Betty Okino - 1992 Olympics AA - Floor Exercise

[jennyboom]

and to think Jamie Pressley was neck and neck with her..

[blackbruh2]

I totally agree with you BoraBoraGirl2001...they still screw girls over til this day...I love Betty Okino...but I dont think she should have been on this team...

[Holycani]

she is a graceful, albeit weak gymnast, i can't believe all her passes were the same...

[MrJST94]

sorry to say but this is a horrible routine and tumbling

[krell88]

that's one of the most beautiful and controlled triple pirouettes (turns) i've ever seen...in gymnastics.

[afgymnast96]

she was so elegant and graceful!i remember watching the videos of her when i was younger and thinking that she wasn't that good,but now she looks so amazing! :)

[scholar300]

OMG @1:09 her triple twist was absolutely PERFECT!!! It doesnt get better than that.

[12bmills]

Pause at 1:34, It looks cool with Shannon in the background,

[beckerbombs]

If this routine was only worth a 9.850 then Miller was clearly overmarked and deserved no higher than that. Her tumbling is easier than Miller's but much better executed with better landings, and Miller's tumbling is also nowhere near as hard as many others, and Okino's dance and presentation are certainly superior to Shannon's.

[metsdudenj]

@beckerbombs Agree. Miller was very unclean in her floor landings. This routine was better than Boginskaya, Miller, Zmeskal and many others, perfect execution and form

[Mikizzle15]

I love Betty, but for someone to have had as much flexibility as Betty had, why did she have such awful leaps? I mean, Dominique Dawes had some of the most beautiful leaps that I had ever seen and her flexibility wasn't even as great as Betty's. Maybe that's the Karolyi camp behind that, since none of their gymnasts seem graceful, with the exception of Betty and maybe they didn't stress amplitude leaps as much. Oh well, still love Betty and wished she could have gotten more notice than she did.

[evoandy]

her spins are the best I've ever seen from a gymnast.... wow.

[luv4cookie1]

beautiful! and shannon miller looks so cute when she doesnt the full turn in the backgournd, she is so tiny, and her scruncy takes up half of her head lol! so adorable!

[metsdudenj]

I agree, I loved that music, but I think she was doing pretty much the most difficulty she could at the time. Her landings were so solid on that routine. She should have made the first pass into a combination punch front after the double back and go into a double twist, then use the other two double backs

[FLACSC74]

for second pass she should of did a 2 1/2 to punch front

[jpalmettoguy]

that wasnt worth much in the 92 code

[htownhomie06]

yes, we know this set's tumbling is watered down b/c of her rash of injuries but it was thoroughly entertaining. okino actually uses dance elements & real choreography 2 sell this performance. it's a shame those romanians can chalk a set with difficult tumbling but contribute little else and still outscore a set like this which dare i say is a true floor exercise routine.

[russianskatingfan]

@htownhomie06 I dont think it is a shame the Romanians and their double layouts and super tumbling outscored her. It still is a sport. I do think it is a shame Miller with also not great tumbling (harder than Okino but much easier than the top and poor landings), boring presentation, and annoying weepy violin music outscored her by half a tenth, even with a big step back on her middle pass.

[htownhomie06]

@russianskatingfan i'll agree with u one tumbling but shouldn't a "floor exercise" be complete with difficult tumbling & great presentation? bontas & milo could both tumble but both had very boring choreography -- if u can even call them that. i always thought judges took a 50/50 to do scoring? all i'm saying is okino had a more enjoyable set IMO. the romanians put so much difficulty into their tumbling that spent most of the time standing around to catch their breath 4 the nx pass.

[russianskatingfan]

@htownhomie06 I actually think Bontas and Milo had better than usual floor choreography and presentation this year. It wasnt the best still but look at Milo in 94-96 for example and suddenly she looks like a virtuoso on floor in 92, haha. I understand what you are saying though.

[russianskatingfan]

@htownhomie06 I also feel sorry for Betty since she had been injured so much for over a year by that point. She had really lost ground reputation wise to Zmeskal and Miller. Because she was unable to compete at Nationals or Trials she even had to petitioned onto the team despite being one of the best gymnasts in the country, and the whiny Kim Kelly of course wouldnt let anyone forget that. So I think that also partly explains her scores. Lets face it gymnastics is a very political sport.

[htownhomie06]

@russianskatingfan agreed. she did the best she could under the circumstances. gr8 compulsories but most of her optional sets suffered understandably given her rash of injuries.

[MNGYM26]

@russianskatingfan I agree both have valid points about presentation and choreography. Let's not forget though, even if Betty was a full strength her floor routine was not that "hard" at that time. Full-in tuck first pass; her first pass from here becomes her second pass; and she ends with a double tuck or pike. Now, I love Betty I truly do, but her at full strength she did not compare to the routines of Milo or Bontas . Also, she was one of the best in the world. 4th AA at Worlds in 91'

[BoraBoraGirl2001]

@russianskatingfan Kim Kelly, whether you like her or not, had earned her spot on the team according to the rules and was named as an Olympian. I'm not a fan or her gymnastics at all, but the USAG really screwed the pooch that year with all the politics and confusion over who was on the team and who wasn't, right up to the last minute. Who knows, maybe we could have won a silver if we hadn't put these girls through mental and physical hell right up to Day 1 of the Olympics. What a mess.

[LAILAbabapaba]

Does anybody know this song?

[MNGYM26]

Hernando's Hideaway

[okhan001]

she had the best line of the U.S. team...even better than Miller

[maxy7792]

she is not better than miller now way

[TuesdayPillow]

Except that Miller could get a full split on her leaps and jumps. Oh, and she knew how to tuck when she was supposed to tuck.

[ants2876]

Miller did not have a good tuck position. Her legs were always split far apart and cowboyed. Her worst ever form was on anything tucked.

[TuesdayPillow]

If you notice gymnasts tend to have very different tucks when doing full-ins than when doing plain double backs.

[gymmerz]

I don't know anything about the old old old COP, but that looks to me like a third double pike being performed in a single routine?

[czucksk84life]

last pass was on the verge of pike, but she tucks at the last second.

[gymmerz]

Haha..it's quite contentious. If she tucks it seems more like a break in form for a pike more than a well-intended tuck.

[binks110]

I don't know if anyone noticed... but while Betty's on floor, Kim is on vault and Shannon is on beam... that's soo funny, all 3 Americans are performing at the exsact same time.

[stingstungme]

My godbaby who is 9 made a comment last night how she wished there was a black gymnast on the competitive level. I showed her some vids of Dominique Dawes and she was amazed. I mentioned Betty Okino as well but after showing someone a Dawes floor routine, it is kind of hard to show Betty. I loved Betty back then. I remembered that she was always nursing an injury.

[todosobretodo]

Fantastic dance! OUTSTANDING!

[larameehan]

Okino had the best natural movement and lines for the US, in my opinion

[asy109]

I'd like to echo earlier comments about injuries - I remember that she had some back fractures during the Olympics. Also regarding the triple turn: she had one on beam, but I heard Bela wouldn't let her put it in.

[OapostropheC]

towards the end of this routine, is it me or is that Shannon on beam and Kim on vt?

[Felipemajo]

Can anybody tell me why was Betty Okino competing in these games?? This routine is so poor. She did not deserve a place in the team.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Let me put it this way: Would Kim Kelly have been a better choice?

[Felipemajo]

Probably not, if we are tking about scores. But if we are tking about olimpyc sports (not professional) I think it was not correct. It´s my opinion. Kind regards!!!

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

I respect your opinion, but I think Betty was a better choice. :)

[smallpup1]

yeah..3 double pikes?? What is with that? I guess she didn't know how to do anything else

[mrparts]

she had competed more difficulty in previous years. She was probably not in peak shape.

[tide32athlete]

Only the second pass is a double pike. The first and third are double tucks, but they look like double pikes because she has a very open tuck position. Hard to tell from this camera angle though. It's important to remember that she had several fractures in her back and many knee and elbow surgeries prior to this meet. It's amazing she was even out there.

[tomsk14]

3 double pikes?

[puaalaaumoe]

what a great triple turn, though!

[rank101]

Got to be some of the most lamest tumbling in those games. The US really didn't have much depth at that time. Too bad Phoebe Mills retired. Even Dianne Durham's tumbling from 83 was far superior.

[metsdudenj]

i liked her floor from 91 worlds much better, she should have found more difficulty somehow

[Kaya112345]

Okay, this is weird. I got here by clicking on Laura Martinez's floor exercise in the 2000 AA.

[saltlakecity2002]

Well this is an AA performance, so in a way they're related.

[gemmalover]

enough with the double backs