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:

• Behind The Scenes: Live Q&A podcast every Friday at noon Pacific/7 GMT

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!
  • Baseball hats and SHORTS available now in the GymCastic store

NEWSLETTERS

• Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters 

RESOURCES

• The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles

  by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker. Aimee coached Simone from day one in gymnastics to three back to back World All Around titles, 14 world medals and an unprecedented 5 medals at the Rio Olympics. Get your copy now. And if you loved reading (or listening) to the book, please leave a review.

• Spencer’s essential website The Balance Beam Situation 
  • GIFs of the Week and Meet schedule with links.
• Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim
• Kensley’s men’s gymnastics site Neutral Deductions

RESISTANCE 

Submitted by our listeners.

• ACTION
  • Indivisible
    • Practical ideas about what you can actually do in this moment, check it out: indivisi.org/muskorus
  • 5Calls App will call your Congresspeople by issue with a script to guide you
    • • Make 2 to your Congressional rep (local and DC office). 2 each to your US Senators (local and state offices)
        • State your name and zip code or district
        • Be concise with your question or demand (i.e. What specific steps is Senator X taking to stop XYZ)
        • Wait for answer
        • Ask for action items –  tell them what you want them to do (i.e. draft articles of impeachment immediately, I want to see you holding a press conference in front of…etc.)
  • ResistBot
    • Turns your texts into faxes, postal mail, or emails to your representatives in minutes
  • ACLU Mobile Justice App
    • Allows you to record encounters with public officials while streaming to your closest contacts and your local ACLU; REPORT any abuse by authorities to the ACLU and its networks.
• LAWSUITS
  • Donate to organizations suing the administration for illegal actions
    • ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Northwest Immigration Law Project
• STAY INFORMED
  • Suggested podcasts:  Amicus, Daily Beans, Pod Save America, Strict Scrutiny
• Immigrant Rights
  • Know Your Rights Red Cards, We Have Rights Video, Your Rights on trains and buses video