppy. Pretty bad form but I doubt they will penalise her for it. It just does not flow very well at all. Difficult dismount sequence, but again very choppy. Replays highlight the leg seperations in her round-offs and how low her full twisting double back was. It will still get a 9.8  Yes 9.825 and nobody cares about form.

Milosovici BARS Nothing special, but super Romanian efficiency. Nice form and I like her high to low transition. Nice dismount. 9.737

Boginskaya VAULT Lovely clean form on a 1.5 Yurchenko. Has to take two giant steps forward though. Looks like they are vaulting into a sandpit. Replay shows slightly bent knees. Second vault is the same with a slightly smaller step forward.


Amanar BEAM Very clean punchfront mount. Nice acro line, BHS-LOSO-BHS-LOSO. Not perfect form in the air but good. Very efficient leaps. Nice double tuck with a small hop back. Good for her. 9.725

Moceanu FLOOR Please no. The Karolyi's are responsible for all the barf 70's Romanian routines, but I hate this one the most. Great full twisting pike back, but steps out of bounds. Really not at her peak here. Nice combination twisting second pass. Here comes the cringeworthy choreography. Not a bad front tumbling pass, gets a lot of height and bounces out of it. Oh god the part where she pretends to have a tantrum...ugh stomach turning stuff. Ugh more embarrassing choreo. Nice twisting final pass to end but another step on landing. Crowd are loving it. 9.687 and there is no comeback from that AND beam.

Kotchetkova BEAM Love her eponymous move, full-twisting back handspring. Slight hesitation on the second layout stepout, nothing major. Another with too much back-arching as choreography. Great Rulfova and a stuck double tuck dismount, nice. Well deserved 9.825

End of rotation standings: Dawes leads Miller and Kotchetkova who are tied. Crowd are ecstatic.

Rotation Three

Woah seriously glitzy leotard in the background! Black bodice with seriously glittery silver on the neck and sleeves. It would stand out even in today's sparkly leotard infestation. Camera pans to the Clintons. Little known fact: Clinton did everything he could to help the Northern Ireland peace negotiations and eventual Good Friday Agreement and had a big impact on it. So I like him.

Miller FLOOR Shannon is busy adjusting the huge scrunchie eating her head. Great double layout but stumbles forward a bit. Elfi is banging on about how much trouble she has had with it lately and how it cost her in team finals. Take the thing out then, no? That is costly. Moving on, lovely floaty second pass and I like this music, she dances well to it. Crowd are silent, either speechless after the mistake or miffed they can't clap along to this. Full twisting double and steps OOB. Damnit. That takes her out, she's gutted of course. 9.475 Ouch.

Mo BEAM Mounts with her one-arm handstand which is an utter joy to behold. Lovely precision in her movements.Stunning leaps and so high in her layout. Teeny tiny hesitations here and there. Lovely dismount, takes a kind of step that she kicks out. 9.8 Also very slightly high but I can't begrudge it for this routine. Elfi and co. are up in arms. Durr Dawes bars?

Dawes FLOOR Killer double layout, nails it. Love her music. Whip into twist into punchfront and underrotates it, her feet can't grip the floor and she sits down. This kills me every time. Huge groan from the crowd and her sparkle dies, but she keeps plugging away. Really nice full in pike, such a shame. As she's crying someone says off camera 'all right dom', yeah she's fine thanks for asking. Lots of charming close-ups on her face, just like they did for Shannon and Roza. 9.0 And the crowd boos. Did they not see her sit down? Gutting all the same.

Milosovici BEAM Why did they send her out in an ill-fitting cotton leotard and no bra? The mind boggles. Fabulous mount- in fact very few are using easy mounts. This is a tucked Korbut, very slightly offline but not seriously so. Great acro line but seems a bit clumsy. Soo solid, and nails her double tuck. Great work. 9.775

Amanar FLOOR Effortless double layout, what a tumbler. Some interesting attempts at dance. I actually like this music, much better than the barnyard hoedown she showed up with in Sydney. Such height on her leaps! Fairly meaningless posey bit. Super stuff though, whip into 2.5 twist into punchfront right back into another pass with a triple full. Glorious. And a full-in tuck to end. Amazing. 9.737 That is underscored, Moceanu got a 9.687 with two out of bounds and Amanar's difficulty is huge. Bahh.

Moceanu VAULT NBC keep plugging her as if she is still in medal contention. Sigh. 1.5 Yurchenko, nice in the air. Takes a giant hop forward though. Sticks the second one and the crowd goes wild. 9.706 and the crowd seem to be pissed it's not a 10 as they all conveniently shut their eyes for the huge hop on vault one.

Kotchetkova FLOOR Fabulous double layout. Good music too. Nicely done second and third combination passes, very floaty just a slight hop on the second one. I absolutely love all the backhandsprings into straddle jumps going on these games because the height on the jump just looks so awesome, another great one here. Interesting choreography and a sky high double tuck to end. Great routine. 9.787

Lilia fluff! I absolutely adore this music they use at the beginning of it. Dramatic sun and clouds shot, oooh. 'Lilia was told by her grandmother when she was brought to the training centre at Kiev "Do well or do not bother" ' Tourischeva's hair is gross here. Shots of a ballet, and Lilia talking about the emphasis on choreography. I like the fluffs purely for the look at Eastern European gyms and backgrounds. Emphasis placed on how important a gold medal would be for independent Ukraine which is well done.

Podkopayeva BEAM Solid punchfront mount. 'She took advantage at the last world championships of other's misfortunes', annoys me everytime as it makes her sound not worthy. Nice BHS LOSO into Korbut, slightly offline on the Korbut. And now let's talk about Dawes instead of this beautiful routine Al. Really nice choreography, very much in command. Clean full-in dismount with a small hop. Lovely work. 9.787 Underscored

End of rotation standings: Huilan and Kotchetkova tied, Podkopayeva in third.

Rotation Four

Milosovici FLOOR Lovely double layout. Fast music, dance is okay. Second pass three whips into a twist and punchfront- amazing! Still has it on floor. Nice low to floor bit. Last pass a full-in tuck with a step. Excellent work. 9.812

Dawes VAULT Good 1.5 Yurchenko but has a big enough hop. Very effortless for her. First vault not shown. 9.681

Moceanu BARS  Lovely Shaposhnikova. Extremely straight on her Pak, looks like she ran into difficulty with it after catching as she looks awkward on the low bar. Great release, lots of height. Hops on her dismount a bit. Replay shows she pikes it a lot. Hmm. 9.762 Slightly too high, but not by much.

Amanar VAULT Great DTY, lovely form. Slight adjustment on landing but no hop or step. Sticks the second one, fabulous. 9.843 Well deserved.

Kotchetkova VAULT Gets almost no block off the horse on a 1.5 Yurchenko. Lands in a deep squat and takes a step. Damn. It's amazing she got it around at all though but that takes another leader down. Second vault looks to have a slightly better position on block but the same result, deep squat and several steps to steady this time. DAMNIT. That is some shoddy technique right there. 9.581 and the fourth leader falls.

Podkopayeva FLOOR This is one of the most familiar floor routines ever to me. Double front half out, excellent. Why has nobody done this since?? Two combination passes, very clean. Definitely one of the greatest front tumblers ever. Very lively music for balletic choreography but that's why it works I think. Here comes the fouette bit! Not a fan of the flexed foot match after but oh well. Ooo 360 degrees handstand. Full in full out, great stuff. Lilia's face when she ends is amazing, she looks so pleased but so humble or something. 9.887 and Milo kisses her in congratulations. The two of them have a nice moment, I wonder what language?

And a short clip of Khorkina mistiming her Shap 1/2 and not coming anywhere near the bar to recatch. She's pissed. 9.262

Gogean VAULT Nice 1.5, small hop. Leg seperation on block but I think they're all doing that, just not showing the dead-on angle Gogean got all the time. Sticks the second one but it's not a true stick and she has to step forward eventually. Very efficient. Milo was by the side chewing gum ha. 9.775

Miller VAULT It's almost sad she has to go one better than her old FTY, as she performed the best one of all time.  I don't know what this vault is, looks great though. Such form in the air. The landing jars her and she looks in pain. Does the second one and it's beautiful with a perfect stick. Wow. It looks like a Yurchenko half twist into layout front. Shannon waves to the crowd who are going crazy for her. Nunno is seriously loud and annoying on the sidelines but he was a great coach, gets her to smile again. 9.724 Looks a little high because they weren't out of 10.0 like most other people's but there was really nothing to deduct so that's fair.

Mo Huilan fluff! Rice paddy field, soft music. Pretty standard stuff, Mo trains hard and very far from home. It makes what's coming next even worse. Documents how her sister was chosen ahead of her for the National team but she begged to be chosen too and was accepted. I've heard several times that the sister showed even more promise, it's sad she was injured and stopped training. 'This is why I choose gymnastics. To win gold medals. For honour. For country and family.' Sniff.

Mo FLOOR I preferred her 1995 typewriter floor but this is great too. Very floaty double layout. Nice second pass and great height on her leaps. LOL chicken dance bit, classic. Third pass is a twist to combination and she steps out of bounds and everybody groans. NOOOOOOOOOO. So sad. Lovely choreo and gets the typewriter bit in but the sparkle is gone unsurprisingly. Lovely piked full in to end. Manages to smile. Hmm I actually did not know this, but the routine is out of a 9.9 and she needed 9.857 to win gold. That means it was probably impossible anyway had she not made an error. Still, she would have taken silver easily but I thought she had gold for sure in her grasp. 9.650 So a tenth for OOB and another deduction for the step itself. That means it WAS impossible as 9.850 would still not have gotten gold.

And Podkopayeva wins! What a fabulous AA with 12 actual contenders for medals, we'll never see the like of that again. Of course it was sad that two who qualified could not compete- Strug and Marinescu and it was awful to see Galieva, Dawes, Miller, Kotchetkova and Mo fail. In a way, it is interesting that  this is the most undisputed Olympic win of all time, considering how many fell by the wayside. Clearly likeability has a lot to do with it. I do not like saying 'X was lucky Y fell' as it undermines their achievement and it is just how competition works out BUT if Gabby is lucky Komova had a crap landing on vault and Shushunova is lucky Silivas wobbled on beam then Lilia is lucky so many fell by the wayside, just as Carly is lucky Khorkina was wrecked at that point and Pavlova was underscored and Nastia is lucky the code favoured her whopper bars so much. That's how it works- you cannot blast Gabby's win and forget all of the other 'lucky' AA winners.

Final Standings

1. Podkopayeva
2. Gina Gogean
3. Simona Amanar, Lavinia Milosovici

Amanar was never going to get gold, but she was underscored. Dawes and Moceanu were overscored. Bleughh. I like doing this because it forces me to have a better insight and really notice the scoring like I wouldn't have before every other time I watched it. But it takes too long! I will do 2008 AA and maybe 1992 but it will take a while. Event finals ftw.

EDIT Thank you to GTT who explained there was something up with the composition of Amanar's floor- either she missed a requirement or failed to complete one so her start value was lowered accordingly. So I take it back when I complained about her low score. A big shout out to NBC who failed to show start values or even mention that perhaps not all routines (sans vault, which they did mention) start out of a 10. Because of that, this blog assumes pretty much everything was out of a 10. Even with that, the most blatant overscores still stand as a joke. I WILL include Mo and Podkopayeva in that, much as I love them, after thinking about this competition some more some of their scores were just blatantly ignoring mistakes.

Next up is 1992 AA. I will state that I wanted Lysenko to win (not at the time, I was 4). I think Miller and Gutsu were so evenly matched, neverthless- shady dealings there. I'm not going to bother with 2008 AA because that was sickening. 2011 BB and maybe the odd event final here and there.

Top 10: Bars

I love watching perfect routines like Fan Di and Lu Li, but innovative routines always win for me. The ones I have included here that have insanely difficult release skills are always perfect or almost perfect elsewhere- there are quite a few for example doing the Def very sloppily so they won't be included! The ones without a unique release move are there because they are innovative or awesome in some other way. Bars top 10's are always China-heavy and this is no exception.

10. Irina Krasnianska, UKR 2006 Worlds QUAL

Irina was probably the most inconsistent Ukrainian, which is a feat in itself. She had a long career and performed this exact routine many times, and this is the only one without a major error. GORGEOUS long lines and fabulous German giant combination, very tidy double front too.

9. Amy Chow, USA 1996 Olympics TF

My favourite part is her high-to-low transition, the straddled Pak which is named after her. I'd love to see it used again as it looks amazing. Amy has fantastic lines and form- even in her very difficult dismount. What's noticeable is that her height does not mean she loses form on her downswing- some taller gymnasts like Nastia and McKayla break form slightly when they are clearing the lower bar and it ruins the whole look. Amy does it perfectly.

8. Beth Tweddle, GBR 2012 Olympics QUAL

A-MAZING. Love her release combinations and the Ezhova transition. Fabulous dismount and she has spectacular height on the Markelov which is often flat for everyone else. Beth also has absolutely perfect form and toepoint. It doesn't really get more exciting than this in the new codes.


7. Zhou Duan, CHN 1997 East Asian Games TF

Zhou Duan was a nifty vaulter, which were and continue to be rare in China. However her unbelievable bars really outshine her other events. Zhou performs a Gaylord 1/1- so a very rare Gaylord release WITH a full twist. Really just astonishing. Beautiful pencil-like form throughout- and another 2 releases on top of that. Fantastic.

6. Li Ya, CHN 2006 Cottbus World Cup

I picked this routine because it has her combination AND that dismount..piked double arabian, wow. Li does the Jaeger combination a lot straighter than He Kexin, fabulous to watch. Very very crisp turns and perfect form.

5. Liu Xuan, CHN 1996 Olympics TF

Liu Xuan's one- arm giant was one of the greatest tragedies of the code of points..it was considered dangerous and was lowballed into a C rating, meaning it wasn't worth performing. Liu did ditch it, but kept it for the Olympics. It's incredible, especially as it's done right into a release. Fabulous lines and form in the rest of her routine, and I love her high-to-low transition.

4. Mo Huilan, CHN 1996 Olympics AA

What made Mo stand out amongst China's fantastic bars workers at this time and overall and even over her teammate Bi Wenjing who also did the Gaylord was her flight, especially on the hecht transition. She completely hangs in the air- nobody can fly like that. Fantastic height on all of her releases, perfect form and line throughout and at a time when jump to high from the low bar was perfectly acceptable Mo was doing two much more difficult transitions. Perfection.

3. Teodora Ungureanu, ROM 1976 Olympics AA

Teodora never made it beyond Nadia's enormous shadow. In my view, this routine is more interesting by far, and performed to the same excellent standard. Everything about this routine is great. 
 

2. Elena Mukhina, USSR 1979 Spartakaide AA

Everything about this routine is amazing, the first transition, the form, the Mukhina flip and her original dismount. Seriously the greatest gymnast ever.

1. Kim Gwang Suk, PKR 1991 Worlds EF

Not a suprise, I've mentioned quite a few times how much I love this routine. I do see the bent knees but the excellence of the routine- and her age- make it totally forgiveable. Unbelievably easy swing, perfect handstands and form, crisp pencil like line and turns and THAT combination. Outstanding.

Honourable mentions: Enilia Eberle, Bi Wenjing, Elvire Teza, Yang Yun, Liz Tricase, Hollie Vise, Courtney Kupets, Courtney McCool, Elise Ray, Ma Yanhong, Li Li, Lu Li, Fan Di, Olga Roschupkina, Becky Downie, Lori Strong, Emilie Lepennec, Cha Yong Hwa, He Kexin, Viktoria Komova, Yang Yilin, Nadia Comaneci, Karin Janz, Steffi Kraker, Gabrielle Fahnrich, Nadia Hategan, Aleftina Priakhina, Olga Korbut, Elena Abrashitova, Charlotte Mackie, Daniela Silivas, Maxi Gnauck

Top 10: Vaults

While I do like incredibly difficult vaults performed well, my favourites are generally much easier but are beautifully performed. Yang Yun is never going to be described as a top vaulter, but hers are exquisite works of art that I could watch all day and I much prefer them to sloppy Rudi's and double twisting Tsukuhara's. The fact that yurchenko twisting varieties are the easiest to learn and are still well rewarded by the code is sad as it means the incredibly aesthetic but easier vaults are not going to be seen anytime soon.

10. Shannon Miller, USA 1992 Olympics AA

The most beautiful FTY ever, so flighty and perfect.

9. Mo Huilan, CHN 1996 Olympics AA

And this is the most beautiful DTY ever performed. Mo gets great height and dynamics on this, as well as textbook form and landing.

8. Elena Produnova, RUS 1999 Universiade AA

Elena did this vault several times, but this had the best and most upright landing by far. It's not pretty but it's a massive feat that she landed it at all- it hasn't been landed properly by anyone else. Incredible power, great to watch.

7. Svetlana Zelepukina, UKR 1996 Olympics Compulsories

It's an easy vault because it's a compulsory one- but it is absolute perfection, love this.

6. Lilia Podkopayeva, UKR 1994 Soapberry Shop AA

Perfection, fabulous vault.

5. Lilia Podkopayeva, UKR 1996 Olympics AA

Absolutely beautiful in the air, spectacular.

4. McKayla Maroney, USA 2012 Olympics TF

The best quality that isn't slow motion. This is the greatest amanar ever done and really is incredible- the height, the form, the block, the landing. Outstanding.

3. Meng Fei, CHN 1995 Worlds TF

Flawless performance of an amazing vault.

2. Yang Yun, CHN 2000 Olympics TF

Yang Yun makes vaulting artistic and elegant.

1. Yang Yun, CHN 2001 France Telecoms EF

The first vault. Few can maintain the form throughout this vault..and it's practically impossible to stick so that doesn't take away from it. Just lovely.

Honourable mention: Simona Amanar, Elena Gurova, Natalia Laschenova, Olessia Dudnik, Alicia Sacramone, Ariella Kaeslin, Joana Juarez, Cheng Fei, Monica Rosu, Vanessa Atler, Oksana Chusovitina, Vanessa Zamarripa

Quick survey

Current favourite gymnast
McKayla Maroney

Current favourite Russian gymnast
Aliya Mustafina

Current favourite Romanian gymnast
Larisa Iordache

Current favourite Chinese gymnast
He Kexin

Current favourite 'everywhere else' gymnast
Christine Peng Peng Lee

All-time favourite Soviet gymnast
Tie: Elena Mukhina and Tatiana Groshkova

All-time favourite American gymnast
Hollie Vise

All-time favourite Romanian gymnast
Teodora Ungureanu

All-time favourite Chinese gymnast
Li Li 

All-time favourite 'everywhere else' gymnast
Henrietta Onodi

All-time best all-arounder
Elena Mukhina

All-time best floor worker
Daniela Silivas


All-time best beam worker
Li Li


All-time best vaulter
McKayla Maroney. I was determined not to pick her, but she technically is the best.

All-time best bars worker
Mo Huilan 


Favourite beam routine
Li Li 1993 worlds AA


Favourite floor routine
Anna Myzdrikova 2009 worlds qualifying


Favourite vault
A tie between Lilia Podkopayeva 1994 Soapberry Shop and McKayla Maroney 2012 Team Finals Olympics

Favourite bars routine
Kim Gwang Suk 1991 Worlds all-around

Favourite bars release
Gaylord 1/1 or Comaneci


Favourite vault
Handspring front layout


Favourite floor tumble
Tie: 3.5 twist (Moreno) or piked double arabian (Dos Santos 1)

Favourite beam move
Tucked Korbut (Chen) 

Favourite turn
Double scorpion

Favourite jump
Tour jete 1/2


Favourite bars dismount
Double arabian piked

Favourite beam dismount
Triple full

Favourite bars mount
Aleftina Priakhina's

Favourite beam mount
Aleftina Priakhina's  

Favourite floor pass
Whip-whip-triple full


Most exciting floor pass
1 and a half twist, double arabian, front layout punchfront. (Aly Raisman's 1st pass)


Best floor routine from London
Tie: Viktoria Komova AA and Aly Raisman

Best vault from London
McKayla Maroney team finals

Best beam from London
Sui Lu event finals


Best bars from London
Tie: Beth Tweddle qualifying and Yao Jinnan event finals
   

Greatest innovator
Aleftina Priakhina


Most exciting gymnast
Mai Murakami


Most powerful gymnast
Yelena Produnova

Best tumbler
Daiane Dos Santos


     

The most memorable floor choreography

Not whole routines, though often the entire routine IS iconic. Here is just my favourites, the parts that I most remember. Not all of them are beautiful, some were just a big departure in choreography and noteworthy because of that. Or just plain awesome to see.




Chellsie has put this into almost all of her routines. A master of illusion turns, it isn't elegant or pretty but it looks amazing. Originality is usually the key to a part of a routine's dance sticking in your head.



Daniela Silivas showcasing the greatest way I have ever seen of uniquely getting from the floor to standing. I would love to see this again, but I doubt it'd ever be used because it's so recognisable.



The best part of the best 'cute choreo' routine. Mo also had great tumbling here.



Yes, I love Groshkova. This has been done in a variety of ways and is a great way of getting out of a spin, chose this because both the spin and her extension are just beautiful.



This entire routine by Olga Strazheva is famous and rightly so. Side-by-side with the most beautiful elegant routines, Olga performed her modern dance extravaganza with great aplomb. This is the most memorable part of the routine for me.



Another ground-breaking routine, Camelia Voinea displays her breakdancing skills. Always overshadowed by Silivas and Dobre (HOW deep was that team), Voinea not only had brilliantly unique choreography, she also had very difficult tumbling- double layout punchfront!


Elena Produnova attacks the floor so fiercely even in her dance!

Hilarious Mo Huilan wiki edit

I love good wiki edits. Apparently to celebrate successfully performing her Mo salto, she bought a leopard from the local zoo, boiled it in a pot and ate it. Who knew!

Favourite beam mounts

There are so many amazing ones, I'll make it easier by picking one from each category. I'm not going to complain about how today's gymnasts jump on the beam- that is the code's fault, not theirs. Hopefully this will change in the future.

Acrobatic mount:

Natsumi Sasada, Japan. WOW. I couldn't decide between this and Daine Dos Santos' front layout mount, but I chose this because Daiane fell off but Natsumi doesn't even wobble. Usually the most daring acrobatic mounts come with a built in wobble.

Incredible strength mount:

We've seen our fair share of one-handed awesomeness on the beam (Mo Huilan 1996 is great) but this in its own category. The sheer strength of that, unbelievable. Jackie Bender gets a good bit of internet kudos for this but is pretty unknown all the same.

Best handstand mount/most interesting handstand variant:

I love how unexpected her drop onto the beam is, it's great. I find the standard press into handstand boring, she shook it up very nicely.

Best show of flexibility:

This mount has plenty of variants- Zmeskal, Miller and others come to mind- bit this is my favourite shaped one! It's no harm either that it's done by the widely acknowledged greatest beam worker ever, Yang Bo.

Best mount sequence:

This just has it all, flexility, handstand, more acro. Beautiful.

Best planche:

These were pretty common, I chose her because it looks so easy and effortless for her.

Most inventive mount:

 Once again, Priakhina displays incredible difficulty and  another move she didn't get the credit for. (This mount was named for Zamo). I'm a sucker for inventive side-beam mounts and back hip circles. All this AND combined with acro and the splits and it doesn't take too much time..should be used these days.

There are loads more that blow me away, but these are the ones that stick in my head. My absolute favourite is Priakhina's. I'll do one for bars too.

Amazing uneven bar releases

The problem with the majority of these is either that they are now illegal in the code of points or the fact that they end in a dead hang and/or require empty swings which incurs an 0.1 automatic deduction, which means they are unlikely to be done again, especially as they are so difficult in the first place. I would love to see Viktoria Komova, Yao Jinnan and Beth Tweddle have a go at them though.



 
The legendary Olga Korbut performing the famous Korbut flip at the 1972 Olympics. Korbut also had creatives moves elsewhere but judges did not appreciate her 'circus tricks' and she never cored as highly as she should have.


Elena Mukhina adds a full twist to the Korbut flip. Mukhina was a true all-arounder and swept the 1978 Worlds. She was a shoe-in for the 1980 Olympics but was paralysed a few weeks before due to her over-ambitious coaches insisting on a dangerous roll-out move, which she landed on her neck in training. These moves have since been banned for women but are still fine for men to perform.


 Mo Huilan competes a Gaylord, a tucked salto over the bar. This was also competed by Bi Wenjing and Meng Fei. What's almost as amazing as the release is the flight Mo gets on her transitions. The Chinese today are famed for their dead-hang transitions and laboured kips, Mo however shows them how it's done.


Zhou Duan performs an unheard-of Gaylord II, which does not bear her name. This is a front tuck with a half twist to regrasp the bar, and is pretty similar to a Kovacs that the men perform. Just as above, it requires empty swings and a dead hang, both verboten. Zhou was also a beast on vault, difficult floor and a really difficult beam which appears to include a barani. She took bronze on vault at worlds but form issues and falls kept her from taking centre stage.



Kim Gwang Suk competes a counter-Kim, also known as a Marinich. I'm not too sure how to define it but the motion of it is where the difficulty lies. This routine is always overshadowed by the age falsification scandal. Kim was no more than 12 here. Her age, the release AND the fact that it was done in combination in a routine which also features other releases is incredible. Bent knees aside, that was an issue she could have fixed had she been allowed to keep competing. This has never been performed in competition since, but footage has surfaced of an unknown high-school girl competing it from a more difficult toe-on position. There are other, such as Nabieva's layout over the bar and the Church, but these are the ones I love the most.

Some of my favourite routines of all time

Also love her floor but her beam edges it out so will leave it as one per gymnast.

LOVE this. My favourite floor..of all time. So underrated and unheard of, still not sure why she dropped off the radar with a killer floor like this.

I love me a beautiful artistic floor routine. These two I would rate higher than far more famous ones.

This FX was wayyy ahead of its time and should have beat Shushunova at least if not Silivas. Just amazing.

The greatest music-choreography combination! This blows 'cutesy barf Bela era' routines out of the water, gutted she got rid of it for Atlanta.

Unreal. She often OVERrotated this too, don't think anyone beats her in pure power stakes.

She has a straighter form on her amanar here than she does now. It is STILL incredible and the best amanar performed by anyone but she is just straighter here. The better landing than her 2012 landings helps too. Love this girl.

I don't care if she has slightly bent knees on her transitions. Let's just see it as the marvellous bar routine that it was, so incredibly difficult and GREAT form. All the more spectacular given that she was most likely 12 here. Her beam is worth a look too!

Such. beautiful.bars

I could go on forever, think I'll stop here.