80's Fight: The Great Romanian Soviet Rivalry Era

00:00 Intro: The greatest rivalries of the 1980s! The individual, political, judging and drama queen coaches of the greatest Romanians and Soviet era. 00:02:11: The era of Soviet Gymnastics Dominance 00:03:41: Soviet Stars & Romania's Sports Schools 00:05:41: Romania Becomes a Rival (Post-Nadia 1976) 00:06:13: The 1977 Romanian Protest Walkout 00:07:02: Controversy at Vault Finals (Nelly Kim vs. Nadia) 00:08:35: Romania Withdraws from Event Finals 00:09:27: Political Background of the Protest 00:14:28: The Nadia Comaneci vs. Nellie Kim Rivalry 00:15:10: Speculation: Did Nelly Kim Influence Open-Ended Scoring? 00:15:36: Nelly Kim's Role in the Code of Points 00:17:25: 1979 World Championships: Romania Wins First Team Title 00:17:10: The "Nadia Infected Wrist" Story 00:21:57: Insane Judging in the Late 70s/Early 80s 00:22:26: Political Background: 1980 Moscow Olympics (US Boycott) 00:24:10: Controversial 30-Minute Delay on Nadia's Beam Score 00:26:22: Nadia vs. Nellie Floor Final Tie and the “computer malfunction” 00:27:23: Nellie Kim's Reaction to the Tie 00:29:07: 1981 World Championships in Moscow 00:30:10: 1981 Impersonation Controversy (Agache as Szabo?) 00:41:04: The Legendary 1983-1985 Soviet Team 00:44:03: Soviet Advantages: Pits, Equipment, Resources 00:44:40: Discussion: Who Did the First Back Tuck on Beam? 00:52:30: China's Return and Innovation 00:57:08: 1985 World Championships & Daniela Silivas Age Falsification 01:07:15: Horrifying Historical Commentary (Focus on Weight, Appearance) 01:09:07: 1987 European Championships: Silvia Hitch Wins All-Around in Moscow (Tide Turns) 01:10:20: 1987 World Championships: Romania Wins Team Title 01:12:03: Aurelia Dobre's Exquisite Gymnastics 01:11:10: Innovation: Daniela Silivas and the Yurchenko Double Full 01:14:30: Skill Naming Bias (Bitzer vs. Golia Vault) 01:17:49: Who was the first person to do a back tuck on beam? 01:18:28: Aurelia Dobre's Importance and Legacy Setting the scene A history of Soviet dominance Romania’s 1976 emergence The 1977 Europeans Romanian WALKOUT! The first great Romanian/Soviet rivalry—Nadia vs. Nellie and how it may or may not have influenced the future of gymnastics Romania wins in 1979, where Nadia saves the day with one hand. The Rivalry The 1980 Olympics of crazy judging Nadia vs. Davydova and the case of the 30-minute delay Nadia vs. Nellie and the case of the “computer malfunction” Mukhina’s paralysis and the race for innovative difficulty 1981 Worlds The silliest scores of 1981 (oh, it’s 9.800 for this) The case of the Szabo/Agache impersonation of 1981 Romania ends up 4th. That’s right 4th. 1983 Worlds Innovation from an all-star Soviet team—YURCHENKO vaults, the SHISHOVA Just fangirling about Mostepanova for a while More fun with bonkers scoring 1984 boycott gives us an opportunity to talk about China 1985 Worlds Soviet Union casually adds Omelianchik and Shushunova to its already stellar 1983 team The Soviets were so deep that Shushunova placed FIFTH on her own team in qualification The evolution of Romanian floor to be less “chicken dance” and whether it contributed to what happened next 1987 and THE TIDE TURNS Silivas wins the European AA title in Moscow, and the Soviets (gasp) fall Romania gets its first world team title in 8 years How the addition of Aurelia Dobre changed the game for Romania Pro-Soviet bias in skill naming Dobre vs. Shushunova vs. Silivas vs. Baitova vs. Omelianchik. This was no two-way rivalry The 1988 Olympics and how timing is everything Thanks to our sponsor, Huel. Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF + a FREE Gift with code GymCastic at https://huel.com/GymCastic (Minimum $75 purchase).