savchenkoboss
Banned Member
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Or is still Liukin or Retton?
Ugh. Retton wasn't even the best American gymnast of the 1980s let alone ever.
In terms of sheer talent and being a true all arounder , gymnasts like Phoebe Mills and Brandy Johnson were stronger than she was. In terms of longevity and accolades , her 1984 teammates Julianne McNamara and Kathy Johnson were more impressive. Retton benefitted from being in the right place at the right time with the right competitors boycotting and the judges choosing to overlook the right things.
Retton had her peak in late 1983-84, but she never went to a World Championships nor a World Cup and really only competed against the Soviets only during the downtime events like the ScAm Cup and Chunichi Cup .Julianne was at her peak in 84 but failed to beat Retton for the AA title in Los Angeles due to major errors on beam in both team optionals and the All Around finals, and floor in the All Around finals. She might have been a more talented gymnast but IMO Retton was better since she was a stronger competitor under pressure always. She was also much better on vault where Julianne was unfortunately always very weak, and by an even bigger margin than Julianne was better than Mary Lou on bars.
Johnson was unlucky to peak around the point of the boycott and was just too old by 84.
Mills and Johnson were just ok, never true elites. Brandy is like a poor womens Kim Zmeskal at best, the best U.S gymnast of 89 though. Mills was the best of the lackluster 88 squad.
I wouldn't say Mills and Johnson were true All Arounds. Mills was excellent on beam and just ok on all other 3 events. Johnson, well take a look at some of her bar routines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eVkzU_s_0I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLSvbJLid_4
She can barely even spin a full pirouette or do a half decent shoot, and was inconsistent. Inconsistent on beam too, but atleast she was better there when she hit.
I prefer the lines of McNamara and Liuken