1992 Olympics AA- "live blog"

The most controversial AA of all- and there are many. Notoriously, Roza Galieva who qualified after Tatiana Gutsu fell off beam was substituted for the latter. It's impossible to blame Tatiana as so many are stupidly doing, she had about as much say as Roza- ie. none. I would not wholly blame Alexandrov either, who made the substitution. If you're under immense pressure to bring home the medals in the last hurrah for Soviet gymnastics, it stands to reason that things like this would happen. It is the Soviet system of creating that pressure which is at fault. Anyway, this is also the all-around in which reigning world champion Kim Zmeskal, a Karolyi protege was also supposed to shine. The Boginskaya V Zmeskal battle was intended to be supplemented by Cristina Bontas of Romania and Tatiana Gutsu of Unified Team. But that's not what happened at all!

The fluff at the beginning corresponds to this. It doesn't start at the very beginning so I can't be sure if it actually ignores Shannon Miller, Tatiana Lysenko and Lavinia Milosovici. There's someone at the start- could be Milo- but the quality is so bad I can't tell. '..of a magic night, when little girl's dreams can come true'. Puke.

- At the arena. Ooo Elfi mentions Shannon. Still seems an afterthought though. Ah a report from the floor now! I love this, they talk about Shannon's liking for powder and her subsequent nickname as the 'Porcelain queen' before mentioning the health of Gutsu and Galieva. And now a reminder that this is the first time 'New Life' is being used, whereby prelims scores did not carry over. Personally I think this was a mistake.

Rotation One

Miller BARS It's always a bit of a shock to see height and weight displayed. Really light work here, nice hop full into geinger, looks like a bit of leg seperation. That is one seriously flat Tkachev, you'd imagine she should be able to soar well above the bar. Sticks her dismount, lovely. Classic white leotard which makes her look an elegant pixie. 9.925

Zmeskal FLOOR I have such a fondness for the perfection of the music to her three whips. Can we not watch a routine instead of waiting for Kim to step up on floor for forever? Here we go. Nice piked full in. Cringeworthy cute choreography that does not suit her in the slightest. Here it comes, three whips into double tuck. Ahhh such a great pass to the music. More idiotic prancing. Jesus the Karolyi's are literally the worst choreographers ever. Look at Shannon's height of elegance routines. Then look at Moceanu's and Zmeskal's. Then back to Gabriela Gheorghiu and Emilia Eberle's, which they are also responsible for. GROSSNESS. Great sky-high double tuck, Dos Santos style but just like Dos Santos it's too high to control and she bounces right out of bounds. A sad ending to only the start of her competition. And wow I have a lot of hatred for that turn at the end with her arse in the air.  Interesting that had she thrown the full-in instead as she was capable of doing she probably would have landed perfectly. Ugh I do NOT like replays of parents devastated for their children in these situations. First mention of Betty Okino! And only because Bela has to ditch Kim and go over to her. Another white leo, good choice 9.775

Bontas BARS Fairly boring stuff. Another super-flat Tkachev but I would imagine that only Dawes actually had notable amplitude on her releases this whole games. We'll see. SUPER dramatic music starts up right before she goes into what looks like quite a messy geinger, classic. Double tuck dismount. Yes this is dull, with an error. I wonder how expensive it will be. Quick! back to Kim's misery! More zooming, trying to catch a tear in her eye I suppose. Yes I think I can determine the flecks in her irises. I wonder if this is Hollie Vise's favourite cameraman? Back to Bontas. Standard Romanian leo, I like how they break out some originality in AA competitions these days. This is larely white with some blue and red. Suits her well. 9.862  

Gutsu BARS Nice form. She look taller than everyone else and she's only 4'8. Looks like a fawn or something. Lovely geinger. And a Tkachev which wouldn't win any amplitude prizes but is probably better than the other two seen so far. Very floaty on bars, nice handstands and a great stuck double layout. Jagged white and black leo, goes well with the fawn look. I would give Gutsu the G V M victory on bars. So would the judges, 9.950

More Kim Zmeskal doing absolutely nothing. They weren't able to show her during Gutsu's bars, a whole 90 seconds away from misery.

Boginskaya FLOOR Looking menacing with the heavy makeup. Shoots an excellent baleful look at the camera. Is this the guitar routine? I hope not. And a seriously low full in tuck, head on knees style. Nice leap series. Combination pass which looks very weak in difficulty but nicely done with her elegant long lines. Lol part of her music sounds really similar to a Metallica solo bit. Double tuck with a slight hop. Elegant routine with very weak tumbling. One of my least favourite leos ever, a nasty shade of green and it looks like either a baby puked on her shoulders or she stood out in the snow. Bleurgh. 9.912 and lucky to get it.

Okino BEAM Gorgeous press to handstand mount. Great floaty BHS-LOSO-LOSO. Quality isn't really enough to scrutinise her form on it but it did seem really nicely done. Glorious double spin. Oooo a planche! This is fabulous. Double pike, quite low with a slight adjustment but apparently she almost missed her foot on the beam so great job in landing at all. Replay shows her dismount is in between a tuck and pike. The hell is that? White velvety looking leotard, great on her. 9.850 and considering this was pretty much perfect besides the step, is too low. Worth a 9.9.

More fluff! Boginskaya, Miller (!!), Bontas and Zmeskal. Nadia namecheck count: At LEAST 7

End of rotation standings: Gutsu tied with Gogean. Miller third.

Rotation Two


Onodi FLOOR Great, I love her. Whip into full in pike, sooo clean. Working well to her nice elegant music. I am bad at counting twists- looks like a beautiful triple? And then a double full into punchfront. Amazing. Lovely low to floor choreography. Unusual spin, looks beautiful. And a full in pike to end, stuck. WHAT a routine. Nice enough leo with a much needed bit of colour, white with a cutaway blue bodice with a pattern on it. Give her a 9.95. No of course not 9.912 Underscored.

Gutsu BEAM Let's start of course with a flashback to her falling off beam on her mount in team optionals. Gearing up for constant CONSTANT replays of Asac's exact same mistake 16 years later. Flic-flac mount, sways slightly on landing. Standing full twist! Dead on, but she's quite low. It sounds like clanking metal on that beam. How is it that loud when she's only 5 stone?? Extremely floaty acro line, same as Okino's. Nice tic-toc and Rulfova. BHS-LOSO-RO- full in. Wow, lot of energy left for all that but the landing is really low. Stuck though. This would have a high enough start value today but seeing as the code then did not really award it, her score should reflect the errors made, a 9.912 is appropriate. YES it's a 9.912 Thank you for not inflating it.

Bontas BEAM Why does every Romanian have the exact same style as Nadia? Shut up John. Nadia would have choked at that bar routine- in fact, hers was more difficult. Flic-flac mount, well done. BHS-RO. That is one totally shocking jump if it was supposed to be split position. Very steady. Nice BHS-LOSO-LOSO, rock solid but looks like flexed feet. Very nice low to beam. Double tuck dismount with a bit of a kick-out step on landing. She's out after that and her bars. Looks like a 9.850 but it's so blurry.

Boginskaya VAULT Her second vault. FTY which was the prescribed vault of these games. (Not literally). Great view of the puke shoulders on her run. Textbook vault, seriously great. Maybe not as beautifl and flighty as one of the later vaults coming up, but wonderful stuff. 9.962 

Yang FLOOR Her beam better be shown. Dramatic drums piece, interesting. Nice full in pike. Lol now it's the music from a chase scene in a Western. GORGEOUS leap from the queen of leaps. 1 and a half into a 1 and a half, super clean but weak difficulty. Nice spin and low to floor but she looks a bit lost and unsure of herself. Double tuck, quite low. Dance did get better. Lysenko just walked by her, show me her! 9.837

Lysenko FLOOR Yes, finally! Even though this will be heartbreaking. Another dramatic drum beginning. Absolutely beautiful double layout which she almost brings to her knees and it puzzles me everytime- a mental break? It just should not have happened because she had the height neccessary to land it. Looks painful too. Decent dance, love her spin into back walkover..Groshkova did that too. So simple and it looks so elegant. Double tuck, punchfront straight into double twist punchfront, PERFECT! Fabulous pass. Full in tuck to end after some nice choreo, low enough. Damn. What a gymnast she was. 9.80 Bahhh.

Miller BEAM Excellent, I really want to see Nunno's jacket and Shannon's scrunchie instead of actual routines going on elsewhere. Okay finally, after almost 2 minutes. Love her mount and acro line straight after, all-time favourite mount sequence. Wobbles quite significantly though. Those wrists are unreal, really ruining her elegant pixie-esque line. The tendinitis in later life is really a mystery. Gorgeous BHS-LOSO-LOSO-LOSO but wobbles again. Lovely Valdez, really shows off her extension so well. Nails her full-in dismount but it's quite low. Woohoo there's Kim Gwang Suk managing to look small next to noted shortarses Shannon and Gutsu. Show me her bars and beam! 9.925 Sorry but she should have got the same as Gutsu or even lower, she had two wobbles versus Gutsu's one. Gutsu also had higher difficulty and both had the same low landing. This round goes to Gutsu too.

Zmeskal VAULT I want to see what the other Kim is doing! A very nice FTY with an upright planted landing but it had a tiny leg seperation and feet apart on landing. This games was noted for its fabulous FTY's so it's time to get picky. Actually she might be slightly slow on landing going by the replay. 9.937

Okino FLOOR Whip into double pike/tuck, slight movement on landing. At least they are not insulting her with a cutesy routine. She's so regal and would have excelled with better choreo. Bad angle- looks like a clean double pike. Great spins from her. Another loose looking double pike/tuck, what is the story with her leg form on these. Nice enough dance but that was weak enough and dull. And I like her! 9.862

End of rotation standings: Boginskaya leads Gutsu and Miller.


Rotation Three

Boginskaya BARS Not this leotard again, I can't bear the sight of it. At least Gutsu and Lysenko have shied away from it. Can you imagine Gutsu in that thing? Stand by for a boring routine. Okay-ish Tkachev, flat enough but I like the grip change straight out of it. Double pike dismount, it looked great and she stuck it but WOW the weakness of this Level 7 routine never ceases to amaze me. Notice how I couldn't say anything else because she didn't do anything else. 'She may not have the very most difficult routine in this competition'. Nice syntax Tim. 9.887 and Tim is surprised. Is he watching the same routine at all? 

Bontas FLOOR I'm not sure why Bontas was hyped so much. A very good gymnast certainly but not even the best Romanian at this point. She looks tired and maybe the Deva closure affected her, as it did so many others. I still expect a strong floor routine though. And it looks like it already- great double layout. Camera cuts away right in the middle of her next pass a bit..looks like a 1.5 into double tuck. Nice and clean. Very long pause in the corner and she does not mask it with arm waving. Full in tuck to end, stuck, slightly low. Great routine. 9.962 Hmm. Suppose there wasn't much to actually take away from this but seems a little high anyway.

'When we come back we're going to show you the other strong American, Kim Zmeskal'. Please, she tanked in the first rotation. Show more Kim Gwang Suk, Yang Bo and Tatiana Lysenko! 'Struggling to get into medal position'. She's in 8th! They've just copped Milosovici is having a great competition.

Milosovici FLOOR Love her start pose. Full in tuck punchfront, nice. Small hop. Fairly bog standard music, some 'rock around the clock' style dance going on. Moceanu definitlely used this music unless I'm losing it. AWESOME second pass, 1 and a half stepout into what looks like 1 and half punchfront stag leap. Had to rewind a few times, very busy pass. Fabulous though. Full in tuck, not that clean but well landed nonetheless. What an iconic end pose. 9.962

Miller FLOOR Needs a 9.938 for first. LOVE this music, so perfect. Whip into full in tuck, well done. Much more upright than a lot of them have been these games. Whip into double pike with a big step back, can't tell by how much she kept that in bounds..barely. Lovely elegant dance. Another full in tuck but this one was quite low. Hmm. 9.9 Now that is correct.

Zmeskal BARS Nice form from this dead-on angle and very nice geinger. Very flat Tkachev, but there's a big club of those here. Double pike dismount? Or extremely pikey double layout. Either way, this routine was fine but nothing extraordinary. 9.9

Onodi VAULT GORGEOUS vault, looks like a Cuervo variety, handspring entry. Fabulous form, height and upright landing. Okay it's a front pike with a half twist apparently. Tiny adjustment on landing in the replay. Had a crap beam apparently, damn. Second vault is the same but she underrotates so the landing is short and she actually hits her head off the mat. Ouch. The first vault got a 9.95 so she'll take that.

Gogean BEAM I forgot she was here. Nice leaps and gorgeous floaty LOSO's. Slight wobble on second acro series. Quick, say she's like Nadia! Check. Great stuck double tuck dismount. 9.9

For feck's sake, how many times do they have to mention Gutsu not qualifying and a replay of the beam fall. Move on to her actual gymnastics maybe?

Gutsu FLOOR I absolutely love the split leg double layout. Lands slightly short and has to take a step forward though. Her dance is a bit wishy-washy and she's not comfortable with it. I hesitate to call it crap but it's really not great. Whip whip into double tuck, perfect. More awkward dance. Full in pike, low enough landing. Very interesting. In the case of floor, G and M were equal. Both had a big step and both had a low landing elsewhere. Gutsu had higher difficulty though, so maybe she would edge it slightly. 9.925 Slightly too high, I think 9.912 is the right score.

End of rotation standings. Gutsu and Milo tie for first, Boginskaya third and Miller fourth.

Rotation Four

Milosovici BARS Elfi seems to be excited about this routine, not sure why. Very slight lep seperation. Nice geinger, decent Tkachev. Very blurry but looks like a full in tuck with a hop. Wow that was cowboyed quite badly in the replay. 9.90

Miller VAULT Long wait, but we all know what's coming up next. Shut up Nunno, way overboard with the last minute coaching. Here it is! The best FTY ever performed. Height, flight, form, landing, all perfect. Crowd and Nunno go mental. 9.975 and nobody's happy with that. Really deserved a 10. Here's the second one, another joy to watch but doesn't hold the stick long enough. 9.95. Robbed of the 10 for the first one.

Yes we know Zmeskal is out of the running, stop showing it and get back to gymnastics.

Zmeskal BEAM Such a fabulous start pose in handstand. BHS-LOSO, wobbles and takes two steps back. Horror from the trio so maybe she was supposed to do another one. Yes she was apparently. Nice leaps. Big break after the second acro line but saves it. Double tuck with a hop back. Mehh. 9.80

Gutsu VAULT Needs 9.939. Oooh lovely and flighty in the air. Feet slightly apart on landing and makes a tiny movement backwards. Replay shows legs apart on block. 9.925 Second vault, plants the landing. Replay shows it to be a bit pikey. 9.95 Too high, that's the same score as Shannon's second vault. They screwed themselves over with the mark of her first vault as the second vault was better and had to be given a better score. Gutsu takes the lead and they immediately switch to Shannon's face.

Boginskaya BEAM Needs 9.977. Why is she still in game after a weak floor and weaker bars? Nice mount. Moves very fluidly. BHS-LOSO-LOSO but they look quite laboured. Jesus, wobbles on the easiest leap. Elfi sticks the knife in 'She's gone'. Plants a nice double tuck dismount. Kinda boring routine all the same. 9.912 is greeted with boos.

Boginskaya is upset after that but it was fairly obvious going into the games that she did not have the routines and difficulty to challenge for gold or silver.

1. Gutsu
2. Miller
3. Milosovici

I do not agree with some of those scores, but I DO agree with the standings. Gutsu was the better gymnast on the day. Miller quite clearly had the better vault but Gutsu had better beam and bars and edged her out ever so slightly on floor with higher difficulty and more upright landings. Both had errors, especially beam and floor but Gutsu did deserve gold here. I can clearly see why the debate still rages on but I'm moreso annoyed Lysenko couldn't hold it together and beat them both. Oh and not showing Kim Gwang Suk's bars and Yang Bo's beam? Plenty of lingering shots of Kim Zmeskal which could have been filled in nicely but not only the best bars and beam respectively of the games but of all time!










 

Double-twisting yurchenko: The beginning

The double twisting yurchenko or DTY is a fascinating vault, its difficulty meaning its longevity is assured, but not so difficult as to be a very rare vault. It was first performed in 1984, named after Svetlana Baitova in 1987, popularised in 2000 and remains popular today. In the new quad when the amanar is being devalued, the DTY will be even more popular as the gap between the two vaults will mean it won't be absolutely essential for the top all-arounders to possess an amanar.

The first one done in competition was in 1984. Two others did it in 1986 and then it was officially submitted to the code of points by another in 1987.  It never really became a vault of note at this time because of its rarity and because it was not rewarded- hence the rarity. 1992 was the first time it 'made' it as vault, performed by Tatiana Lysenko. FTY's were still the vault of choice then and the DTY did not really begin to reign supreme until 2000, 16 years after it was invented.

Elena Gurova performed this vault at the age of ELEVEN in 1984. Elena was a member of the 1987 silver winning Soviet Team at the world championships, but pretty much fell through the cracks as far as individual stardom was concerned at a time when USSR was far deeper talent wise than America is now. Unfortunately, there is no video evidence of her doing a DTY. It is accepted that she did do it nevertheless, much like Stella Zakharova is credited as the originator of the double layout at a meet in 1977.

Aleftina Priakhina- innovator extraordinaire- and Elena Shevchenko are also given credit for performing the DTY first, in 1986, one year before Baitova actually brought it to a world championships and got it named after her. Certainly they were among the first, but both were two years after Gurova first did it. Here is Priakhina's.

Obviously the form is awful, but can't be too harsh when it's one of the first. Nice landing.

Elena Shevchenko's, again in 1986.

Shevchenko's has great form in the air, but the pre-flight has a good bit of leg seperation going on. A great all-arounder who managed to have a more illustrious career than either of the other two.

Here's the one that took the naming crown, though unlike the amanar it's never called after her when used now. She was also extremely lucky as she performd it only a few minutes before Eugenia Golea of Romania, and a rotation or two before Yelena Shushunova.

And here's the one where the DTY actually captured attention, performed as it was among a whole host of much easier vaults, and then grossly underscored into the bargain. Tatiana Lyssenko, 1992.

Lovely and flighty, with fabulous form. Strangely enough she has the lowest landing of them all, which is why she was lowballed for it.

And here we have one of the best ones being performed at the moment, 20 years after Lysenko's and 28 years after Gurova's. Kyla has the benefit of the vaulting table, better springboards and mats and yet Gurova's rivals it except for the more controlled landing. Fascinating what could be achieved back in the day.

Overlooked and underrated Soviet greats

As we all know, the Soviets had an unbelievable depth of talent in the 1980's and early 1990's. Inevitably, plenty were overlooked and never made it to a major international competition and even those that did failed to make an impact. Talent was not a factor- these gymnasts have incredible form, artistry, skill and often extremely high difficulty. Silly mistakes and inconsistency kept them out of the medals and off the radar internationally. Politics also meant that not all received the chance to shine.

Tatiana Lysenko

Tatiana DID make it to several international competitions and she did medal at the 1992 Olympics. Unfortunately silly mistakes kept her from fully realising her potential. She had the potential to take the all-around, and didn't even medal. Her difficulty was astounding, particularly vault where she performed a DTY when everyone else was only doing FTY's. Because they had the same difficulty, Tatian's low landing failed to impress and she was underscored. She could have scored much higher on all of her apparatus if she had kept her difficulty down in favour of stuck landings, but she kept at it. Respect! She was great on all four, even bars which she is not particularly known for. She is certainly known, but definitely underappreciated.

Tatiana Groshkova

Tatiana Groshkova was never chosen to be a part of a major team because of her inconsistency. When she hit, it was incredible. Her beam routine at the 1989 Chuinchi cup is my favourite of all time. Not only was it incredibly difficult with perfect form, it also contained original moves and amazing flexibility moves such as the scale above. Her floor was a work of art, beautiful choreography and dance. The tumbling was not the prettiest but that double full-in has to be seen to believed.

Aleftina Priakhina

Aleftina made it to a Euros, so she was doing better than many of the fantastic unknown Soviets at this time. She had incredible difficulty and was the first to compete a standing full twist on beam AND a double-double on floor, but never made it to a worlds or olympics so neither bear her name. Her beam and bars mount were both very daring, and more associated with Olessia Dudnik. Although her skills and technique were astounding, her form and artistry paled in comparison to others and just like Groshkova, she was lost in the pool of talent.

Irina Baraksanova

Irina was a victim not so much  of inconsistency but of politics. Along with Mostepanova and others who had already had a raw deal over USSR boycotting the 1984 Olympics, Irina was pulled from the 1985 Worlds all-around to make way for the big names of Elena Shushunova and Oksana Omelianchik. Her fabulous floor alone, the most balletic I have ever seen and with such gorgeous lines and expression, means she deserves recognition but her other routines are worth a look too, especially her magnificent beam.

I might make a part two of this at a later date, but it is very difficult to find information on some. Some of the gymnasts above might as well have been world-famous compared to some competely unknown but brilliant Soviets!

Open-ended code- waiting for disaster?

As we all know, gymnastics is getting more and more difficult. But not by natural progression. This code means that difficulty is rewarded. But at what cost? We now have a situation where the team with the most amanars is a shoe-in for the gold because of .7 per amanar over DTY that the code rewards. Every single interview with the Russian coaches stresses that their gymnasts need it if they want to contend, never mind the huge advantage they hold with bars. What we probably forget because it's now so common is that the amanar is incredibly difficult, and places great stress on the knees if the gymnast cannot get it around properly. We only have to look at 2011 where Aliya Mustafina blew her ACL on one. Aliya Mustafina has regained almost to the level she was at before, yet her form has suffered.

Let's look at how 'safe' America's amanars are. The safest of all are McKayla Maroney's, Elizabeth Price's and junior Simone Biles all of which are explosive, dynamic, fully rotated and also excellent in air and landing. Jordyn Wieber's is usually fine and fully rotated, but she did land with her legs locked Visa's night 1, a recipe for injury. Aly Raisman's is a cause for concern as she sometimes does not get it fully around. Kyla Ross did not compete it either night at Visa's and instead competed a lovely clean DTY. But the pressure is on for her to regain her amanar, despite the fact that she cannot land it safely. Sarah Finnegan with her beautiful lines and extraordinarily difficult beam and floor seems to be counted out entirely, not just for her weak bars but also because she has no amanar. Internationally, there is big pressure on Romanian powerhouse Larissa Iordache to exhibit one, as well as team Russia. Looking to Juniors, Katelyn Ohashi is under extreme pressure to get her amanar, even though right now her DTY looks extremely dangerous.

The amanar is not the only culprit of course. Landings that are not fully upright on double arabians, Dos Santos I and Patterson dismounts from beam (not so much Becca's sat-down ones, but Raisman's low ones) are all cause for concern, amongst others. Serious knee injuries can count out a gymnast for a year before she can regain her previous level entirely, and are on the rise. Yet increased difficulty is worth the risk in this code. We have seen gymnasts win medals with falls ahead of competitors with none. It is almost funny to listen to commentary on old competitions with its utter dismissal of the chances of a top contender once they fall, or even a lesser mistake such as a form break or OOB or even a step on a dismount. Kim Gwang Suk's 1992 bars routine is an extreme example. Despite the fact that she had a beautiful clean routine with excellent form and with a release nobody else could come close to, her tiny step on landing counted her out of medals while much simpler routines surged ahead.

The old system of gymnasts competing much more difficult routines such as the above and not being rewarded was clearly unfair. Tatiana Lysenko's DTY scoring lower than the FTY's of others being  perhaps the most famous example. Yet we seem to have gone the opposite way entirely. Gymnasts can make up for often sloppy execution and form by pulling out extremely difficult tricks. This is of course helped by no compulsories. Gymnasts like Aly Raisman who are top on beam and floor would be slaughtered in the old system for execution.

The code we are in now places more pressure for difficulty than the 2005-2008 code did, helped mainly by the explosion of amanars in team USA. If we were to hold the 2008 Olympic all-around tomorrow in today's code (assuming all gymnasts in it at their 2008 selves), Nastia Liukin would have a huge struggle to achieve gold with her 1.5 Yurchenko as her bars score would be lower as less skills are counted for the score these days. Undoubtedly, Shawn Johnson would emerge the winner due to her difficulty. But what is in the future? Will we see TTY's being performed? A huge increase in injuries? It all seems possible. The next quad's code has degraded the SV of an amanar, yet it still gives a distinct advantage.

Clearly both styles of scoring, old and new, have their advantages and disadvantages. Yet we are now seeing beautiful gymnastics fall by the wayside as more and more difficult gymnastics often with much poorer execution take centre-stage. This is not the route we should be aiming for. This open-ended scoring is pushing the boundaries of what is possible for top gymnasts to achieve, and this will only continue. Gymnasts showing beautiful, elegant gymnastics with lower difficulty are falling by the wayside, most notably Ana Porgras who just could not hack the strive for difficulty but who would have been a top contender at the 1996 Olympics and earlier. We need to find a way to reward execution more than it currently is, even at the expense of difficulty.