Originally published at: Watch this supercut of gymnasts messing up but recovering with elegance, grace, and sometimes humor | Boing Boing
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Don’t forget the classic recovery (and bad assness):
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Sometimes the slip-up almost seems choreographed.
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Has someone ever done a “drunken gymnast” routine where all of the moves seem like mess ups and recovery?
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Paul Hunt’s “Pauletta Huntinova” routines are probably the closest
I was most impressed by the last guy’s high bar routine…coming out of a Kovacs over the bar and recovering into a one armed giant. If he hadn’t broken form he’d probably have that move named after him by now.
All I can say is thank God for foam pits. We didn’t have one in my gym back in my day but you can see here what it takes to learn that particular skill:
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I watched that live, and my reaction even then was that I was watching child abuse as a public spectacle. More recent revelations about the coaches and the US gymnastics organizations have done nothing to change that opinion.
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From the video: “Pain is temporary, pride is forever.”
Ugh. Get bent.
You’re not the only one. I see nothing but torture on her face.
Edited to clarify the quote source.
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I don’t disagree on that point. But Strug herself was a badass.
The outside pressure on her to perform was unfair. But had she not made the attempt, she probably would have regretted it. Even if she failed, she wouldn’t have to go the rest of her life wondering “What if …?” So to heck with everyone and everything else going on around her. I’ve got nothing but respect for her.
I had never heard of Paul Hunt before. My eyes are watering with laughter. What a great gymnast and entertainer.
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Maybe she was actually worried about the consequences of not doing what her handlers expected of her.
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Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. Does she only get to be a badass if she’s not a victim?
Thanks for the Paul Hunt routines - not what I thought I’d be chuckling about on a Friday evening
Physical comedy is timeless.
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No, but who knows what she was thinking and feeling then?
I’m just pointing out that assuming she’s worthy of admiration because she’s a badass is a way of being overly certain about what she was feeling and thinking. She clearly was determined to do well, but we don’t know why.
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When you watch it at 2x the normal speed it looks like everything went according to plan.
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