Lilia Podkopayeva - 1996 Olympics Team Optionals - Floor Exercise

[@willsbob123]

This floor routine was more than ready to be shown for the Olympic Games!!! She made everything look so balletic, graceful and POWERFUL! She is an inspiration and i hope young gymnast's today aspire to be just like her.

[@gymnastics_beast2459]

0:15 THE BEST PASS ON FLOOR EVER !!!!!!! On the landing of the double front and half twist she wanted that landing so she just ''I'm gonna stick my leg up and show off my felibility

[@ImmortalSynn]

She strings together the most incredibly SMOOTH frontward tumbling I've ever seen, wow! And that form, she keeps everything so tightly together and extended-- you probably couldn't even wedge a piece of dental floss between her legs! Somebody's certainly put in a ton of time in the ballet studio!

[@willsbob123]

Absolutely stunning routine. I thought that Lilia was the star of these Games. Her extension and flexibility, combined with tremendous power just made her a delight to watch. What reallllllly annoys me is the NBC commentators. They spend 90% of foreign gymnasts routines talking about the American's 'They are on the bars' or something else. They needed to have concentrated on the task at hand. When you're commentating, talk about the gymnast you're watching.

[@bdfan4ever]

William Lishman yes!! Thank you. So obnoxious.

[@coralv.1449]

Absolutely disgusting and annoying NBC commentators. Long live queen Lilia! Stunning performance. Pure art and power!

[@mysticalmargaret6105]

John Tesh was especially annoying! He wouldn't shut up during Lilia's routine! At least Tim Daggett set up Lilia's routine nicely at the beginning, and then kept his mouth shut!

[@jmj5388]

One of the all-time greatest FX routines by one of the greatest “package” gymnasts.

[@mortella23]

Her first pass is magical!

[@TumbleSensei]

Greatest front tumbling tech maybe of all time, certainly for women's.

[@vesperholly]

Love all the beam judges at 1:00 turning to watch her. Truly special gymnast.

[@ajimenez1719ify]

Bounders were always very hard for me to do. I just couldn't keep the momentum going after a a bounder, but she can actually keep the momentum going just as if it were a back handspring!

[@shadowmoon7337]

Absolutely Great this Gymnast

[@mysticalmargaret6105]

I love this routine! 🤩 I only wish that the melodramatic John Tesh would've just hushed up during Lilia's performance! 🙄

[@ooplopoo]

yeah, she is a ukrainian. i think he wasn't paying attention, because they were on vault.

[@annapavfan4680]

I wish she wore this leotard when she won the All-Around crown. Lilia is so gorgeous.

[@MrReed314]

She won Gold in the AA and FX, something that that American media in the States barely mentioned, although the rest of the world did..

[@sallierh]

It sincerely annoys me how the only positive thing about Podkopayeva is said right at the very beginning, and the rest of it is spent on talking about the potential for Americans to win gold, and of the noting that she was out of bounds on her last pass. I'm an American and all for cheering on your country, but I really think it's disrespectful for them to have carried on like that. On a more positive note, brilliant routine. She's a great gymnast, I remember being thrilled that she won gold!

[@a2l4y7]

The queen. I will never forget...

[@GGMBetty]

EF qualifiers were based on compulsory and optional rounds, so yes, this did count toward EF qualification.

[@t5239857289578947594]

That first tumbling run was awesome.Heck,I loved it all,even the out-of-bounds.Your beautiful to watch.10 for the dancing.

[@nightswimmer99]

@ivanovicsharapova Me too! So happy about the timing of this, with no one else to distract the audience. Lilia's routine deserved undivided attention!

[@jphili]

She's great. I don't think you should be too harsh on the judges for the Russian thing. It's was probably just an accident. After all, of them even said that Lilia was his favorite gymnast in the competition. I went to see the US gymnasts on tour in Baton Rouge following the Olympics and remember that Lilia was a surprise guest touring along side them. The crowd went crazy when we found out she was there. It was absolutely incredible to see this girl perform. In fact, she was wearing this very leotard that night, which is why I'm watching this video in particular.

[@mysticalmargaret6105]

Tim Daggett said that Lilia was his favorite, but then the melodramatic John Tesh wouldn't shut up during the whole of Lilia's routine!

[@smittysviola]

He kept on saying the Russians were on floor. I thought the Ukranians were on floor!

[@singsongeric]

She was so strong (esp in the compulsories) that even with an out of bounds here she qualified to EF in 2nd. I don't think any other gymnast could have afforded an OOB and still made EF.

[@211jump]

*the russians are finishing up on floor* this is why I dont watch NBC

[@yuiop6611]

Many Americans try not the watch NBC as well, but most are stuck watching it as getting access to other broadcastings is difficult.

[@faeryquene]

Agreed! I noticed judges doing the same thing for Nadia in the 1976 Olympic clips,

[@gymnastics_beast2459]

She has so much height on the double front half

[@thGI4U]

Her dance is nice!!

[@sallierh]

@tmwalkerm Well, I have plenty of opinions on modern journalism, and the main issue is with respect and dignity (not necessarily all of it, mind you, but a significant bulk of it). I understand that they work for an American company, but at the same time, I rarely ever hear the BBC commentators go on and on about the UK while other country's athletes are competing. It's a respect issue and it bothers me immensely.

[@LCAmarkymark]

@tmwalkerm Well this is going to be the funny thing. When the Olympics is in London and they have home team advantage plus their team will be pretty good in 2012 I wonder if the tone changes. I have watch some gymnastics when the united states wasn't very good back in the 80's and the American commentators were critical on the Americas and praised the Soviets. So it will be interesting to see.

[@Beargeek616]

i'd prefer her going out of bounds here rather than in AA or FX final. Her compulsary score kept her in the running, even with the OOB she qualified 2nd into FX finals behind Kerri Strugg

[@Beargeek616]

9.762 as I recall?

[@Jr-iz1dg]

The most powerful gymnast ever.

[@lewisovhebn]

how can she stick that first pass, you dont dont no were you are when your rotating. best gymnast of all time, i think more gymnasts suched do lots more ballet like her :)

[@Xixi9512]

i luv this routine

[@Summonearth]

Good thing nobody was on the beam or they would have miss someone doing a mistake or have to make the gymnast redo the routine so they can correctly score the gymnast. Good thing Romania had 5 gymnasts going up instead of 6.

[@Kaya112345]

Does anyone know the name of her music?

[@mysticalmargaret6105]

Part of the music is from Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro", particularly "Non Piu Andrai". The rest I'm unsure of.

[@JayOrbitLyon]

Beautiful

[@kras118]

Its not Al, its John Tesh :P

[@LCAmarkymark]

@saruhe well they got to spread out the info...they had to save it for the all around

[@kakumei77]

that first pass! No girl I know has ever done that!

[@anderwin7978]

brooklyn moors

[@LCAmarkymark]

@steelersboy2009 lol its too hard for john he is only there because of his voice lol...I would love to visit the old soviet countries.

[@AsksOneThing]

Nope. Back before they eliminated compulsories, you counted the compulsory AND the optional score to determine the EF competitors. Imagine if someone had lovely compulsories but really easy tumbling in the optional routine. What business would they have in floor finals? They can afford to use just the qualifying round now because it's the same routine.

[@LCAmarkymark]

@tmwalkerm I keep telling them the ignore me and I work in TV news

[@markkennedy1789]

Ah yes... the Russians are just finishing up...

[@marialite6964]

She is Ukrainian

[@AnatoliaElle]

was this the time the americans wouldnt even watch lillia receive her medals, they all walked out because they didnt win and so the camera man had to focus on lillia so as not to show what the americans are like...

[@LCAmarkymark]

@geishasecrets this is true but they don't care because they got paid...are they replacing them because last time I checked they are all still have their jobs as commentators. Who cares. Commentators are only needed to explain things to people who don't keep up with the sport. Just ignore them and pray for them thats all you can do.

[@NYCBlonde]

@geishasecrets Grow up. The NBC commentators loved Lilia. Nobody despised her. But they're paid to commentate. Not praise. Not cheer. COMMENTATE. They're paid to explain to the audience what mistakes might incur penalties from the judges. And the "American female commentator" is in fact CANADIAN.

[@NYCBlonde]

@geishasecrets Nobody "focused" on it--she pointed it out. It's her job. Also, these are world-class athletes--I assure you, THEY don't care if one commentator points out one flaw that, yes, the judges will also notice. Are you going to get mad at the judges as well? Take your thumb out of your mouth and grow up. And learn to spell and write clearly, and try to formulate an argument that doesn't rely on name-calling. Have a great day!