Eddie posted his picks on Sportales. Click through for details on each.
The United States has made marked improvements with respect to their gymnastics world rankings in the past decade or so. And whenever we speak of great gymnasts that America has ever produced, some names immediately come to mind: Dominique Moceanu, Kerri Strug, Amy Chow, Kathy Johnson, Brandy Johnson, Julianne McNamara and more.
Shannon Miller
Nastia Liukin
Shawn Johnson
Kim Zmeskal
Carly Patterson
And for the boys:
Paul Hamm
Kurt Thomas
Peter Vidmar
Bart Conner
Mitch Gaylord
Peter Kormann
Blaine Wilson
Leave a comment if you are outraged that one of your favourite gymnasts was omitted.
In my opinion, the greatest American gymnast of all time, male or female, is now Nastia Liukin.
27 comments ↓
Nastia has won a lot of medals but I wouldn’t pick her as the greatest. If she could do her double fronts decently, it would be no question for me but she has that gaping hole.
I will agree with Rick based on her quality of gymnastics at the present time… but I still think she needs to have a longer career before I will say she is the greatest. If the rumours are true and she is carrying on until 2012 then we’ll see how that pans out.
Shergymrag – yes she cowboys her double front, but name one other person who qualified to three or more event finals at this olympics and won a medal on each? Name one gymnast at this olympics that did not have a significant execution error? Nastia is the best of her time… and I believe that had she grown up competing in the 80s, she would have been the best at that time under those deductions and rules.
Nastia fell on her butt on her bars dismount during the prelims. If she were competing in earlier Olympics, she wouldn’t have even qualified for the bars final.
I agree Nastia is currently one of the best American gymnasts, although for an all-around gold medalist, she has major form issues on the apparatus she’s most known for… Anyways, I would hardly pick her for the greatest of all time. I give that honor to Shannon Miller.
It’s not always about how many medals or titles a gymnast has won in her lifetime. There are so many other factors that change the outcomes. Inconsistent judging, different levels of competitors, different codes, and the list goes on.
Nastia, Shawn, and Carly were all good gymnasts but unlike Shannon, they’ve only competed at one Olympics (Kim too, though all she did for the sport), Shannon (along with most of that 96 team) are great gymnasts.
Don’t forget Dominique Dawes, Hilary, Betty, The other Johnson (can’t think of her first name).
Oh and for the men, How could you not put John Rothlisburger on there…
“It’s not always about how many medals or titles a gymnast has won in her lifetime.”
I agree. And I’m not going to say someone is the best American gymnast ever based on what she did at just one meet.
Maybe we need to say greatest contemporary gymnasts, Rick. As old as we are (gulp) there were apparently some that came before we were even born. What do we know about them and how much are their accomplisments responsible for moving the sport forward at a time when rope climb was still an Olympic Event? I think they were probably “greats” in their own way.
It not even fair to compare mens gymnastics with womens gymnastics Nastia competed a 1 1/2 on vault. For a guy a 1 1/2 wouldnt have even made trials. Her passes on floor are simlar to the boys on junior national team. Compared to woman (not degrading them just being realistic) she is the greatest of all time. But if you are including men how can u say that she is a better overall “gymnast” than any man competing on the 2008 olympic team. Justin for example, if they both used the same code of points would start over a point higher than hers. He does an extra FULL twist on vault. And her sig event is bars but i’d still say justins set is harder. Mens and Womens Gymnastics are two different sports and can’t be compared to one another. It’s like comparing softball and baseball
Pommy, I agree 100 per cent with you, specially in your pick: Shannon Miller is the greatest Us gymnast. Gymnastics to me is a delicate mix of three things, in that order: 1. Artistry, 2. Execution, 3. Difficulty.
NAstia has superb artistry, high difficulty (though she has not so much really impressive skills, maybe her first pass on fx…) but lacks in execution. She has opened legs in all her swings on UB, crossed legs in all the passes with 2 or more twists, she tricks the landings with a slight separation between hills or with dance pases on FX.
But specially what I cannot understand is why a superb gymnast like her is killing a impressive UB routine with an atrocious dismount like that?
I think Miller have it all. Artistry, execution, difficulty.
I agree that it’s not all about medals. Nastia is a good gymnast, and she has won a lot of medals, but I think that while she is graceful on dance elements, she is decidedly ungraceful on acro elements. We bemoan the loss of dance in this sport, and that’s why Nastia gets so much praise. But this sport is also about acrobatics, and for me it’s more about that than it is about dance. It’s not just her cowboyed double front. Even in twisting, which she is known for, she often crosses her feet, for instance, which should always been a .1 deduction. She even has bad form on her dismount on bars, which is her best event. So, if I were counting by medals, I might go with Nastia. But certainly not on form. And probably not even on difficulty. Definitely not on longevity. On many of these things, I think Dominique Dawes has Nastia beat.
nastia is the greatest gymnast of all time for me she has achived more in 4 years than shannon miller did in 8 years! and yes shannon competed in two olympics, so would have Nastia not for the age rule who knows how many medals she could have won had she gone. Not taking anything away from shannon she is amazing but they both have 9 world medals and 5 olympics ..and compare 4 to 8 years to do soo…so my pick goes to Nastia…second to shannon and shawn
One of my favorites from back in the day was Dominique Dawes… Kim was one of my favs too!
I know it’s not all about titles… but geez, how does a WORLD Champion like Memmel not make the cut?
I could be persuaded that Shannon Miller was as GREAT as Nastia. Even though Shannon did not win the Olympics.
Nastia sucks. The code is completely out to lunch and she got lucky in exploiting a loophole on bars that is going to get slammed shut. She also benefits from the twink mafia that like stylized appearance over power tumbling. She can’t even do a double back on FX. She’s pathetic. An embarressment to the sport. Shawn is 10 times better.
Nastia Nastia Nastia Nastia…nufff said!!!
“It not even fair to compare mens gymnastics with womens gymnastics…”
I just noticed Rick said “male or female”. I thought it was greatest male and greatest female in two separate categories. And of course I just talked about the women because I couldn’t give a fig about the men.
“I know it’s not all about titles… but geez, how does a WORLD Champion like Memmel not make the cut?”
Her form wrecks her cause.
“Shawn is 10 times better.”
Except when she’s placing second.
“Except when she’s placing second.”
Although to be fair she has placed second to Liukin exactly twice. Liukin has lost to Johnson more times than that. (You can also include 2006 Nationals, when Johnson’s score beat Liukin’s even though she was a junior.) So that’s not a totally convincing argument.
I think that Liukin is a good gymnast, but mainly on the dance side of things. I agree that her tumbling is terrible. But then I haven’t been as annoyed as other people by the general trend towards more difficult skills and less dance.
Although to be fair she has placed second to Liukin exactly twice. Liukin has lost to Johnson more times than that. (You can also include 2006 Nationals, when Johnson’s score beat Liukin’s even though she was a junior.) So that’s not a totally convincing argument.
well i don’t think 2007 should count Nastia was hurt that year. and in 2008 they both went 2 out 4…. Nastia (america cup/olympics) Shawn (nationals/trials). Each time that Shawn won Nastia had a major mistake. Shawn has never beaten Nastia when Nastia hit 4 clean routines!. So if the best gymnasts is one that is more conistent than it goes to Shawn, if the best gymnasts is one that when she is on is the best than it goes to Nastia. I like them both but to me its nastia 1st shawn 2nd
I think Nastia has a chance to be considered not only one of the best US gymnasts, but one of the bests anywhere and everywhere. I would like to see her improve her tumbling and vaulting over the next quadrennium, and then that honor will without question be hers. I think many would argue that Khorkina was one of the best, if not the best, but unlike Nastia, her vaulting and even her tumbling were at one time technically as difficult as most of the top contemporary gymnasts during her competitive years. Check out this clip of her tumbling at World’s 2001: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHscl9YacJs&feature=related
When, like Korkina, Nastia Liukin starts competing twisting double somersaulting skills, or even non-cowboyed double somersaulting skills, I will consider her as one of the best gymnasts of all time.
I personally would include the following gymnasts in that elite group:
Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson and Chellsie Memmel. I still think that a healthy Chellsie is one of the best we’ve ever had.
“Although to be fair she has placed second to Liukin exactly twice.”
TCO is pissed off that Nastia beat Shawn at all. I just get a kick out of rubbing it in.
But Nastia beat Shawn where it counted.
Also, think about the Skills Nastia is doing compared to what gymnasts in past quads were doing. Miller is still the greatest in my mind for her longevity and ground-breaking in world titles. But could she have done what Nastia is doing today on any even but vault? I’m not sure she could have handled such a bar or beam routine (although she came very close in my opinion) and on floor, Shannon had the potential for a double layout ending with a full-in but even so Nastia’s tumbling is still trickier.
MIller still rules over Nastia, but Nastia has made a mark since being a Sr. and has been consistent (despite injuries) at World Championships.
I still think Zmeskal should be over Johnson. Zmeskal was the first AA, beam, and floor champion for the U.S. If Johnson continues any kind of dominance into 2009/2010, then I would put her above Kim.
That was Shawn’s gold. Nastia stole it.
I admire all of the thought in the previous comments, but it seems kind of odd that no one mentioned Mary Lou, who really stared American gymnastics, did a great double layout on a BAD floor, full in, the best vault for an era, likely ever, original, if not “pure” bars, never fell on beam, had the smile and personality that inspired a nation, is a great inspiration and spokesperson, and was universally admired as one of the most pleasant, hardest working, toughest, most dynamic and personable athletes ever. In American women’s gymnastics (I believe ZERO Olympic medals before her) it’s kind of hard to not count Mary Lou, at least in the top 5!
i think people don’t mention Mary Lou because she was tremendously gifted by the Soviets not being around in ’84. The US team was heating up prior to 1980 too. Some Worlds medals were won by men and women. But then no Olympics in 1980. It bugs me when people claim it all started with Mary Lou and Bela.
I agree with Dave Adlard. Mary Lou was fantastic. How could I forget Mary Lou? She’s definitely on my list. Powerful tumbling, mentally tough, original skills. And she competed against the Romanians when she won her gold medal. They were at the time the best or at least second best team in the world. The only criticism of Mary Lou would be that her career was a blink of the eye. She peaked for ’84 and then, poof, she was gone. Miller, Dawes, Memmel, Liukin will all be remembered as consistently dominant American gymnasts. I hope that Shawn Johnson will stick around for another quadrennium, and either be an event specialist or focus, focus, focus on swinging bars and improving her flexibility.
I don’t think Shawn should bother doing more gymnastics. She’s already seen how the figure skating types gave a gymnastics medal to someone that Shawn could break in two like a stick.
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