@@christinealessandrini4280 that's why I hated the perfect 10 system. It was incredibly biased. Nadia deserved every 10 she got but I don't really know of anyone else who got them. Olga definitely deserved it for that amazing routine
Olga Korbut was perfection in a tiny little body she flew around those bars. For me you can have all the gymnasts in the world breaking records and doing more and more difficult routines but for sheer showmanship Olga beats them all. With Nadia coming in at second she doesn't smile but she knew her way around those bars also. Two of the finest gymnasts ever and also got me into going for 10 years. I can still watch them both in awe.
Thank you so much! As a gymnast that means alot to me! I get very discouraged about doing it and I'm always so scared I'm going to mess up but this just made my day
I adore Nadia but I love Olga! I thought her bar routine was better than Nadia’s one.. that Korbut flip is simply amazing and so impressive, she makes it look so easy and it’s like she’s flying in the air.
Story of Khorkina is a story of fight against everything. Too tall, coaches did not want to take her. But in the end managed to make it an advantage. Soooo beautiful😍
Nadia and Olga have always brought me to tears. I am always watching their videos. I was in gymnastics when i was a kid. I wanted to go to the Olympics in Montreal 76 to see Olga. That's when Nadia became my idol along with Olga
Just the eye test alone says that Olga Korbut's routine had a much, much higher degree of difficulty. The judges just weren't giving out 10s in those days. The 'Korbut' backflip from the top bar and the 'iron cross' fron the low to high bar in the same routine? Astonishing. She executed the routine just as perfect as Nadia with a higher degree of difficulty. So, her #1 spot is unquestionable.
The korbut is way too dangerous to allow anyone to attempt anymore. Missing a modern release move leads to either hitting the mat horizontally (spreading the impact) or on ones feet allowing rolling out. A missed Korbut leads to a hard landing on the back of the head. I watched Olga Korbut on television. She did not win. She got the highest possible difficulty ( not high enough) but had form breaks. She was beaten by a gymnast with low difficulty but perfect execution. There was a huge controversy at the time.
it's not even about difficulty, its the dangerousness of her elements that will probably never be matched. just watching her I get so much anxiety and not even just her, in general gymnastics in that period was terribly dangerous
@@eva1601 I don't feel the danger when watching her back flip, but her dismount from high bar, though she made it look easy and amazing, made my hair stand up @.@
Nadia Comaneci with that in flight decent OMG the epitome of elegance...Nadia when all is said and done will always be my the ultimate gymnast...Think gymnastics - Think Nadia Comaneci. Also she did more for women's gymnastics than anyone else I know...even now she is still involved in coaching...Absolutely love Nadia...
I am in no way a gymnastics fan, nor have I ever been. With that said, I can watch Olga Korbut on an endless loop and never find her routine on the uneven bars anything but astonishing. She left everyone so utterly gobsmacked, that despite the cold-war tensions of the time, the Western audience nearly rioted when she wasn't given a perfect score, which she absolutely deserved.
Olga Korbut was amazing. She truly was fearless. If I remember correctly one of her signature moves on the parallel bars was barred for being too dangerous. She was so smooth in her transitions. I stopped watching gymnastics during the Olympic year Midori Ito (considered one of the best ice skater ever) went through one of the rink barriers and shot right back out as if nothing has happened. That’s just to give an idea of how little I’ve seen of the progression of female gymnastics. Back to Olga. An innovator. Simone Biles is amazing in the true sense of the word. She gets so much unfair flack. The floor routine shown here was stunning. I have always felt the set up for long tumbling runs was awkward. A moment to catch their breath. Here Simone showed skill in power and artistry. Never once did she stop! I found her very elegant in those transitions, effortlessly powerful and sassy. Love it. (as mentioned by others, many other gymnasts could have been included). Please bear in mind my comments are made by someone who could not to anything these athletes do. Except walk, and literally, I am not very good at that either.
You have to add Elena Muhkina. Everything changed after what happened to her. Kerri Strug probably changed the viewership and the post gymnastics world. As much as I'm not a fan of Mary Lou Retton's gymnastics, she paved the way for power like Simone Biles has now.
Retton and Biles are both the byproduct of super-jingoistic NBC. Pay attention: the role of NBC's money has enormous impact on MOC's decision and their role in all judging sports! Gymnastics and figure skating in particular.
@@g.g9872 the NBC thing might be true but Mary Lou Retton is nowhere close to Simone Biles in terms of being an icon not to mention she won in a boycotted Olympics when Soviets weren't there, not to mention a lot of questionable behaviour on her part since then (there's ton of content on reddit).
@@deepeshmathuria I know I'll raise some eyebrows, but never ever would I be convinced that S. Biles's gold medals, public praise and accolades were deserved... She is a mediocre girl-gymnast with 'synthetic' muscles.
No they helped but completely changed gymnastics? Not with all of those hip checks that I saw of her on the beam. Keri shrug showed power determination grace and pose all in one vault.
How about Oksana Chusovitina? The gymnast who proved that it is possible to continue in the sport well into your 20's/30's/40's! Now you see a number of gymnasts competing as adults!
@Craig Tilley Exactly. And for that reason she is one of the single most revolutionary gymnasts of the modern age. Who would have thought that in 2020, 30 years after making her senior debut, a SOVIET would not only still be competing, but still winning international titles in her main event? Incomparable.
Whenever this discussion comes up the name of Elina Mukhina from Russia is never mentioned. Though she never made it to the Olympics she brought about a pivotal shift in women's gymnastics; moving it away from simply be about grace to being more athletic and higher difficulty skills. Mukhina's influnece can been in how Romanian gymnasts and other gymnasts at the time started using higher difficulty skills to compete. The threat of Mukhina, which never materialised due to her tragic injury, led to standout performances at that years Olympics.
That’s who I think of when people get pissed about Simone biles withdrawing from the Olympics. If only Elena could have had a break, she likely still would be alive. If Simone decided not to listen to her body, she could’ve ended up critically injured in a similar way. I would so much rather see these gymnasts safer than sorry!
@@belindapaul9828 Yeah Olga was the first to really bring real acrobatics and "dangerous" skills to gymnastics. Nadia simply brought it to another level a few years later.
Careful some people think gymnastics didn'tcexist before Simone. Apparently nobody can do anything compared to her. If you don't say, people will critics you.
I remember fighting sleep & staying up just to watch Svetlana perform!!!!! So elegant & graceful!!!!! This background music, I can't remember the song but I remember she had multiple high difficulty moves named after her!!!!!
Nastia Liukin and Svetlana K will always be my favorite to look at :-) They were both so feminine with beautiful slim long lines due to being a bit taller than the average gymnast.
We have never see anything like Olga's bar routine since. Just amazing! That was a perfect 10. That said, I am not a fan of the new scoring system - I'm an old school fan. I think the Top Five Women of Gymnastics who have made the most significant contributions are: Olga K., Nadia C., Mary Lou R., Svetlana B, Shannon M., Svetlana K. Just my humble opinion.
I love each and every one of these girls. I have always been a fan of Olga Korbut she did things that was amazing! I believe it was the 76 Olympics may be wrong but as a young girl she inspired me so much that I did gymnastics for 10 years. Although new ones coming up are wonderful I really feel the routines of older gymnasts were incredible.
@@gailsgig Sure , I am not the expert here. But still I love Nadia's performance. If you have grown up with some favorites you love them for who they are.Thank you very much. I appreciate honest comments.
ELENA MUKHINA (GYM-ANGEL) definitely is one of the women who has changed gymnastics forever, in MANY ways!!!!! She had the most difficult routine on the uneven bars ever performed, a perfect 10, even though they’ve banned most of the moves from her routine, no-one has attempted it or performed it since Elena. Beautiful Elena was a true Gym-Angel with a Solid Gold Heart
I would have said Nadia Comaneci as number 1 because she was the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics. Plus her skill The Comaneci Salto is still being performed by gymnasts today. Olga Korbut's skill Korbut Flip is banned. Plus not many gymnasts do her skill on the beam with the exception of some of the Chinese gymnasts.
So what you’re saying is that Korbut was: 1) unique; and 2) fearless. I think those are pretty good arguments for the #1 spot, although I can also see your point.
@@vinista256 No I never said Olga was unique or fearless. I just said that the Korbut Flip is banned and really only the Chinese gymnasts perform her skill on the beam. The skill she has on the beam has a low degree of difficulty so not many perform it. I don't remember what it's grade is but I know that the Comaneci Salto has a higher grade. The Comaneci Salto is graded an E and I think Olga's skill on the beam is like a B or a C.
I don't know why people talk bad things about Simone. She proves so many things, she did elements that people thought impossible for so many times. For me, she is a legend, one of the gymnastics's gods.
@Beyond Memory I think the previous Olympics were so magical for her, that her high expectations were shattered even though she did pretty darn well. This time she wasn't the princess at the ball. But don't be too hard on her.
I must admit Olga Korbett is my favorite as i was 7 when i first saw her in the '72 Olympics. She stunned & impressed the entire arena with her charm & gymnastic abilities. I just smile when I see her on any clip.
@@agent606 her beam routines were all stuck landings, it was only the compulsory routine on the bars where she didn't stick the landing, other than that, her routines were absolutely perfect for 1975 to 1980 standards, also, back then the 10 didn't exacly mean perfection, but it meant first class gymnastics and nadia's routines were all very original. but now in the COP to get a 10 in the execution score everything has to be perfect, there were also less rules back then so you wouldn't get as many deductions as now.
@@forgetmenot7463 I agree, I know they didn’t have the perfect 10 scoring system in 2012 but McKayla should have received a 16.5 which was the maximum score for her vault.
So many wonderful gymnasts too mention...I would think Natalia Yurchenko changed the vaulting world, shushenova and omielianchik changed the floor by double pass, and Shannon Miller set the bar of excellence in the 1990s and had some pretty creative beam routines.
As someone raised by the streets, I didn't get to see a lot of gymnastics growing up, save for keri strugg, but what that Olga girl did on those bars was gangster...
Yo era gimnasta cuando niño y para mi Nadia Comaneci era una *diosa* , tanta perfección, armonía y belleza juntas. No se si haya cambiado el deporte, pero sin duda es una de las más admirables y que inspiraron a muchos otros.
Nadia and Olga considering the time were revolutionaries in the field, a couple of move on Nadia routine are now not allow in gymnastics for been considered too dangerous.
Nadia is the athlete who contributed the most to make of the gymnastics the glamorous and elegant sport it is today. She deserves by far the number 1 spot!
I agree wholeheartedly. I think she already holds the number 1 spot.. Nadia influenced the sport the most, of any other gymnast. When an Athlete wins not just Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals... But... The Olympic Order Award... The highest award given by the International Olympic Committee... and then elected by The Global Sports Committee in Vienna... The "Athlete Of The Century" award. It means that you are very special indeed. I don't know of any other Artistic Gymnast achieving the heights that Nadia has. Nadia Comanici ♥️ 1.00
Honestly, I love Nastia. I don't really think she "changed" gymnastics per se, but I have ALWAYS loved that she was one of the last US gymnasts that proved you could be elegant and graceful and artistic and still be a champion. She proved you don't have to be a powerhouse like Shawn (her main competition) in order to get gold.
I agree. I love her style, it's so different. But I don't really think that she chaaanged something, but she is a great and gorgeous model for the next generations.
@ggsooyoun , @Ronald Almeida Cruz Filho - I thought exactly the same when she came up in the video. She was a great gymnast, yes absolutely, but 1) She didn't really change anything & 2) in fact, because of the differences in style, technique & skill selection due to her unusual height, she was actually something of an outlier, & there' isn't too much useful most gymnasts could take from Nastia, beyond inspiration.
@@cinnamonbear19591 there are many things she did back then that our same gymnast today can't do as well. Most wouldn't even try, for good reason. Just sayin.
I agree with 4 out of 5 of the name. Instead of nastia, i change to Oksana / Yurchenko 1) Olga. She is amazing. She start and revolutionized the move that gymnastic have today. She is the one who start with the back tuck on the beam which is the coach never agree coz they knew, it will turn the gymnastic to something new but Olga just go with it. 2) nadia. Of course. The 10 perfection. Inspiring many young girl to do gymnastic. Romania and Karoyli is the one that start gymnastic synonym with young girls. 3) Khorkina. So many new moves. Either on bars, beam or vault. 4) Yurchenko. The one who start yurchenko style vault and still using till nowadays. 5) oksana. Longetivity. Gymnast nowadays start to believe that gymnastic is not a sport for young woman only. 6) simone. The level of the skillsss. Unbelievable!
Khorkina also has an areal named after her on floor. I think she is the only gymnast to have a named element in all events, but I am not sure. Kim could have stolen some more moves and named them after her without me noticing 😂
My favorite routines, Olga Korbut on the uneven bars and Kim Zmeskal's 1991 Floor at the World Championships. I never get tires of them. Amazing athletes all of them.
If you were around in the 70's you would know that the 1972 Soviet team at the Munich Olympics, changed the sport forever. People were glued to the TVs because there was a hostage situation at those Olympics and some athletes were killed. Gymnastics was NOT a big sport in the US. Along comes this little Olga Korbut and captures everyone's attention because she was small. "Pixie like" and she did a few things that were really daring by standards back then. The gyms literally starting filling up the next week. It was amazing to watch the influence. Then came Nadia in 76 and the sport boomed. 20, 30, 40 years later, we have more top elites than most countries put together.
Korbut and comaneci where amazing, they didn’t have those springs that gymnasts like biles have now...and they do amazing artistics things...khorkina, just elegance in his art
I understand why this video wanted to show the parallel bars, for both gymnasts, but it's Korbut's floor routine that steals my heart every time. Her charisma, her charm, smile, she is almost magical, the way she can capture the emotion with her dance.
I will always remember the grace and serenity of Ludmilla Tourischeva, her ballet like routines are from another world when compared with the power and intensity of modern routines. Watching old videos of Ludmilla I have to remind myself that they are real-time not slow motion.
The problem I have is that she was more ballet and dancer than athlete. She rarely did more than one twist in her tumbling passes. Thank goodness for Olga and Nadia putting the athletics in something that is a sport, not a dance.
Love that the gymnasts are stronger these days. Eating more these days. In return, preforming better these days. Many gymnasts had eating disorders back a couple decades ago and before. I’m sure there still are those who struggle but it can’t be as many. In primary school we had an Olympic gymnast visit our school to show her skills but the main point was spreading awareness about her eating disorder and she told us how she wasn’t the only one.
I totally agree, and if you read my post, I credit it to Mary Lou R. She put power and strength into the already established difficult moves. She also showed the world you do not have to be anorexic to be the best.
@Kayleen South Today they look unhealthy and have very abnormal and masculine body frames, they look like bodybuilders. Its so ugly, they are completely devoid of beauty and grace. Strength is only nothing they have, they're not even that flexible
@@kiaaurora there is nothing wrong with having a strong build, to be able to get the power and strength that these girls have require muscle! They still have grace and beauty as well, Don’t body shame people. Are you going to shame women who do shot put and discus for having bigger frames? No, because if you were smart you’d know that they need that muscle.
@@utubeoppressesme5945 they don’t look on steroids, it’s called weight training. Not many gymnast do it because they don’t like the strong build the comes with it but those who are really dedicated know that the more muscle the better performance and the bigger muscle helps with them not breaking their bones if they were to mess up
Elena mukhina is my favourite gymnast! She definitely should be on this list, she was the first girl to do a full twisting double back on floor when there were no springs at all, she also was the first to do a double back off beam, and her full twisting Korbut flip off the bars which is now banned.Her story is probably the saddest story in gymnastics.
Agree she should be here. A sad life story and death that was hushed up for many years.Was it the Thomas Salto she was practicing, I forget. So sad and she should be on this list🇦🇺
Despite her short career, Elena is still one of the best gymnasts known. She had no one her equal while she was out there, and only few can match her in routine execution now, even less in grace.
Mukhina beat Nadia when she was at her worst ( Nadia came to the 1978WC overweight with less than 2 months of training. Others did manage to be Nadia in AA at that time, but does not make them better than she was.). Nadia beat Mukhina clearly the next year at the Europeans when she started to recover her previous form. So that idea that she had no equal is quite questionable.
Yes right order. I saw Olga live on tv when she stole the world’s heart in the Olympics. Also, Nadia when she received that famous 10. Elegance & ability personified.
I see you chose champions, for me the two most influential female gymnast in modern gymnastics are Natalia Yurchenko and Yang Bo. Natalia Yurchenko because her style of vault is still being performed by both men and women. Yang Bo because she revolutionized the quality of leaps on the beam, the incredible amplitude she had on her leaps is still the gold standard that is still being used today.
yes, unfortunatelly the artistic part is missing currently in gymnastics. i whish that would change, but there is no chance with the new system. i am not sure why they still call it artistic gymnastics.
Yeah, I kinda miss that from modern Gymnastics. They've focus so much in the difficulty that they have completely stopped being elegant and graceful. Back then things looks effortless
I agree with the list except for Nastia Liukin. Isn't it more meaningful that Gabby Douglas was the first African American to win the individual all-around event? And about Olga, she also was the one who brought more difficult acrobatic moves into the sport (such as back tucks on the beam).
I can see how having an african american winning AA can be socially meaningful and inspiring to ppl from the US, but believe me noone else in the world understands the way north americans deal with race issues. As for gymnastics I don’t see how the skin color of a gymnast can change gymnastics. That said Gabby was fantastic. My favourite non-white gymnasts are Betty Okino and Yang Bo (her beam was a game changer too).
но она совсем не похожа на девушку, к тому же она принимает заапрещенные препараты, ей это, конечно же помогает настроиться психологически. Двойные стандарты!
Graceful precise ballet type gymnastics of the past and the comparison to power gymnastics of the present is opinion a personal preference, Korbet and Comaneche rule in my book.
@@kiaaurora no other gymnast in history could fall twice and win by more than a full point and have that many medals, like it or not Biles is the best. The balletic style of gymnastics died ages ago as it’s no longer rewarded, tumbling difficulty is. The “caricature of a gymnast” comment reeks of petty jealousy…she looks state of the art for her sport, super short and muscular as befits someone with her power and difficulty. If fractured ballet is more your jam, go watch Swan Lake as performed by children’s ballet and swoon in the audience somewhere.
@ThisIs Marisol why would I be jealous? I'm a spectator not a competitor. And I can have any opinion I want. I didn't say she was ugly because she was black, but if you think so that's fine. She and other gymnasts look like bodybuilders, are very masculine and all they can do is tumble. Creative and unique moves are non-existent anymore. She lacks elegance and gracefulness and looks like a dude
@ThisIs Marisol I try to give people the benefit of the doubt before throwing around the comments about being racist, but honestly it wouldn’t surprise me in today’s climate especially. The point is that Simone is state of the art with a body that befits her hours of powerful, difficult tumbling. Like, I could gracefully wave my arms around and potentially do a mock ring leap, there isn’t a chance in hell that I’d be doing a triple twisting double backflip.
@@kordellskeete567 But she didn’t change gymnastics, she didn’t introduce skills like Yurchenko did nearly 40 years ago that gymnasts are still performing and adding to
Simone is by definition, much greater than Comaneci. That bar routine should have never gotten a 10, especially with that small hop. Judging in the 70s was much looser than it is today. If fact there were conspiracies about judge bribing at the euros. Nadia had 1976 as her prime, but was never able to come back to her former self. Simone has only lost two all arounds in her senior career. Once to kyla Ross, once to Katelyn ohashi. She basically swept the olympics in the open ended code which is highly more difficult in the perfect ten cop. Simone has thirty world and Olympic medals, biles has an eponymous skill on all but one apparatus, none below a G and one of highest rated vaults in wag at a 6.4. Undeniably she is the best woman gymnast of all time. You may not like her artistry, but her career doesn’t lie. Comaneci is an icon and between her and Olga she made women’s gymnastics a worldwide exciting sport, inspiring many young women to join gymnastics and Comaneci started a Romanian dynasty that would last into the 21st century. She’s an important icon in gymnastics. But in no way shape or form is she a better gymnast than biles.
@@tristabenton9266 U can see the steroids in Simone, she has no grace is like watching a stiff trained bodybuilder!! And thats a fact!! There wont be another Nadia :(
@@cristianmitan3048 I guess you see what you wanna see. That's a serious accusation there. Just because someone is short and powerfully built your pea brain sees steroids!! I wonder why she hasn't tested positive
I don*t see that. I am still not sure who should be the gymnast replacing Nastia as everyone agrees she has no bussiness in this top. She is a great gymnast, but not a top 5. The only Romanian gymnasts I would consider would be Simona Amanar as she didn't only win a lot of medals, but has a vault that is still performed so many years after her retirement. That is huge. But I am not sure that is enough.
I remember watching Olga as a kid and being amazed. Then 4 years later along comes 14 year old Nadia. She was my age and awesome. I had a crush on her. These two are the ones who took it up a notch and set the stage for everyone else.
Simone is absolutely unreal. She looks like she could bench press a pickup truck and do squats with an NFL nose tackle sitting on her shoulders, yet she moves with such smoothness and grace as well as power.
Simone looks like "she" can bench a dump truck because "she" is not a biological woman but a male that was castrated long ago when he was a child. Still has male adrenal glands which can pump out 5x the testosterone as the average healthy and fit real woman. That isnt fair to the other women. But Simone isnt the only MTF gymnast.
Watching past gymnasts especially “artistic, graceful” gymnasts rather than powerful ones, it’s really refreshing as we don’t see graceful ones anymore. I truly miss it tbh, it’s all skills now, less about the artistry and beauty.
That's why I love watching the Dutch ladies and Canada's Brooklyn Moors. They truly bring the artistry back into the routines. And they've been known to win event finals even in this age of athleticism.
What do you mean by artistic graceful? Like moving their hands around all pretty like and dancing? What is so appealing about that? There are gymnasts today who can do difficult skills with high execution levels. That is more interesting to watch than to see who can do a perfect twirl on one foot or move their hands around in exaggerated manners.
@@dianaosteen693 The skills are 1000× more difficult today than 20-30 years ago. These new girls are turning flipping twisting all in the same motions. Simone is on the verge of being illegal because a lot of the so called graceful girls can't keep up.
This is why I prefer watching college gymnastics. There is skill, artistry, and they look like they are having more fun. Elite gymnastics has become boring.
wish Mustafina was on here, however, it is a great list. I just admire everything she went through to become a 2 peat UB champion at the Olympics and her World Champ title and many, many medals. She gave a magic to Russia I had not seen in a while, I miss her terribly.
Nastia is so artistic when it comes to gymnastics she really brings that out. She’s amazing. I don’t know why you guys hate her she forever changed gymnastics.😌😌
These are all great gymnasts, but not all of them “changed” gymnastics. Olga and and Nadia did, as they opened the way to a new type of gymnast. Maybe Khorkina also showed that gymnasts with her line could also excell. But Biles, besides being super good, did not change anything. She uses to the highest possible level the techniques introduced by others. Yurchenko changed the way to do vault. Luconi (who was she will you ask yourself) introduced the ‘modern’ giant circle tecnique that allows so many difficulties nowadays. Retton revolutionized the technique for the double layout. There are many more examples of gymnasts that really changed the course of the discipline, would be nice to see a video on that.
Not sure how you can't include Simone in the changing of gymnastics history?! Hell she's got 4(FOUR) Moves named The Biles 1-4and all 4 are ranked as the most difficult elements to achieve. She's even had one move eliminated because the Olympic committee and Gymnastics ranked it too dangerous for most anybody else to even attempt. (Including males).
@@donaldholderdoc2910 Adding elements to the code of points is not enough to "change gymnastics for ever". It makes Biles an epic gymnast, but if the element is never repated nor improved it will not change much in gymnastics. The example you make is self explanatory. Biles added an element that is being strongly discouraged and that therfore might never be replicated again nor developed. When Muchina showed that it was possible to combine a double back with a twist she (and her trainer Klimenko, rest in peace) changed gymnastics forever. I think Biles did make a difference though, that hopefully will change gymnastics for ever. She was brave enough to report the abuses she suffered, showing that even an active leading gymnast can expose these awful practices. Abuses were not new to gymnastics, but she reported them while still competing. That is a great example.
@@mauromastrogiacomo4080 I won't/ can't argue about you assessment of what she's done for the active and future ladies as far as standing against sexual and even emotional abuses that's for sure. I still however, believe that her level of achievements in adding elements that CAN BE improved upon and mastered have changed gymnastics. Yes she's had one element banned, but there are still 4 that are legal, achievable and possibly improved upon for the future gymnasts. At least I hope so that is. I can't believe that Simone will be the epitome of greatness to never be improved upon by the few who are out there watching her now as little ones or perhaps their little one to come. In that regard, improving and changing our current standard is the be all of sports. In that way, I definitely believe Simone Biles has changed, altered gymnastics.
Olga not only introduced the world to women’s gymnastics, they loved her Most people of today do not know what it was like! and Nadia was the beautiful icing on top, ps, the ABC call of Olga’s bars would have been so much better- it was nearly as great as her routine
It began with Olga Korbut. And something like that just now occurs in woman figure skating. ( By the way, the first two gymnastics whom this video begins with, are good, of course, but being mentioned in the same breath as Korbut and Komaneci - that seems too much a little bit. A person who really deserved to be there is the late Elena Mukhina.)
@@agent606 1) it is almost 50 years (FIFTY, non fifthteen!) after Korbut, Komaneci 2) The performances of the last two are look cool even now! Time wil tell what about the contemprorary gumnasts you mentined
She*d be a good replacement for Nastia, but I am still not sure she is in top 5. She did win a lot of medals and she does have a vault named after her, but did she change gymnastics forever? For a while (longer than other successful gymnasts) sure. Maybe I would mention here Agnes Keleti representing Hungary who won several olympic medals in her mid thirties (she is the oldest olympic medalist I think) after being expelled from her club for not being "aryan" and having to go into hiding to survive holocaust (her father didn't). And she is now 100 years old! Although in her case, is more a story of overcomming adversity and winning. I am honestly thinking of the chinese gymnasts in the 90s. I remeber them as being spectacular on uneaven bars, but my memory might play tricks on me.
@Almira Izumchensky Khorkina I actually understand. She proved that tall gymnasts can be successful as well; and she was very successful. She has an impressive medal record, she went to 3 olympic games, she has many skills with her name and again, she proved tall gymnasts can be on the top. That is worl changing. Many trainers only select tiny girls for gymnastics, the taller ones have little chance to be taken serious. And this is not only for girls true, for guys as well. My ex was 1.74 and he was considered way to tall to be successful and he was told this his entire career. It is nice to see Svetlana up there, maybe a little girl that is not so little can still hope and not give up.
If you are going to single out just one skill, Natalia Yurchenko is far more deserving than Amanar. Her approach to the vault technique goes way beyond the Amanar itself.
@@DJDiegoGarcia I don't think the user only recommended Simona for the one skill. She had an impressive medal record as well, better than Yurchenko if you compare the two. I would rather chose Simona, but that is a personal opinion. Yurchenko was also active for only a "short" period of time.
@@potocatepetlI think the point here is not who is better gymnast but more who left a legacy. Gymnasts are still using the Yurchenko vault including Biles
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That performance by Olga Korbut is still brilliant by today's standards. Amazing
she definitely deserved a 10 (that she did not have)
🇷🇺👍
Indeed. Korbut was quite brilliant.
@@christinealessandrini4280 that's why I hated the perfect 10 system. It was incredibly biased. Nadia deserved every 10 she got but I don't really know of anyone else who got them. Olga definitely deserved it for that amazing routine
C'est fou!
Olga Korbut was perfection in a tiny little body she flew around those bars. For me you can have all the gymnasts in the world breaking records and doing more and more difficult routines but for sheer showmanship Olga beats them all. With Nadia coming in at second she doesn't smile but she knew her way around those bars also. Two of the finest gymnasts ever and also got me into going for 10 years. I can still watch them both in awe.
Glad to see them sitting at 1 and 2
Totally agree with you!
How about Elena Muchkhina?
At the end of the day, we can all agree that ALL gymnasts are really amazing people with a wonderful skill set.
Physical prowess that is fascinating to watch.
No
Thank you so much! As a gymnast that means alot to me! I get very discouraged about doing it and I'm always so scared I'm going to mess up but this just made my day
hahaha my coach trained with nastia and her dad and she said she was so rude😭
@@Avantisnailss TROLL
Those bar routines were CRAZY back in the day. Olga and Nadia made them look easy. They were absolutely spectacular. 🤩
Absolutely the ultimate best 2
I adore Nadia but I love Olga! I thought her bar routine was better than Nadia’s one.. that Korbut flip is simply amazing and so impressive, she makes it look so easy and it’s like she’s flying in the air.
Story of Khorkina is a story of fight against everything. Too tall, coaches did not want to take her. But in the end managed to make it an advantage. Soooo beautiful😍
Nadia and Olga have always brought me to tears. I am always watching their videos. I was in gymnastics when i was a kid. I wanted to go to the Olympics in Montreal 76 to see Olga. That's when Nadia became my idol along with Olga
May you should watch them again! It was generations ago!
And to add to the list: Ludmilla Tourischeva. But where do you stop, cant forget Nellie Kim either......
You took the words out of my mouth.
Olga & Nadia paved the way for subsequent gym legends: Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug, Simone Biles & countless others in between!
Just the eye test alone says that Olga Korbut's routine had a much, much higher degree of difficulty. The judges just weren't giving out 10s in those days. The 'Korbut' backflip from the top bar and the 'iron cross' fron the low to high bar in the same routine? Astonishing. She executed the routine just as perfect as Nadia with a higher degree of difficulty. So, her #1 spot is unquestionable.
The korbut is way too dangerous to allow anyone to attempt anymore. Missing a modern release move leads to either hitting the mat horizontally (spreading the impact) or on ones feet allowing rolling out. A missed Korbut leads to a hard landing on the back of the head.
I watched Olga Korbut on television. She did not win. She got the highest possible difficulty ( not high enough) but had form breaks. She was beaten by a gymnast with low difficulty but perfect execution. There was a huge controversy at the time.
it's not even about difficulty, its the dangerousness of her elements that will probably never be matched. just watching her I get so much anxiety and not even just her, in general gymnastics in that period was terribly dangerous
@@eva1601 I don't feel the danger when watching her back flip, but her dismount from high bar, though she made it look easy and amazing, made my hair stand up @.@
💯 Korbut is number one ☝️ Bravo 👏🌸🌺🌹
Amen.
Nadia Comaneci with that in flight decent OMG the epitome of elegance...Nadia when all is said and done will always be my the ultimate gymnast...Think gymnastics - Think Nadia Comaneci. Also she did more for women's gymnastics than anyone else I know...even now she is still involved in coaching...Absolutely love Nadia...
I could not agree more. Nadia is the greatest. Period.
She is the best. She invented gymnastics
@@PrettyandThings Tis good to see that someone agrees...so I am not really insane...thanx
@@jesseleeward2359 Of course I absolutely concur...Thanx
I am in no way a gymnastics fan, nor have I ever been.
With that said, I can watch Olga Korbut on an endless loop and never find her routine on the uneven bars anything but astonishing.
She left everyone so utterly gobsmacked, that despite the cold-war tensions of the time, the Western audience nearly rioted when she wasn't given a perfect score, which she absolutely deserved.
The language you use here tells everyone that you are in fact a gymnastics fan
@@mizzury54 LOL, that gymnast.
I'm really a physics fan and enamored by anyone who, so fluidly, comes to the very edge of defying its' laws.
Nelli KIm?
Olga Korbut was amazing. She truly was fearless. If I remember correctly one of her signature moves on the parallel bars was barred for being too dangerous. She was so smooth in her transitions. I stopped watching gymnastics during the Olympic year Midori Ito (considered one of the best ice skater ever) went through one of the rink barriers and shot right back out as if nothing has happened. That’s just to give an idea of how little I’ve seen of the progression of female gymnastics. Back to Olga. An innovator. Simone Biles is amazing in the true sense of the word. She gets so much unfair flack. The floor routine shown here was stunning. I have always felt the set up for long tumbling runs was awkward. A moment to catch their breath. Here Simone showed skill in power and artistry. Never once did she stop! I found her very elegant in those transitions, effortlessly powerful and sassy. Love it. (as mentioned by others, many other gymnasts could have been included). Please bear in mind my comments are made by someone who could not to anything these athletes do. Except walk, and literally, I am not very good at that either.
MagpiesNeedle, very well said--and said with civility and clarity!
Of
YES! I love when Olga gets her due credit! She was INCREDIBLE and had plenty of 10 worthy routines.
You have to add Elena Muhkina. Everything changed after what happened to her. Kerri Strug probably changed the viewership and the post gymnastics world. As much as I'm not a fan of Mary Lou Retton's gymnastics, she paved the way for power like Simone Biles has now.
Retton and Biles are both the byproduct of super-jingoistic NBC. Pay attention: the role of NBC's money has enormous impact on MOC's decision and their role in all judging sports! Gymnastics and figure skating in particular.
@@g.g9872 the NBC thing might be true but Mary Lou Retton is nowhere close to Simone Biles in terms of being an icon not to mention she won in a boycotted Olympics when Soviets weren't there, not to mention a lot of questionable behaviour on her part since then (there's ton of content on reddit).
@@deepeshmathuria I know I'll raise some eyebrows, but never ever would I be convinced that S. Biles's gold medals, public praise and accolades were deserved... She is a mediocre girl-gymnast with 'synthetic' muscles.
Mukhina was fantastic but she couldn't release her full talent
Yes, when Ifirst saw Biles performed, immediately I remember Mary Lou Retton
Yup. Olga and Nadia completely changed the World of female gymnastics.
These two women introduced what we see today....fearless power and doing things we never saw before.
No they helped but completely changed gymnastics? Not with all of those hip checks that I saw of her on the beam. Keri shrug showed power determination grace and pose all in one vault.
Korkina! What a skill, what a balance, what an elegance!
How about Oksana Chusovitina? The gymnast who proved that it is possible to continue in the sport well into your 20's/30's/40's! Now you see a number of gymnasts competing as adults!
@Craig Tilley Exactly. And for that reason she is one of the single most revolutionary gymnasts of the modern age. Who would have thought that in 2020, 30 years after making her senior debut, a SOVIET would not only still be competing, but still winning international titles in her main event? Incomparable.
I concur.
I agree 100%
And Mustafina to compete after giving birth to a child in 2017
Bogonskaya too.
Whenever this discussion comes up the name of Elina Mukhina from Russia is never mentioned. Though she never made it to the Olympics she brought about a pivotal shift in women's gymnastics; moving it away from simply be about grace to being more athletic and higher difficulty skills. Mukhina's influnece can been in how Romanian gymnasts and other gymnasts at the time started using higher difficulty skills to compete. The threat of Mukhina, which never materialised due to her tragic injury, led to standout performances at that years Olympics.
Very true ...
She was amazing!
People shouldnt forgot her !
@@giselamesquita5124 Bicherova is another forgotten giant. She literally crushed the field between 81 and 83
@@nuwandalton yes...
I know in svetlanas documentary i watched recently they mention her in it!
That’s who I think of when people get pissed about Simone biles withdrawing from the Olympics. If only Elena could have had a break, she likely still would be alive. If Simone decided not to listen to her body, she could’ve ended up critically injured in a similar way. I would so much rather see these gymnasts safer than sorry!
Nadia was by far the most influential gymnast of all time prior to Biles! She literally created modern gymnastics.
Nadia is the most famous of the gymnasts who prompted the changes in scoring but Olga actually changed to beam for all time.
@@belindapaul9828 Yeah Olga was the first to really bring real acrobatics and "dangerous" skills to gymnastics. Nadia simply brought it to another level a few years later.
Careful some people think gymnastics didn'tcexist before Simone. Apparently nobody can do anything compared to her. If you don't say, people will critics you.
@@cobra7282 Truth!
@@jbmusician2007 Well, she is pretty bloody awesome! But, I still don't see how she actually changed the sport tbh.
Olga had the BEST performance on this video… Bravo!
That last uneven bars routine was sensational!!!
I remember fighting sleep & staying up just to watch Svetlana perform!!!!! So elegant & graceful!!!!! This background music, I can't remember the song but I remember she had multiple high difficulty moves named after her!!!!!
The music is the Phantom of the Opera
Nastia Liukin and Svetlana K will always be my favorite to look at :-) They were both so feminine with beautiful slim long lines due to being a bit taller than the average gymnast.
We have never see anything like Olga's bar routine since. Just amazing! That was a perfect 10. That said, I am not a fan of the new scoring system - I'm an old school fan. I think the Top Five Women of Gymnastics who have made the most significant contributions are: Olga K., Nadia C., Mary Lou R., Svetlana B, Shannon M., Svetlana K. Just my humble opinion.
I love each and every one of these girls. I have always been a fan of Olga Korbut she did things that was amazing! I believe it was the 76 Olympics may be wrong but as a young girl she inspired me so much that I did gymnastics for 10 years. Although new ones coming up are wonderful I really feel the routines of older gymnasts were incredible.
It was a munich 72..
@@qubitqudin6273 Thanks , I couldn’t remember what year all I know she was FANTASTIC.
Nadia Comaneci my all-time favorite in gymnastics!
They just did simpler routines. Skills have gotten more complex
@@gailsgig Sure , I am not the expert here. But still I love Nadia's performance.
If you have grown up with some favorites you love them for who they are.Thank you very much. I appreciate honest comments.
@@gailsgig that's what I said earlier and it set some lunatic off on here. No question about their talent or greatness.
ELENA MUKHINA (GYM-ANGEL) definitely is one of the women who has changed gymnastics forever, in MANY ways!!!!!
She had the most difficult routine on the uneven bars ever performed, a perfect 10, even though they’ve banned most of the moves from her routine, no-one has attempted it or performed it since Elena.
Beautiful Elena was a true Gym-Angel with a Solid Gold Heart
Nadia Comaneci y Olga Korbut fueron excelentes Gimnastas , mucha elegancia de ambas , muy disciplinadas , excelentes ejecuciones las admiro mucho.
I would have said Nadia Comaneci as number 1 because she was the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics. Plus her skill The Comaneci Salto is still being performed by gymnasts today. Olga Korbut's skill Korbut Flip is banned. Plus not many gymnasts do her skill on the beam with the exception of some of the Chinese gymnasts.
So what you’re saying is that Korbut was: 1) unique; and 2) fearless. I think those are pretty good arguments for the #1 spot, although I can also see your point.
@@vinista256 No I never said Olga was unique or fearless. I just said that the Korbut Flip is banned and really only the Chinese gymnasts perform her skill on the beam. The skill she has on the beam has a low degree of difficulty so not many perform it. I don't remember what it's grade is but I know that the Comaneci Salto has a higher grade. The Comaneci Salto is graded an E and I think Olga's skill on the beam is like a B or a C.
I don't know why people talk bad things about Simone. She proves so many things, she did elements that people thought impossible for so many times. For me, she is a legend, one of the gymnastics's gods.
Absolutely, no question. She is a legend!
@Beyond Memory I think the previous Olympics were so magical for her, that her high expectations were shattered even though she did pretty darn well. This time she wasn't the princess at the ball. But don't be too hard on her.
She looks like she is on steroids...although now a days most gymnasts look like they’re on steroids 😒
@@christiansolid1098 Exactly, too much muscles without elegance and arrogant nature....
get off the woke train, she was decent and wouldn't even get a mention except she's black.
I must admit Olga Korbett is my favorite as i was 7 when i first saw her in the '72 Olympics. She stunned & impressed the entire arena with her charm & gymnastic abilities. I just smile when I see her on any clip.
Nadia scored the first ever 10 ... in the Olympics.
And it wasn’t deserved either. No stuck landing? Lol
@@agent606 her beam routines were all stuck landings, it was only the compulsory routine on the bars where she didn't stick the landing, other than that, her routines were absolutely perfect for 1975 to 1980 standards, also, back then the 10 didn't exacly mean perfection, but it meant first class gymnastics and nadia's routines were all very original. but now in the COP to get a 10 in the execution score everything has to be perfect, there were also less rules back then so you wouldn't get as many deductions as now.
@@forgetmenot7463 not possible, the perfect 10 scoring did not exist anymore
@@forgetmenot7463 I agree, I know they didn’t have the perfect 10 scoring system in 2012 but McKayla should have received a 16.5 which was the maximum score for her vault.
Yeah she received one literaly just weeks before the olympics at the American cup
So many wonderful gymnasts too mention...I would think Natalia Yurchenko changed the vaulting world, shushenova and omielianchik changed the floor by double pass, and Shannon Miller set the bar of excellence in the 1990s and had some pretty creative beam routines.
As someone raised by the streets, I didn't get to see a lot of gymnastics growing up, save for keri strugg, but what that Olga girl did on those bars was gangster...
Olga Korbut was not considered to be a favorite, but sometimes when circumstances are right they shine like the brightest star.
Olga started it all. 🥰🥰
Yes she did. :)
Ronni... Yup, you've hit the bullseye. Olga is the real and only game-changer.
@@lokendraannamunthodo7857 Olga is my gymnast hero. Thank you.
@@Jen-lc5yc my gymnast hero. I feel she was responsible for gymnastics as a sport to be recognized globally.
@@lokendraannamunthodo7857 .momo
Yo era gimnasta cuando niño y para mi Nadia Comaneci era una *diosa* , tanta perfección, armonía y belleza juntas. No se si haya cambiado el deporte, pero sin duda es una de las más admirables y que inspiraron a muchos otros.
Nadia and Olga considering the time were revolutionaries in the field, a couple of move on Nadia routine are now not allow in gymnastics for been considered too dangerous.
I always loved Khorkina. Elegance in its purest form.
Me too
Gabby Douglas who was referred to as "the athlete who lifted gymnastics and Black athletes to new heights", 2012.
@@utubeoppressesme5945 snow roach over here seems offended
then Simone said let me show you how it's done!
@@utubeoppressesme5945 You a karen ain't ya!?
@@utubeoppressesme5945 only racist karens can reply stuff like that. YOU HAVE NO IDEA of what realife feels like! Get out
Dominique Dawes before her...
Nadia is the athlete who contributed the most to make of the gymnastics the glamorous and elegant sport it is today. She deserves by far the number 1 spot!
I agree wholeheartedly. I think she already holds the number 1 spot.. Nadia influenced the sport the most, of any other gymnast. When an Athlete wins not just Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals... But... The Olympic Order Award... The highest award given by the International Olympic Committee... and then elected by The Global Sports Committee in Vienna... The "Athlete Of The Century" award. It means that you are very special indeed. I don't know of any other Artistic Gymnast achieving the heights that Nadia has. Nadia Comanici ♥️ 1.00
Honestly, I love Nastia. I don't really think she "changed" gymnastics per se, but I have ALWAYS loved that she was one of the last US gymnasts that proved you could be elegant and graceful and artistic and still be a champion. She proved you don't have to be a powerhouse like Shawn (her main competition) in order to get gold.
I agree. I love her style, it's so different. But I don't really think that she chaaanged something, but she is a great and gorgeous model for the next generations.
@ggsooyoun , @Ronald Almeida Cruz Filho - I thought exactly the same when she came up in the video. She was a great gymnast, yes absolutely, but 1) She didn't really change anything & 2) in fact, because of the differences in style, technique & skill selection due to her unusual height, she was actually something of an outlier, & there' isn't too much useful most gymnasts could take from Nastia, beyond inspiration.
Gtfoh, shawn johnson 2020
What Nadia did is nothing compared to what gymnasts do today. Not saying she's not great, but still...
@@cinnamonbear19591 there are many things she did back then that our same gymnast today can't do as well. Most wouldn't even try, for good reason. Just sayin.
Elena mukhina was the best of all times ! She was performing back in the years something that that the gymnastics are doing today!
I agree with 4 out of 5 of the name. Instead of nastia, i change to Oksana / Yurchenko
1) Olga. She is amazing. She start and revolutionized the move that gymnastic have today. She is the one who start with the back tuck on the beam which is the coach never agree coz they knew, it will turn the gymnastic to something new but Olga just go with it.
2) nadia. Of course. The 10 perfection. Inspiring many young girl to do gymnastic. Romania and Karoyli is the one that start gymnastic synonym with young girls.
3) Khorkina. So many new moves. Either on bars, beam or vault.
4) Yurchenko. The one who start yurchenko style vault and still using till nowadays.
5) oksana. Longetivity. Gymnast nowadays start to believe that gymnastic is not a sport for young woman only.
6) simone. The level of the skillsss. Unbelievable!
Agree 100%
Agreed. Licking didn’t do any sand out skills. If it wasn’t her it would have been Johnson.
I must also agree🇦🇺
I would put a few more before Simone in your list
Khorkina also has an areal named after her on floor. I think she is the only gymnast to have a named element in all events, but I am not sure. Kim could have stolen some more moves and named them after her without me noticing 😂
3:50 Svetlana Khorkina was like a supermodel of the gymnastics, so gracious and aesthetically attractive😍
My favorite routines, Olga Korbut on the uneven bars and Kim Zmeskal's 1991 Floor at the World Championships. I never get tires of them. Amazing athletes all of them.
If you were around in the 70's you would know that the 1972 Soviet team at the Munich Olympics, changed the sport forever. People were glued to the TVs because there was a hostage situation at those Olympics and some athletes were killed. Gymnastics was NOT a big sport in the US. Along comes this little Olga Korbut and captures everyone's attention because she was small. "Pixie like" and she did a few things that were really daring by standards back then. The gyms literally starting filling up the next week. It was amazing to watch the influence. Then came Nadia in 76 and the sport boomed. 20, 30, 40 years later, we have more top elites than most countries put together.
really daring even for todays standards - most of her ricks are now banned lol. The korbut flip - far out!
She well deserves first place on that list :-)
Not to mention that Bella (Nadia's coach) came to the USA and supercharged the program here.
The World’s gymnast are now challenging the USA gymnasts…look what happened at the 2020 Olympics and world championships!
That Korbut bars routine is also my #1 choice. She was awarded the silver Olympic medal for that. Nadia's dismount is pretty cool too though.
SILVER?!?
Korbut was also PERFECTION, and beauty
Korbut and comaneci where amazing, they didn’t have those springs that gymnasts like biles have now...and they do amazing artistics things...khorkina, just elegance in his art
I understand why this video wanted to show the parallel bars, for both gymnasts, but it's Korbut's floor routine that steals my heart every time. Her charisma, her charm, smile, she is almost magical, the way she can capture the emotion with her dance.
They didn’t have a trampoline instead of a floor...
Not really the point because the other athletes have what Biles has, but they can't over compete her. But yes those are from a different planet.
@@Inertia888 sorry, but charsma and charm counts for very little in Gymnastics today.
I will always remember the grace and serenity of Ludmilla Tourischeva, her ballet like routines are from another world when compared with the power and intensity of modern routines. Watching old videos of Ludmilla I have to remind myself that they are real-time not slow motion.
th-cam.com/video/n9gBk0P9yEc/w-d-xo.html @0:18 - EPIC!!!!
th-cam.com/video/VfRP4wzAS4Y/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=KimZfan
pure grace
The problem I have is that she was more ballet and dancer than athlete. She rarely did more than one twist in her tumbling passes. Thank goodness for Olga and Nadia putting the athletics in something that is a sport, not a dance.
Love that the gymnasts are stronger these days. Eating more these days. In return, preforming better these days. Many gymnasts had eating disorders back a couple decades ago and before. I’m sure there still are those who struggle but it can’t be as many. In primary school we had an Olympic gymnast visit our school to show her skills but the main point was spreading awareness about her eating disorder and she told us how she wasn’t the only one.
I totally agree, and if you read my post, I credit it to Mary Lou R. She put power and strength into the already established difficult moves. She also showed the world you do not have to be anorexic to be the best.
@Kayleen South Today they look unhealthy and have very abnormal and masculine body frames, they look like bodybuilders. Its so ugly, they are completely devoid of beauty and grace. Strength is only nothing they have, they're not even that flexible
@@kiaaurora exactly, they look like they are on steroids, especially the american ones
@@kiaaurora there is nothing wrong with having a strong build, to be able to get the power and strength that these girls have require muscle! They still have grace and beauty as well, Don’t body shame people. Are you going to shame women who do shot put and discus for having bigger frames? No, because if you were smart you’d know that they need that muscle.
@@utubeoppressesme5945 they don’t look on steroids, it’s called weight training. Not many gymnast do it because they don’t like the strong build the comes with it but those who are really dedicated know that the more muscle the better performance and the bigger muscle helps with them not breaking their bones if they were to mess up
They definitely are a fearless woman gymnastics with routine moves that even I couldn’t do ....they are amazing and perfect in every way 🙌🏼👏🏻👏🏻
Many great girls but the best, the only one will be always Nadia Comăneci. Perfect 10, 7 times.
It's amazing the dedication and discipline these ladies have shown throughout their lives..
Elena Mukhina were here if she wouldn't have that bad accident 🥺
Elena mukhina is my favourite gymnast! She definitely should be on this list, she was the first girl to do a full twisting double back on floor when there were no springs at all, she also was the first to do a double back off beam, and her full twisting Korbut flip off the bars which is now banned.Her story is probably the saddest story in gymnastics.
Agree she should be here. A sad life story and death that was hushed up for many years.Was it the Thomas Salto she was practicing, I forget. So sad and she should be on this list🇦🇺
Despite her short career, Elena is still one of the best gymnasts known. She had no one her equal while she was out there, and only few can match her in routine execution now, even less in grace.
Sally Stuckey yes, that was the element she was practicing...I believe it was against her will as well
Mukhina beat Nadia when she was at her worst ( Nadia came to the 1978WC overweight with less than 2 months of training. Others did manage to be Nadia in AA at that time, but does not make them better than she was.). Nadia beat Mukhina clearly the next year at the Europeans when she started to recover her previous form. So that idea that she had no equal is quite questionable.
Yes right order. I saw Olga live on tv when she stole the world’s heart in the Olympics. Also, Nadia when she received that famous 10. Elegance & ability personified.
Nadia the best....always
I see you chose champions, for me the two most influential female gymnast in modern gymnastics are Natalia Yurchenko and Yang Bo. Natalia Yurchenko because her style of vault is still being performed by both men and women. Yang Bo because she revolutionized the quality of leaps on the beam, the incredible amplitude she had on her leaps is still the gold standard that is still being used today.
Did a female gymnast invented the yurchenko? I thought it was a male
You learn stuff every day
I never hear anyone mention Yang Bo.
@@Tomer_Zaitsev it's her last name. Yep, female. I also thought it was a male.
@@Tomer_Zaitsev Yes, her name was Natalia Yurchenko, she was beautiful.
And a young Filatova. Marvelous dance choreography in her floor routine.
Olga deserves to be on this list as she was the athlete who single-handedly made the world fall in love with women's gymnastics.
Soooooo beautiful. Why did they change bars? The old bars and the skills they supported are so exciting and beautiful.
Olgas bar routine is wonderful
Prefer Nadia and Olga, they were very graceful. No offense to some of the new girls, but they are so stiff.
Agreed, same goes for the boys. Where is the artistic gymnastics these days...
yes, unfortunatelly the artistic part is missing currently in gymnastics. i whish that would change, but there is no chance with the new system. i am not sure why they still call it artistic gymnastics.
Yeah, I kinda miss that from modern Gymnastics. They've focus so much in the difficulty that they have completely stopped being elegant and graceful. Back then things looks effortless
My favorite gymnast was Olga Korbut. Way better than today’s gymnasts
Браво, девочки! Спасибо, что вы были в нашей жизни! Помним вас и любим!!!!
I agree with the list except for Nastia Liukin. Isn't it more meaningful that Gabby Douglas was the first African American to win the individual all-around event? And about Olga, she also was the one who brought more difficult acrobatic moves into the sport (such as back tucks on the beam).
I don't think Gabby has changed the sport in anyway, I feel that Yurchenko, Amanar and even Mustafina left a bigger mark
@@danielrosas6971 Let's say she made history. And as much as I love Mustafina, I wouldn't say she changed the sport nor made history.
I can see how having an african american winning AA can be socially meaningful and inspiring to ppl from the US, but believe me noone else in the world understands the way north americans deal with race issues. As for gymnastics I don’t see how the skin color of a gymnast can change gymnastics. That said Gabby was fantastic. My favourite non-white gymnasts are Betty Okino and Yang Bo (her beam was a game changer too).
@@mauromastrogiacomo4080 agreed skill ,not race or skin color, changes the sport.
Simone biles is so good that she can do all the normal gymnastics moves and know she has to make up her own skills
Yup
And now is doing moves that even the men cant do
@@neeko33harlow4 And now giving up ;)
но она совсем не похожа на девушку, к тому же она принимает заапрещенные препараты, ей это, конечно же помогает настроиться психологически. Двойные стандарты!
I think she s not elegant.
I prefer the Russian style by far
The way that girl on bar that got the first ever 10 moved her body so well omg it was soooooo good😦😦😦😦
I remember watching this
Nadia common atchu
Saw this in high stand said” I’ve never seen anyone get 10!”
@@SamsungS23Ultr comaneci
Samba? Go Simone!!!!! Own that beat & routine!!!!! Loved it!!!!!
5 great ladies , so much hard work..... respect
No question mark after "Simone Biles, best of all time". She's the one.
Graceful precise ballet type gymnastics of the past and the comparison to power gymnastics of the present is opinion a personal preference, Korbet and Comaneche rule in my book.
@Angela Bolton No, she's not. She has zero grace and looks like a caricature of gymnast, very unpleasant to watch.
@@kiaaurora no other gymnast in history could fall twice and win by more than a full point and have that many medals, like it or not Biles is the best. The balletic style of gymnastics died ages ago as it’s no longer rewarded, tumbling difficulty is. The “caricature of a gymnast” comment reeks of petty jealousy…she looks state of the art for her sport, super short and muscular as befits someone with her power and difficulty. If fractured ballet is more your jam, go watch Swan Lake as performed by children’s ballet and swoon in the audience somewhere.
@ThisIs Marisol why would I be jealous? I'm a spectator not a competitor. And I can have any opinion I want. I didn't say she was ugly because she was black, but if you think so that's fine. She and other gymnasts look like bodybuilders, are very masculine and all they can do is tumble. Creative and unique moves are non-existent anymore. She lacks elegance and gracefulness and looks like a dude
@ThisIs Marisol I try to give people the benefit of the doubt before throwing around the comments about being racist, but honestly it wouldn’t surprise me in today’s climate especially. The point is that Simone is state of the art with a body that befits her hours of powerful, difficult tumbling. Like, I could gracefully wave my arms around and potentially do a mock ring leap, there isn’t a chance in hell that I’d be doing a triple twisting double backflip.
Proud to say I’m a gymnast and was named after Nadia Comenichi
Her last name is spelled: Comaneci.
Paula Neary yeah I dont know how to spell it, I didn’t feel like looking it up or going to the part with it
I dont agree with the Nastia pick...wonderful gymnast but not a game changer. Where is Natalia Yurchenko? One of the biggest games changers ever.
yes she is lands almost all of her moves like no one else
@@kordellskeete567 But she didn’t change gymnastics, she didn’t introduce skills like Yurchenko did nearly 40 years ago that gymnasts are still performing and adding to
@@vc23 hm? Am I missing a comment?
@@aioharmony Yeah, it looks like it’s been deleted
@@vc23 Oké
The difference on uneven bars from the 70s to current is crazy. That said, I prefer the present skills to the past.
I prefer the 70s. But I agree the difference is crazy. The bars are so much further apart.
The 90s were the golden age for me
Don't get me wrong: Simone Biles is one of the greatest but...
in a world where lives Nadia Comaneci... there can't be someone greater than her!
Simone is by definition, much greater than Comaneci. That bar routine should have never gotten a 10, especially with that small hop. Judging in the 70s was much looser than it is today. If fact there were conspiracies about judge bribing at the euros. Nadia had 1976 as her prime, but was never able to come back to her former self.
Simone has only lost two all arounds in her senior career. Once to kyla Ross, once to Katelyn ohashi. She basically swept the olympics in the open ended code which is highly more difficult in the perfect ten cop. Simone has thirty world and Olympic medals, biles has an eponymous skill on all but one apparatus, none below a G and one of highest rated vaults in wag at a 6.4.
Undeniably she is the best woman gymnast of all time. You may not like her artistry, but her career doesn’t lie. Comaneci is an icon and between her and Olga she made women’s gymnastics a worldwide exciting sport, inspiring many young women to join gymnastics and Comaneci started a Romanian dynasty that would last into the 21st century. She’s an important icon in gymnastics. But in no way shape or form is she a better gymnast than biles.
@@agent606 let's agree to disagree.Take care! ;-)
Boy bye simone the bestest
@@tristabenton9266 U can see the steroids in Simone, she has no grace is like watching a stiff trained bodybuilder!! And thats a fact!! There wont be another Nadia :(
@@cristianmitan3048 I guess you see what you wanna see.
That's a serious accusation there. Just because someone is short and powerfully built your pea brain sees steroids!! I wonder why she hasn't tested positive
Silivas should also be on the list
Why!?
I don*t see that. I am still not sure who should be the gymnast replacing Nastia as everyone agrees she has no bussiness in this top. She is a great gymnast, but not a top 5. The only Romanian gymnasts I would consider would be Simona Amanar as she didn't only win a lot of medals, but has a vault that is still performed so many years after her retirement. That is huge. But I am not sure that is enough.
Then I would add Nelli Kim and Svetlana Bogenskaya (spelling) too
OMG these girls make it look effortlessly!!
I cannot believe you did not mention Vera Caslavska. She was the one to make gymnastics popular worldwide. Mexico 1968.
Agree 100%
I like this music for Simone better than her current music.
Me too, I HATE her current music. I so hope she changes it before Tokyo.
You're right. It seems much better , and what's more, underscires her ethnic roots, which is a great thing on its own.
@@HB-ey2dk I know you don't hate it plus this is some of her music
@@HB-ey2dk oh and BTW hate is a very strong word dislike is better
This music was used in Rio ( samba).
I remember watching Olga as a kid and being amazed.
Then 4 years later along comes 14 year old Nadia. She was my age and awesome. I had a crush on her.
These two are the ones who took it up a notch and set the stage for everyone else.
1. Nadia -9 olympics medals (5 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze); 2. Ecaterina Szabo 5 olympics medals (4 gold, 1 silver); 3. Simona Amanar 7 olympics medals (3 gold, 1silver, 3 bronze)r; 4. Daniela Silivas 6 olympics medals (3 gold, 2silver, 1 bronze) 5.Nastia Liukin
Olga probably got the first "Oh my God!" after her backflip and grab. Glad she was first.
Simone is absolutely unreal. She looks like she could bench press a pickup truck and do squats with an NFL nose tackle sitting on her shoulders, yet she moves with such smoothness and grace as well as power.
Very, very rare that woman is, she is a physical specimen. And the man who is lucky enough to impregnate her would have won the gene lottery.
@@richardpage5812 I hope you are not raising daughters, or married, or around women.
@@emilerose1424 I'm doing all 3, NOW WHAT ??😐
Simone looks like "she" can bench a dump truck because "she" is not a biological woman but a male that was castrated long ago when he was a child. Still has male adrenal glands which can pump out 5x the testosterone as the average healthy and fit real woman. That isnt fair to the other women. But Simone isnt the only MTF gymnast.
Watching past gymnasts especially “artistic, graceful” gymnasts rather than powerful ones, it’s really refreshing as we don’t see graceful ones anymore. I truly miss it tbh, it’s all skills now, less about the artistry and beauty.
That's why I love watching the Dutch ladies and Canada's Brooklyn Moors. They truly bring the artistry back into the routines. And they've been known to win event finals even in this age of athleticism.
@@dianaosteen693 This Dutchman says thanks.
What do you mean by artistic graceful? Like moving their hands around all pretty like and dancing? What is so appealing about that? There are gymnasts today who can do difficult skills with high execution levels. That is more interesting to watch than to see who can do a perfect twirl on one foot or move their hands around in exaggerated manners.
@@dianaosteen693 The skills are 1000× more difficult today than 20-30 years ago. These new girls are turning flipping twisting all in the same motions. Simone is on the verge of being illegal because a lot of the so called graceful girls can't keep up.
This is why I prefer watching college gymnastics. There is skill, artistry, and they look like they are having more fun. Elite gymnastics has become boring.
Nadia Comaneci was a game changer. She literally forced the entire gymnastics to up its game.
wish Mustafina was on here, however, it is a great list. I just admire everything she went through to become a 2 peat UB champion at the Olympics and her World Champ title and many, many medals. She gave a magic to Russia I had not seen in a while, I miss her terribly.
Nastia is so artistic when it comes to gymnastics she really brings that out. She’s amazing. I don’t know why you guys hate her she forever changed gymnastics.😌😌
No, she didn't!
These are all great gymnasts, but not all of them “changed” gymnastics. Olga and and Nadia did, as they opened the way to a new type of gymnast. Maybe Khorkina also showed that gymnasts with her line could also excell. But Biles, besides being super good, did not change anything. She uses to the highest possible level the techniques introduced by others. Yurchenko changed the way to do vault. Luconi (who was she will you ask yourself) introduced the ‘modern’ giant circle tecnique that allows so many difficulties nowadays. Retton revolutionized the technique for the double layout. There are many more examples of gymnasts that really changed the course of the discipline, would be nice to see a video on that.
Not sure how you can't include Simone in the changing of gymnastics history?! Hell she's got 4(FOUR) Moves named The Biles 1-4and all 4 are ranked as the most difficult elements to achieve. She's even had one move eliminated because the Olympic committee and Gymnastics ranked it too dangerous for most anybody else to even attempt. (Including males).
please make a video on "gymnasts that really changed the course of the discipline" then that display the efforts of your opinion
@@donaldholderdoc2910 Adding elements to the code of points is not enough to "change gymnastics for ever". It makes Biles an epic gymnast, but if the element is never repated nor improved it will not change much in gymnastics. The example you make is self explanatory. Biles added an element that is being strongly discouraged and that therfore might never be replicated again nor developed. When Muchina showed that it was possible to combine a double back with a twist she (and her trainer Klimenko, rest in peace) changed gymnastics forever.
I think Biles did make a difference though, that hopefully will change gymnastics for ever. She was brave enough to report the abuses she suffered, showing that even an active leading gymnast can expose these awful practices. Abuses were not new to gymnastics, but she reported them while still competing. That is a great example.
@@mauromastrogiacomo4080 I won't/ can't argue about you assessment of what she's done for the active and future ladies as far as standing against sexual and even emotional abuses that's for sure. I still however, believe that her level of achievements in adding elements that CAN BE improved upon and mastered have changed gymnastics. Yes she's had one element banned, but there are still 4 that are legal, achievable and possibly improved upon for the future gymnasts. At least I hope so that is. I can't believe that Simone will be the epitome of greatness to never be improved upon by the few who are out there watching her now as little ones or perhaps their little one to come. In that regard, improving and changing our current standard is the be all of sports. In that way, I definitely believe Simone Biles has changed, altered gymnastics.
Have you compared the difficulty of the routines by Biles as compared to the others? Who is willing to take the kind of risk that Biles takes?
Olga not only introduced the world to women’s gymnastics, they loved her
Most people of today do not know what it was like! and Nadia was the beautiful icing on top, ps, the ABC call of Olga’s bars would have been so much better- it was nearly as great as her routine
'A la poutre' as well as 'barre asymetrique' just are amazing and brilliant performances ever!
The uneven bars from Korbut is spectacular!😯
Nadia for ever. ❤️
👍👍👍👏👏👏❤❤❤😘😘😘
Wow!"the last two gymnasts were admirable🥇🥇👍
Biles have the same grace that a close door
Elena mukhina. And korbuts was breathtaking still
There is only one queen in Gymnastic world and she is Nadia! She will be remember forever and ever, she changed Gymnastic, no one else!
It began with Olga Korbut. And something like that just now occurs in woman figure skating.
( By the way, the first two gymnastics whom this video begins with, are good, of course, but being mentioned in the same breath as Korbut and Komaneci - that seems too much a little bit. A person who really deserved to be there is the late Elena Mukhina.)
Simone biles has been more innovative and done more for artistic gymnastics than both Olga and Nadia combined.
@@agent606 1) it is almost 50 years (FIFTY, non fifthteen!) after Korbut, Komaneci 2) The performances of the last two are look cool even now! Time wil tell what about the contemprorary gumnasts you mentined
What about Simona Amanar? She created a new vault skill, which 20 years later is still used in routines.
She*d be a good replacement for Nastia, but I am still not sure she is in top 5. She did win a lot of medals and she does have a vault named after her, but did she change gymnastics forever? For a while (longer than other successful gymnasts) sure.
Maybe I would mention here Agnes Keleti representing Hungary who won several olympic medals in her mid thirties (she is the oldest olympic medalist I think) after being expelled from her club for not being "aryan" and having to go into hiding to survive holocaust (her father didn't). And she is now 100 years old! Although in her case, is more a story of overcomming adversity and winning.
I am honestly thinking of the chinese gymnasts in the 90s. I remeber them as being spectacular on uneaven bars, but my memory might play tricks on me.
@Almira Izumchensky Khorkina I actually understand. She proved that tall gymnasts can be successful as well; and she was very successful. She has an impressive medal record, she went to 3 olympic games, she has many skills with her name and again, she proved tall gymnasts can be on the top. That is worl changing. Many trainers only select tiny girls for gymnastics, the taller ones have little chance to be taken serious. And this is not only for girls true, for guys as well. My ex was 1.74 and he was considered way to tall to be successful and he was told this his entire career. It is nice to see Svetlana up there, maybe a little girl that is not so little can still hope and not give up.
If you are going to single out just one skill, Natalia Yurchenko is far more deserving than Amanar. Her approach to the vault technique goes way beyond the Amanar itself.
@@DJDiegoGarcia I don't think the user only recommended Simona for the one skill. She had an impressive medal record as well, better than Yurchenko if you compare the two. I would rather chose Simona, but that is a personal opinion. Yurchenko was also active for only a "short" period of time.
@@potocatepetlI think the point here is not who is better gymnast but more who left a legacy. Gymnasts are still using the Yurchenko vault including Biles
Simone is my favourite and she will always be it you see the fun in her face if she is doing gymnastics❤❤
My all time fave. I watched ALL of the women's events in the 2012 Olympics in China. She was so great. So glad she got the Gold.