…here in the US, I present a few of the things for which I am most thankful to the sport of gymnastics.
Nana’s gotta sit down…
FOOLED YOU FIRE DRILL!
I got it. I got it. I got it. AND BY IT I MEAN THE WORM.
The world may never know.
-“Who’d they drop…?”
-“You, Kim.”
-“Yeah, real funny, who really?”
Still miffed that Hong Un Jong didn’t get credit for her Paseka at the Olympics.
The Messchenko skank-and-a-fifth is a legitimate vault.
“I found some jelly beans in the trash. Put them in your hair, Kerri! Mirror, I’m pretty. Mirror, I’m pretty! Oh no, they’re all falling out! Shower with them! Madam, dinner is served.”
Walking around on those…
What’s that word again…?
Feet…?
I Gotz Podium: the Brittany Rogers Story
SPIDERS
My Turducken 3/4 brings all the boys to the yard…
“We should start taking travel donations for when I make the Olympic team…Oh.”
Pie in the face, pie in the face, pie in the face, pie in the face
Poor Kim Kelly.
Who is Kim Kelly and why is she a frequent butt of jokes on the blog? The later is not super clear on Google.
Kim Kelly was a member of the US national team in the late 80s-early 90s. She was named to the 1992 team, but then taken off during a training camp (at Bela’s gym) so Betty Okino (a Bela gymnast, who was injured during nationals and trials) could be added in her place. It was implied that Kim Kelly was proving readiness at the camps, but really, USGF wanted Betty on the team, and since she was able to compete at the camps, they swapped them. A lot of controversy ensued (as it should have).
Betty was seen as (and just was) a better gymnast than Kim. Betty medaled individually at the 1991 and 1992 worlds (Kim only made one Worlds team in 1989). Betty also had the “desired body type” of that era (i.e. rail thin), and Bela made it clear he thought girls with hips were horrid to watch and should never compete at the Olympics.
Here’s an article with Kim Kelly from 2012 where she talks about being thrown in the trash after that 1992 Olympics camp: http://articles.mcall.com/2012-06-25/sports/mc-kim-kelly-gymnastics-20120625_1_martha-karolyi-roe-kreutzer-national-elite-program
Thank you for the thorough answer Lauren, much appreciated. Spencer’s joke now makes sense with this context. I remember hearing Betty’s placement on the team was controversial, but didn’t realize it was Kim K she replaced. I can see why, since the routines I saw from her on Youtube were good enough for high elite gymnasts of the era, but they are not mind blowing.
Oh Kerri… Back in the ‘good ol’ days’ of terrible choreography.
<3 turducken
Who is to blame for kerri’s floor choreo?geza?did he get fired?did kerri not ask him ” are you on crack”?
He did some choreography work for all the Magnificent Seven floor routines.
Apparently he was also in charge of Maroney’s choreography, which was actually kind of … good. Shocking considering some of his “oeuvre” over the years.