Svetlana Boginskaya - 1991 Worlds EF - Balance Beam

[mamadoenut]

gutsu should have won. i dont know why everyone likes her body. she may be womanly in comparison to gutsu but her torso is very long. personally, i think gutsu has better proportions.

[mamadoenut]

gutsu should have won. i dont know why everyone likes her body. she has a very long torso.

[meadowlane37]

Lovely to watch,she has a really sexy body that looks great in a leotard.

[meadowlane37]

super sexy.

[zeldafreak701]

She has such a beautiful body.

[ShawnVikaKomova2012]

She really is the swan.

[fiestybananamelon]

I met her! shes awesome!

[glam2beauty1]

i love her! shes my inspiration. we have very similar body builds and lines!

[JohnYiMusic]

reminds me of a mix between nastia's elegance and produnova's ferocity :D

[LilBurntGurl]

i know svetlana! shes amazing ! :)<3

[LGailey]

@LilBurntGurl The next time you see Bogi, tell her I said she's fabulous!!! I've been a HUGE fan since I was 9 years old!

[sickscreenname]

i didn't know Boginskaya was 5'4!. That means Nastia, Svetlana Khorkina, Bogie are all 5'3-5'6. Just goes to show taller gymnasts are graceful, artistic and amazing to watch :)

[ants2876]

anyway even if one wants to milk the form argument then Okino had both much more difficulty and originality than Boginskayas simple routine and also had very good form and nice dance. Boginskaya won by her name only, the same reason Zmeskal won the all around by location only.

[todosobretodo]

@ants2876 Okino was certainly graceful, but not as elegant or as perfect as Boginskaya. Boginskaya would win on occasion by her name because she had earned it throughout her brilliant career. She truly was the best gymnast at execution of anyone during her era, and would still be one of the best today.

[luv4cookie1]

@todosobretodo she would be HORRIBLE today she had like no difficulty no choreography or artistry just because she has good form isen't artistrey. I mean she has double layout and then her dismount that's it gutsu had so much more difficulty and she has a better stuck dismount ( no cowboying of the legs) Bogi really wasen't a great gymnast just had a to big reputation then she is worth

[ants2876]

@luv4cookie1 Zmeskal and Boginskaya were both overrated gymnasts. They were on top by their reputations (Boginskaya) and home country (Zmeskal) advantage here. By the Olympics they were outshone by superior younger gymnasts who had surpassed them in abilities like Gutsu, miller, Milo, Lysenko, Onodi, and Lu Li.

[kras118]

@ants2876 While I agree that Kim and Bogie were surpassed by others in '92, they each (esp. Kim) competed with sub-par performances. I'm not saying they each should have placed higher|medaled more, nor am I saying that the others weren't deserving in their successes, but I don't know that their ability was their downfall-- it was lackluster performances (Kim more than Bogie). I think their performances in '91 were simply better than in '92.

[pappysprite]

I absolutely think she is incredible - especially on floor. She used the code at the time to her advantage and does have great form, but I do have to comment that it lacks originality (we have seen all those moves many mnay times) and also lacks difficulty. I think she should have medaled - but not the Gold. Because this sport is so subjective, her reputation gave her that medal. Despite my comments, I feel she is one of the greatest icons.

[luv4cookie1]

groseley overscored routine! gutsu should have won!

[QuadPencheeTurn]

Overscored?  She had a 10.00 SV according to the code at the time.

[AnbaAshurri27]

she's such an awesome gymnast ^-^

[mrparts]

It is interesting to see her winning beam gold with the simplest and easiest beam routine in her career. She had more difficulty in 88 and 89. yet she kept winning so many medals by doing easy routines.

the judges favored her until the olympic games where still she got generous scores but didnt medal individually.

[JLFAN2008]

Back in those days, there were no separate scores for difficulty and execution. In fact, not only was the perfect 10 -- eventually deemed an inaccurate measure of a routine's worth -- still in operation, but the massive overhaul to the Code of Points didn't occur until after 1996. It was then that Start Values became a big issue -- meaning that difficulty was the true measuring rod of gymnastics.

[felipex108]

hahaha this couldn't have been the champion. I would have given her the third, behind Gutsu and Miller.

[Fairishadows]

While I get some of the comments about difficulty, I don't get how we can just seemingly throw away how clean her whole routine was and if you remember the time, it actually isn't simple. It just doesn't say wow. Gutsu had small form errors throughout and she was off a bit on the full twisting Korbut. Okino actually had a similar routine to Bogui and had a balance check no matter how difficult the move is. I haven't seen Milo yet, but I'm thinking it's going to be the same type.

[htownhomie06]

nice set 4 an AA but, yeah, i don't see how she had the degree of difficulty 2 make the podium? and 2 think she criticized Zmeskal's AA win b/c she didn't think she had enough difficulty, but this was the winning beam routine in one of the deepest & most originals fields in WCs history (Miller, Milo, Okino, Yang, Gutsu, Bontas, Onodi--how many of them were competing skills named after themselves or at least some that no others had?). Boguinskaya did the most basic set and was rewarded?

[TuesdayPillow]

Bogi did not criticize Zmeskal for not having enough difficulty ... lots of coaches and so-called gymnastics "Experts" did but Bogi claimed Zmeskal only won because the competition was in America ... which is likely true ... she never said anything about her difficulty level.

[htownhomie06]

fair enough. but i'm still a bit surprised this set won 91 worlds given the depth, originality & degree of difficulty from some of the other competitors, namely, miller, okino, bontas, yang bo & even gutsu. bogi has nice lines but this set is just as "basic" as zmeskal was criticized for having by experts, lol. that was my real point.

[d1d0oPK]

that routine suxxxxxxx the gutsu rourine is 932872 times harder and she made it perfect

[briaberger]

Who came in third (bronze)?

[MTVMANN]

Betty Okino and Lavina Milosovici tied for bronze.

[Rytent]

Gutsu should have won. She had the most difficulty with no errors and a stuck dismount.

[bardtoob]

Gutsu would have won under the current system because under the new code a gymnast can perform difficult elements with hideous form and win.

Gutsu was so disinterested in good form that Shushunova would have looked like a ballerina next to her.

[Rytent]

I'm not sure someone would win with hideous form simply because they have harder elements. Gutsu's form wasn't as pretty as Boginskaya's I agree, but it certainly wasn't hideous. They're both really impressive routines.

[lostlyrarose]

@bardtoob I thought gutsu had good form.

[bbhouk1]

@lostlyrarose WHY!

[musicisinmeforever]

@bardtoob well, considering that under the new code in the 2008 Olympics Nastia Luikin got a higher vault score than Shawn Johnson and Nastia got a higher score because she performed her vault perfectly and Shawn took a rather large step in her landing. The judges are definitely not just interested in the hardest skills.

[pappysprite]

@bardtoob I disagree with you. I don't think it is fair to trash Gutsu. Her form may not have been perfect, but I wouldn't describe it as hideous. Gutsu's routine was incredible.

[azsunrise7]

2 words:

YANG BO

[ooplopoo]

got 5th place. but i like her style way better :D

[bunnierabbits]

she was good but a bit over-scored during the end of her career. name counts.

[HoneyGotMeHooked]

i couldn't find any deductions.

[todosobretodo]

Boginskaya rightly won the gold medal at this competition, even though her level of difficulty was less than that of Gutsu, Okino, and Milosovici. But she had enough for the routine to be judged from a 10.00. And let's face it ... no one could move their body with such artistry and poise as did Boginskaya!

[beckerbombs]

She deserved to win with how it all took place, but if Yang Bo or Miller had stuck their dismount cold I would have gone with one of them since they had far more difficulty then Boginskaya, combined with enough form, technique, and artistry to hold her off. It is funny how much worse her beam routines in the Olympics were then this one especialy her AA and EF ones.

[todosobretodo]

I agree with you completely that both Yang Bo and Shannon Miller would have been deserving champions, but nobody had as unique of a style as did Boginskaya.

[beckerbombs]

I agree with you there. She was definitely special and 1 of a kind. She had a great career in terms of titles and medals of course, but her impact on the part transcends those. She definitely epitomized the mature womanly elegant gymanst. Even the great Khorkina credits Boginskaya for being her role medal and who she patterned her elegant style of gymnastics after.

[TuesdayPillow]

How was her level of difficulty less than Okino?

[todosobretodo]

Okino's triple turn was perhaps the most difficult element performed on the beam at those World Championships. Plus, Okino tumbled in to her dismount. But no one could match Boginskaya's immaculate routine.

[TuesdayPillow]

Ah, I thought you were talking about all four events combined.

If I think about beam, yes the triple turn i s very hard, but Bogi also had a front tuck to double stag mount and a gainer layout, so you may say the difficulty evens out in that sense.

[ants2876]

@todosobretodo No, no, no, no. Gutsu was completely robbed here.  Okinos routine was also probably better than Bogi.

[todosobretodo]

@ants2876 An 80-year-old arthritic has better foot form than Gutsu, who never learned to lock her legs out straight or keep them together. Her shoulders were always very awkward and her style was choppy. The fact that she has much more difficulty in her routine, although impressive, does not by any means make her routine better than Boginskaya's. The rightful winner won this championship!

[ants2876]

@todosobretodo you obviously hate Gutsu as your accessment is way over the top. Gutsu did not have the best form of all the gymnasts, but her form was still more than adequate. If you say that about Gutsu what would you say about say Kerri Strug and Dominique Moceanu and even Dominique Dawes who have far worse form. The difficult was so far on another planet from Bogi and well enough executed she should have beat her hands down. As you notice by all the comments most agree with me.

[todosobretodo]

@ants2876 Kerri Strug and Dominique Dawes had terrible form during their careers, especially on the balance beam. Dominique Moceanu started off a little sloppy but gained a great deal of elegance later in her career. I would MUCH rather prefer to see the perfect execution of Boginskaya, whose stylized perfection is still unmatched to this day, than a lot of tricks and mediocre execution.

[ants2876]

@todosobretodo I agree Strug, Dawes, and young Moceanu (95 and 96) had terrible form which was my whole point. You are making Gutsu out as if she had the most awful form. Her form was not as good as a few of her biggest rivals but it certainly wasnt bad in the big picture of gymnasts, and easily better than those 3 I just named.

Gutsu had good enough execution and form I would rather see her jam packed routines than Boginskaya's perfect routines with NO difficulty at all for modern times.

[ants2876]

@todosobretodo By next year Boginskaya's easy no difficulty routines had caught up to her. Despite performing perfectly in Barcelona she did not even medal in the AA blown away by the much more difficult routines of people like Gutsu and Miller. In fact it already started to here where she lost the AA title to Zmeskal who doesnt have great form, artistry, or difficulty, but still had more difficulty than Boginskaya. Form and execution is great but on its own will only carry you so long.

[pappysprite]

@todosobretodo I disagree. As much as I love this gymnast, the routine was too basic and unimaginaive to be put in the event finals. It wasn't evenly remotely up to par with the other gymnasts' routines.

[todosobretodo]

@pappysprite To each his own.

[Brindabella24]

Hmmm ok I wrote that comment before I watched all of this vid. Looks like entire blocks of seating were unoccupied during event finals too!

[smiFromBelarus]

That Arena looks HUGE, what is it? a Football stadium? It is sad that now Worlds are held in such small arenas.

[Brindabella24]

91 worlds were in Indianapolis if I remember correctly. The arena does look big...I was just watching Kim Zmeskal's beam from the AA of this same competition and either people didn't want to watch gymnastics or that arena really was huge because there were entire blocks of seats in the upper tiers unoccupied!

I wouldn't say that World's are held in small stadiums all the time though. I personaly think site of the 05 worlds - Rod Laver Arena - is pretty darn big.

[GoSveta]

And Perhaps the most consistent ever, throughout her career (which was longer than most, about as long as Khorkina's, though not as long as Chusovitina's).

[angelintampafl]

the best gymnast ever