OMELIANCHIK-87 WORLDS-AA-FLOOR-triple twist punch front!

[toetouching]

Silivas looks envious! As it should be!

[xrictinaaa1]

tripple twist into a front sommersault? in 87? wow

[TheSienna29]

Beautiful dance and HARD tumbling! It's a travesty that Omelianchik, Olessiya Dudnik and Tatiana Groshkova never made and Olympic team. 3 of the most talented gymnasts ever.

[Aeysatawat]

In my opinion, She is the best floor worker and no one can never beats her. She's the one and only.:-)

[LaVoix555]

This was fabulous! Pity she didn't make it to the Olympics!

[flygirlamyb]

My favorite gymnast of ALL time! She was so creative, so charismatic, and such a pioneer for the sport! She was my childhood idol! I tried to copy all of her unique skills at the gym!

[faeryquene]

@flygirlamyb ITA! I will forever feel despite some naysayers that Omelianchik was utterly robbed of a chance at an Olympic medal. It was an incredible insult to such a talent when the Soviets made her an alternate to the '88 Games. :(

[RyanFrenk]

stunnnning.

[canalns]

the prformance is outstanding

[Felipemajo]

Judges gave her a hand with a 9.95. But she was so great!!! I would have gave her a hand too!!!

[ralucagymnast]

Oh this is magic isnt it? I love the music, everything just FITS together so well doesnt it?

[Yangyun4ever]

I like this routine even more than her one with the bird music, it fit her so well and she made it her own.

[cheer4gym]

the birdy routine is the best floor routine ever! not many people compared even remember this one

[Yangyun4ever]

I just said that I liked it more than the birdie one. Doesn't mean everyone else has to know about this routine for me to like it

[faeryquene]

This is one of my all-time favorite routines-right up there with Oksana's "Birdie". :)

[faeryquene]

Thanks for sharing-and that back-to-back tumbling middle pass, and her opening triple twist-punch front are a total WOW to this very day. Her dance imo remains unmatched.

[LMA629]

@faeryquene in loved that routine too but i hated the music, the "birdie" chirps were pretty annoying

[gohlkex3]

her FX's are always so fun to watch

[Anax68]

Haven't seen no other gymnast doing a triple punch front in the last two olympic periods. I guess it still one of the most difficult tumbling passes!!!

[oubeauty2008]

Yeah, haven't seen it much lately.  Elise Ray's back in 2000 was beautiful.

[Anax68]

Thks for the info. Just watched her on the 2000 US trials...Simply Awesome. In facti the whole routine was!!!

[silivas4ever]

Ashley Postell also used to do a triple + punch front in 2001, she actually had a whip before the triple...pretty cool

[HailieNichole1995]

Have you seen Carmen Ionescu's 3 1/2 twist its amazing!!!!

[dfhijk]

Lol hahahah

[WHATTHEBUCKSHOW]

She is my favorite! Buck

[Yangyun4ever]

Weird seeing you comment here, lol.

[NastiaLiukinFan]

She ROCKS! That coreography is fantastic!

[saltlakecity2002]

Why oh why did she not go to Seoul? I believe that she could have won maybe a gold on FX.

[WSggs]

She was an inconsistent gymnast, when she hit she hit big but she also fell many times among other things.

She was not chosen to be a part of the 1988 Soviet team, but only a substitute.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

It is true that Oksana was somewhat a shadow of herself here- but what a shadow! If it were up to me she would have went to the Olympics.

[audie83]

This is how a floor routine should be done. Today's young gymnasts should take notes-and LOTS of dance training. Thank you for posing this Gymangels-as always-you Rock! :)

[haleusca]

Well, thanks to Nelli Kim, you ain't gonna see dancing like this in a gymnastics routine too soon. The new COP does reward the risk-taking athletes, but it completely kills the joy of the sport.

[mistybabe5489]

dont blame nellie kim for the floor routines of today, its not her fault they can't dance. its up to the individual gymnast and her coach to take care of the dance portion.

[audie83]

I agree-there ARE a few gymnasts out there who try to fit in some dance, and choreo where they can between all those tumbling passes they've got to get in if they want a high socre. I think Anna Pavlova, and Nastia Liukin are two that come to mind. One of the last FX routines I truly enjoyed was Ludivine Fernon's 2000 European Championship number.

[TuesdayPillow]

Letitia Begue and Fernon had some excellent routines! I do miss them.

[admetric]

@haleusca Dance? you mean when she runs across the entire mat just to do a split leap and then stands in a pose while the music builds? Lol? Can one teach that?

[pwrtumblr]

In 1987 in a USSR vs USA meet held in the USA, Oksana competed this routine with even more difficulty.

-1st pass: round-off bhs triple twist, punch front 1 1/4 to stomach (not prone)

-2nd pass: round-off bhs, double twist, punch front stepout, round-off, bhs, bhs 1/2 twist step-out, roundoff 1 1/2 twisting dive roll.

-3rd pass: round-off bhs double pike.

The other interesting point to take into consideration is that she performed with a broken toe(s).

[tripleaxel96]

Which was probably the reason she didn't get the height in order to finish the rotation of the double pike and landed low...

[xplosive08]

she is amaizing

[ralucagymnast]

Does anybody know why she didnt make the Olympic team in 1988? Was it inconsistency or what? I mean how was Shevchenko favoured over Oksana???Or even Baitova, who was very average indeed.

[berenson71]

Actually her handgrip tore off during the USSR Cup (which served as Olympic trials) and she fell off bars, she finished 8th AA. Some versions go that she was "punished" for the '87 Worlds performance. About Shevchenko, she had just won the European Cup shortly before Seoul, which must have been quite an asset.

[ralucagymnast]

Yes, thats true enough about Shevchenko, but I still think that Oksana was far superior to her regarding artistic impression; I dont really rate Shevchenko, she wasnt dynamic and exciting to watch like Oksana; what marked her out from all the others was her sparkling personality and genuine love for her gymnastics-she actually looked like she was enjoying herself!!

[berenson71]

By the way, did you know that Baitova confessed in an interview that she forgot the beginning of her compulsory floor in Seoul? She was in panic whispering to her teammates "Girls... how do I go on...???" ha-ha. She and Shevchenko were the typical Soviet-style gymnasts. Oksana is my all-time favorite

[audie83]

I can't even remember Shevcheko's performances. I'd have to look them up on Youtube. She just was not much more than an good, solid gymnast with no sparkle to her gymnastics at all. She was not a star.

[okhan001]

um...try actuall watching her routines before you make a judgment.

[GoBogi]

Schevchenko had unimavinative routines on UB/BB/VT, so there really isn't much of a comparison. Omelianchik had original elements on all of those apparatus, and she did a TRUE delchev on UB connected directly to what is bacially a tucked pak salto on UB these days. Omelianchik was a better gymnast than Schevchenko, she was sick in 1987 and yes, she became a bit inconsistent in 1988. Half of that was due to the URS coaches not having a clue to ditch elements she was performing but didn't need.

[MTVMANN]

How did Oksana perform at these WC's? I know she was 5th in the AA. Did she have mistakes in the team competition?

[berenson71]

In her optionals, she took a huge wobble on beam and crashed her double-full punch front. It was a shame, because she had been brilliant throughout the rest of the team comp. And then she wobbled again on beam in the AA. Also, did you know that she was pulled out from the vaulting final in favour of Baitova?

[MTVMANN]

Thanks!

[GoBogi]

Omelianchik was sick at the 1987 World Championships, so no, it doesn't suprise us that she was pulled out after the Team Competition. If it was 2 per country back then, they probably would have pulled her out of the AA in favor of Baitova also, the same way they pulled out Mostepanova in 1985 to make room for Omelianchik.

[hinginator]

That really has always been the problem with Russian gymnastics: talented and big named gymnasts being pulled out or eclipsed by other big named gymnasts.

[bbhouk1]

@hinginator

Omelianchik isn't russian

[Yangyun4ever]

but Baitova and Omelianchik were in the all around. You could have 3 gymnasts in the AA.

[m4j67]

There is another video of this routine done at the US/USSR Meet in 1988, but the one who put it on youtube misspelled Omelianchik as "Omeilianchek". She does a better job there but still has that problem with the low double pike.

[SonyaNatalia]

The spelling of her name is not a mistake.

Actually, the way her name is spelt here isn't right because it's the Russian translation. Oksana is Ukrainian, and if she was a gymnast today - when Ukrainians are allowed to use their own language - her name would be spelt 'Omelianchuk' or 'Omelyanchuk'.

Because she was competing for the USSR everybody was forced to use Russian even though they didn't want to.

[SiEtIn1]

that is so sad... you should write a book

[DemeterMuse]

Wow!

I don't think I've ever seen a tripple twist, punch front!

Gorgeous performance.

[NastiaFan101]

Ashley Postell used to do it from a whip!!

[reese1001]

She never looked quite as happy in 87/88 as she did in 1985. The Olympic cycle just didn't exactly match up for her.

[missyc79]

I love Oksana! It is such a shame that 1987 worlds was not a good competition for her. Still her floor exercise was flawless, great choreography and great dance.

[tripleaxel96]

Except that she had such a low upper body position in the landing of her double pike dismount that she almost smacked the floor with her noggin'! In addition, she had a break in the 2nd tumbling run during the Team Optionals, right after the double twist to the punch front sommersault.

[missyc79]

Yes, but I was eluding to her choreography and presentation.

[TuesdayPillow]

Such a critic. Let's see you get out on the floor and perform like that. Sheesh.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Why do people always use that as an excuse? No insult intended.

[TuesdayPillow]

Use what as an excuse?

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

"Let's see you get out on the floor and perform like that." People always say stuff like that.

[ciks]

Perfect