Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Gymnastics Comebacks...A Mixed Bag



With so many veterans making comebacks for another shot at glory (or at least a few commercials), I decided we needed to celebrate the drama, anticipation, speculation and eye-rolling that comebacks give us.

I adore Shannon Miller.  I love how much of a perfectionist she is, I'm fascinated by her ever-changing look, her 'lifestyle' and how she clearly went from being a shy mouse to someone who took enough speech classes to perfect a 'winning' manner of speech.  I also adore that no matter how old she gets, Steve Nunno always seems to speak to her and treat her as though she is five years old.  They could have specialists in 2000...why was she even vaulting?!  I still might've taken Shannon...I don't care.








I'm still horrified that Dominique Dawes cut off her gorgeous hair to look like this in 2000.  She was always looking stressed and unhappy to boot, despite doing very well for coming back at the last minute.  She may not have really deserved to make the team, but she still had 'it.'

Remember NBC making a huge deal out of her beam, which had a 9.4 SV...





Why was Moceanu with MLT with all people?  How would that duo ever work aside from a joint love of fame and publicity?  Did she really look that good at Trials before the knee injury?




Paul Hamm





Blaine Wilson at 45



Amy Chow's awkward dance made another Olympic Team...you just can't deny a bar routine like that.






Jaycie Phelps did better than expected with one knee.





Kristie Phillips with skills and power...wtf?  Frankly, she was better on floor in 1999 than 1987.





Mohini brought Pam Anderson to Trials...  Thank you, Jesus.


9 comments:

  1. That Kristie thing broke my heart. After all she'd been through, I really wanted her to have a successful "comeback," if only for that night. That took a hell of a lot of guts to put herself out there like that.

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  2. Dude... that Phillips BB routine was siiiiiiiiiick. RO-SOLO-Korbut to MOUNT. Then a RO-layout-wolf combo (I can't think of anyone that has connected a leap to a back layout on BB), then full turn-cat leap-side sommi. That is some serious, original BB work. I can't believe I've never seen that before. Wow. Those would all be valuable combinations in the current COP. Definitely my favorite US BB routine of that quad.

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  3. Miller was sticking everything at camp. Than she got injured and it screwed everything up for her. One camp she finished top 4. It is a shame she got hurt because she lost a good 5 months of training time due to that injury.

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  4. I'm a fan of both, which is quite possible. Life isn't black and white.

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  5. Note that they both share a lot of similar qualities.

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  6. Miller had it all over Nastia. She should have won in 92 and if she had people would laugh at the thought Nastia was as good as Miller.

    I hate having to defend Miller. I hated her being a huge Dominique Dawes fan but you are biased and you won't even admit it.

    Not wasting my time because unless Shannon sends you twitter messages and goes to dinner with you your bia will never be admitted.

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  7. Miller was my favorite gymnast as a child. They are very similar. I'm not sure where your animosity stems from, but I happen to like both gymnasts and can recite plenty about Shannon Miller. There is no way to win an argument with you, as we aren't discussing anything. I'm saying I enjoy both gymnasts and you are saying there is no way because __________. Frankly, Nastia and Shannon both had the attitude to waltz back onto the team right before the Olympics and I support (ed) both of them.

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  8. That is not true Aunt Joyce.Shannon trained full time for over a year. She was going to camps and proving herself at the camps. Then she got injured.

    Nastia has not spent more than a few weeks training full time. She did two a days for a few weeks and then would go to do a speech at a gym for money or something for Subway.

    Shannon was never training at half speed. The leg injury set her back and she never recovered.


    Back to your cat fight.

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  9. There is no cat fight. He knows he is a liar. It's been proven. The end.

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