Ecaterina Szabo's Golden Gymnastics Performances - Los Angeles 1984 Olympics 

Mee too. She gave me sleepless nights

Me tooooooooooooooooooo :D :D I just thought about her after yeeeeeeeeears and that is why I am here

she was the worlds best entering the 84 Olympics, Mary Lou knew that. Mary Lou was Power vs her elegance. Mary Lou won by a fraction of a point such is life. But yes she was more elegant and maybe a better gymnast. I think she deserved it but a hop vs a stick it separates them at this level... :)

YES, Szabó Kati was the best in 1984! :-)

Also, these are the compulsories designed to show off strong basics.

She took a step on her last apparatus the uneven bars on her dismount which opened the door for Mary to win gold. She took advantage by scoring two perfect tens on her vault securing her the gold medal.

+Carla Payton The format for scoring in the AA was different back then. Szabo had a disastrous UB routine, and back then your preliminary scores from the Compulsories and the Optionals was halved and added to your AA score before the AA competition even began, so she was already disadvantaged. Coupled with the fact that she did not have the best form. I'm not saying Retton wasn't also overscored, because she was too, especially on FX, but Szabo was given many gifts too, such as her BB routine that had a noticeable hop on the dismount but was still scored a 10. This was also at a time that difficulty didn't necessarily mean you'd be given a big score, that's why Romania was so decorated in the late 80's through the 90's because they performed routines that were simpler than their competitors, but they still yielded the same scoring value. Essentially, they manipulated the system to milk higher scores. If Szabo didn't fall in the Optionals, I'd agree with you. But Retton was simply better in this competition.

+Carla Payton Wow. Your baby is now 32? It seem like just yesterday. How time flies.

+Carla Payton I like Szabo's floor performance more than Mary's. She looks more graceful. But Mary took the vault. No bounce, just pure power behind those flips.

I'm agree with you

yes first is beauty..for acrobatic I go to circus acrobatics not to artistic gymnastic

The gymnastics of Szabo is of Circus too. She isn't Vera Caslavska, Agnes Keleti, Polina Astakhova, Natalia Kuchinskaya or Larisa Latýnina. The old gymnast is the true artistic gymnastic. Since 1972 all was more acrobatics.

@@alanperez6823 yes in last time even disaster. Just acrobatics and artistic almost nothing!

faeryquene yes she was better, just not here scored carried over she came to a dead hang in her UB routine and then springs later fell on her face... Funny people forget that part I'm glad the rules have changed, but the facts still remain, she screwed up her AA on UB from the start

same here ML Retton only won because she was the home athlete

@@1971veerle No she won because Szabo flubbed her bars in Optionals.

@@Kaboomboo MLR is an extremely overrated gymnast without any world championship medals & both her 2 major wins at the American cup and 84 boycotted olympics were controversial to say the least. she didn't even participate in any world championships where there was actual competition from the eastern bloc (who had the best gymnasts during that time, namely mostepanova, who undoubtedly would have won if she was allowed to participate in the 84 games) MLR wasn't even the most decorated gymnast in 84, Szabo was. also her character isn't the most likeable lol, she was part of the nassar coverup

Naa, she got screwed at uneven bars finals where she got 9.90 instead of the obvious 9.95! Watch her last uneven bar routine that is no way less than 9.95, then she wouldve tied Mary Lou for gold! That woulda been fair

thanks

Victoria konova en Londres fue espectacular pero bueno creó qué hasta no tener músculos es deducción en la actualidad las rusas y rumanas aun tienen bellas rutinas pero bueno a hora no califican lo artístico más la federación olímpica debería distribuir 50%artistico y el otro 50%ejecucion así todas tendrían su oportunidad claro las no tan artísticas estarían en desventaja es todo qué vuelva a ser gimnasia artística y no lo qué es en la actualidad particularmente las rutinas de las americanas son las mismas de siempre las perfeccionan sí pero los demás países hicieran lo mismo estaría más igual la competencia pero que aburrido es una opinión nada más yo me quedo con lo clásico y artístico korkina,mustafina,konova,jordache y otras más, qué no recuerdo el nombre de las americanas actuales mejor veo la gimnasia masculina se ven igual.

@Fernanda ...: Agree entirely!

I was then and still today a big fan of Daniela and I also loved to watch Svetlana. That was elegance and strength at the same time...Silivas should have won against Shoushounova in Seoul, but there was still a Nelli Kim as a judge :-(

I have noticed that many agree with you.

Yes because american mafia ..

She would have won if the Olympics had taken place in any other country (well, if the Olympics had taken place somewhere else, the Soviets would have been there and would have won most medals). There’s an article on reddit that intelligently analyzes Mary Lou Retton’s career: “MLR had a very unusual career. She only participated in international competitions that were heavily skewed in her favor and doesn't have any "real" accomplishments. With America reeling from the effects of 1980, they want into 1984 looking for revenge. Looking to stick it to the Soviets. They wanted a champion, and they were more than willing to overlook all the faults, context, and shortcomings of MLR. Retton wasn't just treated as a legitimate champion, but the media treated her like an all-time great. Her name became synonymous with Nadia's. The reality of the situation is that MLR probably wouldn't have finished in the top 10 if the Olympics weren't boycotted and held in a neutral location. As far as Americans and the media were concerned, Mostepanova and and Szabo didn't even exist. Retton was elevated to a mythological status. And Retton bought into her own myth. In a sport where all the top gymnasts never backed down from competing in unfavorable circumstances, MLR did the opposite. She rarely competed outside of the USA. She stuck to domestic competitions that had weak foreign fields. And when she did leave the USA, most of the time it was either Canada or a competition that the Eastern Bloc gymnasts wouldn't be attending. Then came the 1985 World Championships which was an event MLR couldn't skip without losing face. She had effectively run out the clock on dodging the best of the Eastern Bloc. Rather than face them, Retton retired. Retton ended her career having never competed in a World Cup, World Championship, or any event on European soil. During her time American gymnasts competed against a full strength Soviet delegation on five different occasions. Retton missed all five of those competitions.”

Literally the Soviet Union should’ve never boycotted, they literally had the best athletes in the world at that time. If they wanted to seek “revenge” on the Americans/West for boycotting the 1980 games, there revenge would’ve been by showing up at the Olympics and winning. Plus there would be no Mary Lou Retton because in reality if Soviets showed up, they would be sweeping the medal podium. It absolutely ashamed the American media made Mary Lou as a Nadia or Olga Korbut, she isn’t even comparable to them. Olga Mostepanova, Natalia Yurchenko, and Elena Shushunova would’ve been the real stars of the games. Ecaterina Szabo on the hand would’ve won a gold medal on a event final, as she was already a world champion on floor.

@@alexandraolvera5903 I think Mostepanova would have been the favorite for the AA and Szabo the #2 favorite that year. Gnauck would have been a contender for the AA even though she was old, and probably won bars gold again. The other Soviets contenders too, but Yurchenko was badly out of shape that year, and didn't do well at the friendship games. While she is still a contender I don't think she is the favorite at all. Shushunova was still quite young at that point and not yet dominant, but she have been a contender for a medal. I am not even sure which would be the 2nd and 3rd Soviets to make the AA after Mostepanova though, or even if they are Yurchenko or Shushunova. Hana Ricna was 2nd in the AA at the Friendship Games and did well at the 84 meets overall so she would also be a contender without the boycott.

No lo creo, tuvo un fallo muy evidente en asimétricas. Retton tuvo rutinas más simples pero estaban mucho mejor ejecutadas. Y Szabo en suelo era muy robótica, prefiero mil veces la alegría y energía de la gringa que la típica presentación rumana. De cualquier forma, las soviéticas las hubieran derrotado fácilmente. Natalia Yurchenko, Yelena Shushunova y principalmente Olga Mostepanova eran las candidatas al oro. A excepción del Oro de Ma Yanhong y de los de Li Ning todos los títulos olímpicos dados en gimnasia en Los Angeles 84 eran de risa. Muy olvidables éstas competencias.

@@alanperez6823 Creo que quedó claro que Szabo era muy superior a Retton y que si esas olimpiadas hubiesen sido en cualquier otro lado Szabo hubiese ganado

😂😂😂Mary Lou was the best!!!!

Lets just hope they keep future WC and OG out of the USA.

Shushunovafan the judges are still from all over the world, so what difference would it make? Alex ecat carried the dead hang and face plant over into her AA scores which screwed her Glad the rules have changed, but in 1984 that was the way it went. She was clearly the superior gymnast to MaryLou, just not on the day she needed to : (

I also remember watching and loved that the best actually DID win. No one compared to Mary Lou

Szabo is the champ. She performed high level of difficulty routines compared to retton. Judges were biased

Obvio las olimpiadas fue en su país,había cierta parcialidad.

Well if you wanna hide a Hungarian background, it's a strange idea to keep the name Szabo 😅

Cso true!

Bro, you are sick!nobody was trying to hide anything....you better hide yourself,or get more info...

@@ss22cristian What are you talking about "bro"?. Or shall I call you Krisztián? :) How does it feel "bro"? :D It is a fact that during the communist regime in Romania the Hungarian names which could be translated into Romanian were translated despite of the fact the people didn't ask for it. This is how Katalin became Ecatarina. Or for example János becamoe Ioan, etc. etc. The fact that you write such a comment proves that as a Romanian you still cannot face the fact that 1,5 million Hungarian lives in today's Romania, who still do not get all the rights what they deserve as a minority. The rights, which for example are guaranteed by the EU on paper at least for all minorities, and what even Romanian State promised to all minorities after WWI. Actually you should "better hide yourself, or get more info..."

What's your point?!

Indeed!

ccriderThe ability of the girls to kip to perfect hand stands during that era without the ugly straddle to hand stand made popular by Khorkina is one of the factors that I love.

i still love some of romania n russia fx. they are full of gracefull to look at, at least.

Mary Lou and Simone are just power houses against the laws of physics..its all part of gymnastics, lets not forget they had the same coach.. but yes some of the art seams to have been lost in the quest for the perfect score. But they are ALL great gymnasts never the less. And Szabo is still my favorite after all this time. Some are timeless.

Agreed.

All these routines were from the compulsories. Her optional routines were much more difficult. Her optional vault was a piked Cuervo, I believe.

@Alien Observer thanks bro 👍

excellent point!

Crede-ma , nu au uitat-o, dovada vizualizarile si comentariile!

Și eu la fel

yes she was much history behind this

She is 47 or 48 nowadays.

Oh Goodness, No... she is ROMANIAN!@@flagger2020