Olympics '08: Luikin Gets Silver in Uneven Bars

[bernardmvella]

Nastia got all the golds I think she'd ever wanted (1 AA, 2 BB, 1 UB, 1 Team), but she always seemed to me to be the queen of second place. Second 3 years in a row on the uneven bars. Second on the balance beam olympic final. Second twice in team (06, 08), second in the AA to Chellsie Memmel. I guess none of it maters because of the Gold AA in Beijing, but she must have won the most silver medals out of anybody that quad.

[Planetimage2]

CORRECT Position

Gold-Yang Yiing

Silver-He KeXin

Bronze-Nastia Liukin

[morenodelaorilla]

he is right, yang yilin beat both of them

[SAX713]

why coulndt they tie he kexin and nastia for the gold like at '84 games

[markedexclusive]

They eliminated tied results after Atlanta for Olympic gymnastics. They still allow it for worlds.

[morenodelaorilla]

Oh my God, I'm impressed and happy to tears that this man is able to admit that Yang Yilin beat them both, i've trying so hard to make some people understand that.. I respect both he kexin and nastia but Yang Yilin was the best that night.

[MrKaiten]

Yang Yilin... even Bart Conner agrees!!

[morenodelaorilla]

completely agree.

[SAX713]

nastia got robbed

[babylishee]

@SAX713

OH PLEASE. Just look at what this guy from YOUR COUNTRY has to say. You arent even relating to this video. Youre probably one of those who will insist for the rest of your life, no matter what other true gymnastics fan/gymnastics authority says, that Nastia/Shawn/USA got robbbedddddd omg omg boohoo!

[safehaven11]

I think that Nastia's routine wasn't very hard or difficult. I would've choses

1-Yang Yilin

2-He kexin

3-Beth Tweddle.

[safehaven11]

I would've chosen Yang Yilin

[russiangymfan]

Two of He Kexin's releases are combined, very very risky and difficult! I agree that Kexin's routine should have higher start values.

[russiangymfan]

Bart is the most fair American gymnastics commentator, perhaps because he married a Romanian? This gives him perspective and makes him more open minded.

[wba2k8prem]

i think tweddle should of at least got bronze, her bars routine is very difficult

[lifelaughlove06]

I think it comes down to form with her.. awesome skills but not so clean

[PhillyGal4Ever]

I'd have to agree with Bart-and like Bart I too thought Yang Yilin had beaten both He and Nastia just for overall performance.

[chinatheatre]

"1. Yang Yilin

2. HE Kexin

3. Liukin or Tweedle "

Jodivalburna: I 100% agree with you! With the same start value, Yang has the perfect form, He has the most exciting innovative moves but with some errors. Liukin lacks Yang's perfection and precision; she dosn't have He's innovative moves. If Liukin can get bronze, Tweedle should get it, too. Thought she was not perfect that day, Tweedle's routin was more excited, and she surely has power. 3 eastern european judges helped Liukin.

[Adorel]

i accept the result!i think yang yilin uneven bar even better than liukin ... he kexin can won the gold medal is because her routine is more difficult but not as pretty as yilin

[ejwc10]

yes i remember watching and after yilin's routine i was like oh she won gold! i was surprised at her score,her routine was SO pretty. He kexin's routine is really thrilling and yang yilin's is more elegant. i am a big nastia fan but i have to agree that her uneven bar work is not that pretty. ugly dismount and she doesn't get high on her releases which bothers me. but anyways i though semyonova could have medaled too. she is a nice bar worker.

[alexgym09]

really? because I have never seen another gymnast get more height on a gienger or pak than nastia

I think because those three were so close, that what made the difference in the end in terms of medals was simply the judges preference, i.e. originality and routine composition. Even though yang yilin performed very well, she doesn't have as much variety as nastia and he and that's why I think the judges didn't favor her

[ejwc10]

she does a nice pak but i never thought she got that high on her gienger or especially her tkatchev. i guess my last comment made it seem like i don't like nastia. i think she's a great gymnast and bar worker & i was pulling for her in the AA. i just don't like her bar work as much as others. youre right that it was so close it came down to the judges preference which makes since b/c kexin and nastia's routines are more unique. i just thought yilin executed her routine better than both.

[gymn0brunette0hanley]

I think I see what ejwc is saying about releases. She sometimes gets too close to the bar on her pak salto but has good height. Her gienger is high + connected w/ pirouette series so its awesome but her Tkatchev isnt as high. I think she has beautiful form though and love her Ono and pirouetting. She works hard on those bars and her routine and He's are awesome. But I agree with alexgym since He and Nas have more variety so they are awarded even w/ minor form errors in such a close competition.

[macassar88]

She has horrible form. (Nastia)

She separates her legs on every giant, and her dismount looks like a frog. Yang Yilin has much better pirouetting.

[macassar88]

Nastia's Pak has leg separations. Also, her Tkatchev sucks. If you look at slow motion comparisons where He and Nastia are on the same screen, He's Tkatchev is so high that her feet are higher than Nastia's head at their peaks.

[cutiiegalo0]

ya, i also tot yang yilin would win gold. in my opinion, she executed her routine better than anyone.

[jordivalbuena]

Agree with bart conner and with most of you guys. Yang Yilin was the best by far because of her beautiful execution. But, as some other say too, I think that He Kexin and Tweedle should have had higher SV if the code were rightly written.

1. Yang Yilin

2. HE Kexin

3. Liukin or Tweedle

[1WebkinzFan1]

1. China deserved it because they do work there ass off. In fact everyone does but I really wanted He Kexin to win not because I'm chinese but because I just think China is so good on gymnastics!

[teagarden8650]

Truth is, Luikin was over-scored by every Eastern European country. While Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil seemed more fair in their judging.

[xuandyliu]

Even though He's execution wasn't as good as Yang's, I would still give gold to He based on these performances because I believe the A-scores do not truly reflect the difficulty of He's, Nastia's, and Yang's routines.

Seriously, how are Nastia's and Yang's routines as difficult as He's?

He Kexin should have had a slightly higher A-score than Yang/Nastia and that would have secured the gold for He. Her execution wasn't as perfect as Yang's, but still good.

G: He Kexin S:Yang Yilin B: Nastia

[zhangxingyi]

nastia had pirouettes and turns and then a gienger release move all in succession. those moves separately do not give a high A score, but done together they are worth a lot.

[xuandyliu]

Nastia always has the most visible leg separations and her dismounts are some of the ugliest I've ever seen from and UB champion.

Compare her form to Yang's straight, locked legs and perfect dismount and landing, and you can see Yang should have won AT LEAST the silver.

[Jackasaniceguy]

Ugh... I watched those performances over and over, and I still feel that Liukin should have taken the gold. Yang and He were both brilliant, yes, but I'm still wondering why He took the gold. But, maybe I'm missing something that the judges didn't. Hopefully she'll turn up at the 2012 Games for another chance *frown and shrug*.

[NoOne3234]

I said I wasn't qualified to judge their decision and acknowledge that the rules weren't particularly biased against liukin, as the rules were already in place. He won fairly.

I'm saying that Luikin did not have inherently worse scores as was claimed in the description, but lost due to an arbitrary rule. Removing the bottom score just makes the person with higher standard deviation win, which says nothing about performance. However, a higher stdev suggests greater disagreement from judges.

[NoOne3234]

The tie-breaking system is a bit screwed up. It seems to penalize people for getting a lower standard deviation on judge's scoring. Having the person with more consistent markings lose doesn't make sense. There was actually less disagreement about Nastia's score than He's. Why did the tie breaker go to the more controversial candidate?

I thought they were pretty generous with He's scoring (visible errors) and favor luikin's technique, but I am not qualified to judge that aspect.

[pogmolodon]

judges were given free chow mein thats why they let the gold for the chinese. if U.S were able to give the judges a premium steak they could have change their mind of setting the Real score and let nastia get what she deserves a GOLD!

[lettuce137]

YangYL should hv got the gold, Hekexin silver, and Lukin bronze for sur, Lukin is definitely worth the gold, and not even the silver!

[lettuce137]

Bronze medal winner should have got the gold.

He silver.

Nastia bronze cuz she was the worst among the three, she is definitely not worth a gold medal for this competition. Shut up and deal with it, NBC!

[goozbumps195]

yer i was surprised that yang yilin only got a 16.65. i thot she did so much better :S

[Ilovemadworld]

exactly.

I thought yang yilin was the best and luikin was the third. But~~~~

[frankroberts123]

Exactly. Nastia's form on her dismount is AWFUL. Why is everyone ignoring this? Can anyone honestly say that Nastia's dismount form is world class? It's not. He's dismount FORM (excluding the landing) was superior to Nastia.

Also, regardless of whether or not He and Nastia have the same start value it doesnt take a genius to see that He's routine is still more difficult overall. He Kexin has the most difficult release combination in the world AND has more release skills in her routine than N.

[tbone81889]

The judges rated the difficulty levels the same at 7.7. Both individuals scores were the same. The tie breaker they used was (averaging the score of the three lowest judges). He and her fellow athletes look considerably underage and should atleast be investigated since other records show that she is underage.

[Ilovemadworld]

I have to say I agree every word you said.

[macassar88]

Even the landing because Nastia slid back a little which is the same as taking a step. It isn't very visible from the front, but if you look closely, it looks like Nastia had a very small hop.

[HoTnickZ]

I don't care what the start value is.. He's release move alone was just sick. I've never seen something like that. For that alone she get's the edge. Mistakes by both girls cancelled each other out. Nastia's dismount while she stuck it, was out of form.

Bronze medal winner should have got gold.

He silver.

Nastia bronze.

[Ilovemadworld]

Bronze medal winner should have got gold.

He silver.

Nastia bronze.

[macassar88]

I think Beth Tweddle should have gotten bronze.

So Yang Yilin gold

He Kexin silver

Beth Tweddle bronze.

[ralucagymnast]

I dont understand this not sharing gold medals anymore: Nadia shared gold with Nelli Kim didnt she at the Moscow Olympics???

[AnnaPavlovaFan]

Stupid IOC doesn't allow shared medals anymore. Atlanta's UB final in 1996 was the last one where two silvers were awarded. Do I think it's unfair? DEFINITELY !!!

[moosegirl69]

come on. they both got the SAME score to start with. which i cannot believe considering the fact that they both have the same start value and that nastia had fewer visible errors and that the chinese gymnast had a crossover step on her landing and it wasnt that great of an exucution. nastia's was more elegant and beautiful.

So i think nastia deserves to be on top of that podium. but what can we say. THEYRE THE HOST COUNTRY. and you know what i mean by that

[smilescyrus777]

i agree totally unfair she made less visable errors and she got silver i admire her grace when she acceptedthe medal because i would kill

[zhuzhu524]

non of the judges are from countries that competed. they are professionals and know what they are doing. please don't disrespect them because you are biased.

nastia deserved her score. she had very NOTICEABLE errors during landing. her legs were miles apart. it might not be visible to you, but it was definitely visible to the judges.

[Minacious]

Nastia

Yang Yilan

He

[Neondrgns]

watch that german guy on NBC, double standard, he talks about how theres a bias in this olympic oriented towards the chinese, and then they ask his what about the games in atlanta, and he said yes there is, but thats how it is, but then he says its not fair? seriously an idiot, nbc is really shaming themselves with this pettiness

[iamlumin]

Both girls had errors, Nastia stuck her landing & that should have been the difference! Strange scoring at these Olympics. Fake fireworks, fake singing & even the 56 ethnicities represented in the opening ceremonies was a fraud. Tibet, Darfur, the way Chinese treat animals, UN approved a huge deal for them to import ivory from Africa, so now elephants will pay the price, the Chinese rail system into Tibet will probably be the end of the snow leopard as well. What a screwed up mess!

[yachilling]

iamlumin, you are fake too. Fake this, Fake that, and Fake your ass. Get a life. It was a show and it is a digital era. The lip-sync was a mistake. But everything else of the Opening was fantastic.

[Grenas02]

that girl who won gold is pathetic for her to actually think that she won that medal fairly...GO NASTIA!!! there has to be something we can do right???

[xxmonikkxxx]

uhh no there isn't

[qsascom]

haha I agree with bart, I thought yangyilin would do it.

it was a really exciting competiton, though.

well done, nastia!! good luck with the balance beam finals :)

[frankroberts123]

The NBC Commentators (Tim Dagget and Elfie S.) should be ashamed of themselves. Any gymnastics expert can see that Ying Yilan (the Bronze medalist) was the true winner of this competition. Yilan had the same A score as both Nastia and He (7.7) AND had fewer visible errors. Tim and Elfie were so busy whining over Nastia (the U.S. gymnast, of course) they purposely failed to highlight the fact that Yilan was the gymnast that was truly robbed.

[Minacious]

She had the same start value and she had fewer errors, but Yilan's looked to be a lot more simple. The dismount was like... 2 back flips... I mean come on.

[69tails]

Minacious, Yilin's routine only looks simple if you're a yokel who knows nothing about gymnastics who's watching it for all the pretty flips.

Tell the truth now. Know what a pak salto is? El grip? Cowboy? Know how many tenths of a point are deducted for what errors? Then kindly hush, and think carefully about how a routine with the SAME START VALUE could possibly be "A LOT MORE SIMPLE."

Sheesh.

[Minacious]

Gee Wiz sorry I'm not a gymnastics nerd. No I don't know what a rolling hippopotamus somersault frying pan is, and I don't care. I wrote that comment a long time ago when people actually cared about gymnastics and the olympics. Get over yourself.

[modoturan]

Bravo. Instead of owning your mistake, you're actually trying to defend your ignorance, because it's cool to not know anything. And randomly insulting the other guy too, good job.

[GreenSabbath69]

Thank you.

[FlippinTitan2010]

They should name a skill a rolling hippopotamus somersault frying pan now :D

[Minacious]

You know what? I think I just might do that. I am going to pursue my dream of creating the next big gymnastics move. I'll submit the idea to the nearest gym. Eventually it is going to become so big, that people aren't even going to call it by it's full name. They're gonna be like, "Hey, I betcha can't do a RHSFP." And they are gonna be like, "Yes I can, I totally hippopotamused it up last night, I just can't frying pan my landing."

[FlippinTitan2010]

DO IT xD It'll be  the most amazing move ever, not even the Chinese could perfect it.

[macassar88]

There already is. It is also known as Nastia Liukin's bars dismount.

[HoTnickZ]

Exactly, they are both a disgrace.

[IMxEPIC]

she should have gotten the gold.

that girl that won was not 16 and did not do better.

[cocoistheman]

fuck china that girl prob was only like 13 anyways cheaters go usa

[micloud1]

agree they those crooked fucks fucked her over seems like everybody hates the us or something

[Neondrgns]

so... are you referring to the Australian judge? or the world in general? So you call the world crooked, and asks why the world hates your ignorant ass.

[gotentk4]

14 to be exact.. but look like 14

[browneyedbabii2]

nastia deserved the gold. she did ten times better than the other girls.

[HoTnickZ]

No she didn't. Even the bronze medal performer was better than Nastia.

Stop getting influenced by the biased mouth breathers at nbc.

[macassar88]

Even the 4th place girl, Beth Tweddle was better than Nastia.

[safehaven11]

I know. Nastia had a load of leg separation.

[KJay489]

Keep at it Nastia. You're amazing!

[njpagirl82]

The girl is classy!

[upabittoolate]

we're proud of you nastia