262: 1996 Olympic Event Finals Commissioned

This week, we bring you the final installment in our epic 1996 Olympics TRILOGY: the event finals. This episode is brought to you by Club Gym Nerd member Kris (who also commissioned the 1996 all-around final because of legendary status—the rest of us could never), who thought it only fitting that we leave no stone unturned and no competition un-dissected when it comes to the glory and wonder and pageantry of the 1996 Olympics. Correct. Thank you for supporting the show, Kris! You can watch the 1996 Event Finals along with us here. Spencer and Jessica discuss:

• VAULT
  • Round-the-clock Kerri Strug ankle coverage
  • Why the vault format at the 1996 Olympics was...weird
  • Jessica's plan to institute martial law at gymnastics meets
  • MO FREAKING HUILAN. END OF STORY.
  • Spencer has a problem with certain vaults having certain 10.0 starts (because of course he does)
  • Who should have won bronze: Gogean or Galieva? (Or Boginskaya!)
  • Shannon Miller's death-trap Tsuk of death
  • GroshevaEarringSituation.com
  • ARE THERE NO RULES FOR JOURNALISTS AT THIS MEET?
  • Amanar's controversial-ish victory
• BARS
  • Fun with casual sexism!
  • Is the current code inhibiting our appreciation of Podkopayeva's bars?
  • Dominique Dawes and the age-old question of over-scoring stuck landings
  • Svetlana Khorkina and the low-bar clip heard (but not seen) 'round the world
  • Level 4 transitions in an Olympic event final
  • Are Tim and Elfi unnecessarily/undeservedly harsh on the Romanians compared to the other nations?
  • The INNOVATIVE DIFFICULTY of co-silver medalists Amy Chow and Bi Wenjing.
  • Aggressive American bias in commentary
  • Who really should have won which medals?
  • URGENT: What is Khorkina drinking? And is it a special bars potion?
• BEAM
  • How many VHS tapes does it take to measure a beam?
  • Moceanu's terrifying head-crash onto the beam
  • KOCHETKOVA WAS ROBBED. THE INJUSTICE WILL NEVER DIE.
  • Shannon Miller's perfect, difficult, intergalactic champion routine
  • Lilia Podkopayeva's almost-as-perfect, difficult, intergalactic champion routine
  • Gina Gogean's "unexciting" routine, whether it really was "unexciting," and the etiquette of scary-fall replays
  • That shot of Shannon's face immediately after Galieva fell
  • The only medal ceremony we got to see (look how that worked out) and the outfits these poor women were put in
• FLOOR
  • China's editorial comment on American trash dancing
  • Everybody in the entire world starts with a floppy, bent-knee double layout
  • Kochetkova's score and whether it was an apology for the beam result
  • Should Simona "nutrocker" Amanar really have scored better than Dawes? We discuss.
  • Moceanu's best routine of the Olympics and why it should be a lesson for all future codes of points
  • Even Lilia Podkopayeva's uncontrolled landings are more artistic and more deserving of gold than anything anyone else has ever done
  • The 100% true story behind Mo Huilan's floor routine (it involves roller-scoring and It's A Small World)
  • Did the judges actually get it right?

CONTEST

WHAT: #BeerWithBetty: The Greatest Scavenger Hunt in the Galaxy! PRIZE: The winner will share a beer (or root beer if you are under 21) with the great Betty Okino, Olympic and World medalist, creator of the triple turn on beam, and a member of the Precision Choreography team. HOW IT WORKS: In August, we will release a list of 10 items on this photo scavenger hunt. Your mission will be to complete each one and post a photo to Twitter or Instagram tagging @GymCastic and @PrecisionChoreo and using #BeerWithBetty. The winner will be selected at random among everyone who completes all ten items. The hunt will start at 8am on Thursday August 17 and will end at 12pm on Saturday, August 19. The winner will meet with the Betty Okino at 3pm in Anaheim on August 19th! If you enter, be READY FOR BETTY because winner will meet this gymnastics legend at 3pm that day! PLUS: We will give six additional prizes for Most Outrageous photos! The top three most outrageous photos on Friday will win a personal voice message from one of Precision Choreography's gymnastics stars (people like Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone, Houry Gerbesian, and Holly Vise)! The top three on Saturday will get a special shout-out on the GymCastic podcast.

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RELATED EPISODES

• 256: 1996 Olympic All-Around Final (Commissioned)
• 255: 1996 Olympic Team Final (Commissioned)
• 261: 2017 U.S. Classic!
• 260: U.S. Classic Preview
• 258: The Fluff Cast (Commissioned)
• 254: Vanessa Atler
• 252: Myths, Legends, and Unexpected Moments in Gymnastics History (Commissioned)
• 186: Amanda Borden
• 148: Shannon Miller
• 38: Svetlana Boginskaya