Up until this era (late 90's) floor gymnastics had great beauty. But the 2000's brought a tendency for difficulty increase, prompted by the pursuit of higher scores, that resulted in weaker body control. These days it's rare to see a floor exercise that doesn't look like a struggle. Gymnasts traded correct landings and smooth dismounts for complexity. In a way, pushing the envelope is good, it's progress, it's how things evolve. But i'm afraid we will never again see the beauty and perfection shown in this video, as the sport moves further away from the performance style of Vitaly Scherbo and his contemporaries.
+Jimmy David I couldn't have said it better! There's a certain classiness that male gymnasts used to have that this generation's gymnasts seem to lack big time.
Well, yes, i didn't say it's *impossible* to increase difficulty while keeping class and smoothness. But it sure is harder. I remember watching this very competition in 96 on TV, and there was another gymnast that placed 2nd on Floor (just behind Scherbo), his name was Eugeny Podgorni, from Russia. His routine was IMO superior to this one, more complex and harder, and yet he managed to drop landings like he had nails underneath his feet (check around, maybe it's on RU-vid, not sure).
1:25 La comentarista dice "doble en plancha." Era doble en plancha con "giro completo." En todos los videos donde esta mujer es comentarista se equivoca con los nombres de los elementos. Vitaly era un gimnasta fenomenal. Era el Rey de los Juegos Olímpicos en Barcelona en 1992.
Lovely but he got a gift with that score. A 9.762 despite multiple small steps on the landing on that last pass. There were three visible steps there. His rep helped him quite a bit there, scoring higher than both Nemov and Li on floor. He only barely won bronze and that final score helped him get it
He scored poorly in individual floor competition however, placing only 7th. I don't think I have ever seen that performance, he must have made some major mistake?
