I was 11 during the '92 Olys and I remember being BLOWN AWAY with this routine! I absolutely loved how much the crowd got into it and applauded her- even though she wasn't the big name or star of the American team, the crowd recognized a great gymnast. You can even see a bunch of people giving her a standing o!
I remember watching this back in the day. STILL just incredible. As if the second pass isn't hard enough, homegirl does a punch front to do a double back. Effortlessly. W/o a beat missed. Crazy awesome!
As Olga Korbut siad in an interview years after her Olympic experiences, you can trust the crowd so you play to them and you cannot trust the judges or coaches.
For all Dominique Dawes fan's, check out the original, another incredible and highly under-rated gymnast whose initials are the same as Dominique's... Diane Durham! She used to go head to head with Mary Lou Retton. Love them both!
@evoandy- She was leading the AA in 93, 94, and 96. She just couldnt mentally take the pressure off of herself after 93. But I always say she, Atler and Memmel are the most TALENTED gymnasts the US has ever had on the world stage. They could all just do so much, seemingly effortlessly.
No other gymnasts has yet to perform her AMAZING backflip/forward somersault stunt in their routine. She is a great mentoring gymnast to Gabby Douglas!
totally agree. I think dominique dawes is probably the best american gymnast never to have held a major title.... She was VERY VERY close to being world AA champion at one point. I think it was 1993.... She fell on her last routine of the championships while in the lead. Very underrated gymnast.
Thank you!!! I just read that previous commentand my jaw dropped!! I was a power tumbler for 15 years and I can say that Front tumbling is way harder! Not to mention a double front half out.??? PLEASE!!! And P.S. she ended with a full in!! How is that not being good with back tumbling?? lol silly people make me giggle ;)
I agree. She would have medaled her routines would have been beyond some of the girls now I think. Im happy she was able to show off a style of gymnastics that is no longer seen.
1. Dawes was put up 4th/3rd last on floor. She went after both Okino and Strug (and Strugs best event was floor too). Only Miller and Zmeskal went after her. Given that she was one of the bottom members of the team Karolyi more than acknowledged her optional floor abilities. 2. Zmeskal was reigning World Champ on beam. It would make sense she went after Okino. 3. Karolyi put Miller up after Zmeskal on both bars and beam, and after Okino on every event so he was objective in team lineups.
Superb! Still my all-time fave, rivaled only by Olga's incredible dance and impressive tumbling in the 1972 Olympics on a basically springless, wood floor. American gymnasts still need more dance. Power is great, but gymnastics is as much about lines as it is power.
Three back whips in a row! I remember watching this live when I was 12 y/o. Dominique absolutely rocked this routine. I remember the announcers on tv going nuts. However, in the all around it was Shannon Miller who took home the metal (silver medal); Tatiana Gutsu took the gold. I think it was Ukraine’s first year in the olympics after the breakup of the USSR. They competed as the “Unified” Team.
Yeah I pulled out the tapes just now and you are right.....I guess I was thinking of something else. But they never showed this routine on my version....I had never seen it until now...
No, it just means that the committee watered down the tumbling code from 93-96. I just don't consider gymnasts with multiple front 1/1 passes as power tumblers. Lilia was great, but it was clearly her lines and "dance" that brought her fx success.
I remember watching this on tv and being like WHOA!Who is this girl? Its still amazing...more entertaining than whats being done today. The floor exercises today seem a lot less fluid than back in the early to mid 90s...lots of tumbling with weak dancing in between.
@llc831 It's a system in gym..Dawes wasn'l known enuf in 92 to be anchoring..regardless of her difficulty..besides fx. Her fx would make any judge aware of why she was anchoring, but the politics made the game about others..she went before Shan and scored higher, but didnt have Shan's resume..I just wish she had gone after cus even if she didnt qual 2 fx ef she may have gotten 1 of the highest scores during team finals..but the real tragedy is a system where she doesnt make FX EF w that routine
This routine was far superior to her 1996 exercise. Its amazing that only because she was known by the international judges in 1996 that she was a medal contender.
No, the code changed before 96, and greatly devalued the back to back tumbling. This routine would not have been worth at 10 in 96 whereas her 96 routine was.
These were the same commentators that did the triplecast I had but they didnt show Dawes on floor....they showed the Romanian on beam and all I got was Dawes music in the background wishing they were showing it....thats odd
I forgot she was placed up fourth on floor, not fifth. I would have had her fifth, after Miller, but look how funny things are, Miller who we would think was the weakest tumbler of the three, wound up medaling in floor finals. Miller was consistent, the most consistent US gymnast in history, and had the international reputation to back it up, I felt she was overscored on floor in Barcelona, but her impeccable form, difficulty and perfect compulsories helped her tremendendously
@njb782 - DLO, whip 2.5 punch front, full in piked, triple pirouette, the highest jumps in the building...on what planet doesn't this equal medal contender? As for this routine above, it wouldn't have had the same s/v in '96, not to mention she was too old to be doing that choreography.
I agree with Karolyi's line up being all about his girls... I think its good now that the system has other people involved in setting up the lineup and all... even in 96 it was more fair because it was based off of how everyone did in compulsories. Dawes made an excellent lead off gymnast though, although going first hurt her chances of qualifying for any individual events. Go Dominique and listen to that crowd!!!
not sure what happened. I even use to watch the dance competitions on television as well; because it was so interesting to me but I try so hard to do it now but something is just missing from it.
I'm laughing at these comments. Dawes was not good on anything but floor? What Dominique Dawes was is a black gymnast in a heavily predominantly white, predominantly white-favored sport. As you can see, times have changed--thanks to her and a meager handful of black gymnasts who inspired little Gabby and Simone, and a host of other young girls. Zmeskal and Miller were overrated and Dawes was consistently underscored. I see these comments about how she was "not." But nothing to back it up. Zmeskal and Miller's routines were not as complex (I will give them the upper hand on vault but not floor or beam) and uneven bars they were all kind of middle of the road). She was a fantastic gymnast and really, no one really has matched her on certain skills to this day. She was awesome (probably still is).
I totally agree with you ☺ She definitely paved the way for a lot of African American gymnist and she didn't get a lot of credits she much deserved. She was stripped of a lot of medals due to underscoring like you mentioned but she along with everyone else knew how awesome she was 🙄 That's why they named her Awesome Dawesome 👏👏
Miller is the most successful gymnast America has every produced bar Simone and by FAR the most artistic (sorry Nastia). Zmeskal is a world aa champ. Are they both overrated? Yes (well not really Miller but still). They are still better than Dawes ass ever was. Atleast Miller and Zmeskal have individual golds to their name. And Dawes was not "the best at some skills". Her shoddy form saw to that. Give me a move that Dawes does and Ill give you a soviet AND a romanian that did it better.
Curly4life Eh I’m not totally on board with your assessment. Certainly it’s wrong to say Dom wasn’t good on anything but floor. That’s just a damned lie so you’re right about that. But she wasn’t quite as strong in the all-around at this stage in her career. She wasn’t quite as explosive on vault as you’d expect, given how powerful she was. She was just fine on bars but could be a little shaky at times. She was terrific on beam and floor. Now by the following year, she really had turned into a formidable all-around gymnast, as evidenced by her performance at worlds. She really made massive improvements in a year’s time and continued to be a fabulous all-around competitor internationally for years. I’ll also grant you that sometimes Zmeskal and Miller could be overscored because of their reputations but I wouldn’t call them overrated and I don’t think it’s accurate to say Shannon’s routines were less complex. Nah. She was our answer to Tatiana Gutsu. She had some of the hardest routines of the entire competition, especially on bars and beam. Definitely more so than Dominique at this time. And Shannon may not have been as spectacular on floor but her tumbling was just as hard and her dance was very advanced. Kim’s routines may not have been “complex” but they were plenty difficult. That said, she was injured in Barcelona so she wasn’t at her best and not throwing her most difficult tricks, especially on floor.
It's not that serious. You can decide my intelligence all you want. I've always acknowledged Lilias talent and ability, I just think her pretty toe point got her more stans than her gymnastics. She and her dbl front 1/2 were great to me also.
And secondly...That is the most incorrect statement I have ever heard. Front tumbling is much harder, I wont write an essay, but the stomach muscles contract to pull legs towards the chest, not away from e.g backwards tumbling. Then, front tumbling is blind and you dont have the round off to build momentum anyway. Lilias tumbling was difficult and she was an excellent tumbler.
youre right about her size.agility. However I do think she was still capable of a routine this caliber in 1996, but the scoring system made it so easy to NOT take the risk. I thought, with the exception of Lilia, that the 1996 floor finals were 7 routines of gymnasts doing the same passes and same gymnastics/dance combos, NO originality in tumbling, and slight variation in dance.
She actually had the highest US optional floor score. But due to them having compulsories (which never made any sense to me, and they obviously agreed by dropping them after 96) she didn't make finals. Same thing that happened in 96, she had the highest optionals floor score n didnt originaly qualify to floor becus of comps. Her medal count would have been INSANELY different if theyd dropped comps before, instead of right after, she stopped competing. But whatever, a great career none the less!
@TikiBoy382 But when it comes down to it, I put Bross in the company of Dawes, Atler and Memmel as the most talented gymnasts the US has ever produced. I've been watching long enough to not care about medal hauls, but to see how amazing these girls were at doin what they did/do while making it look like 2nd nature to them. U just couldn't find a bad event for these girls..and it's soo not forced
@bensbsd - It's because the code has become too ridiculous. There are way too many requirements for these girls to go 4/4 and have the stuck landings we're used to. It's not even enjoyable to watch these days. You can see them constantly thinking on an event instead of performing. How I miss 96...
Dawes was also not scored similarily to Strug. Her score was 9.925 to 9.837 for Strug which back then was a chasm of points. She tied for highest U.S floor score with Zmeskal. While that would make for a possible argument she should have gone after Miller or even anchor, nobody would ever put a virtually unknown gymnast at the time as the final one in a team lineup other than to hide them. Too risky, you never know how judges will score someone without the name.
I agree with you. I can't watch it for no more than like 10 minutes, the balance beam is so boring. I don't know if the 90s were the time for gymnastics on tv but where are the stars at? Gymnastics was even awesome in the 70s; though I wasn't born then but ya know what I mean!
@llc831 what screwed her was compulsories..a round of 'gymnastics' which was to show how they were all such pretty little ballerinas..she would've easily doubled her world/olympic medal haul if gymnasts were only judged on the actual routines they'd be judged on during event finals..call me crazy but, I dont know of any sport that asks all of its athletes to be good at all of the exact same skills..then the die-hard compulsory fans wonder why gymnasts cant get credit as real athletes
Miller was lucky to medal on floor as she didnt have a single score over 9.912 all Games, and about 10 gymnasts got higher than that at some point. Dawes outscored Miller even going before her here, but missed out on event finals due to her low compulsory floor score (her compulsories were always weak even in her later prime years). Otherwise Dawes would have been in floor finals, probably instead of Miller, and easily medalled and ended that huge train of people tied for bronze.
@bensbsd I agree with Choreographing...example, I can't stand watching Rebecca Bross's routines, she's so boring and very robotic...she will stand and wait frozen waiting for music que's! I'm glad that the Code of Points put a cap of 4 tumbling runs max in the routines, to encourage more dance! It just seems a lot of the US women, do not connect to their music on floor and don't know how to dance and feel the music!
Well she was not better on vault than Kerri, so she was placed correctly on that. On floor she was placed fifth, which was correct. On beam first, which was a mistake, and bars second which was about right, but I would have put her third instead, On beam she had weak form on some of the elements, and with the three layouts he probably thought she might fall off and figured it was going to score low anyway. The error was on compulsories, where she should have been in the 2nd group, not 1st
I am a gymnast and sad to say I must agree with you. Gymnastics used to be something worth getting into, now it's seems watered-down and lacks the vibrancy and orginality it once had.
@dyingproof - What's moronic is the fact that a front full to punch had the same value as a full in. Like i said earlier...i rest my case. And please don't tell me you think no one else has tried this pass because it's so 'difficult'!?!? Please...and dismounting with a full in isn't so hard when you've only done front fulls up until then.
Because of her score in compulsory. Shannon outdid her there which is why Shannon made finals over her with Zmeskal. Dawes tied Zmeskal for the highest score in team optionals and she definitely could have medaled in the event finals over Shannon. I hated compulsories, they always robbed Dawes of a chance and had nothing to do with the final routines.
Oh yeah as for Dawes being strong on beam think again. Her score was by far the lowest of the team 9.637, and was thrown out. Even Wendy Bruce who was awful on beam and usually fell easily outscored her. Saying she should have gone after Kim on beam is laughable. This is 1992, not 1996 (had Kim even made the team in 96) we are talking about. The only event Dawes merited being later in the lineup was floor and she was.
Yes, she won the bronze, but she didn't even make the finals before replacing the injured Strug. Somehow (being whomever the media has hyped as favorite) Moceanu out qualified the rest of the team with a 9.9 start value on her floor routine, while EVERYONE else on the team had a 10 start. Gymnastics (not the gymnasts) is full of crap.
Dawes was not a good gymnast yet on anything but floor. Her placements in the lineups were mostly correct, except she should have gone last or second last on floor probably. On beam she got the lowest score on the team and it was thrown out. I would have had her going after Bruce probably, but that is it. Bars going 2nd was also right, and vault going first was definitely right. People act like this is the 94-96 or even 93 Dawes but it clearly isnt.
Markus McManus 1993 World Championships uneven bars and balance beam silver medalist, 1996 World Championships Balance Beam bronze medalist, 1994 and 1996 US National Champion on all four apparatus. Someone doesn’t know what they are talking about!
underscored at 9.925. i think zmeskal tied with watered down tumbling. gutsu matched with a huge hop on the split leg double layout landing and two or three romanians scored better than this & none were half as good.
I was 11 during the '92 Olys and I remember being BLOWN AWAY with this routine! I absolutely loved how much the crowd got into it and applauded her- even though she wasn't the big name or star of the American team, the crowd recognized a great gymnast. You can even see a bunch of people giving her a standing o!
I remember watching this back in the day. STILL just incredible. As if the second pass isn't hard enough, homegirl does a punch front to do a double back. Effortlessly. W/o a beat missed. Crazy awesome!
she has always been a favorite of mine and that floor exercise was 1 of her best.
When I saw that reversal at 0:31 live, my jaw dropped. She just defied the laws of physics and stunned everyone. Dayamn!!!
As Olga Korbut siad in an interview years after her Olympic experiences, you can trust the crowd so you play to them and you cannot trust the judges or coaches.
For all Dominique Dawes fan's, check out the original, another incredible and highly under-rated gymnast whose initials are the same as Dominique's... Diane Durham! She used to go head to head with Mary Lou Retton. Love them both!
I ❤ me some Durham!
@evoandy- She was leading the AA in 93, 94, and 96. She just couldnt mentally take the pressure off of herself after 93. But I always say she, Atler and Memmel are the most TALENTED gymnasts the US has ever had on the world stage. They could all just do so much, seemingly effortlessly.
deserved 10
This is my fave routine of hers! Love her!
she stuck it every time. love it!
No other gymnasts has yet to perform her AMAZING backflip/forward somersault stunt in their routine. She is a great mentoring gymnast to Gabby Douglas!
even though i have met this woman 3 times i still freak out whenever i hear shes in town lol sad i know
totally agree. I think dominique dawes is probably the best american gymnast never to have held a major title.... She was VERY VERY close to being world AA champion at one point. I think it was 1993.... She fell on her last routine of the championships while in the lead. Very underrated gymnast.
Clearly the best!
i was 13 when i saw this.. good memories of younger times.. thanks for posting..
She could have easily medaled if she had made event finals.
Compulsories were never kind to her, especially early in her career.
Thank you!!! I just read that previous commentand my jaw dropped!! I was a power tumbler for 15 years and I can say that Front tumbling is way harder! Not to mention a double front half out.??? PLEASE!!! And P.S. she ended with a full in!! How is that not being good with back tumbling?? lol silly people make me giggle ;)
9.925. but she deserved MUCH closer to 10.
I agree. She would have medaled her routines would have been beyond some of the girls now I think. Im happy she was able to show off a style of gymnastics that is no longer seen.
she set the arena on fire w this exercise !!
aww if she did something like this in 1996 she would of gotten gold
Awesome Dawesome !!
1. Dawes was put up 4th/3rd last on floor. She went after both Okino and Strug (and Strugs best event was floor too). Only Miller and Zmeskal went after her. Given that she was one of the bottom members of the team Karolyi more than acknowledged her optional floor abilities.
2. Zmeskal was reigning World Champ on beam. It would make sense she went after Okino.
3. Karolyi put Miller up after Zmeskal on both bars and beam, and after Okino on every event so he was objective in team lineups.
Superb! Still my all-time fave, rivaled only by Olga's incredible dance and impressive tumbling in the 1972 Olympics on a basically springless, wood floor.
American gymnasts still need more dance. Power is great, but gymnastics is as much about lines as it is power.
Three back whips in a row! I remember watching this live when I was 12 y/o. Dominique absolutely rocked this routine. I remember the announcers on tv going nuts. However, in the all around it was Shannon Miller who took home the metal (silver medal); Tatiana Gutsu took the gold. I think it was Ukraine’s first year in the olympics after the breakup of the USSR. They competed as the “Unified” Team.
her gymnastics are still amazing, even today
I think Dawes was waaaaay underrated.
So they were going to ignore covering this until she proved she was a force,to be reckoned with
Go Dawes..really nuthin else to be said..besides gold medal worthy at the 92 Games..
Yeah I pulled out the tapes just now and you are right.....I guess I was thinking of something else. But they never showed this routine on my version....I had never seen it until now...
She really was underscored. Her second pass alone more than makes up for Gutsu's split leg double layout.
One word: WOW
Nice, very powerful tumbler!
when i saw her do that double stuff i was like wow!!!!!
She definitely should have made the event finals.
sum type of immortal powers here
No, it just means that the committee watered down the tumbling code from 93-96.
I just don't consider gymnasts with multiple front 1/1 passes as power tumblers. Lilia was great, but it was clearly her lines and "dance" that brought her fx success.
I remember watching this on tv and being like WHOA!Who is this girl? Its still amazing...more entertaining than whats being done today.
The floor exercises today seem a lot less fluid than back in the early to mid 90s...lots of tumbling with weak dancing in between.
of all time
Dominique Daws vs. Shawn Johnson
@llc831 It's a system in gym..Dawes wasn'l known enuf in 92 to be anchoring..regardless of her difficulty..besides fx. Her fx would make any judge aware of why she was anchoring, but the politics made the game about others..she went before Shan and scored higher, but didnt have Shan's resume..I just wish she had gone after cus even if she didnt qual 2 fx ef she may have gotten 1 of the highest scores during team finals..but the real tragedy is a system where she doesnt make FX EF w that routine
Lh7351, are you talking about the move that soviet Oksana Omelienchik pioneered in the 80s?
beautiful tumbling.
wonderful dance.
This routine was far superior to her 1996 exercise. Its amazing that only because she was known by the international judges in 1996 that she was a medal contender.
No, the code changed before 96, and greatly devalued the back to back tumbling. This routine would not have been worth at 10 in 96 whereas her 96 routine was.
You've baffled me with Science.
I forget what score that receieved.. it was not a 10. But it was low 9.9 something. She ALWAYS got robbed! I love her!
No Diane Durham vids on here...even Marylou said that Diane D was the best of her era.
agreed
These were the same commentators that did the triplecast I had but they didnt show Dawes on floor....they showed the Romanian on beam and all I got was Dawes music in the background wishing they were showing it....thats odd
I forgot she was placed up fourth on floor, not fifth. I would have had her fifth, after Miller, but look how funny things are, Miller who we would think was the weakest tumbler of the three, wound up medaling in floor finals. Miller was consistent, the most consistent US gymnast in history, and had the international reputation to back it up, I felt she was overscored on floor in Barcelona, but her impeccable form, difficulty and perfect compulsories helped her tremendendously
@njb782 -
DLO, whip 2.5 punch front, full in piked, triple pirouette, the highest jumps in the building...on what planet doesn't this equal medal contender?
As for this routine above, it wouldn't have had the same s/v in '96, not to mention she was too old to be doing that choreography.
trademark stuff. one of the best american athletes...scratch that...one of the best athletes of all time. period.
I agree with Karolyi's line up being all about his girls... I think its good now that the system has other people involved in setting up the lineup and all... even in 96 it was more fair because it was based off of how everyone did in compulsories. Dawes made an excellent lead off gymnast though, although going first hurt her chances of qualifying for any individual events. Go Dominique and listen to that crowd!!!
not sure what happened. I even use to watch the dance competitions on television as well; because it was so interesting to me but I try so hard to do it now but something is just missing from it.
I'm laughing at these comments. Dawes was not good on anything but floor? What Dominique Dawes was is a black gymnast in a heavily predominantly white, predominantly white-favored sport. As you can see, times have changed--thanks to her and a meager handful of black gymnasts who inspired little Gabby and Simone, and a host of other young girls. Zmeskal and Miller were overrated and Dawes was consistently underscored. I see these comments about how she was "not." But nothing to back it up. Zmeskal and Miller's routines were not as complex (I will give them the upper hand on vault but not floor or beam) and uneven bars they were all kind of middle of the road). She was a fantastic gymnast and really, no one really has matched her on certain skills to this day. She was awesome (probably still is).
I totally agree with you ☺ She definitely paved the way for a lot of African American gymnist and she didn't get a lot of credits she much deserved. She was stripped of a lot of medals due to underscoring like you mentioned but she along with everyone else knew how awesome she was 🙄 That's why they named her Awesome Dawesome 👏👏
Miller is the most successful gymnast America has every produced bar Simone and by FAR the most artistic (sorry Nastia).
Zmeskal is a world aa champ.
Are they both overrated? Yes (well not really Miller but still). They are still better than Dawes ass ever was. Atleast Miller and Zmeskal have individual golds to their name.
And Dawes was not "the best at some skills". Her shoddy form saw to that. Give me a move that Dawes does and Ill give you a soviet AND a romanian that did it better.
I agree she was fantastic but she wasn't underscored. Her form was pretty atrocious on a lot of events. Flexed feet and soft knees constantly!
Curly4life Eh I’m not totally on board with your assessment. Certainly it’s wrong to say Dom wasn’t good on anything but floor. That’s just a damned lie so you’re right about that. But she wasn’t quite as strong in the all-around at this stage in her career. She wasn’t quite as explosive on vault as you’d expect, given how powerful she was. She was just fine on bars but could be a little shaky at times. She was terrific on beam and floor. Now by the following year, she really had turned into a formidable all-around gymnast, as evidenced by her performance at worlds. She really made massive improvements in a year’s time and continued to be a fabulous all-around competitor internationally for years.
I’ll also grant you that sometimes Zmeskal and Miller could be overscored because of their reputations but I wouldn’t call them overrated and I don’t think it’s accurate to say Shannon’s routines were less complex. Nah. She was our answer to Tatiana Gutsu. She had some of the hardest routines of the entire competition, especially on bars and beam. Definitely more so than Dominique at this time. And Shannon may not have been as spectacular on floor but her tumbling was just as hard and her dance was very advanced. Kim’s routines may not have been “complex” but they were plenty difficult. That said, she was injured in Barcelona so she wasn’t at her best and not throwing her most difficult tricks, especially on floor.
@tomsk14 -
In '96, a front full to punch front was worth the same as a full in...i rest my case.
@llc831 I always think the person that picks the lineup shouldn't have any one on the team....
This routine, along with Kerri's optional floor were underscored in my opinion.
@spiderman5402 no contest. dawes! johnson's a gr8 tumbler but how many times has she delivered spine chilling floor exercise performances?
It's not that serious. You can decide my intelligence all you want. I've always acknowledged Lilias talent and ability, I just think her pretty toe point got her more stans than her gymnastics. She and her dbl front 1/2 were great to me also.
And secondly...That is the most incorrect statement I have ever heard.
Front tumbling is much harder, I wont write an essay, but the stomach muscles contract to pull legs towards the chest, not away from e.g backwards tumbling. Then, front tumbling is blind and you dont have the round off to build momentum anyway. Lilias tumbling was difficult and she was an excellent tumbler.
youre right about her size.agility. However I do think she was still capable of a routine this caliber in 1996, but the scoring system made it so easy to NOT take the risk. I thought, with the exception of Lilia, that the 1996 floor finals were 7 routines of gymnasts doing the same passes and same gymnastics/dance combos, NO originality in tumbling, and slight variation in dance.
Love me some Shannon and was a kim fan at the time but there is no way this routine should of been in the line up before either of them..SMH
She actually had the highest US optional floor score. But due to them having compulsories (which never made any sense to me, and they obviously agreed by dropping them after 96) she didn't make finals. Same thing that happened in 96, she had the highest optionals floor score n didnt originaly qualify to floor becus of comps. Her medal count would have been INSANELY different if theyd dropped comps before, instead of right after, she stopped competing. But whatever, a great career none the less!
I think this is the best american flour routine performed in internatoinal competition. If not, it's second best after Zmeskal 91.
What score did she get?
@TikiBoy382 But when it comes down to it, I put Bross in the company of Dawes, Atler and Memmel as the most talented gymnasts the US has ever produced. I've been watching long enough to not care about medal hauls, but to see how amazing these girls were at doin what they did/do while making it look like 2nd nature to them. U just couldn't find a bad event for these girls..and it's soo not forced
Didnt the floor area look massive at barcelona?
@bensbsd - It's because the code has become too ridiculous. There are way too many requirements for these girls to go 4/4 and have the stuck landings we're used to. It's not even enjoyable to watch these days. You can see them constantly thinking on an event instead of performing. How I miss 96...
the early 90s and mid 90s and when I really really loved watching gymnastics on tv; now it's just so blah
Dawes was also not scored similarily to Strug. Her score was 9.925 to 9.837 for Strug which back then was a chasm of points. She tied for highest U.S floor score with Zmeskal. While that would make for a possible argument she should have gone after Miller or even anchor, nobody would ever put a virtually unknown gymnast at the time as the final one in a team lineup other than to hide them. Too risky, you never know how judges will score someone without the name.
I agree with you. I can't watch it for no more than like 10 minutes, the balance beam is so boring. I don't know if the 90s were the time for gymnastics on tv but where are the stars at? Gymnastics was even awesome in the 70s; though I wasn't born then but ya know what I mean!
@llc831 what screwed her was compulsories..a round of 'gymnastics' which was to show how they were all such pretty little ballerinas..she would've easily doubled her world/olympic medal haul if gymnasts were only judged on the actual routines they'd be judged on during event finals..call me crazy but, I dont know of any sport that asks all of its athletes to be good at all of the exact same skills..then the die-hard compulsory fans wonder why gymnasts cant get credit as real athletes
Miller was lucky to medal on floor as she didnt have a single score over 9.912 all Games, and about 10 gymnasts got higher than that at some point. Dawes outscored Miller even going before her here, but missed out on event finals due to her low compulsory floor score (her compulsories were always weak even in her later prime years). Otherwise Dawes would have been in floor finals, probably instead of Miller, and easily medalled and ended that huge train of people tied for bronze.
That was baecause Lilia wasn't very strong at tumbling...she was mostly a front tumbler, which is much easier to do.
@bensbsd I agree with Choreographing...example, I can't stand watching Rebecca Bross's routines, she's so boring and very robotic...she will stand and wait frozen waiting for music que's! I'm glad that the Code of Points put a cap of 4 tumbling runs max in the routines, to encourage more dance! It just seems a lot of the US women, do not connect to their music on floor and don't know how to dance and feel the music!
okay so if an easier skill frontward is worth as much as something hard backwards, doesnt that mean front is harder??
Can someone tell me why she didn't get a 10
Well she was not better on vault than Kerri, so she was placed correctly on that. On floor she was placed fifth, which was correct. On beam first, which was a mistake, and bars second which was about right, but I would have put her third instead, On beam she had weak form on some of the elements, and with the three layouts he probably thought she might fall off and figured it was going to score low anyway. The error was on compulsories, where she should have been in the 2nd group, not 1st
I am a gymnast and sad to say I must agree with you. Gymnastics used to be something worth getting into, now it's seems watered-down and lacks the vibrancy and orginality it once had.
noone tumbles better.. .wow
@dyingproof - What's moronic is the fact that a front full to punch had the same value as a full in. Like i said earlier...i rest my case.
And please don't tell me you think no one else has tried this pass because it's so 'difficult'!?!? Please...and dismounting with a full in isn't so hard when you've only done front fulls up until then.
how come she didn't make the event final?
Because of her score in compulsory. Shannon outdid her there which is why Shannon made finals over her with Zmeskal. Dawes tied Zmeskal for the highest score in team optionals and she definitely could have medaled in the event finals over Shannon. I hated compulsories, they always robbed Dawes of a chance and had nothing to do with the final routines.
Well, you do have to be smart to stuff like that.
Donimique Daws vs. Shawn Johnson
you decide
Dominique Dawes
these girls today cant even compare to this wow u.s. gotta step they game up
yeah the girls back then were awsome and now...ehh
Oh yeah as for Dawes being strong on beam think again. Her score was by far the lowest of the team 9.637, and was thrown out. Even Wendy Bruce who was awful on beam and usually fell easily outscored her. Saying she should have gone after Kim on beam is laughable. This is 1992, not 1996 (had Kim even made the team in 96) we are talking about. The only event Dawes merited being later in the lineup was floor and she was.
to many flicks
Yes, she won the bronze, but she didn't even make the finals before replacing the injured Strug. Somehow (being whomever the media has hyped as favorite) Moceanu out qualified the rest of the team with a 9.9 start value on her floor routine, while EVERYONE else on the team had a 10 start. Gymnastics (not the gymnasts) is full of crap.
Dawes was not a good gymnast yet on anything but floor. Her placements in the lineups were mostly correct, except she should have gone last or second last on floor probably. On beam she got the lowest score on the team and it was thrown out. I would have had her going after Bruce probably, but that is it. Bars going 2nd was also right, and vault going first was definitely right. People act like this is the 94-96 or even 93 Dawes but it clearly isnt.
Markus McManus 1993 World Championships uneven bars and balance beam silver medalist, 1996 World Championships Balance Beam bronze medalist, 1994 and 1996 US National Champion on all four apparatus. Someone doesn’t know what they are talking about!
underscored at 9.925. i think zmeskal tied with watered down tumbling. gutsu matched with a huge hop on the split leg double layout landing and two or three romanians scored better than this & none were half as good.
well firstly, she did qualify in 96 and won the bronze medal....
Although I agree, Compulsories were beyond stupid and pointless.
she has always been a favorite of mine and that floor exercise was 1 of her best.