Kim Zmeskal - 1992 Olympics Team Optionals - Floor Exercise

[LGailey]

This routine was wonderful at the Olympic trials...with a perfectly-performed double layout and a bit more energy in the delivery, that is.

[jsbklm]

you know i think they all have the ability to have shitty moments it depends on the fucking camera angle.

[llc831]

Totally agree with tideathlete. Her whips to double back were a teensy bit short. If she's done the whip-d layout and full in to end, she'd have rec'd 9.95+ and likely won the EF.

Her Trials floor routine was the best one she ever competed (even though I;m not a hige fan of this music/dance.)

[TikiBoy382]

I totally agree...the thing we all keep forgetting is Kim wasn't healthy for the Olympics and had a wrist injury and ankle injury, which lead to her watering her routines down...other wise she would have opened with her whip through to double layout and ended with her full in.

[htownhomie06]

dawes went 9.925 just before this routine. miller scored 9.887 just before that one. no way kim should've scored better than 9.9 (i believe she tied dawes -- that was a WC score 2 me! either that or dawes was grossly underscored (watch both & u tell me?).

[maxy7792]

she is a powerhouse probaly the best rutine i have EVER seen her do, but i think that last move with her tumb was stupid at the end lol

[brookenicole222]

When I was 10, this routine was THE ROUTINE of all routines. lol I couldn't get it out of my mind. Now that I'm reading the comments here, I have to agree that the choreo is a bit goofy. Oh well, Kim worked it out. Love her!

[llc831]

yeah, I like her routine when she was younger (russian music, maybe?)...this was SOOO cheesy. Decreased her credibility in a way, espcially when she was up against girls with more artistry. Her old routine would have scored better, I think. However, I believe that the Karolyis made her do this one. Their gymnasts had a LOT of cheesy routines. They didn't need to use all classical music (like Shannon Millers was too stiff), but this was McDonald's happy meal cheesy

[greyserf]

In what way did her routine(s) "decrease" her credibility? I would have to disagree with you entirely. She became a World Champion,and World FX Champion and medalist, and Olympic Floor finalist, and had one of the highest scores of the night on floor, using routines like this. Did Karoly "force" her to do this routine? Extremely doubtful as she kept using it in Pro competitions in the years following. Further in her era, a gymnasts dance rarely effected the score. It was all about the tumbling.

[TuesdayPillow]

In some ways, she looked almost embarrassed competing it. Either that or she just totally lost her spark. She was not selling her routines in Barcelona at all the way she did prior.

Zmeskal used a less cheesy rendition of Rock Around The Clock for further performances.

[dAnThEmAn178987]

i honestly think, that if she was like this the whole meet, she would have won more than one medal.

[CamilleNadia]

I think by this point, she'd given up and her heart simply wasn't in it anymore. There's a marked difference between this performance and the one she gave at the nationals that same year and even during the team and all around competition here.

[dragulescjew]

She didn't sell the dance... gymnasts RARELY do. For example, right before her whip back pass the music changes, she puts one hand on her stomach and the other one pumps out a few times. She looks like she's EMBARRASSED to be doing that dance move... who wouldn't though? I'm guessing these girls have A LOT on their mind when they're out there, and dance is probably pretty far down there on the list of priorities.

[gymtxmed]

Her routine was choriographed by Geza Pozar - the same person that choriographed Nadia's routine, as well as EVERY other gymnast that ever trained at Karolyi's gym. If you don't like the dance, it's not really her fault. She is incredible in my opinion.

[SahTrew]

Excuse me, I didn't said anything about the tumbling or her. I just said that her dance/choreography/style is horrible. Did you people ever watch a floor routine of: Comaneci, Silivas, Omelianchik, Khorkina, Kozich, Cheng...? If no, you should, cause that thing that Kim Zmeskal did isn't good dance, is just a robo doing choreography moves, sorry. And dogymnasticssssss: "dance moves match the music" is basic! That's a deduction if you don't! And by the way, I'm 22, not very young...

[TuesdayPillow]

If it's any consolation I agree with you, although it wasn't poor Kim's fault! Bela's gymnasts always have the same style imposed on them and are given moves that make them look awkward half the time. The Soviets in the 80's were second to none - even Romanians prior to '89 were gorgeous to watch.

[brookenicole222]

Yea, like Kerri's kermit dance. Geez, I hated that. lol

[greyserf]

Yes, perhaps Zmeskal's artistry wasn't like Comaneci, Silivias, and others that you named, however, you're failing to mention that all those you listed came from entirely different eras of gymnastics. Zmeskal's choreography and music selection was consistent with what 95% of all the other competitors in her generation were doing.

[cowensheba]

never forget this era in gymnastics... gives me chills to watch her trademark 3 whipback pass... one of the best ever :)  <3

[idogymnasticssssss]

She would of gotten a 10 if she wasnt shory on her triple whip to double

[theintranet]

she WOULD NOT have gotten a 10 anyway cause her first tumbling pass was WEAK, just a full twisting double back (not even border to do it in combination). Her last pass was weak too, just a double back (took off a full twisting). I like Kim, but Korily is way too controlling, telling her what do to.

[gymnasticsforever17]

she did an even stronger first pass the shannon miller in finals cause shannon did a whip to full in tucked double and kim did a whip to piked full in double is you watch her even final routine

[theintranet]

i agree with you, kim DID a harder routine than shannon in the floor event final (which suprises me why she scored lower than miller). but in this particular routine (team optional), her tumblings were weaker than miller and dawes.

[theintranet]

kim actually scored 9.925 on this routine and only a 9.9 on a harder routine in event final (weird!). the 1992 games scoring system was so inconsistent! but regardless, this routine would never able to compete with Oksana chusivitina (double layout with full twist), cristina bontas, lavinia milosavici and henrieta onodi.

[gymnasticsforever17]

yeah i know but isnt the triple whip to double back hard enough??? i think if i did that i would do it in mt first pass cause its soooo diffucult

[gymnasticsforever17]

plus Ive only seen 2 other gymnasts do 3 whips and they were Lavinia Milosivici and Shannon Miller but they did it into a double twist punch front if you wanna see them Shannons is the 1993 US Nationals AA floor and Milosivicis was the 1996 olympic team optionals floor

[theintranet]

no, the 3 whips that zmeskal did looks difficult but not that difficult because it was not complicated. notice she only tumbles on the same direction, if she adds in a 1 1/2 twist during the middle of her pass it would be difficult b/c she changes her direction of tumbling thus lose momentum. look at this way: the Yurchenko vault is less difficult than the Tsukahara vault even though the gymnast executes more moves in the Yurchenko than the Tsukahara.

[tide32athlete]

Had she been healthy and able to throw what she did at the Olympic trials (whip to double layout, same middle pass, and then a piked full-in dismount) she would have been up there with them, no question. Milo had a weak middle pass. Bontas' middle pass was flashy, but not all that difficult. Would have just come down to who stuck it.

[tide32athlete]

Well, she did get a 9.95 from a few of the judges, so a 10 was not out of the question. Her tumbling here may have been weak, but only due to her stress fracture. At the Olympic Trials she did whip, 2 bhs to double layout; 3 whips to double tuck and then a piked full-in to dismount with. Bela would have loved for her to do the more difficult passes, but she wasn't healthy enough by the time they got to Barcelona. Such a shame.

[greyserf]

Technically she COULD have scored a 10.0 on this routine. Whether you feel her passes were weak, her routine was still out of a 10.0... as was Okino's and Boguinskaya's... both of which had passes that were considerably weaker than Zmeskal's.

[idogymnasticssssss]

Sahrew...OMG the dance is perfect!!!...the dance moves match the music perfectly!!!!!

[rikk4u]

Kim Zmeskal RULES. SahTrew is obviously very young and out of the looponhow superior she was in 1992. She is the 1991 AA world champion! I am a professional choreographer and this dance style fits the music and her body style. It's nearly perfect. I love this routine, although the camera does it absolutely no justice.

[TuesdayPillow]

The choreo matches the music fairly well but for a 16 year-old girl, I don't think it's the best choice of style. I think Kim would have been suited to something more mature - not classical, mind you, just something that required no wiggles :)

[idogymnasticssssss]

I agree with all of you except SahTrew...OMG what kind of dance taste do you have????

[krick0124]

Horrible what?!? You're crazy. From 1992 this was miles above anyone else. She was the whipback queen. And after falling off the beam earlier she came back and did THIS - of which she got a 9.95 - the best floor score of the night! You obviously didn't witness it when it happened!!

[gymnastboi1982]

Actually, it was a 9.925. Slightly short on the middle tumbling pass.

[SahTrew]

Horrible dance, zero style.

[Beccka]

At least sh's actually dancing, unlike gymnasts today who think it's okay to do a pass, stand for a few seconds, walk to another corner, do another pass, stop, wait...this routine never stops.