Here is a great article on Tatiana Lysenko where she talks about her training in the then Communist Soviet Union. It is an interesting read. I know the world loves Tatiana, I always found her overrated but you have to give this girl huge props for leaving Ukraine and becoming a lawyer in a different Country. I wish I had her drive.
The Bleacher report has an article on Mckayla Maroney I kind of see his point about taking a one event gymnast in case of injury. If someone gets hurt we might be doomed.
An Interview with Jordyn Wiebers mom. Message to the blogger, burn that shirt:)
Something from Mattie Larsen to make you laugh.
Looks like Talia Chiarelli, has picked her future College choice.
Kevin Costner and his daughter Lilly wishing Jordyn Wieber good luck at the Olympics. What did you people do chase Kevin down at the airport.lol
Watch all parts of Aly Raisman’s documentary at this link. If you can sit through so called expert Jonathon Powers more power to you.
Aly works hard. I am watching part 6 now and I feel like crying for her. I would never put my kid through this. She’s working her ass off and nothing she does is good enough for Mihai. OMG, this is like cruel.
Tags: talia chiarelli
Gymtruthteller's Blog 
July 11, 2012 at 9:43 PM |
GTT, I actually don’t really see his point about Maroney. Unless I am misunderstanding something about how the team scoring works, really only 3 gymnasts scores count on each apparatus for the team score (and that is the scores of the 3 gymnasts who compete on the apparatus in team finals). You already have one built in backup, and that is the gymnast who competed on the apparatus in the team qualification round but wasn’t supposed to compete on the apparatus in team finals. Then the alternates provide even more backups on each apparatus. The odds that we are not going to be able to field 3 at least decent gymnasts on each apparatus for team finals because of injuries seems pretty remote to me. It makes more sense to me to fill the 5th spot on the team with a real kick-ass specialist on one event like Maroney than just to put in another solid but not spectacular all-arounder like Price. I think that gives more potential upside to your team score that is not there without the specialist.
July 11, 2012 at 9:47 PM |
We are one injury away from using Aly in team finals on bars. That scares me because I would use Aly before Mckayla, 100 times out of 100 times.
July 11, 2012 at 9:57 PM
If Gabby, Jordyn, or Kyla get hurt, we are going to have to immediately replace that person with one of the alternates. Your first thought is Anna Li because she is good on bars. But it was Gabby or Jordyn, you can’t do that because you need someone who can sub in for the injured gymnasts on all the events she was scheduled to compete. That means Price in my opinion. If it is Kyla then maybe you sub in Anna. I guess I am just not seeing how an injury to Gabby, Jordyn, or Kyla would mean you have to use Maroney on bars for team finals which is what really counts.
July 11, 2012 at 10:16 PM
It depends on where the injury happens. Sam Peszek’s injury means we use Aly. It’s the only event we have no back up on with this team.
July 11, 2012 at 10:44 PM
I don’t think Marta will use Anna, at all. Unless two people get injured. If Kyla or Gabby gets injured I see her using Aly on bars and making up the deficit with Sarah’s beam and floor. If Aly or Jordyn or Maroney get injured I see her using Price.
Maroney is “capable” on beam and I do see potential in her bars but she’s nowhere near where she needs to be for Marta to use her on bars over Aly. Aly is a guaranteed hit.
Aly also needs to learn how to not speak like a robot. It’s like whenever a camera is on her she gets this monotone voice.
And Gabby never had a chance at normalcy; look at her parents. She’s not even being raised in her own home. Sad.
July 12, 2012 at 7:50 PM
RAISMAN. Most people speak in sentences, but Aly speaks in paragraphs. A series of complete thoughts are drawn to a conclusion with hardly any punctuation in between. For listeners (who are looking for sentence fluency) she can be hard to follow.
DOUGLAS. Gabby is like a lot of athletes. She answers questions with cliches (which rarely answer the question). And the more reporters badger her, the more likely she is to reuse them.
After a couple of run-on sentences from Aly and a few trite responses from Gabby, TV viewers will be begging to hear from orators: Maroney and Price.
July 12, 2012 at 8:29 PM
Yes, poor Aly needs to stick to print ads or commercials where she doesn’t have to speak. She’s a nice kid but speaking is not her strength. I do give Aly credit though that at least she gives thoughtful responses rather than just spits out cliches like Gabby. Gabby also needs to slow down and take a breath. She is young though and I suspect will grow out of it.
Mikayla is the one with pizzazz and personality. She doesn’t spit out cliches and is also funny without trying to be. I think she is a marketer’s dream. Watch out if she wins gold on vault, and really watch out if they get a team gold too.
Elizabeth is not super exciting from a personality standpoint but she is very well spoken and gives intelligient, thoughtful responses to questions. She sounds more like a mature, well-spoken but reserved 25 year old than a 16 year old, doesn’t she? She actually looks older than the typical 16 year old too.
July 11, 2012 at 9:52 PM |
I agree with GTT, it is pretty scary because isn’t there a certain point at which you can’t put your alternates in any more? Aly’s bars have gotten much better though
July 12, 2012 at 9:12 PM
The question of exactly what the deadline is for substituting in an alternate for somebody on the team who gets injured is interesting. I for one would like to know what the rule is before the games start. I’d hate to be thinking we have the option of using one of the alternates in case of injury, and then an injury happen and then find out the deadline has passed.
The only thing I could find on the Internet seems to suggest that you have to replace any athletes with alternates by the time of the “technical meeting” for the competition. That sounds like something that happens before the competition starts, If true, that would mean that is someone gets injured during the preliminary qualification round, you cannot replaced the injured athlete with an alternate. Does anybody know the exact rule?
July 12, 2012 at 10:00 PM
4 year ago Sam got hurt right before the competition and they could not use the alternate. I would like to know the rule also.
July 13, 2012 at 1:33 PM
If the deadline is the “technical meeting”, then wouldnt the athletes have already warmed up and be ready to compete? So…if something happens in warm up, wouldnt they be allowed to replace someone?
I’m just going off of how meets I’ve been at have been…the meeting of coaches/judges is usually right after warm ups, immediately before the gymnasts march in. I can see not being allowed to pull an alternate in if it happens DURING the meet, but if it happens moments before it baffles me as to why you cant pull the injured one and warm the alternate up quickly. Maybe it is for the alternate’s safety…maybe they worry the alternate wouldnt have enough time to warm up and could risk injury with them, too.
July 13, 2012 at 3:22 PM
Here is a link to a document I found on the Internet:
Click to access 4.Late_Athlete_Replacement_Policy.pdf
I think this means the “technical meeting” is the last point in time where you can sub in an alternate.
July 11, 2012 at 9:44 PM |
Jordyn’s mom seems super classy; I have yet to read the book though. I’m sure it will be interesting but probably won’t read like a tell-all. And that post from Mattie reminded me how sad I was about what happened at worlds! I heard a rumor that after those worlds Martha told Mattie she would never make another world or an Oly team, and that’s why Mattie left elite gymnastics. If the rumor is true then I think it’s really unfair of Martha to trust Alicia again (2010 and 2011 Worlds) but not to give Mattie a second chance.
July 11, 2012 at 10:04 PM |
Yes, I like Jordyn’s mom a lot. I did think it is funny how she bugs Jordyn just by breathing. Jordyn seems to be just your typical teen except she happens to be the world;s best gymnast (IMO), which is another reason I like her.
July 11, 2012 at 10:17 PM |
That is what I like about this team minus Gabby. They all seem like normal kids.
July 11, 2012 at 10:22 PM |
I love that her mom is not overbearing and lets the training to the coach. She’s just supportive and that’s nice to see.
July 11, 2012 at 10:33 PM |
I agree! I made this meme about Gabby’s arrogant self…….http://gymjuice.blogspot.com/2012/07/yo-gabby.html
July 11, 2012 at 10:38 PM |
Wow great interview with Tatiana, love it. In terms of her potential I think she was bigtime underrated then. Probably still is.
July 11, 2012 at 10:44 PM |
I say overrated. People act like she was the best when in fact she never was.
July 11, 2012 at 10:45 PM
I don’t even remember her.
July 11, 2012 at 11:38 PM
It’s a bit like Pavlova. She is only overrated now by the fans to make up for not winning. Tatiana is very well known yet you won’t find many plucking her from a crowd of Soviets. She would have been the best without those stupid mistakes, she didn’t have a weak event and competed such difficulty when it wasn’t neccessary- I think it is the DTY in a crowd of FTY’s that makes her memorable to many. But anyway, just my opinion. I would have put her on a podium over Gutsu any day, and Milo.
July 11, 2012 at 10:52 PM |
I think she was the best in terms of the difficulty and execution she had at the time. It was just rare that she could put it all together in one competition. I don’t think people act like she was the “best”, but really respect her gymnastics and wish she had had a breakout competition.
I mean, she was throwing DTY on the old horse when she really didn’t need to. Same with her beam routine, it was so daring and original. Her floor in Barcelona is still my all-time favorite. Also, I thought it was great that she continued to train for Ukraine after the 92 games, I’m sure that really helped the younger gymnasts like Podkapayeva to see her in the gym.
I personally loved her, still do. She’s proof that you can have difficulty and execution. Just imagine what she could have done under this code!!
July 11, 2012 at 11:14 PM |
Sorry you are wrong. Okay you are not wrong you are just a nice see the cup half full type of person. I am the opposite but I like when you peppy people give your peppy opinion and I get to balance it with my critical eye.
All I ever heard people talk about is how Tatiana would have beaten this and that person if she had hit but she never did hit, not when it really mattered. They do the same thing to Dominique Dawes when acting like she was Gods gift to gymnastics in the US. Ignoring the fact that if you fix her mistake you fix everyones mistake and she still doesn’t end up on top. There is something to be said for proving it when it matters.
July 11, 2012 at 10:55 PM |
I love Aly’s documentary. I think at one point Mihai say’s “Nobody cares how tired you are, do it again” But you can tell he’s pushing her because he knows she can handle it and it’s what she has to do.
And Aly tweeted about her forcing him to go perfume shopping at the airport.
July 11, 2012 at 11:17 PM |
He was so mean. I don’t know when Nunno was mean to Shannon she just looked at him like he was nuts. When Mihai was mean to Aly she looked like she wanted to cry. It made me want to beat him up.lol
I understand you need to be tough sometimes but I would never sit there and take this if it was my child.
July 11, 2012 at 11:42 PM
I don’t get the Steve Nunno hate. In a way I do because he was such a psycho, yet nothing suggests he was actually a dick to her, and that’s important. Just loud. Now Steve Rybacki is SO EASY to hate when he was Vanessa Atler’s coach. It galls me that he wasn’t ripped to shreds over that and is now on the selection committee of all things, but then it took them soooo long to get rid of pedos so not a big surprise.
Now, to watch the rest of the Aly doc. I tried but I was too tired for her monotone voice. I love her, but the voice…
July 12, 2012 at 12:18 AM
LOL I don’t Mihai is being mean, I think he’s like Bela Karolyi. He wants his gymnast’s confidence to be so built up that not even he can tear it down. And what pedos Catherine???
July 12, 2012 at 12:50 AM
There’s one in particular, I’m not sure if it’s Doug or not. I’ve read so often from numerous sources about USAG’s murky history in allowing convicted sex offenders to keep coaching, and now I can barely find anything. Anyway, everything I’ve read sounds almost as bad as what the church did in my country, just move them aound! http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gymnastics-330840-usag-artsports.html
July 12, 2012 at 2:17 AM
I give Nunno credit in that I think he had enough sense not to belittle Shamnon. I don’t think she was the type that would have reacted well to being belittled. I think it would have wrecked her confidence rarher than made her stronger. He didn’t praise her much either which was good too I think because it kept her from being satisfied. He can be criticised for a lot of things but I think he knew how to handle her personality type.
July 12, 2012 at 3:25 AM
Wow I did not know that Don coach of the 84 team was a pedophile. Have ya’ll seen the documentary where Mary Lou Retton says Bela Karolyi never like Don? I guess that’s why! If it’s even true. While I feel bad for anyone who was ACTUALLY molested, I think some of these cases are people making false claims, or thinking the coach had sexual intent when he didn’t. Just spotting a lot of times can LOOK inappropriate LOL but that’s just the way gymnastics is. If you don’t want your coach grabbing your boobs and butt and everywhere else then fine, crash on your face!
July 12, 2012 at 4:03 AM
Don Peters later turning out to having molested Doe Yamashiro and others had nothing to do with Bela not liking him. Bela didn’t like Peters because he was Bela’s main rival at the time pure and simple, and Bela did everything he could to push him aside. Peters sexual misconduct was reprehensible but Bela was emotionally and physically abusive to his gymnasts. I doubt Bela had any idea about Peters dark side but if he did he couldn’t have cared less, except maybe to use the fact to blackmail him or otherwise to promote Bela’s own power and standing in the gym world.
July 12, 2012 at 4:16 AM
Also, I wasn’t a gymnast so I guess I am not qualified to comment on how much grabbing of “boobs and butt and everywhere else” is necessary when spotting. It would be interesting to hear from the gymnasts and former gymnasts who read this blog on that one. There obviously has to be some inadvertent incidental contact with boobs and butts as part of legitimate spotting but I suspect you would know when someone has crossed the line into groping.
July 12, 2012 at 5:58 AM
Don Peters wasn’t just groping gymnasts. He was coercing and manipulating several of his gymnasts into having sex with him.
He should be in a jail cell, but the statute of limitations makes that impossible.
Regardless of whether the girls accusing him are telling the truth (and I personally believe they are), I don’t think it had to do with any misunderstanding involving spotting. The accusations are much more serious.
July 12, 2012 at 8:05 AM
Yeah I doubt Don Peters was doing the sexual molesting while spotting them haha. A bit har to intentionally “cop a feel” while they’re mid-air.
I was a gymnast and when my coach was spotting me I didn’t even feel it until after the fact like “oh my belly hurts” if it was a heavy spot.
July 12, 2012 at 11:32 AM
So sad when these sexual abuse stories come out. There is a gym in Mass w/ a similar situation. A coach was having sex with a couple of teenage gymnasts. USAG banned him but the head coach of the gym still let him hang around (!!) At one meet a judge recognized him and had him thrown out. Finally these girls went to the police (they are now grown up) and both men went to trial. The two victems are pretty screwed up now from what I hear. Very sad. Weirdly, the gym is now owned by the daughter of one of the men.
On the topic of coaches we hate, I think Steve R was a total dick when Vanessa left his gym. I still feel for that poor girl.
July 12, 2012 at 2:42 PM
Yes, I think Don Peters was too smart to be a groper. Based on the allegations, he identified girls who were vulnerable in some way (because they were shy or came from abusive families) and, as you say Luckystar, coerced them into having sexual relationships with him. I know one gymnast who was at SCATs for about a year in the late 80s/early 90s. She says she was surprised when she heard these allegations last year because she didn’t have any idea Peters was that type. She says she does not remember getting any uncomfortable feelings when Peter was spotting her or when he would give the typical pats on the back or hugs. I think Peters was very clever in that he carefully selected his victims while going overboard to not let on with most of the girls.
I’m a bit surprised that prosecution of Peters is barred by the statute of limitations. I thought California was supposed to be progressive on these type of things. I know a lot of states have modified their statutes of limitations so that sexual abusers cannot escape the consequences of their acts just because of the passage of time like this.
It’s been a little while since I read Jen Sey’s book, but I seem to remember she implies that there were several coaches who allowed their hands to “linger” a bit when they were spotting or giving the girls the typical congratulatory hugs. I suspect there is some truth to the suggestion that there are some coaches out there like that (who for lack of a better word I would call “gropers” as opposed to the outright molesters like Peters), but I suspect Jen’s suggestion that the gym world is rife with these types is a little over-the-top. The picture she paints is that about one out of every two male coaches are that way and I don’t think that is fair to all the male gym coaches out there, the vast majority of which I believe are not molesters or gropers.
July 12, 2012 at 8:39 PM
Of course we don’t really know what these coaches are like based on a documentary — some are really good at putting on a false front when a camera is around — but Mihai doesn’t really seem “mean” to me. Rather, he seems just very demanding and strict, which is probably necessary if you want to succeed at the highest level. I think of someone as mean when they call their gymnasts names and belittles them. I don’t think I would mind if my daughters were coached by Mihai provided they really wanted to make the sacrifices necessary to be the best and could take it, and provided what we see in that documentary is the real Mihai.
July 12, 2012 at 4:52 AM |
I’m kinda hoping that mckayla will tear her ACL and everyone will realize that putting her on the team was meant to gain just 2-3 tenths. People who say she is usable on beam are crazy. and i hope they do put her on floor cause that way she’ll land outta bounds just like at trials. I’m kinda hoping that romania or china wins the team title. i would love to see an underdog story unfold
July 13, 2012 at 6:33 PM |
I hope you were just joking when you said you wish Mckayla would tear her ACL. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
July 12, 2012 at 5:47 AM |
I noticed on twitter that the men have already done their training camp and are going home to train before the Olympics I think it would be good for the women to do that too so they have time to rest but still train after camp so they aren’t so worn out by the time they get to the Olympics
July 12, 2012 at 6:24 AM |
Aly’s documentary went through Olympic Trials. ashdfsjfhjsaf I loved the part when they were all in the hotel room afterwards. Love them
July 12, 2012 at 6:30 AM |
Anything interesting from Aly’s documentary?
July 12, 2012 at 6:52 AM |
Well at the end it was all the families of Jordyn, Aly, Kyla and Mckayla in the room celebrating. But I didn’t read too much into that. The girls seem to get along fine with Gabby, they just aren’t best friends with her. I think that’s perfectly fine, and Gabby’s fam maybe wanted to have a family get together.
Oh and she stole that USAG thing that hangs behind them when they do interviews with her name on it, she just carried this huge thing out it was hilarious.
And her having chalk all over her legs while she was getting her hair done for prom, her dad watching her compete. I wish they would have used video from Visa’s and Trials, I understand they probably can’t because of copyright blah blah, but they used the same pictures about 90 times and it got annoying. I thought the whole thing was great though.
July 12, 2012 at 8:58 PM
Copyright? What copyright? Comcast owns NBC.
July 12, 2012 at 12:32 PM |
I only watched part 1 of the Aly doc and I was not sure if I liked it. Sounds like it gets much better, so I guess I’ll be watching that at my desk today while pretending to do work…
July 12, 2012 at 12:42 PM |
Can someone help me out here – did Shannon Miller win a team world medal in absentia? I’ve read that somewhere before but now I can’t find a source. Was it during 1994?
July 12, 2012 at 2:31 PM |
She was on the team in 1994 but they won silver. From what I have seen, she competed and was not injured/had to sit out.
July 12, 2012 at 2:39 PM
I might be wrong but I think she competed in compulsories and then had an injury or something but she did actually compete
July 12, 2012 at 9:06 PM |
Steve Nunno did not want her to go to team worlds. She had competed in Russia and at Nationals within a month of each other and he wanted her to stay home and rest. USA-Gymnastics threatened him that he better take Shannon to worlds or else and he told them she would only be doing compulsories. When they were done , he left and they all whined that they didn’t know she was leaving. She competed in the compulsories which qualified the team to finals and deserved her medal.
July 13, 2012 at 11:46 AM
Thanks for clearing it up! I got confused because apparently there were two worlds that year, and the all-around and EF came first.
July 12, 2012 at 12:52 PM |
Fyi – on FB, Domi posted a link to Betty Okino’s page. Her page is very spiritual and kinda fascinating. Sadly, Betty talks about the Karolyi’s yelling at her for being weak when she had severe injuries. Why are these people allowed to coach our team? I hope they all make it through this week and get to the Olympics intact.
July 13, 2012 at 6:34 PM |
Interesting. Betty used to be a big Bela defender. Looks like she is finally seeing the truth.
July 12, 2012 at 4:06 PM |
Making it through the Aly documentary and who the eff is this “expert” they keep interviewing? Good lord he’s on my nerves! Does he have anything to do with gymnastics?
July 12, 2012 at 5:04 PM |
I’m going through the documentary too. Not sure what people are finding irritating about John Powers. He’s a well-respected sports reporter for the Boston Globe and covers a lot of sports including gymnastics. I think he is quite knowledgeable myself and IMO his commentary adds to the documentary by filling in gaps. For example he explains how the decision to go pro is a risky one, especially when it is made before the athlete has even made an Olympic team.
July 12, 2012 at 9:02 PM
I find him obnoxious plus I know a few people that have had e-mail conversations with him and he has been out right rude when you disagree with him, even if you are being respectful.
July 12, 2012 at 9:20 PM
Hah! Once you find out somebody is not a nice person your whole attitude about them and what they have to say changes. I had this professor in college who I thought was brilliant. Then one day I asked him some simple question after class and he was rude and arrogant. After that I didn’t think he was so brilliant.
July 13, 2012 at 1:38 PM
I’m just….annoyed by him hahaha
Sometimes when I watch stuff like this I forget that not everyone watching has spent a lot of time in a gym and might be watching for enjoyment…so for me his commentary is just making me clench my teeth.
But I have watched sports documentaries of sports I dont know at all and the person they have doing the commentary is helpful to me, so I guess it depends on where you are coming from, background wise.
GTT…I feel like a lot of professional sports people are like that…cant deal with anyone disagreeing with them. On the radio I hear it all the time and it’s irritating.
July 13, 2012 at 6:43 PM
Some of them also can’t stand having to talk to who they consider to be “ordinary” people or “little” people.
July 12, 2012 at 6:56 PM |
Keven Costner wasn’t at the airport, he was staying at the same hotel that Jordyn Wieber’s Olympic Send Off Party was in. They were making a “good luck Jordyn” video and probably just asked him to do it.
http://tripletwistgymblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/jordyn-wieber-olympic-send-off-party.html
July 12, 2012 at 9:01 PM |
Thanks Ashlee. It was nice of him