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Bobby -> RE: What is your favorite Olympic moment? (8/5/2008 11:35:44 PM)
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It's hard but some great ones. 1980 was well-known because of the bad state of the nation. Kerri's Vault was a big lie. It took place at 5 in the afternoon to please the European Broadcast Union (which outpaid NBC, since governments were involved) and America didn't know about it until late into the night, despite the record crowd to watch an Olympic gymnastics event of over 35,000 (remember the Georgia Dome was split in half for this). Mary Lou's vault came in a "tainted" Olympics according to most historians because the Soviets weren't in Westwood and she beat a gymnast who lied about her age. (Ekaterina Szabo, now a gymnastics coach in France, was 17, not 16 as listed. Romanian gymnasts' ages were frequently falsified to enter meets before they were eligible. This nearly led to the arrest of Daniela Silivas (now Harper), the Romanian who was All-Around Champion in Seoul, when she applied for a marriage licence in Cobb County (where she currently resides with her husband Scott, and their two children, Jaden and Ava). She had to call the hospital in Romania to get her real birth certificate because she was given a forged certificate to enter meets underage.) P. S. Bobby did meet Mary Lou personally and has her autograph in his collection. It's one of his keepsake autographs he still has even though it's been 18 years since that. It was fun for a 14-year old to meet her at 22.
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