we all have the occasional awkward
moment but fortunately most of us don't
have to worry about anyone broadcasting
them internationally
olympic gymnasts aren't always so lucky
these awkward moments are a great
reminder that even the most impressive
athletes aren't really that different
from
us olga corbett was a 17 year old soviet
gymnast when she became famous for her
performance at the 1972
munich games the young gymnast impressed
the entire world with her routines at
the beginning of the competition
she was the first gymnast to do a
backflip on the uneven bars
a daring move which was later coined the
core bit flip
recalling the games later corbett said
according to her website
it was amazing one day i was a nobody
and the next day i was a star
after catching everyone's attention at
the beginning of the games it was all
the more shocking when she later had a
disastrous performance on the uneven
bars
she made three significant mistakes
throughout the routine dropping her to
seventh place
the most blatant of these errors was the
awkward start
instead of pulling herself off the
ground and starting the routine as she
meant to
corbett's feet hung too low and skidded
against the mat
the embarrassing mistake seemed to throw
off the rest of her routine
speaking about the moment decades later
to bbc corbett revealed she was as
surprised by her mistake as the audience
was
i didn't feel anything because i was
shocked but in a strange turn of events
the error made corbett an even larger
sensation when the camera caught the
young girl in tears it endeared her to
viewers around the world
savannah vincent was on team usa for the
2012 olympic games where she competed on
the trampoline
vincent has been doing trampoline
routines since she was a young girl
during an interview with usa gymnastics
she recalled
i was six years old and i joined a
competitive gym that was involved with
power tumbling and trampoline
since day one i was hooked on trampoline
while the word trampoline may have you
thinking of kids playing in the backyard
it means a lot more in gymnastics
these athletes perform fantastic
acrobatics high in the air using the
trampoline as a springboard
despite these impressive feats vincent
became most well-known for the awkward
faces she made during her routine
it's not surprising that vincent didn't
have time to think about the faces she
was making while she was twisting in the
air
however a few snapshots of her awkward
trampoline face became a bit of a meme
after the competition fortunately
vincent had a lot more to be proud of
than any embarrassment that might have
caused
at 19 she was the youngest trampoline
competitor that year
the first american to ever qualify for
the trampoline finals and she finished
sixth place in women's trampoline during
the 2012 london olympic games
michaela maroony was the favorite to win
vault before she competed her coach
seemed to be entirely confident in
maroon's ability to take gold
however maroonie had a disappointing
performance during the women's vault
final
while her first vault was as close to
perfect as everyone expected from her
the second left her dismayed maroonie
fell to a sitting position instead of
sticking the landing
dropping her to second place in the
competition the unexpected fall was
awkward enough but marooney was also
caught on camera during the medal
ceremony making an unimpressed face
marooney later told inside gymnastics
magazine that the face didn't mean
anything
saying if you watch the video it's two
seconds and i remember thinking did i
just make a face
because it's natural i do it all the
time but that didn't stop the internet
from making this small moment into a
meme
it became so well known that maroon even
posed with barack obama later on both of
them pulling the iconic face
she told usa today the whole world
pretty much got obsessed with it
every single day i get asked by people
to do the face so i'm bringing it along
with me now for the rest of my life
during the 1996 olympics team usa and
the russians were battling it out for
first place in gymnastics
as they reached the final competition
vault the u.s had a slight lead
but after lackluster vaults from the
other u.s gymnasts including the
youngest dominique mochiano
falling on both attempts that lead was
slipping away
the pressure was on carrie strug to get
her team the gold
on her first vault strug landed badly
injuring her ankle
strugg was in incredible pain but knew
she had to vault again for her team to
win
showing remarkable determination the us
gymnast completed the second vault on
her injured leg
the famous image of her hopping is after
she stuck the landing despite her injury
and before she collapsed to the ground
in pain
this defining moment gave team usa their
first gold medal in the team all around
struggle stood on the podium with her
leg in a cast and still in obvious pain
as they accepted the historic win
recalling the triumph strugg told l i'll
remember the moment on the podium
forever
i definitely had some contrasting
emotions i thought i was going to look
like mary lou retton
and instead i'm crying i have no pants
on
never comfortable to get emotional in
front of a crowd unfortunately for
victoria kimova
she had the embarrassing experience of
having the world witness her televised
reaction when she realized she came in
second to team usa's gabby douglas
during the 2012 london games komova a
russian gymnast and douglas were two of
the top competitors
komova gave an impressive floor routine
hoping to score higher than her
competitor but when her scores were
announced putting her just behind
douglas the 17 year old gymnast couldn't
contain her devastation the cameras
caught kamova crying bitterly as her
teammate
and coach tried to comfort her the
distraught gymnast couldn't even stand
to keep the silver medal on she took it
off quickly after dismounting the podium
reportedly because it was too heavy
when asked about her feelings komova
made no secret of her disappointment
telling reuters
i'm still upset because i could have won
gold but i just did not get it
when i entered the arena i thought i
would win gold after the tough loss
kamova planned to compete in the 2016
rio games but sadly that plan changed
when severe back pain made it impossible
during the rio games great britain's
alyssa ellie downey ended up in an
uncomfortable position on the floor
after landing wrong after a somersault
this was the 17 year old athlete's first
time at the olympics
and she'd already completed the bar and
beam without trouble
things took a turn for the worse during
her floor routine she didn't rotate far
enough
for one trick and landed awkwardly on
her head and neck
the crowd gasped audibly and photos of
her ungraceful landing circulated the
internet soon after
just as shocked as the crowd was
downey's sister and teammate rebecca
downey who told usa today
it was pretty scary and i've never
really seen her do that if she does it
like that she manages to at least get
over and land on her back
so it was a bit of a shock to the system
and i'm just really glad she's okay
downey bravely tried to power through
the rest of the routine but eventually
had to stop
according to the mirror downey said she
felt a crunch when she landed and
realized she was too dizzy to attempt
her final tumble
she told usa today that she felt dazed
explaining
i think it's more of just a panic thing
initially you just panic you think the
worst
however after leaving and getting a
checkup downey returned for the final
portion of the day
she came back to compete on vault and
landed both attempts nicely despite her
prior injury
competing in the last portion helped put
great britain in third place going into
the finals
gabby douglas won big at 2012's london
olympic games
not only did she help secure first place
for team usa but she also won the
individual all-around
these victories broke impressive records
making douglas the first american
gymnast to win gold for both team and
individual competitions in the same
games
she was also the first woman of color
from any nationality to become the
individual all-around
champion after her big win douglas told
the washington post
you just have to not be afraid and go
out there and just dominate you have to
go out there and be a beast
because if you don't you're not going to
be on the top so it's no wonder that
everyone thinks of douglas as the
champion she is but that doesn't mean
she hasn't had a few awkward mistakes in
her illustrious career
one of these mistakes was during the
same 2012 games while on the balance
beam
douglas was shaky at the start of her
balance beam routine checking her
balance a few times
towards the middle of the routine she
slipped on a landing leading her to fall
from the beam
she hung awkwardly with one leg and her
hands on the beam before getting up and
starting the routine again check out one
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