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2012 Olympics Gymnastics Team Final Rewind | Fierce Five, Maroney’s Vault, Russia vs USA

Relive the 2012 Olympics Women’s Gymnastics Team Final — Fierce Five gold, Maroney’s vault, Russia’s heartbreak, and Aly Raisman’s floor.

GymCastic LIVE featuring AA World Champion: MORGAN HURD

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CHAPTERS

00:00  Intro
00:05 The Brief: Jasmine’s Commission
03:10 Setting the Stage
04:38 Enduring Memories & Legacy
09:07 False Memories on Rewatch
14:06 Forgotten Moments
19:57 Who We Underappreciated
23:26 What We Miss
27:13 What We Don’t Miss
30:27 The Pink Podium Debate
35:04 Club Gym Nerd Updates
38:07 Rotation 1: The United States of Amanar
59:59 Rotation 2: Russian Federation of Inbar
1:16:09 Rotation 3: It’s All Fun and Games Until Russia Goes to Beam
1:27:20 Rotation 4: When “Grishina” Became a Verb
1:32:55 Could Russia Have Won?
1:35:01 Show Close

SETTING THE SCENE

  • What even was this meet again? Who was there? What happened?
    • The main characters: the United States and Russia
  • What are the most memorable moments from this meet?
    • NBC’s fixation on that damn song from Phillip Phillip Phillip Phillips being played at every possible second
    • Maroney’s LEGENDARY Amanar that we still talk about all the time
  • What is a memory you have of this meet that is now totally wrong on the re-watch?
    • NBC’s narrative that Jordyn Wieber carried the American team to gold. Huh?
    • How this meet foreshadowed trends to come for the future
  • Which moments of the meet did we block from our memory?
    • Remember when Aly hyperextended her knee during warmups???? Yeah, me neither
    • Wait, Tatiana Nabieva wasn’t in London? How dare they
  • What are some things we didn’t appreciate enough at the time, but we do now rewatching this meet
    • Gymnasts?
      • Ksenia Afanasyeva. Yeah.
      • The beginnings of Diana Bulimar holding Romania together for the next four years
    •  Skills and routine construction?
      • Amanars! Amanars! Amanars!
      • Jaeger 1/2s, Fabrichonovas, and Pattersons
  • What are some things we are fine with keeping in 2012?
    • The Amanar’s 0.7 D-score bump over the Yurchenko double-full
    • China just walking backwards on beam to move onto their next skill
    • Teams doing their three routines at a time and not alternating
    • From an aesthetics standpoint, how do you feel about the infamous London highlighter pink podium?

ROTATION ONE: THE UNITED STATES OF AMANAR

  • THE UNITED STATES OF AMANAR
    • When the United States had an extra Amanar on the bench
    • What should the E-score be for McKayla Maroney’s legendary Amanar?
  • Surprise! You guessed it, more commentary bullshit
    • NBC, can we stop trying to make the Russian diva narrative happen??
    • Elfi calling the Chinese team, “not in shape” HUH?
    • Gross comments from the world feed about 17-year old McKayla Maroney’s “attractiveness”

ROTATION TWO: THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION OF INBARS

  • Russia pulls it back with a bars masterclass rotation
  • Why Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina foreshadowed modern bars composition
  • In the “NBC bullshit” corner, we get some more garbage from Al Trautwig
    • “HAVE YOU SEEN ANY DIVA MOMENTS YET?” Stop Al
    • She’s the only one who didn’t cry when the team was announced” Ew
  • We have some routine composition questions from the Americans
    • On what planet should Jordyn Wieber have been doing that full-twisting double-layout?
    • The amplitude Gabby Douglas gets on her releases are what dreams are made of
    • If you ever question how reliable a first-year senior is, watch Kyla Ross at this meet
  • In the “other countries exist” corner
    • When beam routines could get E-scores in the 9.0s
    • A new child named Elsabeth Black from Canada hits her handspring Rudi on vault
    • Yao Jinnan’s injury starts to take its toll on the team’s performance
    • You know it’s rough when Huang Qiushuang had to do beam in an Olympic team final
    • Italy and some not-so-cute Yurchenko double-fulls

ROTATION THREE: IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL RUSSIA GOES TO BEAM

  • Russia’s performance starts unraveling on beam with Mustafina’s shakey beam
  • Why seeing Komova’s Patterson off beam is kind of shocking in today’s beam context
  • The bizarre commentary from the world feed about Deng Linlin’s music
  • How Ksenia Afanasyeva came to Russia’s rescue

ROTATION FOUR: WHEN “GRISHINA” BECAME A VERB

  • Aliya Mustafina channeling the duality of man through the medium of a double Arabian of perfection followed by a helicopter-leg triple-full
  • The Anastasia Grishina Moment that symbolized Russia’s inability to surpass the United States in the race for gold
  • The other countries exist corner:
    • Who else misses the era of China being able to put up three hit double-twisting Yurchenkos?
    • Canada’s historic fifth-place finish was so 2022 Worlds of them
  • Could Russia have beaten the United States here?

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

  • September 13-14: Paris World Cup
  • September 26-28: Szombathely World Cup
  • September 29-Oct 2: US Women’s Selection Camp
  • October 19-25: World Championships

RELATED:

  • Watch 2.5 hr long Olympic broadcast (featuring commentary by Shannon Miller) of the London Women’s team final here
  • NBC broadcast of London Women’s team final

UP NEXT:

GET MORE:  

      • Club members can watch Vanessa Atler’s live show by logging in to her live show page, it will appear below.
      • Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes episodes and extended interviews like this one with Katya Zamolodchikova
      • Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded, participate in watch-alongs with Spencer, access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails.
      • Not sure about joining the club?  College & Cocktails: The Friday Night NCAA Gymnastics Post-Meet Show is available to sample (even if you aren’t a Club Gym Nerd member yet). Watch or listen here.

MERCH

  • GymCastic Store: clothing and gifts to let your gym nerd flag fly and even “tapestries” (banners, the perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast!

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