Gymnasts from Belarus

Women

Svetlana Boguinskaya

I remember really disliking this gymnasts back in the late 80s but I don't remember why. I was young and didn't feel the need to rationalize my thoughts. Anyway, now I don't have a good or bad opinion about her. I think it's great that she decided to come back. It has always looked like she's a great leader on her team - USSR and Belarus. Now that I have been watching tapes of her in competition in the late 80s, I've learned to appreciate her earlier work. I love her 89 floor exercise.  It's wonderful. A lot of people really like her 88 Olympic routine but I don't agree.

To find out more about Svetlana, visit the Bogi Page. The photo above was provided by Gymnphoto.

Elena Piskun

I have always thought that Elena is one of the most underrated gymnasts in the world. She always has some of the most difficult routines in the competition and usually doesn't finish well because a) her routines are so difficult that it's hard for her to hit all of them in one competition and b) underscoring. Of course, I'm not one to talk about underscoring, since I'm not a judge, but a lot of others have pointed this out on the mailing list. I absoluetely love her deltchev. It's amazing. My theory is that the reason no other gymnasts do this move now is because they know they could never do it as well as Elena does (please don't take me seriously here, I know about its low value in the COP).

To find out more about Elena, visit the Elena Piskun Worshipers Page. The photo above was also provided by Gymnphoto.

Men

Vitaly Sherbo

Hmmm..... I'm trying to think of something good to say. I just don't like Vitaly. He's got an ego problem. I guess anybody would after winning 6 gold medals in Atlanta. I have one interview with him where he basically admits that he does the easiest skills that will give him a high start value. I also think that after such an awesome performance in Barcelona, there was no way that he could keep performing that well. He has showed glaring inconsistencies over the past few years but always manages to pull out a top-three finish.

Ivan Ivankov

Ivan has really dissapointed me since his all-around win in 94. I think that maybe he just had the meet of his life that day which explains why he hasn't done much since. Unfortunately, Ivan suffered and achelies tendon injury shortly before the Olympics and wasn't able to compete. He is a young guy still, hopefully he'll be able to make it to Sydney.

To find out more about Ivan, visit Go Invan Ivankov. This photo is property of Debbie Poe at the Gymn Forum.