With the Olympics coming up, I thought it would be good to do a blog about my favorite memories and other favorite things from watching the olympics.  This is part part one.  I will do part two after this years Winter Olympics.

I didn’t really watch any other sports besides Gymnastics for a while when watching the Summer Olympics

Starting with the 1996 Summer Olympics from Atlanta:

Moment: Watching the US Women’s Gymnastics Team win team gold ahead of Russia and Romania.

Routines:

Floor: Dominque Moceanu -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBcODKp7c9s

Her routine was the most fun to watch out of everyones routines, and she had the best floor music out of everybody too.

Beam: Shannon Miller-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmtcnoHa66U

Shannon Miller is known for her work on beam.

Bars: Svetlana Khorkina- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_31UBVph1w

Her lines on the release skills are gorgeous

Vault:- Simona Amanar- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2537Z9qhYU

It was one of the most difficult vaults to be competed at the Olympics

2000:

Moment: As awful as it seems, watching some of the Russian gymnasts take off their silver medals in disgust.

Routines:

Floor: Jaimie Dantzscher-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XD60OXvoX4

I loved the difficulty that she had in this routine, and I also loved her choreography

Beam: Dominique Dawes-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzrdPmqtBKg

Bars: Elise Ray-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p8yi-xn_NA

Vault: Yelena Zamolodchikova-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkterkA9wkI

2004:

Moment: The fact that the Olympics returned home to Greece, and watching Carly Patterson become the first US woman since Mary Lou win All Around Gold

Favorite Routines

Floor: Daniela Sofronie- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBNWwhs2qwc

I loved her music and choreography

Beam: Terin Humphrey-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2OcpSQRt8Q

The tumbling and the difficulty of her mount set her routine apart from others

Bars: Carly Patterson-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONc4NxtBZ0Y

This routine was solid and mistake free.

Vault: Catalina Ponor-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n-qXxzFsHI

I loved the height that she got on her vault

2008:

Moment: Nastia and Shawn Johnson being 1, 2 in the All Around standings

Routines:

Floor: Alicia Sacramone- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6EZXeat_KI

The amount of height that she got on her tumbling passes was insane

Beam: Shawn Johnson-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4KNKI2UZLc

That beam was having nightmares about her routine

Bars: Nastia Liukin- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtJeI_zioRQ

Her pirouettes are absolutely gorgeous

Vault: Cheng Fei

The difficulty in this vault was crazy and the height that she got off the table was insane

2012:

Moment: The United States Women win team gold for the first time since ’96, Aly Raisman winning gold on floor, and Gabby Douglas winning All Around gold

Routines:

Floor: Aly Raisman- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWJuDkwevU

She had fun with this routine and it showed.  Her tumbling, especially the triple twist was insane.  And I loved her music too.

Beam: Aliya Mustafina-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9RIBBeSBMk

I love how much grace she has in her dance elements on the beam, she even makes her tumbling look graceful too.

Bars: Gabby Douglas-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWyAqQB9pvc

They don’t call her the flying squirrel for nothing.  The height that she gets on her release skills is unparalleled.

Vault: McKayla Maroney-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPJhhObthY

I mean come on, it’s hard not to pick her vault as the favorite.