#1992 european gymnastics championships

[lobaznyuk]

17-year-old Valentina Georgieva (BUL) earns a silver medal in the vault finals at the 2024 Rimini European Championships. This marks the first time in 32 years that a Bulgarian gymnast has made it onto the podium, with the last medal achieved by Silvia Mitova in 1992. The victory comes two years after Georgieva endured a femoral fracture and a torn ACL during the 2022 European vault finals.

[mo-salto]

Silvia Mitova (BUL) at the 1992 European Championships

[gymfanconfessions]

“I just wanna know what was going through the judges minds when they left Silvia Mitova off the floor podium at the 1992 Euros. I get that she looked close to OOB on her first combo, and use of video replays for accurate judging was very much in its early stages if not used at all, but seriously that routine deserved a medal of some colour. What an iconic routine tho”

[freifraufischer]

A non-exhaustive list of gymnasts whose ages are known to be falsified.

“Dick does she look 14 years old to you? [...]  I tell you we have a story going around the gymnastics community that is pretty traditional that when a young Romanian girl is asked her age she looks to her coach for the answer.��  --Bart Conner, 1985 American Cup

Since Wikipedia can’t be trusted to be right for a lot of details of gymnasts careers...

Olga Bicherova

Born in either 1967 or 1968, during Bicherova’s elite career the age requirement was that you had to turn 15 in the year of competition.  Either birthdate would have made her too young for the 1981 World Championships where she won two gold medals, one in the all around and one with the team.  If you take the 1967 birthdate she could have been age eligible for the 1982 World Cup where she won 5 medals, 3 of them gold except that one of the requirements of the World Cup at that time was previous participation in the World Championships.  [In fairness to Bicherova the above picture is slightly mean of me to use as she never grew very tall.]

Ecaterina Szabo

Born in 1968, during Szabo’s elite career the age requirement was to turn 15 in the year of competition meaning her first year of senior eligibility should have been 1983 and 1983 is when her first major titles occurred.  Except she was competing as a senior in 1982 winning a number of international invitationals (which she may have been eligible for anyway because juniors and seniors often competed together at those).  It’s unclear to me why her birthdate was changed though it might have simply been something that happened when the government changed her name to hide her Hungarian ethnicity.  Szabo’s first language is Hungarian and she was born in Transylvania as Szabó Katalin.  She still goes by Katalin in her private life.  She was of age during the 1984 Olympic Games and the 1983 World Championships

Olga Mostepanova

Born in 1970, during Mostepanova’s elite career the age requirement was to turn 15 in the year of competition (or 14 for the World Championship that qualified for the Olympics).  She has said herself that while she was competing her passport was wrong by “years”.  By the accounts as I understand them her first senior year should have been 1985.  Mostepanova was the top Soviet gymnast in 1984 winning the alternative games held for countries that boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games (and the reality of her age falsification makes playing ‘What if?’ for who should have won the 1984 Olympics awkward).  Aside from her 5 Friendship Games gold medals, she would have also been age ineligible for the 1983 World Championships where she won 4 medals, 2 gold (team and beam) and 2 silver (all around and floor).

Oksana Omelianchik

Born on January 2, 1970, during Omelianchik’s elite career the age requirement was to be turn 15 in the year of competition and her first year of eligability was 1985.  None of Omelianchik’s elite career honors are tainted however she says at one point she was given a passport with her birthdate shifted by a week (which would have made her able to compete in the 1984 Olympic Games).

Daniela Silivaș

Born in 1972, during Silivaș’ elite career the age requirement was that you turn 15 in the year of competition meaning her first year as a senior elite should have been 1987.  In 1985 she won a European bronze medal on beam, a World Championship gold medal on beam and a silver with the team.  She also won 3 medals at the 1986 World Cup.  She was of age for the 1988 Olympic Games

Kim Gwang-suk

Only the universe knows what year Kim Gwang-suk was actually born.  She was listed as 15 years old for three consecutive years by the North Korean government from 1989-1991, and then 17 years old at the 1992 Olympic Games.  She may have been as young as 11 when she competed in the 1989 World Championships.  In 1991 she won the World Championship gold on the uneven bars and at least one of her birth years means she might have been age eligible for that competition (which may be why FIG was reluctant to take away that medal, officially they decided that as she wasn’t personally involved in the fraud she could keep it).  The North Korean team was banned from the 1993 World Championships for the sloppy fraud.

Alexandra Marinescu

Born in 1982, the age requirements changed in the middle of Marinescu’s elite career.  For the 1996 Olympic Gams you had to turn 15 in the year of competition and starting in 1997 you had to turn 16.  The Romanian state issued her a passport giving her birthdate as 1981 and it is worth noting that this was the post revolution Romanian government.  She competed at 1995 Worlds, 1996 Worlds, and the 1996 Olympic Games with a stated birthdate that would make her just old enough to compete in those competitions.  In fact she was younger than both Dominique Moceanu and Vanessa Atler.  At no point during her entire elite career which lasted 3 years was Marinescu of age.  She has 3 World medals (2 gold for the team in 1995 and 1997, 1 silver on beam from 1996), and one Olympic medal (bronze in the team from 1996).  The FIG database still lists her incorrect birth year and the Romanian gymnastics federation claims that she is lying about the age falsification (as well as other abuses she has been outspoken about).

Dong Fangxiao

Born sometime in January of 1986 (the exact day is still disputed), during Dong’s elite career the age requirement was to turn 16 in the year of competition.  Her first year of senior competition should have been 2001 but she competed at the 1999 World Championships under the rule at the time that if you are eligible for the Olympic Games you cold compete at the World Championships the previous year.  She won a bronze medal at both 1999 Worlds and the 2000 Olympics with the team.  In 2008 she applied to be a technical official at the Beijing Olympic Games she listed her true birthdate instead of the 1983 birthday under which she had competed.  An investigation of the case resulted in both medals being stripped.

Hong Su-jong

At different competitions during her career Hong Su-jong was entered with a birth year of 1985, 1986, and 1989.  At some of these competitions she was entered with a different birth year as her twin sister Hong Un-jong (Olympic and World Champion who has never herself been implicated in age falsification).  Hong Su-jong’s most significant medal was the 2007 World silver on vault which she is believed to be of age for but she competed at the 2004 Olympic Games with the 1985 birthdate and for that competition she was too young.  Hong Su-jong was eventually banned permanently from competition and North Korea was banned until October 2012 meaning that her sister was unable to defend her 2008 Olympic vault gold.

You may notice that He Kexin is not on this list...

During (and after) the 2008 Olympic Games questions were raised about two time Olympic Gold medalist He Kexin’s age (as well as that of several of her team mates).  Unlike all of the above cases where either inconsistent age information was entered at official FIG competitions or the gymnast themselves have stated that their birth year was changed, He’s birthdate has always been consistent in FIG documents and she herself has always denied falsification.  Her age was listed as earlier in entries for some domestic meets and that was reported by foreign press as evidence that she was too young.  This ignores the fact that age falsification (in both directions up and down) was common by city and provincial teams in China to enter age bracketed competitions and that is what may have been going on.  Either way these competitions are not governed by the FIG so the inconsistent birth information at them was not their problem.  I am generally agnostic about He’s birth year.  There is strong circumstantial evidence to suggest that her age was changed (that doesn’t have to do with domestic competition forms or her appearance) however I understand why the FIG investigation decided that there was not enough evidence for them to act.

Sooooo the only people punished for age falsification have been Asians.  That’s kind of racist isn’t it?

Two things can be true at the same time.  Yes it is highly suspicious that only North Korea and China have been punished for this while there are documented cases of European federations also doing this.  However I think it’s important to note that these cases are not all the same.  North Korea was punished for providing inconsistent birthdates for the same gymnast at competitions.  The evidence of the offense was right there in FIG’s paperwork.  China was punished when Dong applied to be an official with FIG giving an inconsistent birth year.

All of these other cases involve gymnasts whose paperwork was consistent during their careers.  

The fact that FIG is only accepts that level of proof and unwilling to accept (especially in Marinescu’s case) the gymnasts own statements about their birth year certainly doesn’t make them look like they are particularly interested in punishing this kind of cheating unless absolutely forced to.  I would offer the counter point that FIG is not the police and they do not have the ability to determine if there is something else going on with such public statements and they often came out well after the standard 10 year statute of limitation for stripping medals (except in the case of Marinescu).  Some have suggested that FIG was reluctant to act on Marinescu’s statements because stripping Romania of those medals would promote China who was also age cheating at the time.  I don’t think you have to go to that place when the answer is just as likely that FIG has a very narrow standard of proof for revoking medals on the basis of age falsification and has even erred on the side of allowing the gymnast (Kim Gwang-suk) to keep a medal won while clearly under age.

Are FIG officials racist against Asians?  There is a lot of evidence for that.

Has FIG only punished Asian nations for age falsification?  Yes.  But it’s more a case that North Korea is really bad at this and the Dong case has fairly unique circumstances.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Svetlana Boginskaya

Artistic gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1973. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Boginskaya and her teammates won the gold medal in the team competition.  At the 1998 Seoul Olympics, she won four medals: gold in the vault and team competition, silver in the floor exercises, and bronze in the individual all-around. Boginskaya also won the World All-Around title in 1989, and five gold medals at the 1990 European Championships. In 2005, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. 

[twoflipstwotwists]

Video here.

The term "gymnastics mums" usually brings to mind dedicated parents shuttling their kids to and from practises, volunteering at meets and packing healthy snacks in gym bags.

But at the world championships at Doha (QAT), the gymnastics mums are world-class athletes contending for medals.

The competition roster in Doha includes four gymnasts who have returned to the sport after giving birth, no easy task. Two — Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) and Aliya Mustafina (RUS) — will compete in Friday's apparatus finals.

The ageless Chusovitina, going for an unprecedented eighth Olympic Games in 2020, has revolutionised the sport and the other three gymnastics mothers in Doha — Mustafina, Marta Pihan-Kulesza (POL) and Göksu Üçtaş Şanlı (TUR) each cited her as an inspiration. At 43, she is the only active gymnast today who competed under the Soviet flag. Most expected her to join her 1992 Olympic teammates in retirement in the 1990s, but Chusovitina had her own ideas. Seven of her 11 world championships medals were won after she welcomed son Alisher in 1999, including the world title on Vault on 2003 and silver medal in Beijing in 2008.

"Everyone was saying that once you reach 18, you have to quit, but that's not how it is," says Chusovitina, who in Doha is aiming for her 10th world medal on Vault. "I'm very happy that people are saying I set an example."

Alisher, who underwent treatment for leukemia in 2002, plays basketball and towers over his diminutive (in stature) mother.

"He brings me joy every day," says Chusovitina, competing in her 16th world championships since 1991.

Unfinished business brought Üçtaş Şanlı, 28, back to Gymnastics after retiring in 2013, when she married fellow gymnast Özgün Şanlı. The first gymnast to compete for Turkey at the Olympic Games, Üçtaş Şanlı was only able to compete on Balance Beam in London 2012 because of an elbow injury. The couple welcoming daughter, Lina, in 2015, and Üçtaş Şanlı returned to training in the summer of 2016. By November, she stood atop the Floor Exercise podium at the World Challenge Cup in Mersin (TUR), holding her daughter in her arms.

"I have that fire inside me to compete in Tokyo in the All-around," says Üçtaş Şanlı, who dedicated her silver medal on Floor Exercise at this spring's Mediterranean Games to her daughter.

Training while taking care of a young baby is exhausting, she says.

"It was very hard because at night, you cannot sleep because of the baby," she says. "But you have to take care of the baby and train and also be a housewife, everything."

For the 31-year-old Pihan-Kulesza, returning to gymnastics was a juggling act after giving birth to daughter Jagda in 2017. Her husband, 2008 Olympian Roman Kulesza, brought Jagda to watch her mum compete in Doha.

The couple own their own club, a franchise of the Little Gym, in Szczecin. Roman — whom she calls her "angel" — took a year off from his own career to allow Marta, stopped training when she was 10 weeks pregnant, return to training when Jagda was two months old.

"It was hard to manage everything, the job, maternity and Gymnastics," says Pihan-Kulesza clutching Jagda, who was given a VIP credential to be with her mum at the Aspire Dome. "But I think it's always about your goals. If you're doing it for yourself and for your happiness, not only for the glory, it's always easier."

Pihan-Kulesza, who is aiming for next year's European championships in her native Szczecin, said the biggest obstacle was returning after undergoing a Caesarean section, in which the abdominal muscles are cut, a procedure common among the gymnastics mums. The hardest event to return to is the Uneven Bars, she says, because it requires extreme abdominal strength, but she knew she could return to the All-around.

"Chusovitina proved that it's not impossible," she says. "You can do it if you focus enough."

Mustafina, who helped Russia win a silver in the team final on Tuesday, is the youngest gym mum in Doha at 24. The two-time Olympic Uneven Bars champion welcomed her daughter, Alisa, in June 2017, with the full intention of returning for Tokyo.

"It was not super hard, because I had a very strong desire to come back and it gave me the drive," she says.

Mustafina, now a single mum after a brief marriage, relies on her mother to watch Alisa, whom she sees Wednesdays and on weekends while training for big events like the world championships. She says she originally fretted about leaving her daughter in Moscow until she reminded herself that her mother also raised two daughters, Aliya and her younger sister, Nailya, who was also a high-level gymnast.

For Mustafina, who jokes that in-bar Stalders on Uneven Bars are more physically difficult than childbirth, never doubted that she would be able to return, so powerful is the "Chusovitina effect" on the sport.

"Oksana a wonderful person," she says. "By looking at her, I understood it was possible to come back."

[theunsungheroines]

Bold, athletic, rebellious and unafraid of breaking the rules, let’s remember Surya Bonaly who was a shock of energy and personality that the world of figure skating had never before seen. An illegal backflip performed during warmups at the 1992 Olympics in sheathed her international debut in a flurry of controversy that would follow her throughout her amateur skating career. The move was banned from Olympic competition due to its high risk factor and though she executed it legally, during warm ups, the press accused her of doing it to intimidate gold medal favorite, Midori Ito. In a sport where fitting in and following the rules are de rigeur, Surya became an instant outsider. There were additional characteristics that distanced Surya from the other skaters: she had a background in gymnastics which heavily influenced her skating style; she was the only Black figure skater in Olympic competition at the time. Surya's athleticism was seen as a strike against her by critics who favored grace and artistry: she was pinned a “gymnast” never the coveted “ice princess.” The ���athleticism vs. artistry” debate came to a very heated head at the 1992 World Championships, where Surya placed second to Japan's Yuka Sato. Surya skated an excellent program, showcasing her explosive, powerful jumping style while Yuka's performance highlighted dynamic footwork and artistry. It was an extremely close competition: five judges named Yuka first, while four placed Surya in the lead position. When it came time for the medal ceremony, Surya shocked the judges by refusing to stand on the second place podium. Once the silver medal was placed around her neck, she burst into tears and promptly took it off. The media labeled it a “tantrum” while Surya told the press that she was “fed up.” The Los Angeles times quoted her as saying "This is a championship, not (a place) to do just like everybody else. It's not right. . . When I change to just normal skating, that's not good, too. I don't know what I have to do. It's crazy." Surya's astounding acrobatic ability catapulted her to nine French National Champion titles, five European Champion and three World silver medals. #theunsungheroines⠀ ⠀

[ticketsmycom-blog]

Nas

Want to smash the scene of Canalside? 2019/08/30 at 17:00:00, Nas with a big concert, come and see! Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (; born September 14, 1973), known professionally as Nas (), is an American rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur and investor.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, ) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).Nashville is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The city is the county seat of Davidson County and is located on the Cumberland River.Naseem Hamed (Arabic: نسيم حميد‎; born 12 February 1974), commonly known as "Prince" Naseem or "Naz", is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO title from 1995 to 2000; the IBF title in 1997; and the WBC title from 1999 to 2000. He also reigned as lineal champion from 1998 to 2001; IBO champion from 2002 to 2003; and held the European bantamweight title from 1994 to 1995. Hamed is ranked the best British featherweight of all time by BoxRec.The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) (often shortened to the Cup Series) is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).The NASDAQ-100 (^NDX) is a stock market index made up of 103 equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ.The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock-car racing.In game theory, the Nash equilibrium, named after the mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., is a proposed solution of a non-cooperative game involving two or more players in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only their own strategy.In terms of game theory, if each player has chosen a strategy, and no player can benefit by changing strategies while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and their corresponding payoffs constitutes a Nash equilibrium.The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's "minor league" circuit, and is considered a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level circuit, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin (; Russian: Анастасия "Настя" Валерьевна Люкина ; born October 30, 1989) is a Russian American former artistic gymnast. Read the full article

[thehonoraryamerican]

Stacked Up - 2016 Olympic Vault Final

While nothing could really hold a candle to the 2012 floor final, the 2016 vault final still carried a tremendous amount of talent. Our finalists were as follows:

1. Simone Biles (USA) 2. Hong un-Jong (PRK) 3. Giulia Steingruber (SUI) 4. Maria Paseka (RUS) 5. Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) 6. Shallon Olsen (CAN) 7. Wang Yan (CHN) 8. Dipa Karmakar (IND)

While Simone Biles was close to a lock for gold, a hit TTY from Hong un-Jong had the potential to rattle the cage. Vaulting prowess and talent ran deep in this final. Let’s have a look:

- the reigning World and Olympic AA Champion; Simone Biles (2013 Antwerp) (2014 Nanning) (2015 Glasgow) (2016 Rio de Janeiro) - the 2008 Olympic Champion, and 2014 World Champion; Hong un-Jong (2008 Beijing) (2014 Nanning) - the reigning World Champion, and 2015 European Champion; Maria Paseka (2015 Glasgow) (2015 Montpellier) - the 2013, 2014, and 2016 European Champion; Giulia Steingruber (2013 Moscow) (2014 Sofia) (2016 Bern) - the 2015 European AA Champion; Giulia Steingruber (2015 Montpellier) - the 2003 World Champion; Oksana Chusovitinia (2003 Anaheim) [representing Uzbekistan] - the reigning Pacific Rim Champion; Shallon Olsen (2016 Everett)

Going further than major titles, this final presents major talent:

Simone Biles - two time World silver medallist on vault, 2013 Antwerp and 2014 Nanning - World bronze medallist on vault, 2015 Glasgow - three time US National vault champion, 2014 Pittsburgh, 2015 Indianapolis, and 2016 St Louis - US silver medallist on vault, 2013 Hartford

Hong un-Jong - World silver medallist on vault, 2015 Glasgow - World bronze medallist on vault, 2013 Antwerp - 2014 Asian Games Champion, 2014 Incheon - Asian Games bronze medallist, 2006 Doha - two time Summer Universiade Champion, 2009 Belgrade, and 2013 Kazan - 2006 Asian Champion, 2006 Surat - 2013 E. Asian Games Champion, 2013 Tianjin

Giulia Steingruber - 2015 European Games Champion, 2015 Baku - European Games AA silver medallist, 2015 Baku - European silver medallist, 2015 Montpellier - European bronze medallist, 2012 Brussels

Maria Paseka - Olympic bronze medallist, 2012 London - 2015 Summer Universiade Champion, 2015 Gwangju - Summer Universiade bronze medallist, 2013 Kazan

Oksana Chusovitina NB: It is worth noting that despite competing as an international elite since 1991, Chusovitina’s first vault event final at the Olympic Games did not come until the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She also made finals in 2012 and 2016, while making history both times as the oldest gymnast to ever compete at the Olympic Games. [representing Germany] - Olympic silver medallist, 2008 Beijing - World silver medallist, 2011 Tokyo - World bronze medallist, 2006 Aarhus - two time European silver medallist, 2011 Berlin, and 2012 Brussels - European bronze medallist, 2007 Amsterdam [representing the Soviet Union] - World silver medallist, 1991 Indianapolis [representing the Commonwealth of Independent States] - World bronze medallist, 1992 Paris [representing Uzbekistan] - two time World silver medallist, 2001 Ghent, and 2005 Melbourne - two time World bronze medallist, 1993 Birmingham, and 2002 Debrecen - 2002 Asian Games Champion, 2002 Busan - Asian Games silver medallist, 2014 Incheon - Asian Games AA silver medallist, 2002 Busan - Asian Games bronze medallist, 1994 Hiroshima - Asian Championships silver medallist, 1996 Changsha - Asian Games AA bronze medallist, 1996 Changsha

Shallon Olsen NB: Aside from her Pacific Rim title, the majority of Shallon’s vault medals came at smaller domestic meets and friendlies. - Elite Canada Champion, 2014, 2015, 2016

Wang Yan - 2014 Youth Olympic Champion, 2014 Nanjing - 2015 Asian Champion, 2015 Hiroshima - Asian Championships AA silver medallist, 2015 Hiroshima

Dipa Karmakar - Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, 2014 Glasgow - Asian Championships bronze medallist, 2015 Hiroshima

It is worth noting that three gymnasts attempted incredibly difficult vaults in the final, with Dipa Karmakar the only one to have a successful landing.

- Hong un-Jong; triple twisting Yurchenko (TTY) - Oksana Chusovitina; handspring double front (Produnova) - Dipa Karmakar; handspring double front (Produnova) 

In the end, Simone Biles came through with a clean Amanar and Cheng combo to win her first major vault title, beating out the reigning World Champion, Maria Paseka, who had to settle for silver. A botched landing on her TTY took Hong un-Jong out of medal contention, opening the door for Giulia Steingruber to win her first global medal in gymnastics and become the first Swiss gymnast to medal at the Olympics.

This final had an absolutely incredible field, and there were five or six gymnasts who had a realistic shot at the podium. Surprises erupted all around, to give us the three who reigned supreme at the end of the day.

[hasansonsuzceliktas]

Parallel Universes: Science Fiction or Science Fact?

I decided to sit down at my computer and start writing this article on parallel universes. Of course, picking this topic was entirely my own choice, and I could just as easily have chosen an entirely different topic instead. For example, I could be writing now about how the new findings at the Göbekli Tepe site have radically changed the things we know about our history. Maybe I could be writing about how the human ageing process can be slowed down through genetic manipulation or about how our civilization will suffer if we fail to develop alternative energy sources. If any of these had been the case, you would not be reading an article on parallel universes but another one instead. Maybe you wouldn’t care and just flip through the pages without reading it. All of these examples describe the successive series of possibilities that are connected to our choices at any given moment of our daily lives. So, could there be a parallel reality where I chose to write about another topic? Is there another one depending on whether you chose to read it or not? Is there a copy of you in another parallel world who, rather than reading this article, decides to go for a walk or see a new movie instead? When we put it this way, the question seems odd to us, but most of us use similar phrases all the time: “If I’d accepted that job offer, I would have been in a better position now and earning a better salary. I made the wrong choice.” “If my son had not insisted on going to that concert, he wouldn’t have been in that bus accident. He would still be alive.” “If my favorite sports team had done things a little differently, they could have been champions now, and I would’ve made a stack of cash on that bet. They didn’t, though, dashing the dream of them being champions and flushing my bet down the drain.” “If I’d listened to my friend’s warnings and sold that company’s stock, my losses would’ve been much less. That mistake cost me dearly.” In the flow of the life, we frequently face situations where we need to make choices. These choices sometimes seem insignificant and ordinary, and other times, the choice we make creates a breaking point in our lives that we did not foresee. The reality we live in right now is formed from the direct consequences of our choices and decisions. Before we make a choice, we see a composite image of the multiple possibilities, but usually we cannot clearly see what the direct consequences of our choices will be. The reality only becomes solid when we make a choice and encounter its consequences. Take for example the years before you graduate from high school. If you’re wondering whether to study medicine or engineering, you will only see what one of these will bring when you actually choose, because the situation then becomes your reality. Before you choose, only possibilities and uncertainties show themselves. At this point, a question surely pops up: At the point of a decision, is it possible there is a different reality for each possible choice where its consequences are encountered? To put it another way, in the earlier example of someone who regretted turning down a job, did he accept it in a different reality and live a very different life? Could the son who wanted to go to a concert still be alive in another reality, because he decided not to go and never boarded that doomed bus? Maybe the bus never crashed at all because he didn’t get on it. Is there another reality where your favorite sports team made better choices and won the championship? Could there be an alternative reality where the person who invested badly chose a different stock instead, ending up rich instead of bankrupt? These questions reside in the area of parallel universes, a tempting and exciting topic that has been dear to sci-fi writers for some time. The main principal of this attractive theme is simple:  The situation in which a choice is made is just one branch of the tree of multiple possibilities. In other words, the resulting reality excludes all the other possibilities, yet all of the choices facing you become realized independently of each other. These other choices become realized in other planes of an unending multiverse system. Parallel universes in pop culture In popular culture, such as sci-fi or fantasy movies and books, choices and decisions sometimes determine splits that happen in someone’s personal life, just like in the above examples. The movie Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, is one such movie. Paltrow’s character, Helen, arrives at the PR firm she works for and learns she’s fired. She journeys home, feeling down, and we watch the interesting split that emerges when Helen either catches the subway train or misses it. If she catches it, she arrives home early and catches her boyfriend cheating on her with another woman. In this case, Helen dumps the boyfriend, finds a new job, and moves on with her life. If she missed the train, however, she never catches her boyfriend “in the act,” so she continues with this pointless relationship with a cheating lover and lives an unpleasant life. Before our eyes, the movie unravels two different parallel universes where each of these possibilities becomes realized from the time of the event. Some other works based on this theme focus not on the small details in individual lives but rather on parallel outcomes that affect nations and even the whole world. For example, The Man in the High Castle, by the well-known sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, takes the determining event of World War II to a parallel reality. In Dick’s book, changes in pre-war events lead to the war being won by the Axis Powers (Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy) rather than the Allied Forces, and the face of the world is considerably different. In this story, Japan rules over Australia and New Zealand and most of the Far East, while Germany rules western Asia and much of Europe,  with Italy ruling over many of the Mediterranean regions. The USA has been torn apart by the victors and turned into a puppet federation. In his book, Philip K. Dick tries to question what our planet would have turned into by pointing out the alternative consequences of World War 2, something that strongly affected the current reality of our world. We see a similar approach in a 1992 novel by Harry Turtledove, The Guns of the South. A group of white, racist South Africans travel back in time to the fierce days of the American Civil War. They bring aid to the commander of the Confederate Army, General Robert E. Lee, in the form of AK-47 assault rifles and nitroglycerin tablets to treat General Lee’s heart condition. Thanks to this decisive aid, reality as we know it is changed, and the war is now won by the Confederacy. Of course, the consequences of this split change not only the visage of America but also of the whole world. In Turtledove’s fiction, a parallel universe is constructed where the Confederate Army has won the American Civil War, and the subsequent political developments follow in accordance with this critical difference. For those eager to wander through the labyrinths of history and ponder on other alternatives that could have changed the current reality of the world, is it possible not to consider what kind of a world would result? For example, take the situation of 4th century Rome: Emperor Julian, who became sole emperor after the death of Constantius II, decided to restore the ancient belief system and denounce Christianity, which had recently become the “official religion.” He was such a powerful and influential leader that he could enforce this transformation through determination. As he was about to successfully achieve this, however, he died unexpectedly during the Persian campaign. (According to some sources, this was an assassination planned by his opponents.) This changed everything. His opponents, who then ruled in Rome, not only reinstated Christianity as the official religion, but they also banned all other ancient beliefs, temples, and rituals. This transformation marked the beginning of the Dark Ages, which probably would have not happened at all if Julian had not died during the Persian campaign. Rome, and much of the known world, would have progressed in a completely different direction. Rather than churches and cathedrals, imagine European cities with magnificent temples dedicated to Mithra, Juno, or Cybele. These changes would not have been limited to architectural buildings and belief systems—they would have affected our sense of philosophy, which would be very different to what it is today. Speculation and mental gymnastics begin when we say things like, “What if that event had ended with a different outcome.” It’s one thing when we talk about the existence of multiple universes—the multiverse is another thing entirely. The multiverse is an infinite number of universes where every possible option becomes realized. We live different lives in some of them, but we were never born at all in most of them. Taking this further, assume that in many of these universes, the principles and laws are different from in our current reality. Now, do our “natural laws” prevail? This rather challenges the limits of our minds, doesn’t it? This way of thinking is not just the fantasy of imaginative sci-fi writers— it’s also is fed by theories in modern physics. Looking at the books and movies with sci-fi themes, we may mistakenly assume this thinking belongs to recent history only. We might also think that it started during the nineteenth century, when the momentum of science and technology started to gather and there were favorable environments where fantastic ideas (think of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells) were able to germinate in our cultures. However, this is not the case. Surprisingly, the history of concepts like multiple worlds and parallel universes goes back ages, even millennia. The idea of parallel universes: A brief history Roughly 2,500 years ago, philosophers (known then as “atomists”) in ancient Greece proposed the hypothesis of multiple universes. They theorized that the system we live in couldn’t be the only universe possible. According to them, each universe stands apart from ours and has its own closed structure with its own stars and so on. They believed a great many universes went through their own processes at distances we couldn’t imagine, so there was no way to validate their existence. These independent universes, which have no contact and connection with each other, are parts of a multiversal system with an infinite size. If you think that time was too early for such a radical idea, let’s continue by saying that at least 3,500 years ago, a similar thought structure emerged in Hindu culture: Vedic cosmology. It’s likely that it actually originated much earlier. Its rich mythologies, which are interwoven with colorful stories, talk about many different universes existing separately. Some of these universes are similar, while others display completely different features. Even if there is no proof of its similarity with the parallel universes idea, the fact that the concept of multiple universes appeared in ancient thinking is certainly interesting enough. Well, when did this brave and radical thinking change occur? And when did the idea of “there is only one universe” emerge? The general consensus is that this approach was proposed by Aristotle in Ancient Greece. The universe we are in, according to Aristotle, is the one and only and has no other alternative. This “unique universe” model, which was embraced by the theologians of the following centuries, is in harmony with religious dogma, because it places the world and its special inhabitants, us, in a privileged position. We know the belief that God created just this special, one-of-a-kind universe has been eagerly embraced and promoted by religious authorities, so it ruled in Western philosophies for some time. Even so, it could not completely prevent discussions about multiple universes among the theologians of the middle ages. It’s possible that a paradigm shift started in the 18th century with the Age of Enlightenment. The old model of the universe, which is geocentric, assumes that all celestial objects revolve around the Earth. It started to be discredited with the developments in astronomy in the 16th century, yet the concept of a single universe prevailed for a few more centuries. Thomas Lepetier, a historian and philosopher of science, says in his book Univers Paralleles that the first thinker who elaborated upon the concept of the multiverse, as we understand it now, was not a physicist or astronomer but rather Auguste Blanqui, a well-known French socialist. As one of the leaders of The Paris Commune of 1871, he had been arrested just before the uprising and imprisoned at Taureau Castle. This famous socialist spent his time in prison by pondering astronomy, which he believed “was central to everything.” He wrote his work Eternity by the Stars, in which we encounter the first striking elaboration on the idea of parallel universes. As he worked in his cell, he considered there are an infinite number of Blanquis, existing simultaneously in separate universes and making a different decision at each different option. He theorized that these Blanquis advance on completely different life paths within the countless branches of the tree of possibility, and he tries to formulate this model. The book, which he completed in prison, presents the idea that “there is an endless number of universes, distinct from each other, where at each moment, each possibility is actualized.” Lepeltier says in his book, “It is possible to observe that this thesis became a current issue again in the late 20th century... and it is emerging not from the depths of a dungeon anymore but from the most prestigious universities in the world. Its strongest advocates now come from Cambridge, Oxford and Princeton.” Science, not fantasy When we touch upon the topic of parallel universes, we’re no longer talking about the fantasies of sci-fi but rather the theories and studies of the leading physicists of our time. Especially after the dizzying developments that particle physics has gone through in the last generation, the idea of a multiverse where every possibility is actualized at every moment is central to one of the leading theories. Certainly, when defining parallel universes, physicists prefer not to use the superficial approach I‘ve used to spice this article up. They strive to explain this extremely important issue through long, complicated formulas or experimental results that are beyond a layman’s understanding. Nevertheless, whether using the hardcore scientific approach or my choice of lighter examples, the consequence that matters most to us remains: Even if it‘s not yet completely proven, it’s likely we live in one component of the highly complicated system we call the multiverse. From the discussion in the halls of theoretical physics to the daily conversations or the imaginative tracks of sci-fi, this concept can be called by other names: parallel universes, quantum universes, alternate universes, parallel worlds, or alternative realities. As you can imagine, the various theories in this area are numerous. The Many Worlds Interpretation, also know by its popular acronym MWI, was developed by Hugh Everett of Princeton University in 1957. It was one of the breakthrough theories of the time. Starting in the 60s, it was developed through the contribution of physicists from all over the world. In a nutshell, the MWI talks about “a complicated structure where all possible pasts and futures are real and each represents a separate world or universe.” It’s similar to the concept of distinct universes, where each possible choice is realized. In other words, the previous understanding of reality as a single, unchanging linear history was radically changed by the MWI. It’s useful to point out the names of two prominent experts in this field: Michio Kaku and Brian Greene. They stand out not only because of their studies into the structure of multiple universes but also because of their successful books, which translate these complex subjects into something everyone can understand. In particular, Greene’s book The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos is one of the most impressive works of this decade in this field. As you’ve no doubt noticed, this is only an introduction to this subject. We haven’t yet said anything about the flashy developments in the quantum world that support the existence of parallel universes. So, let’s just accept this as a beginning and resolve to continue our journey into parallel universes later. After all, maybe we’ve already done this in a parallel reality. Who knows? Read the full article

[freifraufischer]

The geopolitics that left two of Ukraine’s best gymnasts out of the Olympics...

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was very awkward in it’s timing from a sporting point of view.  Most spots for the 1992 Olympic Games were gained by USSR teams competing in that year but by the next the country didn’t exist.  It was decided to allow the former Soviet Republics (other than the Baltic States that had become independent earlier) to compete as the Unified Team under the Olympic banner for team events with their individual country’s flag and anthems for individual events.

This makes one of the traditional debates about the 1992 Olympics a bit complicated one Tatiana Gutsu fell in her optional beam exercise and Rosa Galieva finished ahead of her.  In any year previous there would be no question that a Soviet coach could decide substitute a gymnast with perceived greater medal potential.  It had happened in 1985 at the world championships and 1990 at the Goodwill Games.  But when the AA was an individual competition was it right that a Russian coach could pull an Uzbek gymnast in favor of a Ukrainian?  Mostly this is a debate only American gymnastics fans care about because of it’s implications for the Gutsu vs Miller all around battle.

But it does highlight just how complicated the Unified Team was as an organization.  One might say that they simply behaved like it was a USSR team ... but let me show you how they didn’t from the very beginning.

Let’s start with the 1992 European Championships which was the first gymnastics meet where these gymnasts competed under their own flags and which happened before the 1992 Olympic Games.  Here are the results from the AA with the non-former Soviet countries removed.

1 Tatiana Gutsu UKR 39.725 4 Tatiana Lysenko UKR 39.137 5 Svetlana Boginskaya BLR 39.136 6 Ludmilla Stovbchataya UKR 39.061 10 Elena Grudneva RUS 38.849

4 of these 5 gymnasts would be on the 6 person 1992 Unified Team.  Their names are bolded.

It should be noted that a number of relevant gymnasts couldn’t compete in 1992 Euros because their new countries were in Asia so this excludes Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan athletes who will be relevant to this conversation later.

Now let’s look at the 1992 CIS Championships.  The CIS was the temporary successor organization to the USSR for this transition.  I have added their country listing at the time.

1 Tatiana Lysenko 39.725 - UKR 2 Roza Galiyeva 39.412 - UZB 3 Oksana Chusovitina 39.099 - UZB 4 Svetlana Boginskaya 38.950 - BLR 5 Natalia Kalinina 38.862 - UKR 6 Tatiana Gutsu 38.825 - UKR 7 Anna Zaitseva 38.687 - KAZ 7 Ludmilla Stovbchataya 38.687 - UKR 9 Svetlana Kozlova 38.487 - RUS 10 Elena Grudneva 38.450 - RUS

I have bolded the members of the Unified Team.  Gutsu won 3 of the CIS Championships event finals on vault, bars, and beam.  Stovbchataya won the event final on floor.

During the USSR period it was entirely possible for the team selectors to creat a team with no Russian gymnasts.  They had in 1989 at the World Championships where the team had been made up of 2 Ukrainians, 2 Latvians and 2 Belarussians.  But they did not pick the Unified Team blind to country of origin.  There had to be a Russian on the team and so they skipped over two Ukrainians who had better results (and a Kazak) in order to put Elena Grudneva on the 1992 Olympic team.

I suspect that if Ukraine had been allowed to compete as it’s own country in 1992 they could have won the gold outright.

Natalia Kalinina was one of the greatest gymnasts never to make an Olympic Team.  She was a member of the 1991 USSR World Championship team that had won gold and had beaten Boginskaya in 1990 to take the 1990 Goodwill Games AA.  The above video is from that performance.  She was a stunning classical floor worker.  She continued to compete for Ukraine for a few years after being snubbed from the 1992 selection.

This is Ludmilla Stovbchataya’s 1992 European Championships EF Beam.

She won the bronze behind Gutsu and Boginskaya.

Stovbchataya would continue to complete for Ukraine as well for a few years past the 1992 Olympics.  

[freifraufischer]

So used to saying Russian when we meant the Soviet Union and now...

John Taylor admitting without admitting it that he was a lazy SOB calling any number of gymnasts Russian who weren’t for years.  Or he’s complaining that he now has to call them Ukrianians and Belarussians ect... 1992 European Championships.

[freifraufischer]

An update from my latest deep dive into youtube has yielded.  I haven’t watched any of it yet (i have a to watch list) so can’t really comment on any of it yet for content.

2019 - Asian Championships Aurora Games

2018 - Looks like we lost the 2018 Commonwealth Games vault final which was the only part of that competition we have.  It’s a good time to point out again that the Commonwealth Games are incredibly aggressive only behind the Olympics about striking videos.  If you haven’t watched the current year competition yet and you want to you should make it a priority.

Added the 2018 Asian Games UB Final.  Don’t have anything else from this.

CBC version of the 2018 Worlds AA

2017 - South East Asian Games EF

The Chinese National Games

The CBC version of the Worlds AA.  Or in other words the Ellie Black is Really Nifty version.

2015 - South East Asian Games

The CBC versions of the World TF and World AA

2014 - Asian Games UB Final

CBC version of the Worlds AA

2013 - The Chinese National Games

2009 - The Chinese National Games

2008 -  The BBC version of the Euros TF (and the FX final).  Can’t wait to hear how they react to the worst camera angles for gymnastics ever.

2006 - The Beam Final from the Asian Championships... (not to be confused with the Asian Games)

Qatari (no commentary) coverage of the WAG TF from the Asian Games.

2005 - The Australian version of the Worlds AA.  This makes the fifth version of this final I have and that kind of amuses me (the other four are BBC, Eurosport, WCSN/American, and Spanish).

The Chinese National Games... and I mean a LOT of it.  It’s broken in parts so it’s missing at least one bit of one sub from qualification but otherwise it’s largely complete with qualification, team final, AA, and EFs.  

2004 - A little over half of Athens qualification (2 full subs, half of another though nothing from the American sub), a bit of the Athens team final from the BBC, 3 rotations of the AA from the BBC, and the entire AA from Brazilian TV.  

Unfortunately it looks like the only copy of the Athens FX EF was nuked.  In trying to see if there was any other version of it still on youtube I found some partial coverage from NBC and have put it in it’s place.  It’s not ideal but I really can’t tell you how much building an olympics from youtube coverage can be a bit like filling the holes in swiss cheese.

2003 -  Universiade Team Final

A full length no commentary version of the Worlds TF ... but it is deeply potato.

2002 - Asian Games AA - I don’t know how I missed this one the first time because i grabbed the team final and event finals from the same source.

2001 - East Asian Games AA

2000 -  The English Eurosport version of the Euros EFs.  Previously I had a version in French only.  

Canadian junior and senior championships.  This is video from the stands which I often pass on but I make exceptions and non-US championships is often something I’ll go with if it seems complete which this does.  

Canadian Olympic Trials (from the CBC).

The Australian version of the Olympic TF.

1999 - Russian Cup

1998 - English Eurosport coverage of the Euros EFs

Japanese (I think) coverage of the Asian Games.

1997 -  French Eurosport coverage of the European Masters of Gymnastics.  I had the ABC version of this before but that is 30 minutes long and this version is almost 3 hours long.  Ahh editing to fit a time slot.  The European Masters of Gymnastics is a now defunct meet format that involved teams of WAG/MAG/RG not unlike USAG’s 3 on 3 but... also so much more complicated.

The East Asian Games.  

1992 -  Two versions of the Worlds semi finals (both are Eurosport so likely only differ in commentary one in english and one in I believe dutch).  Canadian Olympic Trials.  The Spanish version of the Olympic AA final.  

1991 - The ABC version of the European Cup AA.  Because why not edit a 2 hour AA down to half an hour?  At least it’s Bart and Kathy.

The CBC version of the Worlds AA.

1985 - The Eurosport version of the 1985 Worlds EF and a more complete version of the 1985 Worlds EF from ABC (it has Fahnrich’s bars but you know how cares about showing the vault final...)

1982 - Asian Games Team Final

1980 -  21 minutes of the Moscow AA with Japanese commentary.  It’s in 3 parts but I suspect that is all of that one since that is about the length the sometimes would edit down an AA.

1976 -  8 of 10 parts of the Olympic AA.  As is the general rule if something was uploaded in a million parts more than a decade ago some amount of it is missing.