Nobody move!...I dropped a contact lens...
Yeah, I know, the title's confusing. But as I've said, it's been WAY too hard to narrow down 5 memorable Floor routines from Camp Australia. There have been so many great ones in the years I've personally been watching (and attending) competitions, and no doubt many more before then as well. Please understand that this list has a slight margin of influence brought on by YouTube and access to footage of routines therein.
Ah yes, there's the straight-jacket making a slight appearance again.
So the list for this particular edition is extended to 10. 10! 10 febbulous floor aikser-size routines, ah ah ah ah ah!
...Sorry. I was really into Sesame Street as a kid (though some may argue it's also a fitting impersonation of Bela Karolyi. Discuss).
So warm up your jazz-hands and dust off your Sparkle Motion bedazzler-covered jacket, it's time to go tumbling and twirling!
10. Hayley Wright, 2005 SCATS Elite Qualifier
View it here
Hayley, as we've already seen, had flexibility and balletic lines to boot. What she lacked in tumbling she more than made up for in expression. This was one of her last routines before her retirement, and one of her very few competed internationally. Love that planche before the end. Would Hayley have gone well in NCAA competition? Probably. She'd certainly give Corey Hartung a run for her money!
9. Hollie Dykes, 2006 Commonwealth Games apparatus final
View it here.
Hollie didn't always have the most difficult tumbling (though I always hoped for the day she'd get the double layout back) but you couldn't fault her polish in her dance elements. Leg extension, toepoint, neatness all 'round. She won gold with this routine right after snagging a silver (some argued that she deserved gold) in the beam final.
8. Zeena McLaughlin, 1996 Olympic team trials
View it here.
I was going to use her 1998 Arthur Gander Memorial one, with the violin music she used for a few years that always got the crowd clapping along... but then I found this little gem of the little gem herself! Zeena was a gymnast who combined explosive power with poise and refined grace. Here she is in her early years, showing a lot of promise (thanks particularly to Lisa Bradley, who also choreographed #2!). The sound isn't great, I think it's the ubiquitous Zorro music? (Wow, gotta say, I really miss broadcasted competitions...except for that woman from FoxSports they always lumped alongside Liz Chetkovich...)
7. Monette Russo, 2005 World Championships all-around
View it here.
I know, it's really not the most polished of routines alongside the likes of Skinner or Slater (her Athens Olympic teammates), but given that gymnastics gets such a raw deal in this country, I can say from experience (because I was THERE to see it happen!) that never have I felt such urgency in gym spectators; never have I felt an audience mentally willing a competitor on so much because a hit routine would count for so much. She must have been feeling so much pressure but she sold the routine really well. Everyone was screaming in their heads for 'Our Netty' to stand up her double pike to get into medal contention, and those screams manifested themselves for real once she did. The roof of the arena nearly lifted off, it was awesome!
6. Lisa Skinner, 2000 Olympic Games all-around final.
View it here.
"Arabian Princess", one of Lisa's best routines ever. This was her second Olympics, as she had 'retired' after Atlanta but came back with a bang for the Sydney crowd. Lisa's 8th-place AA finish still stands as the highest ever for an Australian artistic gymnast, and at the same meet she became the first to ever make an Olympic floor final (where she also finished 8th). Apparently she designed the leotard too? Nice job on all counts, Lisa!
5. Katarina Frketic, 1999 International Team Championships
View it here.
Under new head coach Peggy Liddick's watchful eye, the late 1990's saw the Aussie women's team embark on a pink-and-purple-clad assault on the international competition scene, getting as much experience as they could pack in as the lead-up to their home Olympics began. Kat was a light and nimble performer who made the most of an over-used piece of music, getting nice height in all her skills here and extending from her toes right through to her fingertips. Shame about the step out of bounds. She and Alex Croak were similar in their execution. Kat was also a member of the 1998 Commonwealth Games team that scored a historic gold in Kuala Lumpur.
4. Dasha Joura, 2007 Stuttgart DTB World Cup
View it here.
The routine for which she won her first World Cup gold medal! Miss Sass had tough competition from World AA bronze medallist Jade Barbosa but came out with the goods in both the apparatus final *and* the informal "winner's final". Dasha was her usual exciting self, showing off this highly-regarded routine packed with artistic flair and spunky personality. It's also one of the few times we've seen an Aussie competitor in red, and doesn't she look great?
3. Alexandra Croak, 2002 Commonwealth Games team final
View it here.
The striking and sure-footed Alexandra put up a good score with this routine. The whole team, in fact, had good floor routines in this meet and some unique choreography. As much as I love Beth T and her mates at Team GB, I have to say England couldn't hold a candle to Oz on floor.The music wasn't the kind of lively gypsy fiddle song or techno track we're used to hearing. Her beautiful choreography drew you in and made your gaze follow her all around the floor.
2. Allana Slater, 2004 Olympic Games team final
View it here.
Allana put her best effort in for the girls in our first ever Olympic team final appearance. This was a polished and engaging performance, the kind we'd come to expect from the elegant Ms Slater. Real expression, real drama, a real highlight of the competition. Sadly she missed out on the floor final. The green aboriginal-art-inspired leotards looked pretty ace on the team, though!
1. Trudy McIntosh, 2000 Olympic Games preliminaries.
View it here.
Yes, she goes out of bounds but I just love this routine in all other aspects. It was one of my favourites (if not THE favourite, I can't remember too many as my video got damaged) from the Games. It really got the crowd 'rocking' as I believe the commentators remarked. It was upbeat, it got people clapping, it was patriotic without being too cheesy, Trudy herself 'rocked' a double layout with a full twist (among other impressive tumbles) and gave the packed-out home crowd something to cheer about. It was fantastic and could have brought her so much more were it not for the unfortunate step outside the lines.
Rest assured, a "From the Archives" edition will be collated soon, for all you readers older and wiser than I who'd like to see some old-school Aussies in action...
Apologies if any of this post turns out skew-wiff, I'm uploading from one of the computers at uni. Photo credits to Gymbox and kostikal.net
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