Category: history

Bars dismount – Tanac

REPOST from 2010:

A great old school dismount. Back in the day it was competed by many girls, especially the ones who did not like flyaways.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

That’s Nellie Kim competing it with a full twist. But it’s today a banned skill in the F.I.G. Code of Points. Happily, it’s still allowed in some levels of competition, including NCAA.

It went by many names depending on where you lived: “Spank Back”, “Whip Salto”, … Also, butt beat, Munich Salto, …

Update: Chris, of Coaching Gymnastics in the new Millennium , sends us this link: Biography – Joyce Tanac-Schroeder. The skill was, at one time, named after her.

Canadian Gymnastics 1980s and 90s

Dory Dynna has been posting some old routines on YouTube.

As a sample, watch 16 year old Curtis Hibbert on H Bar. Curtis went on to win the silver medal on this apparatus at Worlds 1987.

Kristian Thomas retires

Olympic Bronze medalist. Fan favourite. GBR captain.

Click PLAY or watch him on Twitter.

John Crosby R.I.P.

John Deary reports that we’ve lost one of the greats.

The American Olympian was coached by Abie Grossfeld at Southern Connecticut State University.

Click PLAY or watch his old school Floor Exercise on YouTube.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos 1968

It’s been 49 years since Tommie Smith and John Carlos decided to take political action – the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute. 

After having won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200-meter running event, they turned on the podium to face their flags, and to hear the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner“. Each athlete raised a black-gloved fist, and kept them raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human rights badges on their jackets.

In his autobiography, Silent Gesture, Smith stated that the gesture was not a “Black Power” salute, but a “human rights salute”. …

The american sprinters Tommie Smith,John Carlos and Peter Norman during the award ceremony of the 200 m race at the Mexican Olympic games. During the awards ceremony, Smith and Carlos protested against racial discrimination: they went barefoot on the podium and listened to their anthem bowing their heads and raising a fist with a black glove. Mexico City, Mexico, 1968 Mexico city, Mexico, 1968

In a perfect world we would keep politics and sport separate.

Now age 72, John Carlos was interviewed – 50 years before Colin Kaepernick knelt, John Carlos raised his fist

Despite being ostracized and ridiculed, Carlos says it was worth it to bring attention to the oppression of people of colour.

Nadia Comaneci Plaza in Montreal

A plaza named after Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian gymnast and runaway star of Montreal’s 1976 Olympic Games, was inaugurated at the Olympic Park on Wednesday.

Gazette