What are your favorite and least favorite eras for each team/ country? Feel free to include powerhouses and/ or minor players.
Romania: favorite quad would no doubt be '85-'88; Dobre and Silivas -- enough said! Least favorite era would be '97-'00; although they were successful during this time, I found them to be mostly boring; Gina Gogean's medal haul at 1997 Worlds and the Sydney team's win were especially uninspiring. I thought their bars deterioration became particularly evident during this quad (see Amanar 1996 UB vs. any year thereafter). Marinescu and Raducan were notable exceptions, though neither had a very long career.
China: favorite period would be the mid-90s through 2000; I loved the 1995 & 1997 Worlds teams, as well as the 1996 & 2000 Olympic teams -- grace, difficulty, and innovativeness. Mo Huilan, Meng Fei, Liu Xuan, Bi Wenjing, Ling Jie, Yang Yun, and Kui Yuan Yuan were all brilliant. I'm probably forgetting some names. I've found recent Chinese to be more boring, especially on beam; they seem to no longer have nice rhythm, though maybe this is more of a problem with the COP; they are still great on bars.
Russia: this is a tough call for me. The mid-90s through 2000 Russians were fabulous -- Dina Kochetkova, Oksana Fabrichnova, Roza Galieva, Svetlana Khorkina, Anna Kovalyova, and Ekaterina Lobaznyuk were all great. I'm still devastated that the Sydney team did not hit in TF. I also loved the 2010-2012 Russians -- hard to argue with the talent and beauty of Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva, and Dementyeva. What a shame they couldn't put it together in London TF. In spite of the fact that they came home medal-less, I found the core of the 2008 Beijing team to be very stylish; Pavlova, Afanasyeva, Semynova, and Kramarenko all had very nicely choreographed FXs that make the current and recent Russian FXs look pretty dull. I'm still bitter that they basically handed the bronze medal to the Romanians. As for a low point for the Russians, the '01 - '04 quad was pretty bleak. I don't recall many standouts, aside from a past-peak Khorkina, and Pavlova's Athens performance. The Athens team was lucky to medal; I found them mostly uninspiring (except Pavs and Khorky) and would have preferred to see the prettier/ more interesting Ukrainians medal in that TF.
USA is another one that is difficult to decide for me. In terms of success/ dominance, the most recent two quads could be considered peaks. Favorite athletes from '09 - '16 would have to be Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Alyssa Baumann, and Ashton Locklear (I hope Locklear continues and gets a Worlds individual UB medal). There have been so many different World team members that I'm blanking on other names from this period. The USA's rise during the '91 - '96 period was exciting to watch. Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Jaycie Phelps, Amanda Borden, and Kim Zmeskal (mostly for her ultra clean, fast, and high tumbling/ vaulting) are sentimental favorites. I thought '01 - '08 was sort of a boring period for me (though successful), with the exception of Nastia Liukin.
An obvious nadir for the USA would be the '97 - '00 quad. There were some athletes doing some nice work (e.g., Alyssa Beckerman on BB/ UB, Vanessa Atler on everything except UB, Moceanu in 1998, Amy Chow's UB), but, with few exceptions, they just could never put it together in international competition and were not quite on par with the Russians, Chinese, or Romanians (except on UB).
Your favorite and least favorite eras for different teams/ countries
Romania: favorite quad would no doubt be '85-'88; Dobre and Silivas -- enough said! Least favorite era would be '97-'00; although they were successful during this time, I found them to be mostly boring; Gina Gogean's medal haul at 1997 Worlds and the Sydney team's win were especially uninspiring. I thought their bars deterioration became particularly evident during this quad (see Amanar 1996 UB vs. any year thereafter). Marinescu and Raducan were notable exceptions, though neither had a very long career.
China: favorite period would be the mid-90s through 2000; I loved the 1995 & 1997 Worlds teams, as well as the 1996 & 2000 Olympic teams -- grace, difficulty, and innovativeness. Mo Huilan, Meng Fei, Liu Xuan, Bi Wenjing, Ling Jie, Yang Yun, and Kui Yuan Yuan were all brilliant. I'm probably forgetting some names. I've found recent Chinese to be more boring, especially on beam; they seem to no longer have nice rhythm, though maybe this is more of a problem with the COP; they are still great on bars.
Russia: this is a tough call for me. The mid-90s through 2000 Russians were fabulous -- Dina Kochetkova, Oksana Fabrichnova, Roza Galieva, Svetlana Khorkina, Anna Kovalyova, and Ekaterina Lobaznyuk were all great. I'm still devastated that the Sydney team did not hit in TF. I also loved the 2010-2012 Russians -- hard to argue with the talent and beauty of Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasyeva, and Dementyeva. What a shame they couldn't put it together in London TF. In spite of the fact that they came home medal-less, I found the core of the 2008 Beijing team to be very stylish; Pavlova, Afanasyeva, Semynova, and Kramarenko all had very nicely choreographed FXs that make the current and recent Russian FXs look pretty dull. I'm still bitter that they basically handed the bronze medal to the Romanians. As for a low point for the Russians, the '01 - '04 quad was pretty bleak. I don't recall many standouts, aside from a past-peak Khorkina, and Pavlova's Athens performance. The Athens team was lucky to medal; I found them mostly uninspiring (except Pavs and Khorky) and would have preferred to see the prettier/ more interesting Ukrainians medal in that TF.
USA is another one that is difficult to decide for me. In terms of success/ dominance, the most recent two quads could be considered peaks. Favorite athletes from '09 - '16 would have to be Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Alyssa Baumann, and Ashton Locklear (I hope Locklear continues and gets a Worlds individual UB medal). There have been so many different World team members that I'm blanking on other names from this period. The USA's rise during the '91 - '96 period was exciting to watch. Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Jaycie Phelps, Amanda Borden, and Kim Zmeskal (mostly for her ultra clean, fast, and high tumbling/ vaulting) are sentimental favorites. I thought '01 - '08 was sort of a boring period for me (though successful), with the exception of Nastia Liukin.
An obvious nadir for the USA would be the '97 - '00 quad. There were some athletes doing some nice work (e.g., Alyssa Beckerman on BB/ UB, Vanessa Atler on everything except UB, Moceanu in 1998, Amy Chow's UB), but, with few exceptions, they just could never put it together in international competition and were not quite on par with the Russians, Chinese, or Romanians (except on UB).
