No One Can Forget the Vault

[@dannymorgan7252]

So many of those girls were injured because of someone’s negligence, the athletes should have sued, not for missing a medal but because of the actual safety risks

[@knightenchanter7908]

The Chinese girl esp destroyed her knee permanently. Ending her career as a gymnast, to make it worse her age was falsified and she was just 14. Absolute tragedy.

[@Zarumaans]

@@knightenchanter7908 The girl who tore her knee was Kui YuanYuan, the strong favorite on beam, she was at eligible age. The girl who was 14 is Yang Yun.

[@gondolin12]

Sydney Olympics had some political sh..t goin on and NOTHING was negligence. russians got screwed, chinese were injured, the rest were collateral.I hated watching and quit watching those games. nothing good

[@satiricalsartorial]

@@gondolin12 even at the Olympics, but it's origin is Shakey anyhow

[@kevinthunder3375]

@minas tirith Don't forget Andrea Raducan. Got her AA Gold taken away over a small bit of Sudafed her national team doctor gave her, despite not being near enough to effect performance.

[@anovemberstar]

i also don't understand why no one questioned it sooner - did no one think it was strange so many elite, top gymnasts in the WORLD kept falling on the vault?????

[@christinadoxstader3004]

Good point. One falling is expected, two is odd but given the moment can be looked past. Eight girls fell, eight. That's pretty much impossible

[@Lady.B0420]

The gymnasts could feel it

[@samanthas2280]

I remember watching this live and thinking it wasn't normal. And they were all hitting too high. I didn't know enough about vault to know the cause, but I do remember thinking it was really weird.

[@heathermarie3672]

That blew my mind as well. All of the best gymnasts in the world were up there and so many were falling. It also wasn’t caught until the THIRD rotation, which gave women like Elise and Svetlanta time to make mistakes they wouldn’t normally have made on other events. There are level 6 competitions that have it together more than the Olympic committee does.

[@s.j.johnson1961]

Not only that, but it’s visually obvious. Not sure what these people were smoking that they didn’t notice it sooner.

[@lizm3999]

What’s sad is that you can see the fear in these girls in their events after the vault mishap. They were robbed and it’s so unfortunate.

[@isitoveryet9525]

& rather predictably, the Olympics handed it terribly.

[@buckeyehockey1979]

I remember this. It got in Stevelana's head. She fell on bars, her specialty , and it was all over. She got to go again on vault, but it was too late. She was a legend, and she deserved to go out better than this.

[@NB-nh2sf]

I loved Svletvana and I remember her yelling to line up the apparatus. I think on individual she nailed the bars and kissed the apparatus. She deserved that gold.

[@tatilalima2874]

but she won silver medal right?

[@fayeslover]

@@tatilalima2874 in 2004. She finished 10th here.

[@DJDiegoGarcia]

As far as I know of, she has been offered the chance to vault again but didn't do it as it wouldn't matter with the fall on UB. I totally agree she is a legend (although an awful human being) and she really deserved the AA Gold in 2000. However, I do find her justification about faulting on UB because of vault a bit lackluster. She said she made an error there because she knew she couldn't win. However, she fell on that very same element on TF where Russia was in gold medal position. Also, the Romanians won by a very slim margin, which means that, if she have hitted her routine, they would have won. However, I don't think it was her fault at TF as Russia basically crumbled on BB. But nobody can be sure she would have hitted UB, if she have had a clean meet up to that point.

[@Kaboomboo]

She fell in Team Finals too. It's easy to blame the vault but there's reasonable doubt since she already under performed in TF.

[@unikkorns]

Can't believe it took that many tumbles for someone to figure out there was something wrong with the equipment. And it wasn't even an official who pointed it out.

[@unicornsandrainbowsandchic2336]

The fact that they are so good that they managed to compensate for a vault 5cm off and actually land the 2nd vaults is absolutely insane. I remember watching this back in 2000 and thinking it was impossible that so many fell but I know next to nothing about the sport technically - I'm glad I stumbled on this. 20 year old mystery solved.

[@angelat.8997]

I was watching this back in 2000. I was shocked that they didn’t stop the competition and re-do the entire thing the next day. Watching this video made me angry for these gymnasts all over again. So unfair. 🙁

[@MsJubjubbird]

because then the event finals would be the day after the AA finals, which is tough. Plus some of the athletes had already done two grueling routines- making it three days of competition in a row. Plus it would create an administrative and financial headache with network sponsors and refunding tickets

[@kylecampbell1444]

@@MsJubjubbird Would rather have that than screwing over that they all got.

[@Kaboomboo]

@@MsJubjubbird I get logistically it would've been a pain, but these athletes trained their entire lives just to be hosed by foolish negligence.

[@MsJubjubbird]

@@Kaboomboo I get it was bad. But they have to consider every other person involved. These girls are in the minority in comparison with the thousands of other people involved and there is also the risk of fatigue and injury.

[@krob2327]

@@MsJubjubbirdolympics are just a money making sham

[@ProudAmericanEngr]

It’s all muscle memory and 1 cm off is significant, but 5 cm too low? That’s ludicrous!

[@skullslace2426]

I'm honestly amazed that Svetlana managed to finish her second vault DESPITE the fact that it was so ingrained into her muscle memory. Truly a great athlete.

[@rubymermaid1]

@@skullslace2426 I didnt even think about that, so versatile and talented that after 1 vault she knew what was wrong and what she needed to do to correct it, against her muscle memory

[@tatilalima2874]

@@rubymermaid1 Was she really the one who noticed? Man, what an amazing woman.

[@empty-sky]

@@tatilalima2874 It was Allana Slater who pointed it out after her first vault, to her coaches who alerted the officials.

[@nekohuntress99]

5 cm that's what they said but if you pause in the moment that they were adjusting the vault and one side was already at the right height and the other was still low, bro that was waaaay more then just 5 cm

[@Boban1611]

Scandal! They should have restarted the competition another day. Period!

[@alefloresbelly]

De acuerdo

[@leilanigirl777]

Yeah I agree they should have

[@jadelee6555]

This is the *definition* of "You had ONE JOB"

[@cosmic_life]

It fits perfectly

[@isitoveryet9525]

It’s crazy how badly they fd this up. There’s supposed to be an extensive checks & balances to catch any & every mistake before the athletes even see the equipment. The fact that NO ONE caught the mistake, aside from Allana Slater, mid competition is next level negligence.

[@user-uh6lm5wv6n]

It's typical Australian behaviour, Apparently the gymnastics hall was setup by drunk yobbos

[@anovemberstar]

it is MIRACLE no one broke their back or neck!!!! and yes, should have been re-done. This had an ongoing impact for their performances - it went way beyond just the vault.

[@knightenchanter7908]

They were invited to redo the vault though. Maybe research before saying they didn't redo this. Khorkina declined to do the event again

[@catecraig2487]

Knight Enchanter Maybe comprehend before replying. The OP is saying the competition should have been restarted vs. just redoing the vault.

[@ryansalamat5924]

They should have redone the whole thing. Meaning cancel today’s sched and redo again on another day. Not just redo the vault. Someone should have sued whoever was in charge. It endangered the lives of these girls, destroyed their self esteem and tarnished the reputation of the games.

[@justme4510]

Nobody was going to break their neck, people need to stop being overdramatic.

[@kiwibelt]

@@justme4510 I suggest you research Elena Mukhina and Julissa Gomez. It’s actually a super dangerous sport if there are any technical deficiencies or errors. That is exactly why Simone Biles pulled out of most of the competition at Tokyo. She knew that mentally, she was nowhere near as focused as she should be, and she did not want to add her name to the list of those that have been permanently disabled in the sport.

[@divahc1]

As an Australian, I feel so embarrassed and ashamed that such a monumental error was made. Surely the comp should have been restarted?

[@eh5507]

It wasnt,

[@divahc1]

@@eh5507 no, it should have been, imo.

[@fairyofshampoooo]

That's not on Australia that's on the people who were supposed to check the equipment . Anyways hows Australia Greetings from the US of A

[@divahc1]

@@fairyofshampoooo yes, they certainly should have checked more carefully. The Olympics places your country on the world stage, though, and it's embarrassing for Australians. We're doing great here in Australia. Some cities are under short lockdown ( 3 days), and others have tightened restrictions again. We are just out of the area where masks are mandatory at most inside venues. However, lots of people are choosing to wear them anyway. Life is fairly normal for us. We've been watching what's happening with covid, and the Trump administration, and feel sorry for those Americans who want to do the right thing, but are constantly being undermined by those who don't.

[@hayley6110]

It should have been, in the interest of sportsmanship and equality.

[@tuckerniklas7616]

So many gymnasts were hurt here. Completely unacceptable. Someone’s negligence could have gotten one of these ladies killed.

[@AndyPatterson]

but, it didn`t

[@allienorwood3378]

@@AndyPatterson he said could have genius

[@punky796]

​@@allienorwood3378 But, it didn't, genius. What's so hard to understand about that?

[@laurenanderson7330]

​@@punky796what's the point of saying that though?

[@DreamFearless]

How?

[@joshuaadams738]

Every coach should have walked their teams off the floor until they were allowed to redo the vault at the correct specifications! So many injuries happened because of negligence!

[@Jigglypowerpuffgirl]

They were allowed to re-vault. But some of the gymnasts choose not to because they were injured from the first one or too rattled to try again safely. They should have been able to go the next day.

[@bobbygrey5834]

One of the most infuriating Olympics scandals. The competition was heavily slanted in favour of the gymnasts who didn’t have to perform any vault before the shitty horse got reset to the correct height. Some gymnasts got nasty injuries from it, and basically the IOC suffered no consequence for any of this. Ain’t it great?

[@MsJubjubbird]

those gymnasts who vaulted last weren't going to win. The top seeds all vault first. Raducan and Amanar both vaulted in the first group and Olaru would have been close behind them. Though Raducan was probably one of the top two vaulters in the field already and was probably helped by her small stature, as shown by the fact that she had the best vault score in the AA. It was a stupid mistake though

[@YeongJunLee-d1h]

Because the host country is terrible all so rude

[@b0rtie]

@@MsJubjubbirdI read somewhere that Maria Olaru mentioned in an interview that the vault the Romanian gymnasts were training with in Sydney was set at the wrong height too. I wonder if this gave an advantage to them. Especially Raducan since she didn’t seem to have any problems with her vault, despite it being set to the wrong height during the 1st rotation .

[@MsJubjubbird]

@@b0rtie Raducan did not do as well as she normally would do on vault. Because she was shorter it would have impacted her less too. But for sure practicing on substandard equipment does help you manage when things go awry

[@stephenquillen1479]

​@@MsJubjubbird I believe 2003 was the first year the highest ranked gymnasts all started the all around competition on vault. For instance, at the 2000 Olympics, Khorkina was first after preliminaries and started the all around competition on floor exercise.

[@raed7421]

Shame to the organiser .. the Chinese gymnast injured her knee at 4:20 .. sue the organiser !! it caused her entire sport s future ..

[@kiciacoldspring1621]

Even 24 years later, this is infuriating to watch. So unfair to so many gymnasts.

[@lizm3999]

That vault mess was absolutely reckless! Those women are lucky to not have been seriously injured!

[@lilymae7516]

Um... did you not see the girl who hurt her knee and was carried out?

[@b0rtie]

“For over 20 years, from the mid-1970s to the late-1990s, the height of the vault didn’t change. Then, the Women’s Technical Committee of the FIG increased the vault height to 125 cm from the floor. This change was effective January 1, 1998. In early 2000, in preparation for the Sydney Olympics, the FIG issued an updated version of the apparatus booklet. The contents were supposed to be the official guidelines for setting up the apparatus in Sydney. However, there was a small problem. There was an error in the booklet, and that error was the height of the women’s vault. The document still listed the height as 120 cm when it should have been 125 cm: In April of 2000, Jackie Fie, President of the Women’s Technical Committee at the time, published a circular to inform the gymnastics community of the error in the apparatus booklet. But once a document has been printed and disseminated, it’s extremely hard to rectify an error. There’s no way to ensure that everyone reads the circular with the corrections or, more importantly, corrects the error in their apparatus booklets.” Like what the actual f**k. I don’t if this claim is 100% legit, but it does make sense.

[@b0rtie]

Also, according a the Podcast, Blind Landing where they interviewed Romanian gymnast Maria Olaru she claimed that a few days before competition during podium training, the vault was also set at the incorrect height. If what she is saying is indeed correct, that might have accounted for Andrea Raducan not having any major hiccups on her vaults during the AA competition. The whole women’s gymnastics competition in Sydney was a disaster.

[@worldartgym]

Questions!!!! So it was set wrong during podium training? Why was Raducan not affected by the erroneous setting? (I assume it’s because her height)

[@emilia123zz]

You can see how it completely through them off for the rest of the competition

[@andywolf3966]

*threw

[@grinner76]

The most infuriating thing is the FIG's complete lack of accountability regarding this whole mess. Their response lay nonchalantly along the lines of, "Eh, shit happens. Get over it". No mea culpa, no apologies, no reparations for injured gymnasts, no re-doing of the whole individual all-around competition. Nothing. I'm glad things are finally starting to change in gymnastics, because this is unacceptable.

[@worldartgym]

Agreed! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Fried_chicken_burger]

That's unacceptable! 4:11 Kui Yuanyuan broke her knee and that ended her career!

[@aquarianlight1880]

She should sue

[@annabelleb.8096]

😮 Awful! Incompetence! I hope she can walk normally now.

[@donaldholderdoc2910]

What I couldn't believe is it took so long for the error to be discovered. With all these elite athletes falling it was Soo obvious that something was wrong. Svetlana and Elise were absolutely robbed by this tragedy. Those falls destroyed their chances. Thankfully Svetlana was able to go to more Olympics but this was Elise's only chance due to injuries. And that's not including the Chinese athlete that did get injured by the mistake.

[@riceislife722]

Poor Svetlana☹️. The tears of disappointment was heartbreaking.

[@frijou]

This was cruel on Khorkina and the other gymnasts. She was at her peak and definitely certain to get the gold and everything turns into a nightmare!

[@edisonpalencia7439]

KHORKINA SE CAYO EN VARIOS APARATOS !

[@Xandra1076]

I just want to know how the officials fucked up so badly that the vault was 5 cm lower than normal and no one busted out a damn tape measure to double check the height before the competition. How was that not an automatic part of setting up the vault in the first place?

[@rayesafan9628]

I honestly think a weird misogyny. These are “little girls”. And to admit a little girl is right over official adult men and women hurts their pride.

[@satiricalsartorial]

Given their endless deductive judging they def needed more efficiency

[@TheBashar327]

@@rayesafan9628 , please let's not cheapen this by breaking out the overused and often misused misogyny word.

[@katfoster845]

@@TheBashar327 some of these girls were only 14. Most were under 18. They were children. And their safety was put at risk. They could have died and one girl was permanently injured. She was only 14.

[@TheBashar327]

@@katfoster845 , what on earth does that have anything to do with my comment?

[@sterfonstuff]

I honestly think that Tim covered this very well. I just wish they had stopped the meet. It seems insane that they didn’t.

[@justlina2769]

How can you say that? He basically offered analysis as to what the girls who fell were doing wrong!

[@river8760]

He absolutely did not. He had no idea or he would’ve indicated that there was an issue immediately.

[@andream9470]

He did nothing except criticize.

[@justme4510]

@@justlina2769 how was he supposed to know something was wrong. He was pointing out what they were doing because they were doing things wrong. They were to high on the vault, and that made them fall. Not saying it's there fault but nobody could've known that there was something wrong with the vault.

[@justme4510]

@@andream9470 how could he have known something was wrong with the vault?

[@ashleyl7016]

I was teary eyed this whole clip. Imagine working so hard and all that practice for someone’s negligence to ruin it all. Some were injured and some could have been paralyzed or killed. They should have questioned a little of these before hand. The mental strength they have is amazing.

[@mmartins6364]

I saw Khorkina compete during her period as a gymnast and she was for sure amazing and incredible phenomenon! What happened ins Sydney was a shame and I can feel her frustration and sensation of humiliation every time I watch videos of this competition! She was in her best moment as a athlete and it was a shame she didn't get that gold medal! Life sometimes is very unfair :/

[@BlankaLovasova-xe1dl]

Je tak namyšlená. Pořád naštvaná. Vůbec jsem ji neviděla se usmát. Hnus ☹️. Je moc vysoká na gymnastiku, má příliš dlouhé nohy. Nevypadá to vůbec pěkně. Čím menší, tím lepší, Simone Biles. Je taková nepřirozená. Nikdy se mi nelíbila.

[@DizzyedUpGirl]

Man, Elise could have really been paralyzed on that fall. And Svetlana too. How did no one notice?

[@justme4510]

They wouldn't have been paralyzed, that's very overdramatic.

[@Simon1985_]

@@justme4510 landing on your head can easily break your neck and cause paralysis.

[@AjdeSasha]

@@justme4510 did you see Ray's vault? She literally almost fell on her neck. That is how Mukhina was paralyzed and died young.

[@justme4510]

@@AjdeSasha No she didn't, she rolled out of it. Are you a gymnast? Even her coach knew nothing was going to go wrong. Her head might have been close to the ground but that doesn't mean she was going to land on it.

[@lucarit4107]

@@justme4510 I trained a bit as a gymnast. The equipment has the same length especially to competitions as big as this. We are already trained in a routine using the said measurements. Sometimes when the game has not started yet, we try on the equipments in the event just to get the feel of it. However, if an equipment is faulty and we do our routines, it will really affect big time. And yes, there are numerous instances that a Gymnast landed badly mostly almost killing a contestant. So dont make it as if its just a small deal.

[@eljanrimsa5843]

that's why it helps to encourage your girls to speak out when something feels wrong. shouldn't the coaches be able to spot this?

[@BookWormanfangirl]

It’s a shame because, while it still happens today, back then the girls were completely discouraged from speaking up for themselves.

[@noralavender3798]

@@BookWormanfangirl why discouraged makes no sense

[@justme4510]

@@BookWormanfangirl how were they discouraged?

[@stephaniemorrissey123]

There's a REALLY great book called Little Girls in Pretty Boxes that reveals the world of elite women's gymnastics (and elite women's figure skating). It shows how girls in gymnastics were taught to be quiet and do their work (practice/workouts). A couple examples from the book: once, during a practice, Nadia Comenici cut her hand on the guards gymnasts wear when they practice the uneven bars. She said nothing until someone else noticed, by which point she had blood poisoning up her arm. Gymnasts were taught that if they had an injury that was hurting, they still had to compete, and so sometimes they would pound the injured foot or leg against the ground repeatedly until it went numb.

[@justme4510]

@@stephaniemorrissey123 that is a very outdated book, I can tell you that none of that happened nowadays.

[@DeborahMcIntosh-i1k]

One of the reasons that I admire Simone for stepping down even among the criticism. She put her mental health and well being ahead of all else..therefore making others aware of the importance of mental and physical health of these athletes who sacrifice so much already.

[@pattydella4]

But Simone's vault horse wasn't too high or too low.Someone else's negligence with setting up the equipment could have caused these gymnasts severe injury or death. It isn't the same thing. Honestly, it's surprising to me that each team's coaches don't check such things before everyone starts for the safety of their athletes. I guess they figured it was the Olympics and everything would be first rate.

[@Lommy9999]

These girls come in their best shape, something that you can hardly ever repeat, and the organizers ruin their dreams.

[@carlo_cali]

If I was a coach I would have made such a scene when they found out the vault was a whole 2 inches too short. That's blatant incompetence and it out all of these girls in danger. I would have flipped out, if it's not regulation and 18 of the girls fell, like come on, it's obvious it must be redone.

[@sjohn5779]

Imagine a basketball rim being 2 inches off center in ANY direction

[@jsm8149]

Except the you add the potential for catastrophic injury.

[@Fried_chicken_burger]

Kobe Bryant actually felt it once. He kept missing and yeah the rim wasn't right

[@scottw6704]

Sure, if they had to flip over it and land on their feet without landing on their heads and breaking their necks, then it would be the same. Throwing a ball at it...not really the same.

[@imissnj2]

In addition to the vault, the springboard was left next to the beam during Elise Ray’s routine! Talk about dangerous!

[@sapphire22011]

This was a scandal! As soon as the problem was found the competition should have been stopped and restarted another day

[@siobhanmorrison3561]

She saw something was off before the vault, she said something about lining up the spring board, I’m assuming it looked off somehow but I’m sure thought there’s no way the vault isn’t in the right position during THE OLYMPICS.

[@adamtravis9380]

This actually pisses me off and the fact that they didn’t call the meet right then and there and reschedule is R I D I C U L O U S. They should be ashamed. This is the most important competition of these gymnast’s lives that they work their entire life for and they completely destroyed their chances of having a fair shot.

[@MsJubjubbird]

It's kinda understandable. They can't have athletes compete three days in a row with event finals coming up, they have other events in the stadium, TV schedules have already been done and ticketholders have purchased tickets based on the pre-set schedule. It would be a hugely expensive and logistically difficult exercise that might not even be worth it due to athlete fatigue. It was a stupid mistake but there was no great solution other than to let the girls vault again

[@cirej25]

What an incredibly stupid mistake that could’ve injured the gymnasts!!

[@jeaninemorgan9118]

Killed

[@justme4510]

@@jeaninemorgan9118 it couldn't have killed them, that's overdramatic.

[@rachelsrooms]

@@justme4510 eh it’s pretty easy to break your neck in this sport. luckily these girls are pretty good at what they do so they know how to not break their neck, but there’s still a chance.

[@justme4510]

@@rachelsrooms with those vaults you would need a freak accident to kill yourself. With vaults nowadays it is easier, but still unlikely.

[@dannymorgan7252]

McKaylas amanar is probably the epitome of perfection for vault form and execution. It was like ballet in the air. Even when she landed, it was so light and effortless.

[@chelyvi7466]

Still she moves so fast, looks like she was leaning and losing balance, not perfect by any means but still pretty.

[@rayshockmania1864]

The thing is it also happens in the mens vault. A lot of them fell too. Sydney artistic gymnastics was a disaster.

[@rebeccatrishel]

Really?!

[@mariaespinoza6358]

Stevlana Khorkina rarely made mistakes, Especially like this... SoOo you know something was wrong...!!! IF it made Khorkina cry, then you knew it would end bad .. either her getting mad at herself, the apparatus, or staff. Beware her getting angry .. w you!!!

[@lexiusugrymius9392]

Is it a bait? Or you are dam... really think so?

[@Cmc995]

Like Kate Richardson(Canadian gymnast) recently said “I think some of the unsung performances of that meet were the vaults at the very end”

[@worldartgym]

That’s an awesome quote! Interestingly, Khorkina was on the list to vault again but she didn’t after the competition ended.

[@tarakwannabe675]

@@worldartgym I believe she was out of contention for a medal after her fall on the uneven bars. She should have been able to repeat both apparati, VT and UB.

[@ferdyspears]

Australia should never be given the games again. An Olympic embarrassment. And literally ruined the competition that all these gymnasts worked their entire lives for. Such a shame. Still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth 23 years later.

[@IkaikaArnado]

Agreed. Australia should never be allowed to host the games again for such a colossal error.

[@stt5v2002]

Well it was only their entire life dream and the moment that they sacrificed everything to reach. Just let any idiot set up the equipment and don't bother to check it.

[@Nothemomma904]

Wow 18 gymnasts fell and no one got concerned until the gymnast noticed it felt off. Unacceptable

[@kellyappel3015]

18 gymnasts had gone before it was noticed; they didn't all fall. Think about it, if 18 had fallen, don't you think SOMEBODY would have had the equipment checked?

[@Snzn_7]

​​@@kellyappel3015one tore a knee, one broke an ankle, and others tumbled and all of those 18 landed very "poorly" which is not very likely for most all those 18 Olympic athletes. They only tried to check when the most popular athlete complained

[@kellyappel3015]

@@Snzn_7 Landing poorly isn't falling, and no one said they had all landed poorly. I do believe you're the sort of person about to tell me that YOU WATCHED this and remember that they all did, lol. If all 18 had poor landings, there would've been something done earlier.

[@Snzn_7]

@@kellyappel3015 you can watch a lot of videos covering this, the commentator for most of the first 18 contenders comments about them "being too high" when they are reaching for the vault which causes them to either stumble or have a bad/poor landing. you can view bits of that in this very same video if you actually Watched it. The commentator later on after the vault was fixed mentions something like "so that is why most of criticisms about the first 18 who jumped was going into the vault jumping too high they weren't able to properly recoil onto the vault". So basically even the commentator notice something weird but since everybody expected the Olympics to have met all the equipment standdars all the immediate thoughts ended up being blamed to the athletes performing badly. Like if you Watched the "video" the girls who tore a knee and broke an ankle "Landed poorly" and did not fall. Landing poorly can cause severe injury and the one who landed flat on her back actually was still good enough to move on to the next phase of competition. You clearly have grossly underestimated what landing poorly can do to person trying to gymnastics. Landing poorly can cause a competitor points since that is still "Graded". So bruh, at least watch the video.

[@Snzn_7]

@@kellyappel3015 the video basically shows you that the constant criticisms for their stunt was they were "jumping too high" to recoil on the vault. After they fixed the vault the commentator then realized that the vault being below the standard height was the cause of that "common" thing he noticed. In short they noticed, but since everybody expected Olympics to not have such mishaps the initial thing people thought was that is just the athletes performing badly . Also "Landing Poorly" is as much as dangerous as falling since. If you Watched the video the one that tore her knee and the one that broke an ankle "landed poorly". They landed prematurely and off the proper position/posture to nail the landing which cause them to tear a knee and broke an ankle. The one that landed flat on her back/the one that fall. Was still able to continue. Meanwhile the one that tore here knee was permanently ended her career. So don't grossly underestimate what "landing poorly" in this sport can do. It can cause the athlete points and can cause them severe career ending injury.

[@Shusha0029]

I would not have let them compete until they got a redo on vault. That bad vault got in her head and followed her to bars. That's not right.

[@rebeccawicks5111]

My heart still breaks for Svetlana (and all the girls affected, of course.) She later confirmed her confidence was shaken by the vault and her fall on bars was likely a result of that. She was one of my favorite gymnasts at the time and the whole world knew she deserved a chance at the all-around gold. Ugh. Isn't this disaster part of the reason the vaulting horse was changed to the vaulting table?

[@H1982-i3d]

Poor Svetlana. I really felt sorry for her. Too unfair.

[@R.Oates7902]

Negligent judges. It's a miracle no one was seriously injured or killed!

[@jbaker1107]

One girl got carried after the appraisal....

[@casie6609]

0:52 She literally noticed even from far away that it was off. And after she did it, the commentators were just like "Oh can't win a medal by falling!" Tf? It was so noticeable that the vault was super low compared to her height. All of these should have be redone.

[@knightenchanter7908]

They did redo it, Khorkina however declined to redo her vaults.

[@vanesalusaria7860]

@@knightenchanter7908 the damage had been done. Gymnastics is a mind game once your body is there only your mind can fail you. Falling on moves you do everyday perfectly can mess you up, some people broke their legs in front of these girls they were probably terrified. They should have called it all off and done it another day.

[@joannayeo9545]

I completely agree with Sletvana’s walkout. Absolutely disgusting that the equipment wasn’t at the right height. They failed miserably with pre competition checks. All those injures and potential injuries don’t bear thinking about, let alone all their dedication being whipped away once they reach this level. So good of her to not take a second shot at it In protest. I think it’s a shame that they all didn’t follow her. How many of those injures caused long term problems for these athletes who had worked tirelessly to get to this point in their young lives? I have a great admiration for all of them and I never care what country they are from. They are doing themselves proud before the country they are from. Well done to them all xx

[@worldartgym]

Do you think she would have vaulted again if she hadn’t fallen off bars?

[@joannayeo9545]

@@worldartgym I don’t know but it must have been very frustrating for her. These gymnasts train with such dedication that I would imagine that it would make you nervous. She may well have not done too great on any of the equipment on the competition day but as I understand it, she walked out as a protest partly because of the incompetence of the equipment calibrators and staff who failed miserably. People make human error, oversights and that’s forgivable but when it was so many of them it makes you wonder if anyone did a double check. Thanks for the reply and Merry Christmas to you and your family xx

[@leykimayri]

@@worldartgymIf there had been a chance to medal she would have vaulted

[@SageRosemaryTime]

Thank You for posting ! We needed some therapy all these years later. beyond embarrassing . it Hurts . i wish Sydney would have hosted a competition to make up for it. I feel for all the gymnasts esp Svetlana Khorkina

[@DreamBelief]

One of the many scandals and debacles of the 2000 Olympics. As an Aussie I remember them well, even if the government wants to sweep the scandals under the rug

[@Tinamar65]

What else happened?

[@KittyCat-ke3ws]

What else happened?

[@washiwashii]

Shame on the Sydney organisers. SHAME.

[@harvesteroftone5473]

It's on the Olympic officials who were in charge of checking the equipment. It has nothing to do with Sydney.

[@washiwashii]

@@harvesteroftone5473 Had this happened in an Asian country, even the volunteer would have been blamed.

[@Willthrill8]

@@washiwashii as they fucking should

[@admetric]

@@harvesteroftone5473 Ultimately it was the WTC's fault as they ensure stds. Run by a USA judge too.

[@casie6609]

@@Willthrill8 Why should a volunteer be blamed for helping set up equipment? It's on the people who make sure the equipment is right and everything, volunteers don't know the rules and regulations of this stuff. The people getting paid do and it's on them.

[@herbie1234567890]

And then … Andrea Raducan from Romania wins the all-around gold medal, and then has it taken away because she was found to have been administered by her team’s trainer or physician some sort of decongestant-Sudafed or similar-because she had a cold. Whatever med she was given was against the rules. Between a vault horse that was set at the wrong height and the Sudafed thing, what a mess this Olympic competition was.

[@Pastyovercoat]

What a mess the 2000’s Olympics were. With this and the Raducan debacle. The only bright spot was Liu Xuan got an AA medal even though she came in fourth. She really was an amazing gymnast. She did what we thought Mo Huilan would in 96

[@geraldtaphorn6570]

How the F could (Professional Organizers) have made such a grievous error. These athletes deserve the very best.

[@bcgrote]

I remember that. I was SCREAMING at my TV - "THE HEIGHT! IT'S WROOOONG!!!"

[@scottw6704]

I'm not even a gymnast but when I saw them make the run and their hands weren't landing where they usually do, I was like - OK there's something wrong with that horse...(I didn't know it was height but something was clearly wrong with it)

[@Jessa-RM]

You can see that it really got in their heads and affected their performance

[@thrillcker68]

This was horrendous. Personally I think they should have restarted the entire event. A fall on one event can affect the athletes 2nd and 3rd events. It was unfair to some gymnasts.

[@ekleamon1]

This competition was such a cluster.

[@Pagliaccimr1]

This is truly infuriating. I feel awful for those gymnasts.

[@JohnRome-xn7hx]

S. Korkhina was a real woman amongst kids... so gorgeous and elegant ❤

[@tidela4714]

That is actually disgusting. The vault being too low was bad enough. But the fact that they didn’t reschedule the competition?? It’s the OLYMPICS!

[@mrbluex422]

Can't believe these mistakes could happen in top professional event like the Olympics....

[@fyouman7]

@@josephkingsford8480 what a bizarre and irrelevant comment.

[@PlaceboEllie]

@@josephkingsford8480 explain the connection, then

[@valebliz]

@@josephkingsford8480 look, an idiot. How novel.

[@triffus]

The Saddest AA Competition ever. Anyone who competed on that Vault, should have been allowed to do any subsequent apparatus after the fact.

[@jebeau83]

The fact they let SO MANY girls fall without asking what was going on SOONER is disgusting. Shouldn’t officials or commentators not to mention the athletes have spoken up quicker? 24 years later, I’m still appalled and disgusted.

[@andream9470]

It's SO obvious that it was too low.

[@ninjkhurel9657]

This is so messed up! Sydney Olympics safety committee and judges should have been responsible for the athletes' injuries.

[@46foryounger]

sverlana’s eyes 💔😓. The pressure on these ladies is enormous

[@MelanieCohen-TFCoach2023]

Given how many career ending injuries have happened on vault... not to mention the subsequent death of Julissa Gomez in 1991 - this still pisses me off to no end that over a dozen gymnasts were robbed of medals and Khorkhina of a potential gold. I understand rules but seriously they were bit been given an opportunity for a redo vault

[@kellybenko2828]

We're so used to these girls being itty bitty, that the girl who is 5' 5" looks like an amazonian.

[@atoyshabassene6273]

It's crazy bc she is still short LOL she isn't even the tallest. The tallest is 5'8"

[@fortheloveofcats2462]

@@atoyshabassene6273 Svetlana is the tallest female gymnast. Who is 5'8"?

[@ajc94]

I heard Nina derwael is 5'7"?

[@fortheloveofcats2462]

@@ajc94 checked again, Nina and Svetlana are both 165 cms, so 5'4" approximately more close to 5'5". But Sandra Izbasa is 167cms, making her the tallest female elite gymnast yet.

[@katfoster845]

@@atoyshabassene6273 5'5 is average height, not short.

[@2passportsandpostcards]

5cm is HUGE! WOW. I cannot believe this negligence took place!

[@gmc5618]

They should've restarted the next day to let the athletes recover

[@johnhazel3551]

Shannon Miller’s old coach Peggy moved to Australia to be in charge of the Australian gymnasts. None of the Australian gymnasts had vaulted issues I think she was behind the vault issue. I’ve always thought this.

[@hollydatsopoulos7998]

I remember when this happened. I still can't stand those damn commentators! Until the one girl spoke up, I don't understand why anyone else didn't realize something was wrong?

[@darcybrummett7004]

Why wasn’t the height checked before the competition started? I remember this and when it was finally determined that the vault was too low it made perfect sense that so many of the girls were falling on the landing.

[@tajkaynor9110]

My daughter is just getting into gymnastics so as a proud dad I am as well. This my mind absolutely blown and cussing at this negligence in 2024!

[@Mr_LH1980]

It wasn't negligence. It was cheating, 'conveniently' the Australian athlete spotted it and it was adjusted after all the competitors were injured. It was a dirty trick.

[@barryevans277]

I still can’t believe this happened! It was almost 2 inches too low and looking at the old vault looks scary as hell!( final destination scene material!) I’m so glad no one was seriously injured!

[@riennarindo9727]

uhh... they were? chinese girl broke her knee, permanent career ending injury

[@brandonaldaymachuse6669]

Vault is scary and intimidating as it is with the horse at the correct height. Now, imagine going after seeing so many falls...you have to really believe in your vault and everything is perfectly timed...5 cm is a massive difference on a vault.

[@jeanfelipe1505]

The whole competition should be restarted!

[@Lady.B0420]

Svetlana got screwed

[@hjaidar]

Big time. It was very sad and gymnastics lost with this terrible competition.

[@depressedaf3603]

You know somethings not right when THE SVETLANA KHORKINA takes a tumble from the vaults 😳

[@fortheloveofcats2462]

Svetlana wasn't perfect on vault, she also made mistakes and fell, but like 10 other top athletes also fell, so they should've noticed it sooner.

[@hjaidar]

In team finals she performed her Khorkina II almost perfectly.

[@heather2340]

how could they let this happen poor girls

[@kbf6434]

Because no one really cared about the female athletes.

[@heather2340]

@@kbf6434 it’s still a big event

[@heather2340]

@@kbf6434 so sad

[@Karamarika]

As I recall, this contributed to the change from the vaulting horse to the vaulting table. The horse was always dangerous because it's so narrow and athletes hands can easily slip off the narrow surface. This just highlighted its dangers even more.

[@3wL7]

Svetlana Khorkina, what a great gymnast! ❤ European and world campionships, as well as Olympics are not the same without Russia... With love from Romania!

[@TatyanaOmetova]

❤

[@marinaz9412]

I loved watching Svetlana Khorkina , she was so gracious , beautiful in her competing .... Greetings from Germany.

[@mindyschocolate]

The 2000 Olympics were the absolute worst. I’d have been furious and sued to have the entire AA redone.

[@willsbob123]

Elfie and Tim should be disgusted with themselves for this atrocious commentary.

[@timothyg1986]

They did their best. They don't make the decisions.

[@scottw6704]

Given the information they had at the time, their commentary makes sense (and I normally don't like either of them)

[@IAmSuzyQ]

This is so freakin' ridiculous and it's a miracle none of these athletes were seriously or permanently injured. Hey vault guy...YOU HAD ONE JOB! 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@thisbeem2714]

I think one girl was. She broke her knee.

[@tinahudgens3155]

Unbelievable!

[@mrbluex422]

Don't they make sure of the correct measurements before the competition starts!

[@batodelcastillo4802]

You can see in the second Svetlana jump her quality , before that the organization putted 5cm down the horse ! She is AMAZING and will be for history !

[@lisaboje3640]

The scoring is so different now. In 2000 a fall on an apparatus earned a higher score than a seemingly flawless routine in 2024.

[@fly3513]

You work you ass hard to do this and you got injured and then you learn somebody just didn’t care about to measure the horse ,everyone would have gone insane

[@edcrfvtgbyhnujmikolpqazwsx]

This is outrageous! These athletes work harder than anyone in the world for this moment and ended up being screwed up like that!

[@420Xing]

Rewatching this 2 decades later is crazy, I’ve never heard of this incident until now. The fact that NO ONE could tell and NO ONE fixed it beforehand is wild. They could’ve checked it beforehand, they could’ve take precautions to avoid this. Whatever happened, it’s still so wrong and wild to hear. That could’ve injured or even worse killed or paralyzed a person. That one athlete was INCHES away from hitting her head on the vault, another one went smack down straight to the ground. That can seriously injure someone and the fact that no one even checked in is wild, you have all these girls who’s messing up the vaults EVERY time, how so that not if a concern???

[@alexgaming8834]

Olympic comittee: We messed up all of your vault routines, but its not our fault.