Liu Xuan - 1996 Olympics Team Optionals - Uneven Bars

[@CHOWCWT]

I was so glad that despite her one-arm giant being given a low difficulty rating, she (and her coach) insisted on performing it in Atlanta (she took it out thereafter). Such a awesome skill deserved to be showcased at the Olympics, no matter what!

[@EdGringo78]

This routine was beautiful!! Absolutely gorgeous. It's so sad that Xuan messed up in compulsories. I'm sure had she gone to finals she would have won a medal.

[@uwoeric]

I know that high to low transition isn't terribly difficult but it's so frickin' cool!!

[@hmrhuang]

Still, if she misses the low bar with her feet....=) I'm surprised the coach wasn't spotting her there!

[@Zuranthium]

It's like she is a magnet in that transition to the low bar, love it! "Little" moves like that deserve to be in the code still, and count for connection bonus.

[@misslosty87]

well, that was the 10 point system, it didn't reward risks and difficulty, it rewarded execution

[@ETphonehome89]

misslosty87 I'm so happy that system is obsolete

[@aabb3822]

you can argue the current system is doing the same in not rewarding higher risk and difficulty as evidenced by the relatively low D value for the handspring double front vault or the yurchenko pike double back.

[@JamesFrew1]

That’s not exactly true. You got bonus points for difficulty but execution was heavily favored indeed. If there was no bonus points or thought o difficulty, there would be no way Amanar would have won vault, Chow silver on bars etc b/c they definitely had issues with execution but their difficulty was far above the rest.

[@catherineb8595]

It was deemed dangerous and given a low rating- a C- to discourage others from doing it. Therefore it wasn't worth her time including it, but she kept it for the Olympics before taking it out.

[@ShawnVikaKomova2012]

Her and Mo were amazing on bars. That Gienger should have been a G skill.

[@okhan0011]

breathtaking routine, wow

[@KsiezniczkaTatusia]

@uwoeric agreed! it's the first time I ever saw it, but it's great :)

[@GnomaticReverie]

The "Liu Xuanm" one-hand giant into a release, unbelievable! I can't believe it's only a C-skill. What were the judges thinking?!

[@emmaallured6169]

Damn I was three when you commented this

[@cmissshelleymichelle]

I see a newer comment that said that they rated it a C specifically b/c of the fact that it was dangerous and they wanted to discourage people from doing it but if that's the case, then why not just make it an illegal move, so no one would do it in the first place b/c it wouldnt be allowed. SMDH.

[@michaelyeung7789]

and khorkina took the gold. its sad how these gymnasts did not qualify :(

[@MeanestCoachEver]

So much variety! This could have been a gold medal routine in EF if only she didn't mess up that silly transition in compulsories.

[@GnomaticReverie]

Unfortunately no. Her starting value got dragged down by the C rating of her one hand giant. And this was the era of Khorkina-could-do-no-wrong.

[@missmouse35]

actually, the mo salto is still apart of the 2009 COP and it is an F or G skil

[@catherineb8595]

Bi Wenjing and Mo Huilan. Zhang Yufei and meng Fei have done it too. Zhou Duan did it with a twist- the Gaylord 2.

[@lambielkwanfan]

@QueenieQue I agree. I love Cheng Fei but she is a different type of gymnast so hard to compare. Give me Mo, Kui, Liu, Bi, Liya (vault and floor) over the Yilin, Yuanyuan, Deng, and Hexin anyday though.

[@QueenieQue]

@prismsmiles Inconsistent though they were in 96, I much preferred the gymnastics of Mo, Bi, and Liu to the somewhat robotic routines of the current Chinese gymnasts. They have little dance incorporated into their routines, and their bars have little amplitude, horrible kips, and dead hang all over the place. Bring me Mo, Yang Bo, Li Li!

[@loaugust]

Like her transition to low bar, reminds me of Nellie Kim's one.

[@boytoyville]

What did she score on this? Anybody know?

[@bernardmvella]

2 of the Chinese girls did a gaylord 1 (Mo Huilan and Bi Wenjing) and one Chinese gymnast di da gaylor 2 (gaylord with half twist). Bi Wenjing was the silver medalist on bars at these games.

[@MNGYM26]

I agree with you. For a long time they were considered the best even better then the Soviets and Romanians. They trained very hard and had unique skills BUT they did not compete that often. Since Lu was hired they compete more often therefore they are not so prone to nerves at meets.

[@cj222100]

That was amazing! she was doing moves I've only seen men do on high bar. I could've sworn I saw in a montage from this olympics one of the Chinese girls do a Gaylord 1. Was I seeing that correctly? And if so, which girl did it?

[@Seven35888]

That was Mo Huilan I believe!

[@aabb3822]

and Bi Wenjing

[@Charlyzwakaka]

this was great, i wonder why they don't count the super hard move...

[@GnomaticReverie]

The official line was the move was too dangerous for athletes. As if tumbling on 4 inches wide block or wood or the flips and twists on the UB isn’t 🙄️

[@Lakuilera]

were the bars in 1996 closer together?

[@cmissshelleymichelle]

I know this is a way late comment but the bars look it. I know they have grown further apart as time went on. They were closer in the seventies and eighties and very close in the sixties where the moves were more like sitting position movies and the gymnast would never have dreamed at the bar is being even further apart like they are now nor were they even further a dream or the move that people would be doing. The sport has changed so much since what was basically the sitting position moves like the early sixties that it would totally boggle their mind if they could see what gymnast would be doing a little later in the seventies and eighties when the bars were positioned further apart and then as time went on even more so.

[@MoonFidelity]

@@cmissshelleymichelle "very late" it's been 14 years omg 😭

[@Seven35888]

the ONE ARM RELEASE😱😱😱 that looked scarily difficult and it was only given a C?!?!? That looks easily like an E skill?? Maybe more??? Can any gymnasts or someone well versed in the rules chime in? I’m like mad that’s only a C LOL

[@GnomaticReverie]

The official line was the move was too dangerous for girls and they want to discourage its popularity, so they gave the ridiculously difficult move a ridiculously low rating so it wouldn’t be worth anyone’s time and effort to execute it. Liu Xuan was the sacrificial lamb / collateral damage but the Gymnastics Federation doesn’t care about that.

[@missmouse35]

Form. legs apart on dismount, most of the handstands were missed, bent arms. i saw a little bit of that, but the judges have a better view on it and probobly saw more. also now a days a one armed piked gienger is the same as a two armed one simply because they want to discourage the use of it in routines (much like the double layout on floor)