how could this ever be?

Well, now that the dust has settled from World's, I am just amazed how gymnastics has changed in at least the past 40 years. Russia not even bronze? Romania having to qualify again to even get to the Olympics? Back in the age of Soviet superiority, they had a kind of serene superiority. They knew they were the best, and they were, as gymnastics was then. How well I remember when Cathy Rigby, after all the newspaper and magazine and newspaper coverage she had gotten, especially for her silver BB medal, did not even make beam finals at Munich. Her coach went into a rage, saying, "This is the worst rape in the history of sport!" When Larisa Latynina was informed of this, she said something that I still do not know was nasty or nice (maybe it was both). She said something like, "The American girls are so graceful, so lovely, that I suspect we judge them a little too generously, if anything." Whew! Someone remarked that LL should be in the diplomatic corps, if she wasn't already. It was painful to see the Russian girls falling like autumn leaves from the beam, and the Romanians messing up. Have they fallen so far, or have the Americans just gotten so much better as gymnastics is practiced today? Surely the great champions in past years are an influence on them, or should be. Oh, well, on to Rio--

how could this ever be?