Catalina Ponor Floor Exercise Gold (athens 2004)

[b29349]

baby got super Back!

[hotwaiter]

I don't understand why people get so mad about the training. Do you think these gymnasts would be this good if they trained an hour a day, ate pizza and McDonalds and weren't pushed hard by their coaches? No, they'd be fat lazy girls who couldn't pull off a back handspring, so it makes me crazy when people are like "these poor girls had to train so hard." Oh, boo hoo. They know it's hard training, it HAS to be in order to produce amazing gymnasts.

[rhythmic3gymnastic]

The Best !

[nying16]

omg! amazing x

[ramo15anos]

she was the best!

[bekah427]

im an ex new zealand gymnast i was national champion on floor i have had knee constuction twice a broken leg and ankle i now have a dodgy hip and weak ankles and all the pain i went through and ongoing problems i promise you this IF I KNEW THEN THAT I WOULD GO THROUGH THIS I STILL WOULD HAVE DONE IT!!!!!

[sinjinthule]

Chinese gymnasts tend to get pinged a little because 1) despite assurances to the contrary, most of these Chinese girls look like they're about 11-years-old & 2) they exhibit uniformly impressive acrobatics & uniformly terrible presentation. Very odd given the magnificent choreography you see in Chinese opera. Very different from the western ideal. Fewer fat ladies with viking helmets. More back-flips. Chinese girl gymnasts are dull.

[Lakuilera]

OMG! the chinese are dull? since when? their presentation and choreography is unrivalled!

[scatteam2]

catalina is smart. she used greek music to bring in the crowd and to attract the judges. she combined this with great tumbling (may be seen as mediocre in the gymnastics world now) and energy beyond perfect. i personally am a huge fan of cheng fei but fair's fair. she stepped out of bounds

[sinjinthule]

I want to emphasize that the increased emphasis on tumbling is dangerous for young women, especially young women who over-train as athletes. Mary Lou Retton was probably the most explosive tumbler in the history of the sport and she had hip replacement surgery at age 38. Even Ponor, who is still a kid, wears a brace on one knee. CUT DOWN THE BLOODY TUMBLING REQUIREMENTS IF YOU CARE ABOUT THESE KIDS. Period.

[jpalmettoguy]

hip replacements are common across all sports.

[PrincessLinus87]

I think that it is more important that we consider the training practices of these gymnasts. They should be spending more time on tramp and rod floors rather than the spring floor. Repetitions of skills need to be cut down, not necessarily the requirements in the routines...even though I find the new code a disaster.

[gymnastics7710]

Gymnastics is a constantly changing sport. What are they going to do?.. not require elite gymnasts to do the hardest skills in the world? thats stupid! Elite gymnasts are elite gymnasts because they want to be. If they can't deal with the hard skills then too bad for them.Thats why only 6 people make the olympic team every 4 years. They are at the top of their sport and should be required to do the hardest skills possible. Maybe their training numbers should be cut down, but thats another story

[bratz7704]

ok that brace comment was pretty stupied. Im 13 and I need a knee brace

[sinjinthule]

If I want to watch tumbling or human flight I'll turn to men's gym or men's basketball. This was a superb routine. Ponor has the good sense to know how to land. Nobody pulls a triple twist or a turn like she does. And she is always in sync with the tunes.

[LFDYGymnast]

ponor's form = not good! which mean that there isnt that much elegence r7diego, and emily72, sorry but that is the main thing that made it not so beautiful. dur

[17teacmrocks]

when you even get to national level then you can talk. and that's still a far way off olympic level, let alone gold medal

[l0Jlu9l]

there are 2 typs of music

[timiti29]

what's the name of her music?

[kinkyyy69]

gia by despina vandi

[r7diego]

AMAZING!! high voltage elegance and power

[emily72]

Ponor got the highest score in qualifying too. It is a beautiful all round package. Cheng Fei would have won had she not stepped out of the area. She didn't medal at all.

Ponor is a more mature exercise. The Romanians have had to work hard over the years, often taking silver or bronze. But they have beautiful gymnasts and Ponor is up there with the best ever.

[Penguin888]

Not that impressive

[patdesouza]

i have to agree that cheng fei was very good..but besides from her tumbling her routine wasnt entertaining..and catalina kept the crowd into her routine with good music and good dance..and her tumbling was exceptional

[ZenArcherlyingshit]

ya elong10 stop bitching just cuz china sucks at womens gymnastics

HAI ROMANIA!

[elong10]

You must be MR. Koolaid

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

I also think Cheng was ripped off.

[caramelcreamsauce]

Cheng was screwed. :)

Cata was phenomenal tho. FIX HER TWISTING FORM! lol.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Yeah, Catalina was really good, but her form on her tumbling is not very good.

[caramelcreamsauce]

She danced incredibly and her split leaps rocked but her tumbling *could* improve. And of course she is the crowd fave :D

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Indeed. :)

[joshua127]

She is a Romanian. Ofcourse she has the GOLD in her blood.

[proudofjonathan]

I'm from Athens and even though I wasn't at the Final, I had the chance to see her during the semi-finals and she's awesome!!!! The song she chose is Greek too lol

[lyrabella007]

omg catalina ponor is powerful

[ShaefDawg]

She definitely showed the pack what a gold medal routine should have been in Athens! Wow!

[elong10]

Actually Cheng Fei was totally ripped off. Her tumbling had more difficulty and her form was perfect. The still photo's of Catalina's FX were horrid...bent knees and crossed feet in her twisting elements. Check out Cheng Fei http://www.youtube.com/watch?v­=EpV-CL_xoxU&search=Cheng%20Fe­i enjoy!

[joshua127]

You should be proud that Great Romanians decided to live in US.(e.g. Nadia Comaneci). Catalina won because she was simply THE BEST. Regards

[elong10]

Catalina was not the best that night. She was great on beam but was given a gift (golden) by virtue of the Romanian reputation (Nadia in part). You are in denial for overlook Cheng. PS, I'm not Chinese so I'm not simply rooting for my countryman. I am a fan. Search for still photos of Ponor's FX tumbling and put down the "Koolaid" your drinking. Loved Ponor on beam though.

[joshua127]

you should wonder how many times did Romania win the world championships and also at the Olimpics. Then you should ask yorself why did they win...because the girls are simply THE BEST. as for the gift part...cheap expression. Regards.

[elong10]

They won because they said goodbye to their parents as young kids then trained endlessly, starved themselves and were berated by their coach until the system wore them out and cast them aside.

[ThePrincessMoonbeam]

@elong10 What the *** do you know? Do you know her personally? Has she told you this?

[wurzelstar06]

respect! awesome floor routine!

[seantzw]

oops. sry. it was gold at first but i changed it after someone told me it was silver. i re-checked and Catalina Ponor won the Individual Gold medal for Floor Exrercise with a score of 9.750. Sorry about the mistake.

[bird0weird0]

She got the gold medal, not silver