The Controversial 97 Worlds Beam Final

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Many fans wondered if the judges had any idea how to do gymnastics when they scored the Balance Beam Final at the 1997 World Gymnastics Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This competition has gone down in history as a great miscarriage of justice. Therefore, it seemed a no-brainer for my Robbed Goddesses series. But was there a Robbed Goddess? All three medalists were neck and neck in a contest that I contend could have gone to any of the gymnasts performing girls gymnastics.

A World Champion multiple times over, Romanian Gina Gogean was in her sixth season as a senior gymnast (even more if you count 1990 Goodwill Games where she took part as a 12 year old), and had indicated this would be her swan song and final Worlds.

Russian diva extraordinaire Svetlana Khorkina was already 18, starting the second quadrennium of her career--following an uneven display during the Atlanta Games. She had come out on top during the all-around in Lausanne, and was desperate to add even more individual golds to the bars title she had successfully defended.

And contrary to the Olympics the prior year, Kui Yuanyuan from China had actually gotten herself into the Finals and was one of the favorites for gold. She had the combination of incredible difficulty, enviable variety, and golden presentation, but could all that make up for a few costly errors?

Thank you so much as always to ‪@Boban1611‬ for uploading the videos from the Final, particularly the Gogean and Khorkina ones which he did specifically at my request for this silly analysis.

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0:00 Intro
0:46 Explaining the 1997 COP
2:40 The 97 Worlds BB Final
3:53 Gina Gogean Routine & Analysis
9:33 Svetlana Khorkina Routine & Analysis
13:22 Kui Yuanyuan Routine & Analysis
17:01 Overall Analysis
18:15 Complaining about Gogean's Medals
19:26 Outro