Andreea Raducan - 1999 Worlds EF - Balance Beam

[beautifulsarah100]

Andreea did have a pretty good muscle on her leg, plus she had an indentation on her upper thigh that looked like a bullet wound.

[raichmaneuvers]

This was a joke. The Chinese were making noise during Raducan's routine since they knew she was the one who would have taken the gold from their precious Ling Jie if she had done her best routine. Of course she ends up wobbling on a couple of major moves during the drum playing that cost her the gold. She should have gotten a redo with the crowd told to shut up. What a total farce.

[agators212]

@raichmaneuvers what would be the difference had this been an all around and someone's music suddenly came on?  or the crowd erupted in applause for some else routine? this isnt tennis where the judges can tell the audience to quite during the serve. besides, they stopped playing the drum before she performed her full twist tuck.

[raichmaneuvers]

@agators212 so you think it was just a coincidence the Chinese crowd began playing the drums while the biggest threat to a Chinese victory went up? Somehow I doubt that.

[agators212]

@raichmaneuvers again, what's the difference between someone's floor music starting or the crowd applause? if she got distracted when she is able to put all those distractions out then its on raducan not the crowd. its not like they started playing right before a big skill. they were playing before she even got on the event and stopped before she even started her ff+full twist tuck because ling jie just finished. so, how is that unfair?

[raichmaneuvers]

@agators212 she took a step on her mount while the drums were moving . That was probably half a tenth and she lost by only 0.012. Anyway I am not going to argue, think what you want. Like her or not though she is only top Romanian who had any artistry in the 90s. The rest- Gogean, Amanar, Milosovici, Bontas, Olaru, were all robots. The only poor trait she shared with them was her yucky bars but her beam and dance on floor was much better than all of that group.

[agators212]

@raichmaneuvers ok, she took a step while the drums were making noise...again, whats the difference if that had been someone's floor music going on at the same time? are you going to blame the gymnast performing floor had she made the "mistake"? and just because i thought she was beaten by a better routine this day doesn't mean i don't like raducan. she was my favortie gymnast during this era. she just didn't win this night cuz someone out performed her

[russianskatingfan]

@agators212 I respectfully disagree with your comments on Raducan. She was a great gymnast, IMO by far the best Romanian gymnast of the 90s though I liked Amanar on vaulting and floor. Had she performed to her full potential she could have won 4 or 5 golds in Sydney. She won the team there, won the AA at first, and had potential to win floor, beam, and maybe vault too.

[agators212]

@russianskatingfan

she definitely was the best gymnast this era period. bars is obviously her weekest event but compared to the rest of the romanians she was awesome. she had potential to win floor more than beam and vault. the winners of beam, as well as the silver, and vault would have been tough to beat

[russianskatingfan]

@agators212 I dont think she would have had much problem winning beam in Sydney if she performed to her potential. She got a 9.837 in the team optionals and was capable of a better routine than that. In the AA she had a very shaky moment and still got 9.787. Lobaznyuk was underscored and barely placed above freaking Produnova so Raducan would have EASILY beaten her unless she fell. Xuan deserved the gold but she wasnt even the top Chinese beam worker.

[agators212]

@russianskatingfan

yeah, i think loboznyuk and xuan would have been tough to beat on beam. as much as i love raducan, compared to both those two beam routines i just don't see it happening had they all competed to potential. floor, i expected her to get the gold but she unfortunately fell. it wsa weird seeing such a big mistake from her

[russianskatingfan]

@agators212 Well we will have to agree to disagree on beam. Lobaznyuk was underscored and underrated so had no chance to beat a hit Raducan for that reason. Like I said she barely beat Produnova and no way a hit Raducan wouldnt have killed Produnova on beam. Xuan was the only threat but I dont see her beating Raducan, she was doing a routine she had done since 94. Ling Jie is a better beam worker than Xuan and Raducan would have beaten her here in China on beam without some wobbles.

[agators212]

@russianskatingfan

we have to agree and disagree but not by much. i do think lobaznyuk was also underscored. ling jie would have beaten xuan. i think its more of a testiment of how xuan's routine was difficult that she didn't need to change it too much. i still love that routine. i think raducan could have gottan the gold but i think it would have still been harder on that even unlike floor where i think she would have beaten everyone despite khorkina being overscored

[russianskatingfan]

@agators212 Khorkina didnt win floor atleast. Zamo did. Zamo did great but Raducan would have beaten her if she hit since she had a better balance of tumbling and dance while Zamo was a sloppy dancer though she did overall have pretty good presentation. Khorkina and Produnova were both overhyped. I always thought Lobaznyuk and Zamo were the best Russian gymnasts in Sydney. Produnova getting a beam medal even with her amazing dismount and stick I thought was crap. And her 9.8s on bars, lol!

[agators212]

@russianskatingfan zamo was more balanced than i am prolly willing to give her credit for because i do find her dancing so choppy/sloppy. khorkina still getting an 9.8 on floor i still think is overscored and raducan would have and should have beaten both of them. i like produnova on floor because she didn't try to be graceful but instead worked her sassy and strong persona into her choreography. but bars....yeah, the 9.8's on bars is just way too high. it should have been 9.6+ at most

[russianskatingfan]

@agators212 floor is the only event I liked Produnova on. Her other events were meh for me. I am glad she messed up in bar finals as I suspect the judges were going to give her a gift medal there too if she hadnt.

[agators212]

@russianskatingfan

if produnova had medalled on bars that would be a travesty. her routine is not bad but it would be better if it were performed by someone who has better form.

[russianskatingfan]

@agators212 Yeah Produnovas bar routine would have been good if she actually had better form and didnt muscle everything around. I want to see Zhargarova was robbed of a medal on bars but Ling Jie and Yang Yung had medal worthy routines too so it is hard. And as overrated as she is at times Khorkina was the clear winner in the Sydney bar final.

[agators212]

@russianskatingfan

i agree, ling jie and yang yung, although every similar composition both were awesome routines. and whether people like khorkina or not, her bar routine is just undeniable. especially when she added that stalder release move. i love that routine, i just wished he body wasn't so skinny/anorexic lookin. if she had the body type of her 95-98 body it would have been better

[lambielkwanfan]

@agators212 I thought Lobaznyuk was robbed of the beam gold. I love Xuan so was happy she won but was also surprised. I think she was given a bit of a parting gift. Lobaznyuk scoring only 0.012 higher than Produnova was ridiculous. I would have given Presecan the bronze over Produnova.

[agators212]

@lambielkwanfan i think the competition was between xuan and lobaznyuk and would have been happy with either. produnova, as much as i love her power and strong/sassy style on floor should not have gottan the bronze on beam. 

[lambielkwanfan]

@agators212 I thought Presecan deserved the bronze even with her step back on the double back. The rest of her routine was excellent and better than Produnova. Produnova's beam dismount rocked but that was not enough on its own. I thought Lobaznyuk was underscored in general, probably since she didnt have the name value of Khorkina, Zamo, or Produnova, the other top Russians.

[grafgirl27]

@agators212 I felt Produnova deserved her bronze on beam. Her routine wasnt great but it was solid enough and she earned bonus points for sticking such an incredible dismount. She was lucky Raducan and even Karpenko werent in finals, and that Ling Jie messed up. However I cant think who else deserved the bronze. Presecan took a big step on her double back dismount and the judges had to deduct her atleats half a tenth for it. Olaru is forgettable on beam or any other event.

[agators212]

@grafgirl27 i guess we all can agree that produnova was lucky to get the bronze on beam. i hope i don't sound like i dislike her because she was one of my favorites during this quad. i loved her floor ex at the olympics because she didn't try to be pretty but rather embraced her lack of grace and went for the strong/powerful persona with an edge of sassy and sex appeal. loved the fact that she was willing to try the vaults that some males have trouble with

[grafgirl27]

@agators212 I am just curious though if you think Produnova did not deserve the bronze on beam then who did. Yeah we all agree she was lucky though. It was awesome seeing her do the double front on vault, in a fair world that would be scored out of a 11 and she would have won the gold in in 99 even with the low landing. And I also loved her floor, and her overall personality in general. It was funny seeing her excel on bars and beam at the Games but struggle on vault and floor.

[agators212]

@grafgirl27 hmmm...i actually do not know who i would have chosen for bronze. produnova had some issues with her form but she performed some amazing skills on bars and beam. had they been from another gymnast with better form her routines would have been far more impressive. it was hard to chose because ling jie, liu xuan, and laboznkiouk were my 3 to beat. had all 3 hit i didn't care what order they came. i wanted produnova to win floor with her routine because it was so different n strong

[Summonearth]

I don't know why, but I am not impress of gymnasts that do more dance then acrobatic moves. I prefer balance of the two.

[muffycat26]

Those two mistakes, the stumble out of the twisting back tuck, and the hop on the double pike dismount, cost her the gold medal here since Line Jie had an excellent routine.

[fruityliciousrhubarb]

I'm glad Ling Jie took the title here though. Raducan was great on beam, but the composition of her routine wasn't so great here. She was basically just moving her arms about for the last half of the routine.

[Katerzyna23]

totally agree with u

[lambielkwanfan]

@fruityliciousrhubarb yeah her choreography is a bit strange. It is a shame since she is a beautiful dancer.