. I think the story of Yelena Mukhina is the most tragic of all. She was a victim of her coach and the USSR hunger for golden medals in the Olympics they were hosting in 1980.
Le Ska she blamed her coach for a while but with time she changed and came to see him as just as much a victim of the system as she was,she lived for over half her life with the effect of the system on her that is the greatest tragedy of all and all who were in the chain above her right up to government level this is there shame that I hope burns inside them everyday
>USSR hunger for golden medals< As if your western sports systems didn't have that hunger, give me a break. What happened to Elena was a tragic set of circumstances - the collaboration with an awful coach and her being raised without parents only by her grandma, with obviously no one to step in for her. While the coach had to be punished for his awful attitude (and so, in my view, had to be other adults who were near her and didn't do anything), it has nothing to do with the whole system.
@@Nata34Moscow - Sure, the US has gold medal hunger, but a US gymnast at the time (and now!) could tell her coaches to go Fuck Off and quit and that would be the end of it. No Soviet gymnast could do that and not suffer the consequences. Not only for herself, but for her family as well.
I can't make it through this video without having tears in my eyes. All these poor girls :( They were champions in not only gymnastics, but also in life. Elena Mukhina's story always touches me the most; Lena and her story saved my life. She means the world to me, and I hope she is in a happy place now where she is free from her paralysed body and can do all the somersaults she wants up in the clouds. She deserved so much better than what was given to her in life. Even though she was quadriplegic for 26 years, she did not give up on life and she remained her courageous and beautiful self right up until the very end. I so wish I could give her a hug. Sleep tight, Lena. We still love you.
I flagged this tirade because you're a degenerate and a necrophile. This is effed up and you need help (in the form of a psych ward and strong antipsychotics) "I wOuLd WaNnA hUg YoU" A tetraplegic Russkie b-word you don't really know? You don't fool anyone, "hugging" is a codeword for "having s3x with". Your mind is rotten and I don't believe you like the female gymnasts (85% young girls) of yore because of the technique but because you're a degenerate and a pedophilic son of a b-word. I hope you get unalived because you won't see Yelena but only flames and horrors surpassing El Greco's paintings
It's hard not to blame Mukhina's coach for what happened to her. He knew she had a difficult leg injury, yet he pushed her to do the Salto, a difficult enough element without having an injury.
ladycplum he didn't care about that poor sad girl it was a case of do it or die trying that poor girl had an awful life with no love from anyone her story is so incredibly sad.
If you want to blame anyone, blame Soviet politics. The Machine had everyone and the commands came from much higher than some young coach. If he had said no, someone else would have replaced him and the result would have been same. It's the Soviet mindset, that ruled over coach and doctors alike leaving Mukhina just a defenceless tool to turn the great gears of Soviet Machinery...
thank God they showed all these athletes doing their tricks successfully, perfectly beautifully....& didn't show any of the tragic ends to their careers. Its nice to know there is still some decency left in the world. This is how they would want to be remembered
To Sang Lan don't give up hope. My husband was paralyzed from the chest down after he was ejected from a car in which he was a passenger. He worked at it long and hard and eventually got partial use of his legs back. He uses 2 canes and wears braces to support his calves, but he is walking.
Well, I appreciated seeing how a Thomas salto is (mostly) supposed to look. That is completely insane and not in the "wow, awesome" way. I'm glad it's been banned.
@Whovian Hireath Yelana wasn't so much injured because she attempted the Thomas Salto, she was injured because she was pressured to attempt it with a broken leg
@@muffdiver240 I see the argument that it shouldn't be banned, but tumble landings are not more beautiful than floor landings, and in fact look like errors. Perhaps a lower point value accounting for this would be appropriate.
+Corey Forman At the time of that conversation, Kristi Heinrich was all of 94 pounds of muscle--one wonders how that judge sleeps at night knowing that she contributed to that beautiful young lady's body insecurity.
+Cheryl Mason I don't know the name of the judge, however even her own coach, Al Fong made insults at her body type. Before Christie died of organ failure she weighed under 50 pounds.
+irascibblejustice At first, neither her family nor her coaches were aware of the situation. Eventually, Henrich's battle with anorexia took such a toll on her health that she was no longer strong enough to compete, and she was asked to leave GAGE. Despite many early treatments and hospitalizations, Christy's weight deteriorated to 47 pounds. Henrich died of multiple organ failure just eight days after her 22nd birthday
+irascibblejustice Al Fong-coach of the late Julissa Gomez, who also reportedly felt pushed into doing something unsafe for her health when she kept attempting the difficult-to-masterYurchenko vault until she was rendered quadriplegic in a vaulting accident-had also allegedly made insulting remarks about her size and body type.
I think that is the most tragic of any of them. Just goes to show, a person can be THAT skilled, THAT powerful and talented, and still be so influenced by one person's evil comments. That girl was not fat, by anyone's criteria.
December 22, 2010. You left us on a day like today four years ago. Life deprived us of an angel that walked the earth and showed us how acrobatics are performed in heavens. In this cruel world of today, where pointing the finger and blaming others is the norm, your courage, humbleness and stoicism should will forever guide us through the path that leads to becoming better human beings. Your legacy and love for the sport will never be forgotten. May you rest in peace always, Beautiful Queen!
I was going to say the exact same thing: I'd much rather know them from the beautiful things they were able to do, than from a terrible accident that happened to them.
@Margarita Wyatt @dinnae If you didn't want to watch a tragedy why watch a compilation of them? There's thousands of regular old gymnastic routines on UA-cam and you're here whinging.
My friend's mum pulled her out of gymnastics when she was 10 or 11 because the coach had such a strict exercise and diet regime that many of the girls developed anorexia, and most became very unhealthy. They were still at the stage when their bodies were growing. It left a lasting detrimental impact on them. Not all coaches are the same, as with any sport, or tuition for anything really. Make sure you pick one that is responsible. The one that you believe will get you or your son/daughter to the level of achievement you desire is not always the best one. Choose carefully, and value the good ones when you find them.
Many parents don't really pay attention to what's happening to their kids. Even those who say, "I don't mind what he/she does, as long as he/she's happy, are often only worried about themselves.
As much as the Thomas Salto looks cool, I don't understand how it was *ever* allowed in competition in the first place. Anyone, no matter how little they know about gymnastics, could watch that skill and come to the conclusion it appears to be *designed* to kill and injure people. Like, come on. Nothing about that is safe.
@@earthlingandextra Well, I didn't mean that *literally,* I guess I probably should have worded that a little differently lol. Sorry about that. But yeah, I don't mean like, someone came up with it to purposely hurt people. I mean like, if you look at it, it looks like something that has an extremely high chance of injury. It, even to people that don't know much about gymnastics, just looks incredibly dangerous and like a very bad idea. But yeah, no, I don't really think someone came up with it to hurt people (I'd assume that'd be Kurt Thomas.) I think he just came up with it because it looks really cool. Just, once judges and coaches saw it, they should have immediately concluded that, yes, though it is a really cool move, it shouldn't be allowed in competition because of the inherent danger in it - but especially so for female gymnasts. A male gymnast at that high a skill level is much more likely to be able to pull that off, whereas a female is far more likely to under or over rotate and get injured. So at the very least, I'd think they would have automatically banned it in women's gymnastics. But I don't know, I guess back then there were a lot of skills that were a lot more dangerous that were still allowed in as well.
@@nimbusbecher right because no one filmed anything back then. Calling people idiots and dogs. Meanwhile your mother is waiting for you to sit on.her face after you shit. Weirdo loser.
Watching this video 15 years later 😢 Such sadness realising that these beautiful talented hard working brave girls are not around anymore. Only one of them is still around today Sang Lan
I actually think he quit and moved to Italy. Yelena said later in life that she knew he had a hard time living with what he'd done but that she understood he was just a cog in the wheel of the Soviet system.
these stories are so sad. gymnasts have to be brave and if it's their dream, they will go for it. i've been doing gymnastics for twelve years now. 12 injuries and one almost killed me. i'm still in it though. these stories though really make you think about how dangerous the sport is.
Elas se dedicam tanto,dão suas infâncias , juventudes por esse esporte pra mostrar o seu país e quando ficam tetraplégica são esquecidas como Elena mukina.tenho muita dó delas.meus aplausos para esses e outros atletas que se doam demais.
This is a dangerous sport. I was a gymnast and will always be a gymnast to my soul. I've had 3 major back surgeries from injuries caused by years of over bending my back. For me, I wouldn't change a thing. I knew the risks. This I what I loved. This sport saved me in more ways than anything it ever took away. The things that happened to these girls is tragic. And I dnt know if I would feel the same way if something this horrific had happened to me. I can't explain what it is tho about this sport for some ppl. It means everything. It really does feel like something you're born to do.
Wow..i knew it’s dangerous but knowing these cases just made me appreciate gymnastics more. We are in awe by their skills that often we forget the amount of practice and injuries they had to endure just to wow us.
Christie Henrich - This says too well how NASTY and VICIOUS these judges are to the athletes, and I purposely capitalize it!!! When gymnastics are going on (or shown on TV), one can easily see how fat they are themselves, sitting on their chairs behind their desk/counter/computer (whatever it is), wearing their fancy fashion (and I will stop here today, but there's plenty to say about their fake merrit), how dare they say to a young girl that she is too fat? Is this part of the grading code? or am I missing something? Let's think again about this: once they become judges, they forget quickly enough where they are coming from, these bloody corrupt criminals! They forget that they were young girls too! Unfortunately this is an ongoing pattern of attitude and behavior that exist everywhere. There doesn't seem to be any end to this. When it's not the body shape, it's the skin color (like this great classical ballet dancer M. De Prince who had to go to another country to be able to do what she loves). Cruelty is and remains common currency, especially among women, this is pathetic and hopeless... enough to want to vomit. What is wrong with this culture???
This is a very powerful video. While gymnastics is a beautiful sport to watch, we sometimes forget just how dangerous it can be. And the fact that a lot of these girls are so young...it makes injuries like this even sadder.
Back in the day it might have been. A lot of changes have been made. Today any Yurchenko vault is required to use a springboard protection mat, and the design of the new vaulting table has greatly improved safety. The kids didn't have as many people carefully watching what happens in the gyms as there are today. Used to be they had to pick up and move at 8 or 9 all the way across the county away from any family. Thanks now to the national camp system more can stay close to home.
As I recall, an American coach was videotaping the Chinese team's practice, and he had footage of Sang Lan's accident. However, after some tabloid offered him money for the footage, he erased it, because he didn't want to profit from her tragedy.
I'm a firefighter and we all go into burning buildings, no safety mats to catch us if we all through a floor, no visibility to see where we are going. Look at head/spinal injury to pro hockey players hit from behind, pushed head first into the boards? Every sport has it's risks. At least in gymnastics you're not worrying about external factors beyond your control coming into play. I fully appreciate this video. Any loss of human life is tragic but we can't run & hide. Risk is a fact of life.
God bless all these brave young ladies. You paid the ultimate price in pursuit of the gold medal. May you all wear a golden crown in heaven! We know your names now and you will never be forgotten.
This is true. Sometimes I think, if Jordyn Wieber or Shawn Johnson, who are both known for their very muscular builds, would have been around during Christy Heinrich's time they would've been told the same thing!! That's horrible to imagine. :-(
They're still told the same thing today. Katelyn Ohashi and SJ have talked about people (in and out of the sport) telling them they're too big/fat to be good.
Sad and tragic. The demands put on these young people by country, coaches and judges to achieve perfection are really unforgivable. My heart breaks when I think about what the USA's young gymnasts had to endure and how they weren't protected. Glad they have finally been given a voice that will help other young girls.
They are all banned, they're referred to as roll-out skills usually as there are many varieties, whereas Thomas salto really only refers to the one Kurt Thomas did. They are restricted for men too, they can now only do one. You can also see them described as for example 'arabian 1 and 3/4'.
Mad Respect for these girls they are awesome and thanks to the person who made this video to show the extreme lengths people will go to hold their dreams in their hands......this video made me cry =/
Que hermoso, que triste, que sublime..! Yo en verdad admiro el espiritu de este tipo de mujeres que dejaron todo hasta su propia vida tratando de trascender y alcanzar la gloria, por quere tocar el cielo y la escencia de Dios por tan solo un momento...
What also makes it worse, in my opinion, was that she was being forced to do it. The Russian coaches 'convinced' her doctors to remove her cast from a broken leg early, which damaged the leg further and ended up necessitating surgery to repair the limb. Then they again got the doctors to remove the cast early and made her attempt the Thomas salto against her protests that it was dangerous and she couldn't do it well.
@pmcr9 No, the Thomas Salto that paralyzed Yelena is a floor exercise move. Gymnastics at the lower levels is a gift for many. I have been successful in many sports (running, triathlon, skiing, climbing) because of the coordination skills I learned in gymnastics. I look at people struggling with their weight and know I will always love sports because of gymnastics.
Many parents of gymnasts are sad when their daughters stop practicing gymnastics after accidents. In view of what happened to Mukhina and Julissa Gomes, they should not regret much when they recover and follow their lives normally in other ways.
gymnasts are crazy. in a good way. and they're really brave. i don't think i'd have what it takes. the time, the effort, the guts, the strength.. they truly are heroes :D
This makes me glad that my gymnastics weren't good enough to compete. But a lot of sports run terrible risks - rugby, football, horse racing, show jumping, hurdling, the list goes on. My daughter was almost paralysed from the neck down after a fall off a horse 6 years ago.
AGREED! SAME HERE! It is a great sport even at the basic levels because of this i became really good at swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and ballet...but it all started with gymnastics.. I LOVE THE SPORT you get a really great fitness out of it 2!
Nice to see these have all been swept under the rug, like Nassar. Thx for video. This is a dangerous, CORRUPT, sport. We need to protect our girls, money not worth their life n futures.
This is a sport dangerous in its beauty. These girls have a lot of heart and passion to be doing it and today's world could easily learn from that. Even though Sang Lan lost her ability to walk, she still tries and she moves on.
Gymnastics is dangerous no doubt. Have you seen the male gymnasts do the floor exercise? Many times they look like they're gonna land on their heads during those flips and tumbles.
Thanks for makin this vid, it really touched me. Lot of people think that gymnnastics is for people with no lives and they dont give a damn. But now that i and everyone watchin this vid knows that it takes alot of gut to do this sport. And for people that dont give a shit at least respect them. becouse ,well ,the point is people like this put a lot of hope and faith in wat they do then to have it ripped out of there soul and for all those people that has gone through the same tradedy.Respect it.
Wow very sad video and inlightening at the same time. My daughter was a gymnast. Her back started hurting her really bad. After a month I took her to a doctor and found out that she had an avulsion fracture of her lower L4 back. That was in DEC 2007. Since then she has had a bulging disc and to this day she has issues with her back. I guess u can say she got out easy.
@DYGymnast It's only banned in female competitions because girls or women do not have the same level of strength to pull it off safely. Under-rotation results in landing on the chin, and over-rotation results in landing on the top of the head, both are potentially fatal because the spine is snapped.
Spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. These young ladies were very brave to expose themselves to these dangers but i know they had pressure from the gymnastic federations, among other people, to continue to due unsafe maneuvers all in the name of winning a gold medal. These young ladies sacrificed their lives.
Todas foram maravilhosas grandes talentos da ginástica. Uma lástima que a ganância e falta de suporte emocional por parte dos profissionais que as tinham a obrigação de zelar por elas. Que Deus abençoe cada uma estejam onde estiverem❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏👏😢😢😢
This video is fantastic. So many people don't believe me when I say 'gymnastics is hard.' Maybe I will just show them this video and tell them to go and try all of the skills that gymnasts do these days. Lets see how it all works out.
julissa gomez was my coach, chelle stack's, best friend. she told us that the parents wouldnt let her see julissa before she died becase they wanted to have chelle remember her as a happy person, and not as a person not being able to say anything, or do anything for herself.
@beautifulsarah100 I see what you mean, but honestly the decision about whether to listen or not highly depends on maturity and many other factors. Having struggled myself with weight, bulimia and anorexia in my teenage years, I don't think it is so straight cut but appreciate you see it differently.
Murkhina(sp?) Died because the Russian athletic powers that be wanted a medal so bad they kept taking off her casts from an injury and making her practice when she was supposed to be resting. She was not 100% at the practice it happened at. She admitted that as soon as it happened she thought "Thank God I am not going to the Olympics."
@Gymnast40184 There is a video of her interview on Phoenix TV (2009, in Chinese) and she talked about how positive and confident she tried to be "despite of being in a wheelchair". So no, she cannot walk. She does a lot of charity work, though, mainly in helping unfortunate children to regain confidence.
I was in gymnastics for 4 years as a young girl, and I'm glad I got out when I did. There were days when I missed it, but the pressure was too much. If I ever have a girl, I hope she doesn't get involved with the sport. For me, all the competitive pressure took away the fun of the sport and it became a stressful chore.
thanks for the info..that must be the reason why i havent heard of her since then and only a few weeks back in you tube i learned what happened to her..ive been watching abc's wide world of sports in the 80's and what i could still recall was she defeated nadia ..thought it was the olympics..she was really a great gymnast especially in the uneven bars..so sad to learn what happened to her after more than 2 decades now.
From what I understand Yelena had hurt her leg, which wasn't properly healed yet, but she was being pushed and pushed and pushed to get the Salto right.
What is sad is that the people behind these tragedies were not sanctioned by the organisations. The coach who said that the athlete is fat should have been sanctioned maybe banned or dismissed from the judging any competitions, the russian judge who badly handled russian athletes should have been sanctioned heavily. The injustice happened but it will always happen unless these people in the position were penalised.
They also forgot about other legends as well whom the gymnastics world lost: Hilary Grivich Yukio Endo Oleksandr Beresch Jaime Romero Yuri Ryazanov Nikolai Andrianov Viktor Chukarin
This is exactly why when Simone Biles pulled herself out of competition to care for herself mentally snd physically this was groundbreaking! The amount of courage and brevity this took saved her life and the life and health for so many other athletes. The ability to put yourself first before glory, pushers, naysayers, critics, and funders! We only get 1 life. We should always do our best to protect ourselves.
La Tragedia de las Gimnastas!!!!! Hoy quiero dedicar una hermosa melodía para todo el mundo, especialmente les dedico a las chicas que practican "deportes de alto riesgo", así también a las bailarinas que nos entretienen con sus hermosas disciplinas artísticas. La melodía originalmente se llama "Sonata de Invierno" aparentemente del compositor sur-coreano Park Jeong-won para la famosa telenovela asiática, en este video de you tube lo interpreta la melodía por el famoso pianista argentino Raul Di Blasio.
let me put it to those of you who never done a gymnastics move, its a brutal sport but challenging, i for one have done most of them moves and if you dont have the right momentum and balance and the concentration things can go very wrong, winning a medal whether it be gold or bronz or silver is something to accomplishment if you never played sports and wasnt really into sports then your opinion dont mean squat , cause you dont know what it took for the discipline and hard work to get that far.
I think most serious gymnasts know the risks and are prepared for any consquences if any. Like dancers which is why most give up in their late twenties. but I have had to quit pointe (ballet dancers dancing on the end of your toes.) because I was spaining both arches (part of foot that doesn't touch the ground)every week
Sad ... and similar injuries/deaths happen to young girls in figure skating as well. Too few appreciate the difficulty of the routines these teens are performing ... something really must change. Both gymnastics and figure skating are extremely dangerous. God Bless these girls for their courage...
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #1 НАЧАЛО ПУТЕШЕСТВИЯ [Новый сезон] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/380Q7gLWGvk/mqdefault.jpg)
. I think the story of Yelena Mukhina is the most tragic of all. She was a victim of her coach and the USSR hunger for golden medals in the Olympics they were hosting in 1980.
She was a victim of the system not the coach, in her interview she never blamed a coach.
Le Ska she blamed her coach for a while but with time she changed and came to see him as just as much a victim of the system as she was,she lived for over half her life with the effect of the system on her that is the greatest tragedy of all and all who were in the chain above her right up to government level this is there shame that I hope burns inside them everyday
>USSR hunger for golden medals<
As if your western sports systems didn't have that hunger, give me a break.
What happened to Elena was a tragic set of circumstances - the collaboration with an awful coach and her being raised without parents only by her grandma, with obviously no one to step in for her.
While the coach had to be punished for his awful attitude (and so, in my view, had to be other adults who were near her and didn't do anything), it has nothing to do with the whole system.
Nata_Moscow : spot on. Every country is a gold hunger. And USA & other West countrys are not more cleaner than Easteners.
@@Nata34Moscow - Sure, the US has gold medal hunger, but a US gymnast at the time (and now!) could tell her coaches to go Fuck Off and quit and that would be the end of it. No Soviet gymnast could do that and not suffer the consequences. Not only for herself, but for her family as well.
I can't make it through this video without having tears in my eyes. All these poor girls :( They were champions in not only gymnastics, but also in life. Elena Mukhina's story always touches me the most; Lena and her story saved my life. She means the world to me, and I hope she is in a happy place now where she is free from her paralysed body and can do all the somersaults she wants up in the clouds. She deserved so much better than what was given to her in life. Even though she was quadriplegic for 26 years, she did not give up on life and she remained her courageous and beautiful self right up until the very end. I so wish I could give her a hug. Sleep tight, Lena. We still love you.
I flagged this tirade because you're a degenerate and a necrophile. This is effed up and you need help (in the form of a psych ward and strong antipsychotics) "I wOuLd WaNnA hUg YoU" A tetraplegic Russkie b-word you don't really know? You don't fool anyone, "hugging" is a codeword for "having s3x with". Your mind is rotten and I don't believe you like the female gymnasts (85% young girls) of yore because of the technique but because you're a degenerate and a pedophilic son of a b-word. I hope you get unalived because you won't see Yelena but only flames and horrors surpassing El Greco's paintings
It's hard not to blame Mukhina's coach for what happened to her. He knew she had a difficult leg injury, yet he pushed her to do the Salto, a difficult enough element without having an injury.
ladycplum he didn't care about that poor sad girl it was a case of do it or die trying that poor girl had an awful life with no love from anyone her story is so incredibly sad.
He is 100% to blame, the safety and well-being of your athlete is paramount
If you want to blame anyone, blame Soviet politics. The Machine had everyone and the commands came from much higher than some young coach. If he had said no, someone else would have replaced him and the result would have been same. It's the Soviet mindset, that ruled over coach and doctors alike leaving Mukhina just a defenceless tool to turn the great gears of Soviet Machinery...
I really hope she rests in peace.Poor girl ,poor poor girl.
Difficult leg?? Her leg was broken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course he was to blame She was just a child ..it was abuse and he was not punished for it
Watching Yelena Mukhina just breaks my heart. It was so tragic what happened to her, and she was so damn great.
thank God they showed all these athletes doing their tricks successfully, perfectly beautifully....& didn't show any of the tragic ends to their careers. Its nice to know there is still some decency left in the world. This is how they would want to be remembered
"Thank God"? The mf uploaded this because he and 90% of the viewers of these flicks are pedophiles. UA-cam should be cleansed of the pedo pest
That's not the real reason; youtube would ban that kind of content.
To Sang Lan don't give up hope. My husband was paralyzed from the chest down after he was ejected from a car in which he was a passenger. He worked at it long and hard and eventually got partial use of his legs back. He uses 2 canes and wears braces to support his calves, but he is walking.
Should've worn a seatbelt :(
@@reidchambers2521 how u know he didnt wear one he probably did
@@reidchambers2521 hindsight can save a lot of folks. Why do folks still ride motorcycles? Your remark is just a example of how clueless you are.
@@reidchambers2521 Jesus Christ.
Wonderful
Well, I appreciated seeing how a Thomas salto is (mostly) supposed to look. That is completely insane and not in the "wow, awesome" way. I'm glad it's been banned.
it looked like she fell on purpose. didn't realize that was the actual tumbling pass.
Completely disagree. It *IS* completely "wow, awesome" insane.
Injuries are a natural part of sport. People are just pussies today.
@Whovian Hireath Yelana wasn't so much injured because she attempted the Thomas Salto, she was injured because she was pressured to attempt it with a broken leg
@Whovian Hireath r
@@muffdiver240 I see the argument that it shouldn't be banned, but tumble landings are not more beautiful than floor landings, and in fact look like errors. Perhaps a lower point value accounting for this would be appropriate.
By far the most difficult sport...wish more people knew this.
I can't believe a judge told that girl she was too fat that's a shame
+Corey Forman At the time of that conversation, Kristi Heinrich was all of 94 pounds of muscle--one wonders how that judge sleeps at night knowing that she contributed to that beautiful young lady's body insecurity.
+Cheryl Mason I don't know the name of the judge, however even her own coach, Al Fong made insults at her body type. Before Christie died of organ failure she weighed under 50 pounds.
+irascibblejustice At first, neither her family nor her coaches were aware of the situation. Eventually, Henrich's battle with anorexia took such a toll on her health that she was no longer strong enough to compete, and she was asked to leave GAGE. Despite many early treatments and hospitalizations, Christy's weight deteriorated to 47 pounds. Henrich died of multiple organ failure just eight days after her 22nd birthday
+irascibblejustice Al Fong-coach of the late Julissa Gomez, who also reportedly felt pushed into doing something unsafe for her health when she kept attempting the difficult-to-masterYurchenko vault until she was rendered quadriplegic in a vaulting accident-had also allegedly made insulting remarks about her size and body type.
I think that is the most tragic of any of them. Just goes to show, a person can be THAT skilled, THAT powerful and talented, and still be so influenced by one person's evil comments. That girl was not fat, by anyone's criteria.
December 22, 2010. You left us on a day like today four years ago. Life deprived us of an angel that walked the earth and showed us how acrobatics are performed in heavens. In this cruel world of today, where pointing the finger and blaming others is the norm, your courage, humbleness and stoicism should will forever guide us through the path that leads to becoming better human beings. Your legacy and love for the sport will never be forgotten. May you rest in peace always, Beautiful Queen!
so classy of you to spotlight the the triumph of the athletes instead of the falls .
I was going to say the exact same thing: I'd much rather know them from the beautiful things they were able to do, than from a terrible accident that happened to them.
the description would like to have a word with you.
absolutely
@Margarita Wyatt @dinnae If you didn't want to watch a tragedy why watch a compilation of them? There's thousands of regular old gymnastic routines on UA-cam and you're here whinging.
chill22girl exactly! I’ve no idea where these comments are coming from?!?
Respect to all these young ladies.
It was heartwarming to see Sang Lan after the birth of her baby boy
She was pleased as punch
My friend's mum pulled her out of gymnastics when she was 10 or 11 because the coach had such a strict exercise and diet regime that many of the girls developed anorexia, and most became very unhealthy. They were still at the stage when their bodies were growing. It left a lasting detrimental impact on them. Not all coaches are the same, as with any sport, or tuition for anything really. Make sure you pick one that is responsible. The one that you believe will get you or your son/daughter to the level of achievement you desire is not always the best one. Choose carefully, and value the good ones when you find them.
Many parents don't really pay attention to what's happening to their kids. Even those who say, "I don't mind what he/she does, as long as he/she's happy, are often only worried about themselves.
Hard to watch, knowing the sad ending for these competitors. Some truly beautiful routines here. Beauty in artistic gymnastics is rare today.
What a great girl. She lives in my heart in the hearts of all those who love her.....love u my darling love from India.
As much as the Thomas Salto looks cool, I don't understand how it was *ever* allowed in competition in the first place. Anyone, no matter how little they know about gymnastics, could watch that skill and come to the conclusion it appears to be *designed* to kill and injure people. Like, come on. Nothing about that is safe.
@@earthlingandextra Well, I didn't mean that *literally,* I guess I probably should have worded that a little differently lol. Sorry about that. But yeah, I don't mean like, someone came up with it to purposely hurt people. I mean like, if you look at it, it looks like something that has an extremely high chance of injury. It, even to people that don't know much about gymnastics, just looks incredibly dangerous and like a very bad idea.
But yeah, no, I don't really think someone came up with it to hurt people (I'd assume that'd be Kurt Thomas.) I think he just came up with it because it looks really cool. Just, once judges and coaches saw it, they should have immediately concluded that, yes, though it is a really cool move, it shouldn't be allowed in competition because of the inherent danger in it - but especially so for female gymnasts. A male gymnast at that high a skill level is much more likely to be able to pull that off, whereas a female is far more likely to under or over rotate and get injured. So at the very least, I'd think they would have automatically banned it in women's gymnastics. But I don't know, I guess back then there were a lot of skills that were a lot more dangerous that were still allowed in as well.
thought I would see the incidents, not read them. I guess it makes sense. we can remember their greatness or what made them great this way.
Wendy Guity Do you really want to see someone hurting themselves & having permanent injuries?
@Ruby: Yes.
how are we supposed to see them, idiot? do you think someone recorded them back then and put them on youtube for you to slobber over it? :D
@@loopsruby read the title of the video. So yeah I thought the incidents were shared because you know, videoed incidents do get shared.
@@nimbusbecher right because no one filmed anything back then. Calling people idiots and dogs. Meanwhile your mother is waiting for you to sit on.her face after you shit. Weirdo loser.
This made me cry. So sad what happened to these girls...the music had me bawling, too!
me too
Touching! Beautiful song, very delicate work of yours, a real tribute to those corageous girls. Thank you.
Watching this video 15 years later 😢 Such sadness realising that these beautiful talented hard working brave girls are not around anymore. Only one of them is still around today Sang Lan
I actually think he quit and moved to Italy. Yelena said later in life that she knew he had a hard time living with what he'd done but that she understood he was just a cog in the wheel of the Soviet system.
This video tells of many gymnasts that were left severely injured, paralyzed or dead from the harsh demands of this sport.
Thanks for the heads-up.
oohhh ok thanks, now we know...
these stories are so sad. gymnasts have to be brave and if it's their dream, they will go for it. i've been doing gymnastics for twelve years now. 12 injuries and one almost killed me. i'm still in it though. these stories though really make you think about how dangerous the sport is.
Elas se dedicam tanto,dão suas infâncias , juventudes por esse esporte pra mostrar o seu país e quando ficam tetraplégica são esquecidas como Elena mukina.tenho muita dó delas.meus aplausos para esses e outros atletas que se doam demais.
This is a dangerous sport. I was a gymnast and will always be a gymnast to my soul. I've had 3 major back surgeries from injuries caused by years of over bending my back. For me, I wouldn't change a thing. I knew the risks. This I what I loved. This sport saved me in more ways than anything it ever took away. The things that happened to these girls is tragic. And I dnt know if I would feel the same way if something this horrific had happened to me. I can't explain what it is tho about this sport for some ppl. It means everything. It really does feel like something you're born to do.
Sang Lan just had a baby! There are some happy endings!
Congratulations to her!
did she really
The true spirit of an athlete.
Pushing through no matter the obstacles that they face.
It never has to be the end.
Awwwwww ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
The paralyzed gymnast? If so...ugly thoughts are going through my head right now.
Wow..i knew it’s dangerous but knowing these cases just made me appreciate gymnastics more.
We are in awe by their skills that often we forget the amount of practice and injuries they had to endure just to wow us.
Yelena Muchkina la più grande ginnasta di tutti i tempi. 🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅✨🥀🕯️
That judge at 1:46 has to live with the guilt of that for the rest of their life
Sarah :3 theres no judge at 1:46. Its the girl doing a move on the floor.
Dana Joan read the subtitle
right, pretty depressing how just a coment of a heartless judge can end the life of someone, this just proves that words can hurt too
Yes, and think of the antecedents to that comment. How many times did the gymnast hear those words in training. Abuse.
Christie Henrich - This says too well how NASTY and VICIOUS these judges are to the athletes, and I purposely capitalize it!!! When gymnastics are going on (or shown on TV), one can easily see how fat they are themselves, sitting on their chairs behind their desk/counter/computer (whatever it is), wearing their fancy fashion (and I will stop here today, but there's plenty to say about their fake merrit), how dare they say to a young girl that she is too fat? Is this part of the grading code? or am I missing something? Let's think again about this: once they become judges, they forget quickly enough where they are coming from, these bloody corrupt criminals! They forget that they were young girls too! Unfortunately this is an ongoing pattern of attitude and behavior that exist everywhere. There doesn't seem to be any end to this. When it's not the body shape, it's the skin color (like this great classical ballet dancer M. De Prince who had to go to another country to be able to do what she loves). Cruelty is and remains common currency, especially among women, this is pathetic and hopeless... enough to want to vomit. What is wrong with this culture???
This is a very powerful video. While gymnastics is a beautiful sport to watch, we sometimes forget just how dangerous it can be. And the fact that a lot of these girls are so young...it makes injuries like this even sadder.
Back in the day it might have been. A lot of changes have been made. Today any Yurchenko vault is required to use a springboard protection mat, and the design of the new vaulting table has greatly improved safety. The kids didn't have as many people carefully watching what happens in the gyms as there are today. Used to be they had to pick up and move at 8 or 9 all the way across the county away from any family. Thanks now to the national camp system more can stay close to home.
Jesus you don’t have to be a gymnast to see how insanely dangerous that salto move is crazy.
Ellas fueron unas diosas en este deporte. Mis honores y respetos y el mejor recuerdo de sus rutinas, que son maravillosas.
As I recall, an American coach was videotaping the Chinese team's practice, and he had footage of Sang Lan's accident. However, after some tabloid offered him money for the footage, he erased it, because he didn't want to profit from her tragedy.
That Thomas Salto is a shit move ... land on your shoulders... even a minute mistake will leave you in a very vulnerable position.
I'm a firefighter and we all go into burning buildings, no safety mats to catch us if we all through a floor, no visibility to see where we are going. Look at head/spinal injury to pro hockey players hit from behind, pushed head first into the boards? Every sport has it's risks. At least in gymnastics you're not worrying about external factors beyond your control coming into play. I fully appreciate this video. Any loss of human life is tragic but we can't run & hide. Risk is a fact of life.
This video left me with no words.The music fits those tragedies very well a sad but great video. :(
God bless all these brave young ladies. You paid the ultimate price in pursuit of the gold medal. May you all wear a golden crown in heaven! We know your names now and you will never be forgotten.
A soul touching rendering of a sport we just see the enjoyment side. The kids hardwork and commitment I pray shall never end like these.
Such tragic accidents for such beautiful women doing gymnastics and they were so dang good so hard to accept they will never be forgotten
"the problem with quotes on the internet is that it's difficult to verify their authenticity"
- Abraham LIncoln
BHAAA! Abraham Lincoln. Good "quote from him"
@SaintHaHaLOLZ: I'd always heard that quote attributed to Socrates.
"In the future,there will be internet,dont invent quotes and pretend they're mine" the visionary Abraham Lincoln
That's why you should ask Mr. Ed to find out if it is so.
yelena mukhina💔😖
This is true. Sometimes I think, if Jordyn Wieber or Shawn Johnson, who are both known for their very muscular builds, would have been around during Christy Heinrich's time they would've been told the same thing!! That's horrible to imagine. :-(
They're still told the same thing today. Katelyn Ohashi and SJ have talked about people (in and out of the sport) telling them they're too big/fat to be good.
Sad and tragic. The demands put on these young people by country, coaches and judges to achieve perfection are really unforgivable. My heart breaks when I think about what the USA's young gymnasts had to endure and how they weren't protected. Glad they have finally been given a voice that will help other young girls.
They are all banned, they're referred to as roll-out skills usually as there are many varieties, whereas Thomas salto really only refers to the one Kurt Thomas did. They are restricted for men too, they can now only do one. You can also see them described as for example 'arabian 1 and 3/4'.
They were banned in the women's competitions but rollouts were still quite common in men's gymnastics. They were only banned in MAG in 2017.
Mad Respect for these girls they are awesome and thanks to the person who made this video to show the extreme lengths people will go to hold their dreams in their hands......this video made me cry =/
Que hermoso, que triste, que sublime..! Yo en verdad admiro el espiritu de este tipo de mujeres que dejaron todo hasta su propia vida tratando de trascender y alcanzar la gloria, por quere tocar el cielo y la escencia de Dios por tan solo un momento...
How are you doing today my name is Eric Moore
What also makes it worse, in my opinion, was that she was being forced to do it. The Russian coaches 'convinced' her doctors to remove her cast from a broken leg early, which damaged the leg further and ended up necessitating surgery to repair the limb. Then they again got the doctors to remove the cast early and made her attempt the Thomas salto against her protests that it was dangerous and she couldn't do it well.
The sad side of sport ....... they go through years of injury and for a small percentage tragedy sets in . RIP ladies 💗
@pmcr9 No, the Thomas Salto that paralyzed Yelena is a floor exercise move. Gymnastics at the lower levels is a gift for many. I have been successful in many sports (running, triathlon, skiing, climbing) because of the coordination skills I learned in gymnastics. I look at people struggling with their weight and know I will always love sports because of gymnastics.
The Thomas Salto is only banned for female gymnasts to perform in competition. It's still permitted for male gymnasts to perform in competition.
Nope. It's been banned in competition for both sexes for a few years now.
Many parents of gymnasts are sad when their daughters stop practicing gymnastics after accidents. In view of what happened to Mukhina and Julissa Gomes, they should not regret much when they recover and follow their lives normally in other ways.
gymnasts are crazy. in a good way. and they're really brave. i don't think i'd have what it takes. the time, the effort, the guts, the strength.. they truly are heroes :D
How are you doing today my name is Eric Moore
This makes me glad that my gymnastics weren't good enough to compete. But a lot of sports run terrible risks - rugby, football, horse racing, show jumping, hurdling, the list goes on. My daughter was almost paralysed from the neck down after a fall off a horse 6 years ago.
they’re all so young, that’s insane. i couldn’t imagine falling and not being able to get back up, and knowing it was the end.
AGREED! SAME HERE! It is a great sport even at the basic levels because of this i became really good at swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and ballet...but it all started with gymnastics.. I LOVE THE SPORT you get a really great fitness out of it 2!
How are you doing today my name is Eric Moore
Nice to see these have all been swept under the rug, like Nassar. Thx for video. This is a dangerous, CORRUPT, sport. We need to protect our girls, money not worth their life n futures.
This is a sport dangerous in its beauty. These girls have a lot of heart and passion to be doing it and today's world could easily learn from that. Even though Sang Lan lost her ability to walk, she still tries and she moves on.
i've been looking to review stories of gymnastic tragedies, but i do not want to see the tragedy itself. thank you for this video. now i can sleep...
Gymnastics is dangerous no doubt. Have you seen the male gymnasts do the floor exercise? Many times they look like they're gonna land on their heads during those flips and tumbles.
Yes it looks very scary at times
Thanks for makin this vid, it really touched me. Lot of people think that gymnnastics is for people with no lives and they dont give a damn. But now that i and everyone watchin this vid knows that it takes alot of gut to do this sport. And for people that dont give a shit at least respect them. becouse ,well ,the point is people like this put a lot of hope and faith in wat they do then to have it ripped out of there soul and for all those people that has gone through the same tradedy.Respect it.
Oh what careless words can do to someone's spirit..........
quadriplegia means paralysis of all four limbs......paraplegia means paralysis waist down
Wow very sad video and inlightening at the same time. My daughter was a gymnast. Her back started hurting her really bad. After a month I took her to a doctor and found out that she had an avulsion fracture of her lower L4 back. That was in DEC 2007. Since then she has had a bulging disc and to this day she has issues with her back. I guess u can say she got out easy.
@DYGymnast It's only banned in female competitions because girls or women do not have the same level of strength to pull it off safely. Under-rotation results in landing on the chin, and over-rotation results in landing on the top of the head, both are potentially fatal because the spine is snapped.
Spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. These young ladies were very brave to expose themselves to these dangers but i know they had pressure from the gymnastic federations, among other people, to continue to due unsafe maneuvers all in the name of winning a gold medal. These young ladies sacrificed their lives.
Todas foram maravilhosas grandes talentos da ginástica. Uma lástima que a ganância e falta de suporte emocional por parte dos profissionais que as tinham a obrigação de zelar por elas. Que Deus abençoe cada uma estejam onde estiverem❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏👏😢😢😢
And even on the men's side, it still is dangerous. Yusuke Tanaka came close to break his neck in a roll-out skill in Tokyo's worlds.
This video is fantastic. So many people don't believe me when I say 'gymnastics is hard.' Maybe I will just show them this video and tell them to go and try all of the skills that gymnasts do these days. Lets see how it all works out.
Really? People don't believe gymnastics is hard? If someone said that to me, I'd tell them, "Oh, yeah? You try it. Right here, right now."
How are you doing today my name is Eric
julissa gomez was my coach, chelle stack's, best friend. she told us that the parents wouldnt let her see julissa before she died becase they wanted to have chelle remember her as a happy person, and not as a person not being able to say anything, or do anything for herself.
How are you doing today my name is Eric Moore
The anorexia one made me cry cause I had anorexia and I made to one year of recovery boq
EDIT now*
Be very strong, dear. It´s not easy, but you can be get over it. All the luck of the world!
I also conquered anorexia. Unfortunately, I'm now a lardass.
@beautifulsarah100 I see what you mean, but honestly the decision about whether to listen or not highly depends on maturity and many other factors. Having struggled myself with weight, bulimia and anorexia in my teenage years, I don't think it is so straight cut but appreciate you see it differently.
this music brang a tear to my eye
It brangded one to mine too.
Murkhina(sp?) Died because the Russian athletic powers that be wanted a medal so bad they kept taking off her casts from an injury and making her practice when she was supposed to be resting. She was not 100% at the practice it happened at. She admitted that as soon as it happened she thought "Thank God I am not going to the Olympics."
Lest we forget - in a sport open to abusers due to the youth of those training.
@Gymnast40184 There is a video of her interview on Phoenix TV (2009, in Chinese) and she talked about how positive and confident she tried to be "despite of being in a wheelchair". So no, she cannot walk. She does a lot of charity work, though, mainly in helping unfortunate children to regain confidence.
I was in gymnastics for 4 years as a young girl, and I'm glad I got out when I did. There were days when I missed it, but the pressure was too much. If I ever have a girl, I hope she doesn't get involved with the sport. For me, all the competitive pressure took away the fun of the sport and it became a stressful chore.
thanks for the info..that must be the reason why i havent heard of her since then and only a few weeks back in you tube i learned what happened to her..ive been watching abc's wide world of sports in the 80's and what i could still recall was she defeated nadia ..thought it was the olympics..she was really a great gymnast especially in the uneven bars..so sad to learn what happened to her after more than 2 decades now.
From what I understand Yelena had hurt her leg, which wasn't properly healed yet, but she was being pushed and pushed and pushed to get the Salto right.
What is sad is that the people behind these tragedies were not sanctioned by the organisations. The coach who said that the athlete is fat should have been sanctioned maybe banned or dismissed from the judging any competitions, the russian judge who badly handled russian athletes should have been sanctioned heavily. The injustice happened but it will always happen unless these people in the position were penalised.
I'm so glad sang lan is okay and she succesfuly had a healthy baby and is still okay
They also forgot about other legends as well whom the gymnastics world lost:
Hilary Grivich
Yukio Endo
Oleksandr Beresch
Jaime Romero
Yuri Ryazanov
Nikolai Andrianov
Viktor Chukarin
Tsarevna Hilda
Elena Shushunova
what a lost too the future games without them all may you 'll rest in peace !!!!
This is exactly why when Simone Biles pulled herself out of competition to care for herself mentally snd physically this was groundbreaking! The amount of courage and brevity this took saved her life and the life and health for so many other athletes. The ability to put yourself first before glory, pushers, naysayers, critics, and funders! We only get 1 life. We should always do our best to protect ourselves.
that was beautiful.
In a blink the dream can become a nightmare
At the time she was attempting it (1979-1980) it was not banned. It was not banned for women until the 90s. It is still allowed for men.
@DYGymnast Kurt Thomas, one of the best gymnasts in the 80's - the thomas flair... he did it all....
and he was really cute tooo.
@NdanteAllegro Personally, I think if a judge makes a negative comment about a gymnasts weight, they should be banned from judging-period.
Thanks again for all
i clicked on this expecting to laugh at some funny accidents. now im sat hear with tears in my eyes -_-
La Tragedia de las Gimnastas!!!!!
Hoy quiero dedicar una hermosa melodía para todo el mundo, especialmente les dedico a las chicas que practican "deportes de alto riesgo", así también a las bailarinas que nos entretienen con sus hermosas disciplinas artísticas. La melodía originalmente se llama "Sonata de Invierno" aparentemente del compositor sur-coreano Park Jeong-won para la famosa telenovela asiática, en este video de you tube lo interpreta la melodía por el famoso pianista argentino Raul Di Blasio.
1:31 a double off the low bar o.O
Very nice video. We should talk more about those tragedies. Competition is never good.
let me put it to those of you who never done a gymnastics move, its a brutal sport but challenging, i for one have done most of them moves and if you dont have the right momentum and balance and the concentration things can go very wrong, winning a medal whether it be gold or bronz or silver is something to accomplishment if you never played sports and wasnt really into sports then your opinion dont mean squat , cause you dont know what it took for the discipline and hard work to get that far.
awesome video, awesome song, awesome footage, made me cry!!
I think most serious gymnasts know the risks and are prepared for any consquences if any. Like dancers which is why most give up in their late twenties. but I have had to quit pointe (ballet dancers dancing on the end of your toes.) because I was spaining both arches (part of foot that doesn't touch the ground)every week
Sad ... and similar injuries/deaths happen to young girls in figure skating as well. Too few appreciate the difficulty of the routines these teens are performing ... something really must change. Both gymnastics and figure skating are extremely dangerous. God Bless these girls for their courage...
How are you doing today my name is Eric Moore
Mis respetos
they all had a lot of talent in what they did, its beyond a shame that they died so young.
RIP girls, Im sorry.