Turning the pages back... July 29, 1996 (07/25/04)

Turning the pages back...

July 29, 1996

Since July 29, 1996, was a day when Ukraine was winning Olympic medals in bunches, it was only proper that gymnast Liliya Podkopayeva, Ukraine's brightly shining star, won herself two more in the women's individual events.

On July 29, the 4-foot-9-inch phenom first won a silver on the balance beam, her second medal of the Olympics, and then triumphed in the floor exercise, outperforming a strong group for her second gold medal and third over all. She was the gold medalist in the individual all-around competition on July 23.

Not to be outdone, Rustam Sharipov won his first gold medal here on the parallel bars. He was the best performer among the Ukrainian men, who won a bronze medal in the team event on July 29.

Podkopayeva and Sharipov joined weightlifter Timor Taimazov, who broke the world record in his gold-medal winning performance, and Oleksander Bahach, bronze medalist in the shot put, to give Ukraine a total of five medals on July 29 alone.

But it was Podkopayeva, who kept frustrating her opposition by raising her performance a notch when needed, who fittingly ended Ukraine's "golden Monday" with a stunning performance in the floor exercise.

Her exercise, a combination of delicate balletic movement, sprightly stepping and strong tumbling, left no doubt that this world champion was the best. The judges gave her a 9.887, which lifted her above a tightly packed field of 9.8 scores. It was the highest score handed out by the judges during those Olympics, Podkopayeva receiving the only two scores of 9.887 the judges awarded. Earlier the 17-year-old had won a silver medal on the balance beam, losing the gold by .037 points to Shannon Miller of the United States.

Sharipov, the men's gymnast, surprised everyone with his stunning victory on the parallel bars. He completed a series of double reverse somersaults and had a strong landing off the bar that wowed the crowd and the judges, who gave him a score of 9.837. He broke down in tears after the score for Jair Lynch of the United States was announced as 9.825, which gave Sharipov the gold and the American the silver. Sharipov explained afterwards that he had found a focus he had not had in earlier competitions. "I realized that I was not just representing myself, but my country as well."

The three medals won by Sharipov and Podkopayeva gave the gymnastics squad a total of five medals, three gold, one silver and one bronze, which was second only to Russia's harvest of three golds, two silver and three bronze.

Source: "Podkopayeva, Sharipov shine during winning day for Ukraine," by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, August 4, 1996, Vol. LXIV, No. 31.

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