Vanessa Atler - 1999 Worlds AA - Uneven Bars

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

This event destroyed her.

[LCAmarkymark]

@gymnasticsloverxoxo it did and its so crazy because she could do it in practice but not in competition...very sad

[unevercalled]

If they took out her commenici release skill sooner, maybe she wouldn't have lost so much confidence on bars. I'm sure they are plenty of other release skills the coaches could have substituted.

[ULibby]

@unevercalled So true. She should not have been made to keep doing the commenici. They could have subbed a plethora of other things for that move yet they just kept berating her. She is the BEST floor worker I have ever seen. It's not about her tumbling she just draws you into the routine, it's danced so well. You can't take your eyes off her on floor. I haven't seen anyone since her that is so amazing on the floor.

[bernardmvella]

I wish I could agree with the person who said she shouldn't have competed bars, and focused on the other three. Except this was 1990's. The 5 - 4 format makes it difficult when you have a gymnast who will drag the team down if she competes, even if her score is eliminated. She was frankly fantastic on the other three, it's a pity she was a competitor before 3 - 4.

[TwisterFlipp95]

I know exactly how this poor girl feels, I'm a mens gymnast and am deathly afraid of the high bar and very unconfident on it. It's different for a bar event beause when you feel unconfident, you feel REALLY unconfident.

Poor Vanessa :[

[sprinklefriend]

why on earth would someone put vanessa atler up for bars?

don't get me wrong, i've always loved her & think she's amazing... i'm just saying bars wasn't exactly her strongest point.

too bad she wasn't part of today's gymnastics where you can specialize...

[missmouse35]

this was all-around, she didnt have a choice.

[sprinklefriend]

ahh, right. my apologies. i didn't read the title. my mistake. :-P

[russianskatingfan]

@missmouse35 well she never should have been an AA gymnast. Her bars stinks, even in the miracle she hit it perfectly with the Commaneci in it like the 98 Nationals she would get a 9.2 something at a World even probably.  She should have been a 3 event specialist like Sacramone, Cheng Fei, Ponar and others. It should have been recognized early she couldnt do bars so there was no point in making her an AA gymnast.

[kras118]

who was coaching her at this point? Had she left the Rybacki's yet?

Too bad Nessa wasn't around for later cycles in gymnastics.. at that time, being a "specialist" wasn't as in vogue.. in fact, I got the impressions that gymnasts were looked down upon for not having all 4 events ready to go.. nowadays, gymnasts happily let go of the event that they struggle on!! just a different time of the sport..

[khollaway]

I agree, Alicia Sacramone was more than happy to hang up her grips.  She was awesome on the other three events...and it's nice to see girls today not after the AA medal but individual and team medals.

[JLFAN2009]

Levels of difficulty have been raised. Also, the competition format has changed: first, the compulsories got abolished. Then, the 3-up, 3-count rule got approved.

[intldawn]

No one. She left the Rybacki's right before this competition. I'm pretty sure she was hurt at the world trials and petitioned her way onto the team because she was 2nd at Nationals, but showed up without a coach and totally out of shape for this meet. She just had a miserable competition both in team and AA. This was really the beginning of the end for her. Very reminiscent of Kristi Phillips.

[ferency98]

I blame Vanessa's coaches for not teaching her how to do a half or full pirouette on bars. Isn't that a basic skill she should have learned prior to learning releases? Maybe if she spent two months with Mary Lee Tracy (whose students had great bar technique), then maybe Vanessa should have started fresh with a basic bar routine.

[khollaway]

Kelli Hill was also a great bars coach. She coached Dawes, Ray and Kupets.

[stonedgroovemama]

She was badly advised, no doubt. Could have been a great specialist in the other events if she'd been allowed to focus on VT, BB and FX alone.

If I was a gymnast with a bars weakness that couldn't be remedied, I'd be happy to 'settle' for medals in the events I actually excelled in, rather than risk everything on the AA only to blow it with sub-par bars.

[hinginator]

I agree, I always though that she was probably pressured into being an all around gymnast when a better investment of her time and effort should have gone into making her the best vaulter and floor worker she could be. The US has traditionally struggled to find good vaulters and she easily could have filled that void. She would have been a shoe in for two medal at the event finals for both events as well

[espinaca79]

Couldn't agree more. Atler had decent bars before all this happened. It seemed to me they pushed her too far to realize their expectations on her. It seemed to me they got desperated about taking her to the OOOOO's and actually they both looked worried since they did not know for sure if Vanessa even wanted to be a champion or even being an Olympian.

[ferency98]

I've watched most of Vanessa's routines on YT, and I don't think I've ever seen her do a clean pirouette- her feet always separated, or she got sticky or choppy on them. An UB routine requires pirouettes, so I don't know what else she could have done. There was so much pressure on her for years to be the next Gold medal winner. I wish she could have just competed for herself, not be pressured by everyone else.

[espinaca79]

I agree. I'm afraid she was not mentally strong to overcome the preasure everyone put on her. Her coaches did what they could but in the end they made it even worse. I remember Steve's look at Vanessa, he put a lot preasure on her.

[shane802]

I think Catalina Ponor was the same way with bars. I have never seen Ponor, as talented as she was, do a set of bars. What is it about bars that gave Vanessa this much trouble? It still boggles my mind.

[trashywilma]

atler lacked many basic fundamentals on bars. instead of building a routine she could do, her coaches kept this routine for years, and she failed time and time again until her confidence was destroyed. atler, as dynamic as she was in personality and tumbling, was never meant to be an all-arounder, sadly.

[Brindabella24]

So what score did she get for this routine? I shudder to imagine :(

[uwoeric]

Perhaps, but it wasn't just one skill, she was messing up all over the place. Sometimes it was the Comaneci, sometimes it was the toe-shoot, sometimes it was the pirouettes. She just couldn't focus on bars in competition.

[ferency98]

I have been watching Vanessa's routines from 1997 to 2000 and you're right, it wasn't just the Comaneci that gave her problems. Before every bar rountine she appears to have a dreaded look on her face like she knows what will happen...

[uwoeric]

But they did!! It's just something that couldn't be overcome, no matter how hard she/they tried.

[tigerbear9]

I seems like she just lacked upper body strength, all of her mistakes began with bent arms, not being able to muscle to the handstands and catch her releases.

[intldawn]

True. She is certainly not a natural bar worker. But look at Khorkina, who is. She is certainly not muscular and even used different technique to aid her in times when she couldn't just muscle out of difficult situations. What separates someone like Khorkina from Vanessa are overall more solid technique and confidence. Vanessa never believed in herself enough to have any success on bars.