Alexandra Marinescu - 1996 Olympics EF - Balance Beam

[kundun5]

The only artistic gymnast on that horrible Romanian squad that somehow won medals.Marinescu was always a treat to watch.

[KaruiNinja]

Everyone needs to stop saying Milo Gogean and Amanar had robotic routines they are just following the Romanian style, meet the requirements, and execute perfectly, they don't care about pleasing the crowd with exotic skills/dance moves, they care about pleasing the judges with met requirements to win for their country Romania which you people from China Russia and America would not understand Romanian hardships since your countries have most people most land mass and best everything respectively

[NYCBlonde]

@KaruiNinja Nobody "needs to stop saying" anything. You need to accept that people have different opinions than you. If Gogean & Amanar were playing to the judges and were rewarded with medals, then good for them--that doesn't mean the gymnastic community is going to respect that.

[KaruiNinja]

@NYCBlonde Ya you do need to unless your Romanian, which I'm guessing your not, just like you don't accept Gogean and Amanar's wins I won't accept that people have different opinions. There is a line between opinion and disrespectful, and opinions are fine, but if your going to be disrespectful and criticize them for beam routines that they didn't even put together since Belu did, then your crossing the line

[tomsk14]

@KaruiNinja I read this comment and deeply agree with you, they won and they won well, regardless of who they pleased. However calling her a disgrace to romanian gymnastics is totally disrespectful and totally wrong. She was unique in the world of 90's romanian gymnasts, and You should be ashamed of yourself for talking about a wonderful woman like that,

[KaruiNinja]

@tomsk14 I guess I was wrong for being disrespectful, but wonderful woman I don't think so because she wrote about Belus training and getting beaten. Trust me I would accept getting beaten to make it to the Olympics to represent my country Romania and instead of writing about getting beaten she could have just quit Also unique or not she was disgraceful, since she fell off the beam and that isn't very graceful as well as twice which Romania has been known for beam consistency which was not shown

[KaruiNinja]

She is a disgrace to Romanian gymnastics not only did she reveal training secrets, but fell on the beam twice, which is not characteristic for a Romanian.

[jukodebu]

isnt she a big ole lezbo now?

[steelersboy2009]

@USAGymnast Marinescu showed grace and expression...two qualities Belu is not a huge fan of. Too bad too...she was probably the best on the squad this year but Belu didn't allow her to prove herself.

[ekateri28]

This is a perfect example of someone with all the goods, the natural talent, but not strong work ethic or desire to achieve. Sad really.

[bbhouk1]

why is she wearing a necklace?

weird

[MrGemini1983]

@bbhouk1 A lot of athletes are in these Olympics. In 1997, they added the rule where you get a deduction for wearing jewelry.

[bbhouk1]

@MrGemini1983 hehe you're the same person who replied to my comment on roza galieva's 1996 olympics ef beam

[MrGemini1983]

@bbhouk1 I get around:)

[afgymnast96]

this just makes me sad seeing this. her book about deva came out a few years ago in english finally.I've ordered it and I'll be interested to see if all the rumors were true. if anyone wants to order it is called Secrets Of A Gymnast

[missjpace]

@afgymnast96 I'm reading it now. It really makes you watch her performances very differently. The translation into English is a bit rough, but the information is worth pushing through the mechanical errors.

[afgymnast96]

@missjpace good to know thx :)

[MaebySurelyBarely]

In the optionals, she did a side somi instead of the flic + full twisting tuck series. Was she not out of a 10 with the side somi?

[NYCBlonde]

Bless her heart. As another poster said, I imagine she gave up when her coach trashed her in public.  At least make up a lie about an injury like the Unified Team did in '92, don't attack the girl's work ethic.

[unevercalled]

i think she gave up cz of the way she was treated tbh

[pamnesiac]

even with her fall she is so much better than gogean

[MeanestCoachEver]

I would be pretty disheartened if I were taken out of an Olympic AA that I had rightly qualified for. That is the one thing all gymnasts at that level dream of - their chance at an Olympic AA gold, no matter how slim that chance may be. Her heart had been broken and couldn't put it back together for beam finals.

[faeryquene]

Octavian Belu was an ass for TWICE taking Alexandra out of a major AA (at the Olympics and Worlds '97). What a great guy. Jerk.

[kristirulesice]

@faeryquene just curious who do you think should have been taken out of the AA for Amanar if not Marinescu. Remember only 3 per country are allowed. So Belu had to decide which one of Milosovici, Gogean, or Marinescu to take out for Amanar. Which one would you have picked?

[faeryquene]

@kristirulesice I wouldn't have 'taken out' anyone. I would have allowed the three athletes who qualified fair and square to compete. It's sport but for Belu it was also a political game. No way was he going to allow any one but his own gymnasts in an Olympic AA final. Marinescu (thank God) was not Belu-trained. It's one reason she could actually dance and express herself.

[LaVoix555]

thanx for that but I am not sure I can read it from where I live now....it is weird what belu did said and did (i heard about it)...but in ROmania thats how ALL coaches are!

[ClauRomanul]

nasol k a cazut...ar fi fost cel mai frumos exercitiu din olimpiada...dar se mai intampla

[SportsAcro1]

Seeing as this was Atlanta 1996, you would think that one of the broadcasting stations would have kept the camera on Marinescu after finishing this routine. I remember her saying something, in her book, about a camera being stuck in her face whilst she was crying. I wonder if any caught what happened between her and Belu on tape!! It would ratify her story.

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

What exactly happened?

[SportsAcro1]

I have watched this clip before but after reading her book you look at this routine in a whole different light. I can see that you read this book too darmstadthesse.

[darmstadthesse]

In Atlanta, mentally marked by the trainer's decision to take her out of the individual competition and overwhelmed by the pain in her back, Alexandra fell off beam twice. Being watched by 50.000 people in the huge 'Georgia Dome' and by billions of TV viewers, Alexandra saluted the judges and public trembling, with tears in her eyes. She went up to Octavian Belu, who yelled at her: "Get the hell out of this hall!"

[ClauRomanul]

that is so mean...BUT how do u no belu said that to her...i no belu is major nerve person, but no1 should do that!

[NYCBlonde]

@darmstadthesse JEEZ. Unbelievable, poor kid. She showed a lot of guts up there.

[darmstadthesse]

"He sent me out, and a gymnast isn't used to leaving after an exercise. Probably so that they couldn't see I was crying," remembers the gymnast and the tears are flowing again

[briaberger]

Why were there so many gosh darn JUMPS? She was far too beautiful a gymnast to have 18932 jumps in her routine.

[QueenieQue]

What are you talking about? She had four. It's not like she didn't have plenty of tumbling; a bhs to a full, and a four-element flight series.

[briaberger]

The jumps just distracted me from the rest of her routine. I just think she was an exceptional beam worker and I didn't understand the necessity of 4 jumps.

Nothing to get worked up over... :)

[QueenieQue]

Sorry, didn't mean to sound "worked up." She really is a great beam worker, isn't she?

[briaberger]

She really was incredibly captivating! So different from Gogean and some other beam workers of her time. She was always elegant and poised.

[TuesdayPillow]

Well first of all you needed to have a jump/dance combo as well as a dance/acro combo. So really, three of those four jumps were necessary. The jump she falls on was an E back then and had the highest rating in that code, and in event finals you needed an extra tenth of difficulty.

[benrobinson77]

I must say the jump at 1:10 is great even though she fell. Many gymnasts do these blind jumps and don't really commit to throwing their head back like in Amanda Borden's routine.

Marinescu is great at throwing her head back, as is Anna Pavlova and most of the Chinese women. I give her a lot of credit.

[TwisterFlipp95]

and nastia =]

[Megrez77]

shut up, this is about Alexandra Marinescu.

[serenenz]

I watched her Balance Beam from the Pre Olympic test event and that routine would have been much better to use than this one. You should also see her dismount on that routine.... amazing. It is a shame she fell on this routine twice.

[muffycat26]

The reason Belu constantly shafted her was political. Marinescu trained in Bucharest, the top rival site to Belu based Deva. That explains why she was the one elite Romanian gymnast who showed style, artistry, originality, and variety then. Milo, Gogean, Amanar all trained at Deva and had the typical robotic and mechanical Romanian style. Belu favored his own which is why he did things like bumping Marinescu out of the AA for Amanar twice. The lack of work ethic claim was a cheesy excuse.

[DanzQueen]

Damn straight, that's the honest truth.

[faeryquene]

ITA-that is EXACTLY the reason imo that Belu favored his pet Amanar over Marinescu in TWO major AA competitions-the Olympic AA and Worlds in 1997. Poor Alexandra-she competed at the wrong time. I think Goreac or Forminte would have treated her with the respect that Alexs deserved. My heart went out to her at Atlanta and at Worlds. She was my favorite Romanian on that team.

[russianskatingfan]

Well Amanar medaled in both AA events. Marinescu would not have. So really like it or not it was the best decision when it comes to competition.

[faeryquene]

Unless you can see into the future with crystal ball-there is no way you can know if Marinescu would have medalled or not in either of those AA events. She won the pre-Olympic test the year before-anything was possible but of course we will never know since Belu twice denied her the chance to even try. It would have crushed any kid's self-esteem. Belu was a bad coach.

[jpmorrison71]

Robbing a kid of the chance to compete in the AA back-to-back in the two most major competitions-the Olympics, and Worlds-was unethical. It would NEVER be a 'right' decision in the States if some coach pulled that shit.

[faeryquene]

ITA-Marinescu was ROBBED twice in her life by Belu in favor of his own Deva gymnast.

[russianskatingfan]

The only reason she qualified both times was because Amanar fell in the team finals. Otherwise she would not have qualified either time. It was just like how Galieva only qualified in 92 due to Gutsu's fall and that is why she was pulled for Gutsu. If you need your teammate to fall to qualify you arent really better, you just got lucky.

[faeryquene]

I know the reason Marinescu qualified. Simona twice did not earn her way to either AA. I guess we will both have to agree to disagree on this one.

[russianskatingfan]

Fair enough. Just do keep in mind Amanar did medal both times she was put in though. As well Belu also pulled Milo out of beam finals in favor of Marinescu, so while he pulled her for someone in one event, he pulled one of his gymnasts in another event for her as well.

[faeryquene]

That Amanar was given the opportunity to medal does not take away from the fact that Marinescu was denied the chance-TWICE-by Amanar'as own coach. Belu did not like Marinescu, not the least reason being because she was not from his gym-she was from Bucharest which is obvious enough by the fact that she grace, and could dance while Belu's Deva gymnasts did not have grace, and could not dance.

[faeryquene]

continued: Missing an event final is not the same as missing two major AA finals-Milo had tons of medals by then-although it does not make it okay that she was pulled for Marinescu-I never said it was right.

[HailieNichole1995]

Actually it was Gogean he pulled not Milo. And she gave Alex the chance because she made finals other than beam

[russianskatingfan]

You are incorrect. Gogean won the bronze medal on beam finals so she was obviously not pulled. It was Milo who was pulled. Milo's other event final was bars, although in her case she didnt really have a medal chance on any event final that year other than floor (which she was beaten out for by Gogean and Amanar anyway). Marinescu had more shot of a beam medal than Milo so I understand the move. Unlike some I am in favor of moves made based upon actual logic.

[HailieNichole1995]

You should read her book it explains a lot more than any other person could. She proves the point that Octavian Belu liked his own gymnasts over her because twice she was pulled for Amanar when she had just as much of a shot considering she actually qualified.

[russianskatingfan]

She did not have as much shot as Amanar. She qualified since Amanar fell in team competition both times, but Amanar was the stronger contender for a medal both times. Amanar had the highest total score of anyone in team optionals in Atlanta. Had she duplicated that she would have won the AA over Lilia. The same reason Milo was pulled for Marinescu here, since Marinescu had more chance to medal than Milo. I also have read enough biographies to know how biased and inaccurate most are.

[theobosking]

@HailieNichole1995 Marinescu was not as strong a contender as Amanar for the AA in either 96 or 97. The only reason she qualified over Amanar was Amanar having a fall in the team competition both times. I wouldnt have pulled Marinescu though. I would have pulled the washed up Milosovoci for Amanar in 96, and Presecan for Amanar in 97. Both times leaving Gogean and Marinescu in an adding Amanar.

[Holycani]

@theobosking how about no pulling anyone and letting those who qualified actually reap the rewards of their efforts?

[russianskatingfan]

However my point was it is hypocritical to criticize Amanar being put in for Marinescu to the AA which Amanar had more chance in then Marinescu anyway, and then say nothing about Milo being pulled from beam finals for Marinescu. In both cases Belu put in the one who had more chance over the one who had qualified directly. Either both were fair, or both were wrong.

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

@muffycat26 He pulled Milo, his own gymnast out from this EF so that she could compete, so he clearly liked her enough. Though Amanar lacked the ability to dance she had the skills on all events and was much more consistent than Marinescu and the decision to put her in the all around turned out to be sound. Also to say that all gymnast that come from Deva are robotic and mechanical is incorrect, Raducan was known for her ability to dance and show expression and style.

[russianskatingfan]

@gymnasticsloverxoxo Marinescu was not as much a threat for the AA as Amanar. Not even close. People forget Amanar had the highest optional score of anyone in the team competition. The judges in the AA undermarked her but doing a required double turn on floor cost her atleast the AA silver. Belu pulled Marinescu for Amanar since he wanted the bigger threat in the AA and he ended up with 3 medals in the AA it turned out. And as you said he was willing to pull someone for Mar. for beam

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

@russianskatingfan Yes I agree. Were you agreeing with my comment because we seem to be saying the same thing?

[russianskatingfan]

@gymnasticsloverxoxo yes I was. Belu was absolutely correct to pull Marinescu for Amanar. I might have pulled Milo for Amanar instead but Milo had a big enough reputation to be gifted with some high scores for her way past her prime gymnastics.

[turbojon811]

I think it was implied at some point that the reason behind his feelings were due to her poor attitude and work ethic. That's very uncharacteristic of a Romanian, or any gymnast at this level, so I can certainly see how it could become frustrating to a coach... especially Belu.

[gymnasticsforever95]

he shouldnt have changed her routine in finas...she would of had a lesser cance of faling on ehr side somi then her back full

[gymnasticsforever95]

why do romania gymnasts where neckalaces in gynastics??? isnt that dangerous?!?!

[LBoogie101984]

Man, I felt so bad for Marinescu....Her score was a 8.462. I know that Belu was pissed with her, especially that he had swapped Lavinia Milosovici for the beam event finals for her....I wonder how Lavinia would have done if she would have been in it...

[persikon]

super routine, two acrobatics sequences, great blind jumps cool

[jojo1802]

Poor girl.. She went for it and added the FF+Full, and biffed it.. I bet Belu was PISSED..

[MTVMANN]

I have heard that he was and very upset with her.