As the reigning European AA champion headed into the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, many felt Ukrainian Tatiana Gutsu was the one to beat. But she nearly was out before the All Around Final had even started.
Due to per-country limits, only the top 3 gymnasts from each team (decided by scores from the Team Competition) could advance to the Final. Tragically, Tatiana fell on her beam mount in Optionals, dropping her to fourth on her team behind Svetlana Boginskaya, Tatiana Lysenko, and Rozalia Galieva. Technically she was eligible to be substituted as her score still had her well within the Top 36. But in 1992, the IOC absolutely frowned upon non-injury substitutions.
Head Coach Alexander Alexandrov was in a bit of a pickle as his career and livelihood was dependent on how many medals he brought home from the Olympics. Galieva had no real international reputation. And with the way judging worked, it would be nearly impossible for her to medal because of it--regardless of how well she competed.
So Alexandrov made the difficult decision to pull Galieva (citing a non-existent knee injury), and put his star Gutsu back in. And boy, did it pay off.
In what would be the narrowest Olympic result under the 10.0 system, Gutsu finished ahead of American Shannon Miller by the slimmest of margins--only 0.012 (39.737 to 39.725). Both athletes competed so wonderfully. And while neither was perfect, I feel in the end that it came down to Gutsu having greater difficulty and originality on floor as well as better technique and swing on bars.
But it legitimately could have gone either way, and 'twas oh so exciting to witness in real time. As a 13-year-old having this as my introduction into gymnastics, I was like Mykayla Skinner taking out my countless insecurities onto everyone else. I'd found my home.
The 1992 Games (and the entire 89-92 Quad, really) will always hold a special place in my heart. And as it was the last Code that required originality, I feel gymnastics has gone progressively downhill ever since 😥😪.
This is a taste of the Series I've been working on for months over on Instagram--celebrating every individual World and Olympic winning routine since 1972. Obviously, I have advanced to the All-Around Champions now.
26 авг 2024
