Natalia Shaposhnikova - 1980 Olympics EF - Balance Beam

[MTVMANN]

@SkateNater in 1980 I think the judges were pleased with the back layout that they didn't care.

Few gymnast did them...

[anonymousgissele]

she has horrible form on the BHS layout....

[loves2jam]

oh my LORD she has amazing upper body strength. that routine was amazing :) some of the moves she did on that beam i've never seen before. :O

[agators212]

man she has some awesome upper body strength

[AgentDouble0027]

That was a really good routine. Impressive moves.

[tedsler]

She had so much grace and style. Shame her backflips had dodgy form as the rest was just gorgeous. Her boxsplits in the handstand press is out of this world. Talk about flat splits wow!

[TheSienna29]

She had a couple of wavers but this routine was better than Nadia's and Elena Davydova's. Did she fall earlier in the competition? Why did she not win gold on the beam?

[jellybeanbunny7]

shes my coach

[MTVMANN]

I LOVE that one-arm hand stand!

[StephanieMcMahon74]

I am completely mesmerized by this performance!

[lemenblues2]

She;s my coach!

[gymnastluvhorses55]

i luv natalia! she is amazing! she is now the owner and head coach of my gym. =)

[faeryquene]

A magnificent routine to this very even with the slight flaws.

[pappysprite]

Her beam routine was incredible! So innovative and daring! I can only imagine what this risk taker would have done if she would have been taught the moves of today...simply amazing work!

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

Her back passage is beautiful, it has such flow, I'm not too keen on the bent knees though =(

[dmitry302003]

the best gymnast at 80 olympic games....your face was so sad...

[WarrenBeattySplendor]

I feel the same way about Natalia Shaposhnikova. The television camera sometimes captured Natalia with a look of rancor, a little apprehensive and anxious when she was awaiting her scores or observing the other competitors.

I really wanted her to win the AA. Nothing personal against Yelena or Nadia but Natalia was my favorite. I still haven't seen her AA FX that got a 9.70 or 9.75 and cost her the gold medal because she was capable of scoring in the 9.9s.

[ahrensgay]

Natalia's FX scored a deduction I believe because she was over the time limit, or went out of bounds.Either or.I've read that it was either or in different accounts, through book's , magazine's what not. American television, because of the boycott, did not cover the '80 games.

[akimbohr]

@WarrenBeattySplendor

She got a 9.75 in the AA, missing just 0.05 to tie for the silver with Maxie and Nadia.

Her team optionals were also not her best (fall in the first vault and avarage 9,80 on UB and BB).

[SWALE1984]

I agree. She was the best gymnast at the 80 Games. Her Saber Dance was the single greatest, most vibrant floor exercise in the history of gymanstics!

[ralucagymnast]

I have to disagree, courteously of course: Elena Davidova's floor exercise is the best floor routine I have ever seen. I would definitely say Natalia is in the top 5 though:) But everyone has different opinions, and I respect yours. Natalia was wonderful, although she never really achieved her full potential somehow. I think it was down to her temperament: according to her coach Vladislav Rastorotsky, she was very stubborn.

[SWALE1984]

I respect your opinion as well. Who do you hink was better: Yelena Mukhina or Anna Pavlova?

[ralucagymnast]

Yelena Mukhina without a doubt: she was the first woman to do a full-in on floor. She also was a beautiful dancer, as well as a fantastic tumbler. I do like Anna too; she is one of the most artistic and aesthetically pleasing of the contemporary Russian gymnasts.

[espinaca79]

I agree, but both gymnasts belong to different eras so it is hard to compare. Mukhina, OTOH had a succesful competitive record which Anna was able to have as well, but unfortunately it did not go that well for her.

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

I completely agree, she was awesome and I am in love with her floor exercise and its choreography. I don't know if it was the best floor exercise ever (Davydova's was pretty good) but it was definitely the most vibrant. I also love her music selection. I think she had incredible difficulty for this era, I personally think with all the controversy over medals at this Olympics that she was robbed of a gold on beam, a gold on floor, and a silver all around.