Of the 16 American gymnasts in Hawaii (many of whom were expected to qualify for the USA World Championships Team) only two men and one woman remained from the '79 USA World Teams which competed in Fort Worth. Kathy Johnson was there in Honolulu; Suzy Kellems, Christa Canary, Leslie Pyfer, Marcia Frederick and Leslie Russo were not. For the men, Jim Hartung and Peter Vidmar competed, and an injured Bart Conner was there helping NBC with TV commentary of the meet. Retired from the men's bronze medal team were, 3 time World Champion Kurt Thomas, Tim LaFluer, Mike Wilson and Larry Gerard. In comparison, half of the Chinese delegation were team members from the last World Championships. USA Olympians Phil Cahoy and Luci Collins lost their Olympic experience with the boycott and newcomers Michelle Goodwin, Beth Pope, Shari Mann, Lisa Zeis, Gina Stallone, Mark, Caso, Mario McCutcheon and Scott Johnson welcomed the international experience. For as experience goes little compares to an Olympics or World Championships - those are "The Big Leagues." Yet, competing with the Chinese is like a step into the future . -Women's Compulsories: The compulsory vault is a handspring-full, and the American girls competed fairly even with the Chinese. Due partly because Stallone, Mann and Goodwin all compete full-on full-off as their optional vault. Luci Collins nailed her vault to win. All the Chinese slightly over-rotated every vault and were deducted for their landings. Theirs was a difficulty in adapting to a springy USA vaulting board. They train with the international rheuter-type wooden board. On UB, the Chinese girls were practically flawless. Excellent form and execution, team depth, strong, flexible and consistent. The USA team lost ground and the Chinese would continue to pull farther ahead with each event. The most glaring UB compulsory difference was with the two cast handstands. More than not, the Americans showed bent arms, a weakness in shoulder extension and strength, legs splitting, knee bends, and on the pirouette a non-alignment. Above, USA National Team Member Lisa Zeis, from Cheektowga, New York.
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Scott Johnson ( USA), left. Yuejiu Ii (PRC), above, competing in Hawaii.
USGF GYMNASTICS
On balance beam the main strength of the Chinese women their dance - enabled Zheng Zhu andJiani Wu to outdistance and outperform even Kathy Johnson by .20 and more (Johnson, 9.35 , Wu, 9.55; Zhu, 9.65). And on floor exercise, the same was evident as the Chinese placed 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. The individual talents of Luci Collins - dance, form, execution, strength and presentation - gained her a winning FX total of9.65 while USA teammate Lisa Zeis finished in a 2nd place tie with talented 20 year-old Yanhong Ma. -Commentary: Even though team score was unofficial, the Chinese won. Of greater importance was the experience and the lessons learned. The Chinese are, and will be, internationally competitive with the top teams in the world. The USA team is not. Next to the Chinese, the American girls are lacking in dance preparation, in basics training (form, fleXibility, dance, execution, combined with patience) and a commitment to the importance of compulsory training, compulsory competition and international experience. If the USA women's team in the future is to be internationally competitive; should these foundational elements of which are so evident in the Chinese team, continue to be ignored or overshadowed by difficulty and excessive competition, especially with the younger, developmental age children? -Men's Compulsories: Compulsory team scores were not recorded, varying event teams competed, and "starting line-ups" were not used. But by using only four scores to calculate event and team scores - after four events (FX, PH, R and V) the USA was .10 behind China. In PB and HB the Chinese gained 1.85, and unofficially won compulsories. Jim Hartung won PH and Mitch Gaylord won V. The USA team was closely competitive in this first international competition of the new compulsory routines. At this stage of development of Olympic compulsory competition in 1977 the USA team was much less prepared. 19