Dominique Dawes - 1996 Olympics AA - Floor Exercise

[cijonez3500]

I also think Lilia would have won all around gold, but I believe Dominique could have at least would a medal.

[bekaboo212]

Such graceful and entertaining choreography. Completely different from what we see now, yet this was not that long ago.

[natalienat518]

If she scored 9.85 as she did in the team finals, she will win the SILVER MEDAL in the AA, and like everyone had said, people will try to be a DOMINIQUE DAWES.

[bertera1614]

i really dont like this music

[scorptale]

Anybody know what this music is?>

[dahighbar]

How could she have not beaten lilia..She was averaging 9.825 or better on 3 or the 4 apparatus she scored a 9.85 on floor in team comp..if she would of hit the gold was hers

[Jasonisthedon]

@dahighbar lilia total AA score was 39.225. Dawes scored 9.812 on UB, 9.825 on BB. if she hit her floor and got her 9.85 on the FX and her usual 9.75 on vault she would have had a score of 39.237 which would have gave her the gold. Going into the FX she was in 1st already. The gold was hers for the taking. like I said before it was between dawes and lilia because they were the only two that were competitive on all 4 events. For dawes to finish out of the top 5 is a disgrace.

[dahighbar]

@Jasonisthedon I agree although I think with the exception of shannons double lay also was she..Keep in mind there were politics envolved in shannon bar scores..Her routine was more diffiicult and better executed then Lilias and she was way underscored for it..or Lilia was way over scored!

[ants2876]

@dahighbar LOL at Shannon being way underscored on bars. Khorkina who in 96 was only getting 9.85 for her bars work. Mo Huilan with small steps was only getting 9.8. So obviously Miller would be below 9.8 for even her best routines. Lilia beat Khorkina on bars at the European Cup in 95 and tied Mo Huilan for silver on bars at the 95 Worlds. So obviously she was better than Shannon on bars by then as Shannon was not even competitive with people like Khorkina or Little Mo on bars.

[LCAmarkymark]

@ants2876 thats crazy...Shannon was better and had harder elements that Lilia did...its a joke that Lilia scored better than Mo or Khorkina. Judging was crazy at this AA no doubt about that. I mean did you see Khorkina's beam..should have been a 9.8 and her vault should have been a 9.8...the russians were underscored and the Romanians even worse...I do agree that Lilia had a great competition but clearly there was such crazy judging we will never know.

[ants2876]

@Jasonisthedon Lilia's wnning total was a 39.255 so you are wrong that a 39.237 would have given Dawes the gold. And she wouldnt neccessarily have even gotten a 9.85 on floor as floor scoring was lower this day (except for Lilia).

[ants2876]

@Jasonisthedon And if everyone had hit Mo Huilan would have won. In fact with everyone hitting the final results would have been something like this:

Gold- Mo Huilan

Silver- Lilia Podkopayeva

Bronze- Amanar or Dawes

[bbhouk1]

@Jasonisthedon ""for Dawes to finish out of the top 5 is a disgrace""

what do you mean? it was Dawes' fault, it wasn't the politics or the judging that made her lose, it was HER FAULT. so how is it a disgrace?

[liukin95]

@Jasonisthedon In the current scoring system you can win with a fall but back in the old scoring system if you make one mistake just like Dawes did here you are competley out of the competition and it would be impossible to make the top 5 so basicly its not a disgrace its reality and that is sport for ya!

[TwisterFlipp95]

9.000?

I would have given her a 9.300, to be honest.

.5 for falling, .1 for being out of bounds, .05 for being crooked on the second pass, and .05 for the landing of the last pass.

A 9.000 was too low though.

[37tonya]

This was hard to watch. I certainly wished she could have medaled in the AA.

[angelloveboyz]

from first to 20th? now those judges was racist!!!

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

well thats even worse but thats what she placed in the AA from just this fall she dropped from 1st to 14th about.

[AndyChen018]

I felt so bad for her, the gold was right there for her. Yet, hey, she got a gold medal, a bronze, and has been a great spokeswoman since.

[russianskatingfan]

@AndyChen018 I dont think she would have gotten the gold. She could have gotten the silver. I think the only one who could have beaten Lilia that night was Mo without her big mistakes on both beam and floor, and even her I am not sure.

[hinginator]

Many a great gymnast lost their shot for the all around on the floor: Dawes and Miller in 96, Karpenko, Zamoldchikova in 2000. Too bad

[mmoran3]

Oh when she fell my heart sunk to my feet so bad, but i said pick it up girl these olympics aint over you still gotta keep on and she did winning a bronze on floor event finals

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

Was it really that big of a mistake? It would be .500 off, its not the end of the world.

[boytoyville]

Yes, back in during the scoring system in that time frame a fall took you out of medal contention in any major competition.

[willsbob123]

Dude, it's a HUGE mistake, she step out of bound too!

[gymnasticsloverxoxo]

I realize its a big mistake to fall. But from that one mistake she dropped to fourteenth place!!! From 1st to 14th!!! Thats a huge difference it seems more reasonable that she would have dropped to fifth or sixth.

[willsbob123]

True, that is a drastic change.

[angelloveboyz]

i agree with you i don`t see how that mistake could put her all the way to 14th place, it was like the judges was trying there best to stop her from getting gold, but yet she still bounces back. To me the way the judges scored her it was like they were racist.

[Jasonisthedon]

Dawes was better than lilia on bars and vault, Lilia was better than dawes on beam and floor. Also their scores were only sperated by half tenths on those events so it would have come down to minor errors which it did. Dawes scores were the only that would have challenged Lilia's in the AA cause they were both solid and competitive on all 4 events. Unforunately its the mistakes that win and loses medals!

[grafgirl27]

@Jasonisthedon Dawes was not better than Lilia on vault. Dawes was only capable of mid 9.7s on vault.

[allimoballi]

are her legs bowed?

[DuhustBus000]

I know why she fell, she messed up because she did an extra backhandspring, i noticed this because those two thud that occur when she twists then tucks occured much later than usual. this extra handspring gave her less room and she was afraid to go out of bounds and sat down and went out of bounds anyway

[audie83]

I agree with you 100 % on that. To me Lilia was the best gymnast of her day because she was the whole package-powerful tumbling-her Podpokayeva on FX I have yet to see done to this-perhaps gymnasts have but I haven't seen it-a great vaulter, good on beam, and bars and on top of all of that her exquisite to point, extensions, attention to detail-her dance, amplitude on leaps, etc. Lilia was the best of the two for those reasons and more. Her compulsories alone were far superior to Dawes.

[Dunntosh]

Lol. I'll print one of my older posts... Its relevant to the discussion here though.

Dawes, scoring what she got in the team final on the FX (9.850) would have given her the silver (39.168)

Miller, scoring what she could have scored on the FX (we'll say 9.875) she would have score a 39.211, silver again behind Podkopayeva.

Mo Huilan, scoring a 9.800 without the mistakes she got in the FX, she would have scored a 39.199, still second behind Lilia Podkopayeva...

[Dunntosh]

It's pretty safe to assume that Lilia was going to win, irrospective of who fell...

I hope this helped in some way :)

[Jasonisthedon]

thats ridiculous shannon would never have scored that high in 96 (9.875) ur dreaming. By 96 Shannon was only competitive on beam and compulsories thats it!

[Dunntosh]

*Sigh*

It's called a hyperbole Jasonisthedon... The point of the hyperbole is to show that even with an exaggerated score on the FX, Miller would have never beaten Lilia.

[svetaswan]

Absolutely my worst sports-viewing moment. Ever.

This isn't shown in this clip, but after Dawes stepped down off the podium & collapsed in Kelli Hill's arms sobbing - a Romanian coach in the background looks at Dawes & then breaks into what seems like a smug smile. If I had caught this live, I may have hopped into my car (I live in ATL) & beat the sh*t out of him. It would have been a 20-minute drive to the Dome. The competition wouldn't have been over yet. You would have seen me on t.v..

[angel2116]

you can tell she was fighting back tears after her fall.

[gymnasticsforever17]

and why did she sit down instead of going out of bounds????? She might have won!!!!

[audie83]

I think Lilia would have still won. I feel the judges liked her gymnastics better. jmo.

[Timic83pronc]

@audie83 I agree. But if she had hit on FX and scored between a 9.8 and 9.850 she would've won silver.

[LCAmarkymark]

@Timic83pronc well her vault just wasn't that exciting but she could have won gold...judging was all over the place in this AA

[chiprince05]

its not a racist comment @ Chevyredneckgal3...but i must agree i would of been nice and it would of open the door even more than she already did...for african american men and women to open themselves up more than just basketball and football etc...she made me start gymnastics...and im a guy...she is a pioneer in this sport...jus like other gymnasts like shannon miller and others..

[areed82884]

I remeber being in atlanta wacthing this live on tv. I remeber my heart skipping a beat when she wernt out of bounds. But don't sweat it dominique, we all knew you were the greatest!! Shannon Miller who....?

[gymnasticsforever17]

hey!!!!! just cause you like dawes gives you know right to insult Shannon Miller!!!!

[dcumr]

Thats not an insult.

[audie83]

To say 'Shannon who..?' IS an insult. And it is a RIDICULOUS insult at that. Dawes was the Groshkova of her day-Brilliantly inconsistent. Let's speak the truth and shame the devil. Shannon for MOST of her career was NOT.

[areed82884]

If you wanna believe that sweetie you can, you are entitled to your opinion....but as I said before SHANNON MILLER WHO???? Dawes was the one of the most underated gymnast ever!!!!! If not for that mistake she would have taken home the gold...but no worries..we still love you "Awesome Dawesome"

[audie83]

Don't insult Shannon to cover for Dawes's FAILURES. Shannon who? Shannon MILLER that's who. The MOST DECORATED GYMNAST IN U.S. HISTORY. Allow me to refresh your biased-and selective memory. Shannon won 7 Olympic medals, one a SILVER IN THE 1992 OLYMPIC AA, which many believe should have been GOLD. She also won the TWO consecutive World Championships to Dominique's NONE.

[audie83]

Continued: She also won TWO Olympic Gold medals - Team and Beam to Dawes ONE - the Teams. Please get with the real world as well as the possible. Your fantasies are border-line ridiculous. Dawes was a great gymnast. But Shannon Miller when it came down to it in 1992, 1993, and 1994 was the BETTER of the Two at BOTH Olympics and in their entire careers hands down.

[tbertoli]

when i first watched this, it broke my heart. part of winning the AA is pure luck. i miss dominique's gymnastics.

[gymnasticsforever17]

in her EF Floor routine the commentator said she sat down cause she was afraid she would go out of bounds...but she did go out of bounds

[angel2116]

She was trying not to go out bounds, but sat it down in the process.

[svetaswan]

So in retrospect the better thing to do would have been to just land out of bounds - on her feet.

[audie83]

Yes-would losing just a tenth of a point for being out of bounds have mattered in the end? I don't remember the scores very well except that no one seemed to be able to score in the 9.90 range anymore (like in 1992).

[ShaefDawg]

yeah, Dawes ended up doing what she was afraid of doing.

[GymBuggey]

Ya, I know! She should of just stepped out instead of falling out! She probably could have medaled in AA still! SHe was in 1st place then she went to 18th.

[rfillangi]

How she got through this routine I'll never know. I'm sure she just wanted to quit after that 2nd pass knowing for the 3rd time a stupid mistake had cost her a chance at being the best in the WORLD...Still love her. My favorite gymnast of all time.

[tedsler]

@rfillangi She is a professional and knows she has to do it, even if there is no chance of a medal. It is also a matter of pride to show the world that you don't quit or give up.

[StormBoy83]

she'll also be remembered for making the majority-american crowd gasp with horror - and for stunning them into an awkward silence for the remainder of her routine... how unsupportive of the bastards

[Fusiondoom]

ah! you took the words right out of my mouth - Dominique Dawes is to be remembered.

[Holycani]

lol

[sirgio]

She came within a breath of winning the most coveted title in history. Dawes will always be remebered for being such a strong gymnast not losing the olympic title.

[Holycani]

Yeah it would have been cool if a black woman had won the top title in this white dominated sport.

[chevyredneckgal3]

why does everything have to be racist to you people? I dont get it

[shane802]

So i guess you love Steve Nash of the NBA!

[audie83]

I remember her for unfortunately balking at 3 major events in the AA - 2 Worlds and the Olympics. I was in shock all that week because she had done it again.