Artistic Gymnastics

[Jaded]

I'm loving Laurie as a commentator. 

The colors of the Italian leotards are shades of my favorite. I love the USA ones too especially the sparkle designs. 

[Chaser]

I’d be the worst commentator. I’d end everything with “but no pressure”.

[WhitneyWhit]

Suni on floor is like a callback to a bygone era. Just stunning. 

[kittykat]

SUNI!!! Crushed it on the floor.  Takes the lead and is guaranteed a medal!

[Chaser]

Little hop on the last pass but it was better than the Team Final. Come on Suni! 

[Sarahsmile416]

2 minutes ago, WhitneyWhit said:

Suni on floor is like a callback to a bygone era. Just stunning. 

She truly is.  Simone's tumbling is top notch, but Suni gives the artistry - just beyond beautiful 

[WhitneyWhit]

I’m gonna need Simone, Rebecca, and Suni to let me know where I can send my therapy bill as I will never emotionally recover from this podium. 

[Makai]

I could not be happier with this podium. 

I love seeing how genuinely happy they are for each other. 

[kittykat]

Did Simone Biles bring a mic to that floor.  She should have because she just earned the right to drop it 

[Jaded]

Simone's husband may say some dumb shit. Having said that I think he really loves her.

[Chaser]

When Suni and Simone started smiling after they hit their first passes…cupcake moment. 

 

[Is Everyone Gone]

what an amazing podium!!!

Congrats to Simone, Rebeca and Suni!!!

[Minneapple]

THIS WAS THE PERFECT PODIUM I’M SO HAPPY.

[Browncoat]

That was fantastic!  All of these women were so so good, but it is very clear that Simone is in a class by herself on floor.  

[shoregirl]

I was way more emotional about this then I thought I would be. Everything that Suni and Simone have been through.  Their smiles when they hit their first passes were beautiful.The both of them and Rebecca were stunning on the floor. What a wonderful podium. 

[Straycat80]

Congrats to Simone, Rebeca and Suni! They were all amazing! 

[Jaded]

2 minutes ago, shoregirl said:

I was way more emotional about this then I thought I would be. 

Me too. I found myself crying a little. 

[roamyn]

No offense to Suni, but I would've loved to see Alice or Kaylie in the podium.

I've loved Rebecca since b4 the Brazil Olympics, so I wouldn't have been upset to see her win.  She didn't seem as cheey during qualifying, but she got that sparkle and smile back during team and I love it.

Edited August 1 by roamyn

[Is Everyone Gone]

13 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

NBC's primetime broadcast opened by hyping Richard and Juda as potential medalists, and just...like, I get why NBC did that because rah-rah-USA-rah, but neither of them ever had any chance of medaling.  It was ridiculous, and of course the primetime broadcast showed maybe seven total routines in the competition since both Americans fucked up five seconds into their first routines and were immediately out of contention.

It was actually a bit of a blessing that the Americans were out of contention so quickly, bc NBC's broadcast was surprisingly balanced and covered the tight competition between Zhang and Oka. I feel gutted for Zhang, but he has a great shot of winning gold in high bar.

[Conotocarious]

I’m so so happy for Simone and Suni. And Rebeca! 

Simone’s the greatest athlete of my lifetime and that includes sportsmanship and everything. She is my all-time favorite athlete and I want all the good things for her. 

[Souris]

Quote

 

20 hours ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

Pommel Horse this games has been like Sea Smoke monster. Watch out or you will be burned.

I saw someone refer to it as "Satan's pony" and I laughed and laughed.

Thrilled with the ladies podium! I can't wait to watch the replay when I get home.

[roseha]

I was watching live over Peacock and was so so happy when Simone nailed the floor routine and everyone started to celebrate.  So thrilled for both Simone and Suni with all they have overcome.  and yes Rebecca was brilliant as well, it was touching to see her jump up to the floor with the Brazilian flag after Simone and Suni had gone up with the American flag.

I am often a chicken about watching an event live but I am really glad I saw this play out in real time.

[Daisy]

hmm. i am kinda bummed that Italy or that Algerian girl couldn't get onto the podium, and sort of bummed that Rebeca couldn't push past Simone (mostly because i'm kind of tired of the American Dynasty - and just being consistent because I was kinda over the Soviet/Russian one by the time that one cracked anyway LOL). I think overall I would have preferred Suni winning over Simone because i simply prefer her gymnastics over Simone's but congrats to Simone for winning. 

[AuntieDiane6]

Anyone know where I can find which competitors (NOT JUST US) will be in the apparatus finals.

[Is Everyone Gone]

13 minutes ago, Daisy said:

hmm. i am kinda bummed that Italy or that Algerian girl couldn't get onto the podium, and sort of bummed that Rebeca couldn't push past Simone (mostly because i'm kind of tired of the American Dynasty - and just being consistent because I was kinda over the Soviet/Russian one by the time that one cracked anyway LOL). I think overall I would have preferred Suni winning over Simone because i simply prefer her gymnastics over Simone's but congrats to Simone for winning. 

I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for Simone's gymnastics and accomplishments. I know she's the GOAT.

With that being said, I too prefer Suni's gymnastics. Suni has that old Soviet gymnast vibe going on -- a mix of power and grace. Her belly dancing in the FX even reminded me so much of the one and only Svetlana Boguinskaya.

[Girl in a Cardigan]

54 minutes ago, AuntieDiane6 said:

Anyone know where I can find which competitors (NOT JUST US) will be in the apparatus finals.

The Olympics site doesn't have the start lists yet, but here are the lists from the FIG (8 qualifiers and 3 reserves at the top of every doc).

Saturday, August 3rd:

• Men's Floor
• Women's Vault
• Pommel Horse

Sunday, August 4th:

• Still Rings
• Uneven Bars
• Men's Vault

Monday, August 5th:

• Parallel Bars
• Balance Beam
• High Bar
• Women's Floor

And I should have known - the Gymter.net has a full list here:
https://thegymter.net/2024/07/28/who-qualified-to-the-wag-finals-in-paris/

https://thegymter.net/2024/07/27/who-qualified-to-the-mag-finals-in-paris/

Edited August 1 by Girl in a Cardigan
Added Gymtern.net links to finals

[Conotocarious]

And once more, no links to the press conference to be found. Just snippets on CNN.

 

Edited August 1 by Conotocarious

[katisha]

5 hours ago, WhitneyWhit said:

It’s wild to hear commentators saying “She’s just 17, she has a lot of time left” when 10 years ago they would say it’s a miracle she’s not broken a hip out there. 

I'm old enough to remember Nadia Comăneci's second Olympics in 1980 when at 18 (!!!) amongst all those little tiny girls (who in reality were probably older than they looked) she actually looked like a young woman. That was her last Olympics but if she were around now she would be just getting started!

Edited August 2 by katisha

[CrazyInAlabama]

7 hours ago, Chaser said:

Wow. Gorgeous vault from Rebecca. Love the yellow too. 

The Brazilian team partners with Ozone Leotards of Knoxville, TN, designed by Jade Barbosa, another member of the team. 

[yowsah1]

7 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

I have been living for the Brazilian leos.  Gooooooorgeous.

I like the German leotards.  They have a cool retro vibe.

[CeeBeeGee]

6 hours ago, WhitneyWhit said:

Every time they have a wobble I like to imagine it’s the balance beam saying “I could if I  wanted to” 

I literally laughed out loud and the thought of a sentient beam.

 

6 hours ago, Jaded said:

I'm loving Laurie as a commentator.

Me too! I keep seeing articles complaining about her commentary but I think she's great.

 

5 hours ago, Makai said:

I love seeing how genuinely happy they are for each other. 

I loved how, during Rebeca's beam set, during a quiet moment, you could hear Simone calling out "You got this!" What an amazing example of good sportsmanship and the spirit of the Olympics! If that had happened during the Karolyi era, Martha or Bela probably would've slapped them.

 

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

Simone's husband may say some dumb shit. Having said that I think he really loves her.

He really impressed me during Simone's documentary on Netflix. He seems very emotionally intelligent which is pretty impressive considering how young he is.

SO SO SO THRILLED FOR SIMONE AND THE REST OF THE PODIUM! I was able to watch most of it--halfway through Rotation 3--live this afternoon until I had to leave to teach a class. I was waiting for the news alert on my phone--when I received it confirming her victory, I was trying not to cry. I'm just so happy for Simone. So happy and proud. After all she's been through, and Suni and Rebeca. 

[Browncoat]

I am so glad I got to watch some of this this afternoon.  Apparently in prime time, we are only going to get to see Simone and Rebeca.  

Oh, I lied!  We only got to see Simone's and Rebeca's vaults, but looks like we're getting more people on the bars.

Edited August 2 by Browncoat

[yowsah1]

13 minutes ago, CeeBeeGee said:

I loved how, during Rebeca's beam set, during a quiet moment, you could hear Simone calling out "You got this!" What an amazing example of good sportsmanship and the spirit of the Olympics! If that had happened during the Karolyi era, Martha or Bela probably would've slapped them.

During the Bela and Marta era, it was exceedingly rare to see female gymnasts offer words of support to THEIR OWN TEAMMATES, much less any other gymnasts.

[satrunrose]

19 minutes ago, yowsah1 said:

I like the German leotards.  They have a cool retro vibe.

Apparently It was a very on purpose statement about not needing to show as much as the typical leotard does. 

I liked the shorts-length style too, I noticed one of the Italians seemed to have a major case of what my grandmother would call "the pazibs" on the floor routine. That has to be uncomfortable. 

[Is Everyone Gone]

Nice article about several members of USA basketball watching the AA finals.

Now I NEED a picture of Simone and KD together. Little vs big.

Edited August 2 by Is Everyone Gone

[Minneapple]

I am sad that Kaylia Nemour didn’t get on the podium, a little. But she still has a great chance at an uneven bars medal, even possibly gold, which would be great.

[Conotocarious]

34 minutes ago, yowsah1 said:

During the Bela and Marta era, it was exceedingly rare to see female gymnasts offer words of support to THEIR OWN TEAMMATES, much less any other gymnasts.

Oh, yes, those of us who have been watching for a few decades now definitely remember the era of the “gymnastic hug” where the girls hugged like they were afraid the other was radioactive.

Simone is just pure sunshine. I know things were loosening up but to me Simone is the one who ushered in this era of cheering for her competitors. And yes, Marta hated it but eventually relented a little when she saw how well Simone performed when she was allowed to be her authentic self.

Edited August 2 by Conotocarious

[NUguy514]

I had to bolt out the door right before Suni's beam set, and I fought with EVERY fiber of my being (I am not kidding) not to spoil myself.  I got home around 5:45, still unspoiled, turned on my TV to start the replay of the Peacock, and immediately see the following two highlights before I could find the replay: "Rebeca Andrade claims all-around silver in final routine" and "Biles clinches all-around gold with stunning floor routine."

(The sound effect was my saying "fuck" rather volubly and then laughing hysterically because of course that's the way it would go.)

Having said that, this podium was perfect.  PERFECT!!!!!!!  I could not be more thrilled, and I still cried a few times even knowing the result.  Actually, I didn't know Suni had won bronze, so I was really on the edge of my seat waiting for her floor score.

Ultimately, even with her fuck-up on bars (and save since anyone else would've fallen off), Simone really showed how much of a competitor she is with her incredible beam and (especially) floor routines.  Throwing down the YDP, though, is why she won: she was willing to go for the win and risk it, rather than playing it safe.  She's my hero.

Rebeca, aside from a big-ish balance check on beam and one little foot out of bounds on floor, was phenomenal and earned that silver.  She just didn't have quite the difficulty to match Simone, but I could not be happier for her.

Like Simone, Suni really showed what a competitor she is.  After her shaky beam routine, I honestly didn't think she could get a floor score that was quite high enough to pass Alice, but she threw down the best floor routine I've seen her do just when she absolutely needed it.  Because she's such a boss and a fighter.  To think how quickly she came back from her health struggles...what an incredible achievement.

As for the other ladies, what a pleasure to watch Alice, Kaylia, and Ellie all make the top six!

Fabulous competition, although I lost twelve years of my life waiting this day out.

Eh, worth it.

[Is Everyone Gone]

36 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

Oh, yes, those of us who have been watching for a few decades now definitely remember the era of the “gymnastic hug” where the girls hugged like they were afraid the other was radioactive.

I remember a meet where Shannon Miller was walking NEAR another gymnast. Not hugging, not talking to that gymnast. Just walking near her. And the coach yelled "Shannon get back here."

Kim Zmeskal did say however that Svetlana Boguinskaya always was kind and warm to competitors.

[WhitneyWhit]

To be fair, until the semi-centralized system came along, American gymnast didn’t really know each other unless they trained at the same gym. 1996 was peak awkwardness for this because I remember Mary Lee Tracy pushing Amanda Borden into Shannon Miller for a hug in front of the cameras and Shannon being like umm?

 

[Is Everyone Gone]

10 minutes ago, WhitneyWhit said:

To be fair, until the semi-centralized system came along, American gymnast didn’t really know each other unless they trained at the same gym. 1996 was peak awkwardness for this because I remember Mary Lee Tracy pushing Amanda Borden into Shannon Miller for a hug in front of the cameras and Shannon being like umm?

 

However, I remember the icy body language between training mates like Kim Zmeskal, Kerri Strug, and Betty Okino, all of whom were part of the famous Karolyi six-pack ...

[Dr.OO7]

51 minutes ago, Conotocarious said:

Oh, yes, those of us who have been watching for a few decades now definitely remember the era of the “gymnastic hug” where the girls hugged like they were afraid the other was radioactive.

That reminds me of what EM Swift wrote about the 1992 Games, that while the Unified Team and Romanian girls were clapping and cheering for one another, the American girls pretty much sat on their hands and seemed as unified as a bagful of cats. And it showed in a very anticlimactic team bronze. It's very telling that by the next Olympics, their coaches warned them that there would be none of that crap and we got a much better result with the first team gold.

[kathyk2]

20 minutes ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

However, I remember the icy body language between training mates like Kim Zmeskal, Kerri Strug, and Betty Okino, all of whom were part of the famous Karolyi six-pack ...

They were probably too scared to show emotion. Bela treated them like competitors rather than a team. It was so nice to see floor routines without butt shaking.

[yowsah1]

28 minutes ago, Dr.OO7 said:

That reminds me of what EM Swift wrote about the 1992 Games, that while the Unified Team and Romanian girls were clapping and cheering for one another, the American girls pretty much sat on their hands and seemed as unified as a bagful of cats. And it showed in a very anticlimactic team bronze. 

That was the first year I started hearing open criticism of the US women's gymnastics program - NBC ran the story of how Kim Kelly got screwed over for the team in prime time, and various journalists ran stories inquiring pointedly why it was the American gymnasts never smiled and always looked so grim.  Those criticisms would only grow louder over the years as a few years later Joan Ryan came out with her book expose and the dam of damning revelations broke.

[Is Everyone Gone]

55 minutes ago, Dr.OO7 said:

That reminds me of what EM Swift wrote about the 1992 Games, that while the Unified Team and Romanian girls were clapping and cheering for one another, the American girls pretty much sat on their hands and seemed as unified as a bagful of cats. And it showed in a very anticlimactic team bronze. It's very telling that by the next Olympics, their coaches warned them that there would be none of that crap and we got a much better result with the first team gold.

There were also articles that came out about how at a banquet for team USA, the US gymnasts sat and stared at their food while their coaches forbade them from actually eating anything.

Also how in the Olympic village, all the US gymnasts were constantly accompanied by their coaches. Very creepy stuff. It's actually a miracle that most of the gymnasts from that era ended up turning out pretty well.

In more pleasant news, a bunch of vintage gymnasts were there for the AA finals today. Shannon Miller, Svetlana Boguinskaya, Kim Zmeskal, Nadia, Aly Raisman, Nastia, Shawn ...

Edited August 2 by Is Everyone Gone

[WhitneyWhit]

If you haven’t, listen to the Heavy Medals podcast. It’s eye opening. Tasha Schwikert talks about Sydney and what a hellscape it was. They weren’t allowed to stay in the village. They were on a college campus outside the city. Their chef put out snacks one day of  a granola bar and fruit and when Tasha got some, Marta appeared and snatched it out of her hand and told her they weren’t gonna eat those because lighter girls fly higher. Marta also made a gymnast stand up (who was suffering from an eating disorder) and basically told them that’s what they need to look like. 

Edited August 2 by WhitneyWhit

[Girl in a Cardigan]

Love Simone’s comments about Rebeca:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRo4TYkr/

[WhitneyWhit]

 

A very cute moment with Rebecca and Suni. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

I was watching Kaylia Nemour and thought, "Are those bra straps I see?"  It was--very visible regular skinny bra straps in the front, and more of the bra over on her side under her arm.  It may even have been white!

I would have thought the support would be built into the leotard.

Edited August 2 by StatisticalOutlier

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

After her shaky beam routine, I honestly didn't think she could get a floor score that was quite high enough to pass Alice, but she threw down the best floor routine I've seen her do just when she absolutely needed it. 

In an interview NBC aired during its abysmal prime-time recap, she said she didn't think she had any chance at a medal after that beam rotation, so just decided to go out there and have a whole lot of fun on the floor.