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The 'Most
Unflattering Warm-ups' award
Russian
women - They wore black velvety warm-ups with sparkling
accents. The way the velvet material folded
it made all of them look like they were with child!
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The 'Bad Day
at the Office' award
Julija
Kovaliova (LTU) - During prelims Julija, who is a wild card
qualifier for the 2000 Games, blows almost all her routines,
scoring sub 9's on all apparatus and thus eliminated from
further qualification. But hey, she's got Sydney to look
forward to!
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The 'Most
Disappointing Civic Event' award
VE
Day Celebration at the Arc d' Triomphe - I thought they
were going to have a huge parade with tanks, soldiers and
that kind of thing. They ended up just having some military
band play at
the Arc with a big flag flying underneath the monument.
There was still traffic going around the Arc and you could
hardly hear any of the music. A very lackluster display
for what I would thought was an important event in French
history.
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The 'Steamed
Beyond Repair' award
Lisa
Mason (GBR) - The British team was hanging out in the lobby
in preparation to go sightseeing. Lisa goes back up to her
room to do something, so the others wait for her. After
standing around interminably, they ditch. Lisa eventually
returns to the lobby to
find everyone gone. Boy did she turn red!
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The
gargantuan Musee du Louvre. With the exception
of a few significant pieces, it was mostly
'been there, done that' for me.
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The 'Cool
Tricks That Will Never Be Seen' award
Simona
Amanar (ROM) - Does a two and a half yurchenko vault in
practice.
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The 'Worst
Local Tax' award
TV
Tax - I am told that Paris residents have to pay around
$85 US per month (!!) just to possess a TV!! Unreal.
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The 'Coolest
Name' award
Renate
Kiss (HUN).
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The 'What
the Heck is Going on Here??' award
Metro
Line 6 - On the way to see Jim Morrison's grave, we waited
for an unusually long time at the Metro Line 6 station.
During our wait, there were three trains that went by in
the other direction. What's up with that?? Then to top it
off, a completely empty train finally did come in our direction,
but it went right past us!! Even the locals had their mouths
open and were aghast. Eventually, another train came by
and stopped, but it was packed. Ugh.
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Where
the action is: Champs Elysees as seen from
the Arc d' Triomphe.
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An
unusually reserved Crisci probably had other
things going on in her head.
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The 'Best
Metro Station' award
The
Louvre - Modern, clean, tourist friendly signage, and a
great mall. Impressive!
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The 'Three-M's-in-a-Row'
award
Team
ESP - Placed 9th, 10th and 11th in the individual prelim
standings with Moya, Moro and Martinez respectively.
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The 'Most
Uninspired FX Routine' award
Tatiana
Zharganova (BLR) - During the team competition, Tatiana
performed an unusually lifeless routine. It seemed liked
she just wanted to get it over with, go back to the hotel
and play with the Game Boy.
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The
Russian juniors (top) had no idea where
their flag was. But Svetlana Khorkina guides
the senior team in the right direction.
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The 'Special
Guests' award
Peggy
Liddick, Li Ning (although he didn't stay for very long).
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The 'Team
That Can Fit the Most Gymnasts in an Elevator' award
France
- 10 gymnasts, two coaches and a judge in an elevator that
has a posted maximum capacity of 8 people or 800kg.
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The 'Tourist's
Best Friend' award
Metro
stations with escalators.
Numerous
money exchange stations.
English
speaking natives.
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The 'Prettiest
Gymnast' award
Vasiliki
Milloussi (GRE) - Wow!!!
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Notre
Dame - Pretty darned big, but maybe not
as big as anticipated??
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Eva
Serrano was not afraid to show off her best
side!
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The 'Worst
Airline' award
United
Airlines - The flight itself was ok, and I liked the little
TV screens with multiple channels for every seat. But they
had a very long delay with the luggage at Charles de Gaulle
airport and then they switched baggage claims on us, which
made everyone irate. At CGD on the way back, it was horrendous,
visions of Beijing. The UA employees were disorganized and
pushy, and I had to stand in line twice to get a ticket
when I had in fact ordered electronic ticketing. Swine!
The flight back was again OK, but at LAX they had another
delay with the luggage and switched baggage claims on us
again! In the most recent customer satisfaction polls on
domestic airlines, United was dead last. I guess they earned
it.
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The 'Most
Serious Faces' award
Team
France and Romania.
Adriana
Crisci (ITA) - Usually a hyper bundle of energy, Adriana
had a very intense look throughout the competition.
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The 'I Don't
Mind Getting My Picture Taken' award
Viktoria
Karpenko and Team UKR.
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The 'Coolest
City in the World' award
Paris
- Wow!!! What a town!! This meet was the perfect fusion
of vacation and work. Before I left, my colleagues and I
had a list of things to see and do. When we arrived we hit
the ground running, and soon we tossed that list out and
just did whatever came to mind. Just the ability to go anywhere
at any time really made the whole trip much more enjoyable.
Paris is definitely a city that I will be going to again
in the future.
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