Women's Artistic Gymnastics

[macy]

It’s so easy to say “it’s only 3 years” but it’s 3 years of 40 hour a week training with no guarantee at all that you’ll make the team. If Trinity hadn’t been injured she might have been in this conversation as well. I’m glad Mykayla proved it could be done - moving from college back to elite - maybe more of these athletes will do it.

Simone has floated the idea of going to Paris as an event specialist. But I agree she’s probably done. If the media would leave her alone for half a second it might be different. She looked really bad the 2nd night of trials. Not her gymnastics but her face. I thought she might be ill. But I think it was the extreme stress she’s pretty much constantly under.

i've been watching the series on Simone on facebook watch and it really seems she had to push herself to get another year out of her body. she is really physically and mentally tired. sometimes gymnasts retire and realize they miss it and come back after a year or 2, if anyone can do that it's Simone and she would still kick butt 3 years from now. the international scene is nowhere close to what it used to be.

also true about Riley, my train of thought was just that this was her first olympic cycle as a senior and she wouldn't have to wait as long to get another chance. she's been injured and sick and was in an abusive environment for a very long time and i think she probably missed out on a lot of experiences she would have had otherwise. i hope she will at least consider it.

 

[macy]

has anyone been watching the Peacock series Golden? The newest episode came out this week and I had no idea Konnor McClain moved immediately following Classics to Texas to train with Valeri Liukin. I have to say i am...concerned. Her parents made some questionable/dismissive comments about abuse in the gym (a la the Maggie Haney situation) and Liukin has not had a majorly successful gymnast whose career was not ended by injury since Nastia. Look at what happened to Rebecca Bross and Kaetlyn Ohashi. I fear the combination of those two things are going to ruin her, and she deserves better than that.

 

[moonvine]

has anyone been watching the Peacock series Golden? The newest episode came out this week and I had no idea Konnor McClain moved immediately following Classics to Texas to train with Valeri Liukin. I have to say i am...concerned. Her parents made some questionable/dismissive comments about abuse in the gym (a la the Maggie Haney situation) and Liukin has not had a majorly successful gymnast whose career was not ended by injury since Nastia. Look at what happened to Rebecca Bross and Kaetlyn Ohashi. I fear the combination of those two things are going to ruin her, and she deserves better than that.

Yes. I was raving about it last page. And I also thought that was a bizarre decision.

After I got done with all the available episodes I watched “Defying Gravity” on YouTube. It was good also, though not as good.

 

[moonvine]

I can’t even with how mad I am.

 

[MalAssada]

Have to say I am SO impressed with Rebeca Andrade. I was thrilled she was finally injury free at a major competition, but I don't think I've ever seen her so good.
At the same time, I wish my cable provider weren't so stubborn about broadcast. USA competed at 5am, here. In the next three days, I have one exam and three assignments due for university, so unfortunately I couldn't stay awake and watch. I can't even find info on wether my provider has recordings somewhere! Really wish I could watch team USA and team Russia. To make things worse, somehow I've scheduled a city break for Thursday and the AA finals take place at the exact moment I'll hit the road. I'd scream if I weren't already screaming.

 

[ines42575]

Have to say I am SO impressed with Rebeca Andrade. I was thrilled she was finally injury free at a major competition, but I don't think I've ever seen her so good.
At the same time, I wish my cable provider weren't so stubborn about broadcast. USA competed at 5am, here. In the next three days, I have one exam and three assignments due for university, so unfortunately I couldn't stay awake and watch. I can't even find info on wether my provider has recordings somewhere! Really wish I could watch team USA and team Russia. To make things worse, somehow I've scheduled a city break for Thursday and the AA finals take place at the exact moment I'll hit the road. I'd scream if I weren't already screaming.

Hi, Marca Claro or Claro Sports Youtube channel will broadcast and record every event of the Games. The commentary is in Mexican Spanish, but if you don't mind it, it is a really good choice

 

[Seven Sisters]

May I voice an unpopular opinion? As far as I can tell, the ladies’ event has not even begun yet, I haven’t really watched that much coverage, but I am already sick of hearing about Simone Biles

Admittedly, I don’t care for gymnastics. Maybe if I enjoyed the sport I would feel differently.

 

[Amei]

May I voice an unpopular opinion? As far as I can tell, the ladies’ event has not even begun yet, I haven’t really watched that much coverage, but I am already sick of hearing about Simone Biles

Admittedly, I don’t care for gymnastics. Maybe if I enjoyed the sport I would feel differently.

Not an unpopular opinion or at least you have someone else to party with

My impression of the little bit I've seen of the pre-competition coverage, Biles is the Nathan Chen of gymnastics, we can all appreciate how amazing she is but the constant 24/7 love affair is obnoxious. Nationals coverage of Chen was even happening during other skaters performances. And this I think hurts the sport because Chen and Biles aren't going to be around forever; US figure skating absorbed themselves for a long time on Kwan and Cohen and once they were gone the connection with average fans went away because the coverage was left with skaters they did not know, and I don't think US figure skating coverage and fans have ever really recovered from that focus of coverage on Kwan/Cohen.

 

[moonvine]

Have to say I am SO impressed with Rebeca Andrade. I was thrilled she was finally injury free at a major competition, but I don't think I've ever seen her so good.
At the same time, I wish my cable provider weren't so stubborn about broadcast. USA competed at 5am, here. In the next three days, I have one exam and three assignments due for university, so unfortunately I couldn't stay awake and watch. I can't even find info on wether my provider has recordings somewhere! Really wish I could watch team USA and team Russia. To make things worse, somehow I've scheduled a city break for Thursday and the AA finals take place at the exact moment I'll hit the road. I'd scream if I weren't already screaming.

Are you in the US?

 

[moonvine]

May I voice an unpopular opinion? As far as I can tell, the ladies’ event has not even begun yet, I haven’t really watched that much coverage, but I am already sick of hearing about Simone Biles

Admittedly, I don’t care for gymnastics. Maybe if I enjoyed the sport I would feel differently.

I enjoy the sport and it is a bit much. But that’s NBC for you. When you watch the International broadcast it’s nowhere near as bad.

 

[moonvine]

Not an unpopular opinion or at least you have someone else to party with

My impression of the little bit I've seen of the pre-competition coverage, Biles is the Nathan Chen of gymnastics, we can all appreciate how amazing she is but the constant 24/7 love affair is obnoxious. Nationals coverage of Chen was even happening during other skaters performances. And this I think hurts the sport because Chen and Biles aren't going to be around forever; US figure skating absorbed themselves for a long time on Kwan and Cohen and once they were gone the connection with average fans went away because the coverage was left with skaters they did not know, and I don't think US figure skating coverage and fans have ever really recovered from that focus of coverage on Kwan/Cohen.

Meh. I dunno. It is obnoxious, but I’m not sure about it hurting the sport.

I mean Michael Phelps is the most amazing athlete of my lifetime (my opinion) but I don’t think it hurt swimming for him to retire. I don’t think it hurt track for Usain Bolt to retire.

What hurts figure skating (my opinion) is that the women do not, for whatever reason - injury, lack of funds for training, want to go to college, I dunno what all - simply do not stick around long enough for viewers to get to know them. Michelle Kwan was around for 3 Olympic cycles. That’s 12 years. That doesn’t happen anymore and I wish it did.

 

[moonvine]

I’m so angry at USA gymnastics. They are treating their athletes like something you scrape off the bottom of your shoe. They sent the wrong team and they may not win the OGM that everyone pre awarded to them.

They need to clean house. Again.

And coaches who weigh their female athletes (or male athletes) 3x per day should not be coaching.

 

[cohen-esque]

I’m so angry at USA gymnastics. They are treating their athletes like something you scrape off the bottom of your shoe. They sent the wrong team and they may not win the OGM that everyone pre awarded to them.

They need to clean house. Again.

At least it’s refreshing for their to be some competition for the team gold this time? New life and all so probably USA will still win the real thing but I think it’s good for WAG that other countries are getting closer.

I get that USAG just doesn’t really care about athlete safety, but if they care about results they need to fire Tom. If he’d named Skinner based on the criteria he established *before* Nationals and Trials we’d have been closer to Russia and would be in a more comfortable spot in finals. (And if he’d not basically doubled down on his refusal to even consider Carey before Trials—she was Top 6 AA at Nats with watered down floor and vaults which are her specialities—then maybe she’d have done AA and been on the team and then we’d have been comfortably ahead after prelims because she got big scores on 3/4 events…) But Tom is so terrified of making decisions that he couldn’t even stick to his original lame cop-out.

And it’s not just this one time that the team selection has been poor. The Junior worlds team in 2019, which everyone knew wasn’t the best team, got a bronze that should have been gold, and that was probably a sign of things to come.

I mean I know it was only qualifications and USA hasn’t lost yet, but gah, it’s frustrating!

But bright side, Yul Moldauer made the men’s FX final with a 9.066 E-score! Has a 9+ ever happened on floor under this code?

 

[moonvine]

At least it’s refreshing for their to be some competition for the team gold this time? New life and all so probably USA will still win the real thing but I think it’s good for WAG that other countries are getting closer.

I get that USAG just doesn’t really care about athlete safety, but if they care about results they need to fire Tom. If he’d named Skinner based on the criteria he established *before* Nationals and Trials we’d have been closer to Russia and would be in a more comfortable spot in finals. (And if he’d not basically doubled down on his refusal to even consider Carey before Trials—she was Top 6 AA at Nats with watered down floor and vaults which are her specialities—then maybe she’d have done AA and been on the team and then we’d have been comfortably ahead after prelims because she got big scores on 3/4 events…) But Tom is so terrified of making decisions that he couldn’t even stick to his original lame cop-out.

And it’s not just this one time that the team selection has been poor. The Junior worlds team in 2019, which everyone knew wasn’t the best team, got a bronze that should have been gold, and that was probably a sign of things to come.

I mean I know it was only qualifications and USA hasn’t lost yet, but gah, it’s frustrating!

But bright side, Yul Moldauer made the men’s FX final with a 9.066 E-score! Has a 9+ ever happened on floor under this code?

I agree that it is good for gymnastics that other teams getting closer is good for gymnastics. I don’t have a problem with that.

These are the problems I have: Tom told the athletes in advance that the team (excluding the first two) would be picked by math and not by placement. This could affect their strategy. Then he turned around and picked by placements. Someone called him out on it and he was like “Oh, we have Simone, I’m not going to worry about a couple of tenths.” Unreal, and so unfair to Mykayla. Someone ran the math and Mykayla came out on top every time. I don’t care if they decide to pick by drawing names from a hat. Communicate that to the athletes and stick to it. If they wanted the best results, they would have put Mykayla on the team and selected Riley for the plus one, that would have been the combination that would have resulted in the most medals for the US. Instead they pitted Jade and Mykayla against each other.

And the men are making me want to spit nails. I have no problems with the team selection but they didn’t fund Allen Bower, and he’s on the National team and they’re supposed to have funding. Allen’s funding was crowdfunded ($47k so far.). Much worse is Paul Juda, who went to Brazil in the middle of a global pandemic to get the US the +1 spot. Anyone who did that was to be named to the National team. And that was put in writing. Yet he didn’t get named and as such not only has no funding but no health insurance either. And the athletes are afraid to speak up.

 

[TontoK]

At least it’s refreshing for their to be some competition for the team gold this time? New life and all so probably USA will still win the real thing but I think it’s good for WAG that other countries are getting closer.

I get that USAG just doesn’t really care about athlete safety, but if they care about results they need to fire Tom. If he’d named Skinner based on the criteria he established *before* Nationals and Trials we’d have been closer to Russia and would be in a more comfortable spot in finals. (And if he’d not basically doubled down on his refusal to even consider Carey before Trials—she was Top 6 AA at Nats with watered down floor and vaults which are her specialities—then maybe she’d have done AA and been on the team and then we’d have been comfortably ahead after prelims because she got big scores on 3/4 events…) But Tom is so terrified of making decisions that he couldn’t even stick to his original lame cop-out.

And it’s not just this one time that the team selection has been poor. The Junior worlds team in 2019, which everyone knew wasn’t the best team, got a bronze that should have been gold, and that was probably a sign of things to come.

I mean I know it was only qualifications and USA hasn’t lost yet, but gah, it’s frustrating!

But bright side, Yul Moldauer made the men’s FX final with a 9.066 E-score! Has a 9+ ever happened on floor under this code?

The utter dismissal of Jade Carey as a plausible full team member was baffling. The criteria should have been "which three-up, three-count combinations will yield the highest score."

The differential between Jade's floor and vault scores and the lowest counted score had to have been sizable. Not to mention, she had a very fine bars score (a solid third behind Lee and Biles, I believe), and I thought she was low-balled on beam - although to be honest, I'm not quite certain about scoring leaps and such - but she hardly wobbled at all. She was very secure.

Biggest bust on the team, as least in qualifications: Chiles... whose "training partners" storyline on NBC took quite the hit - and I'm always glad to see NBC puff-pieces get shredded. Close second to biggest bust: Grace, who was rumored to be Tom's favorite, no matter what the scores might have revealed.

I'm sure things will right themselves in the Final, but I almost hope they don't. If things turn out fine, there won't be any accountability for his decisions.

 

[MalAssada]

Thanks for the reccomendations, Everton. I ended up seeing some replays from the news but will check that YouTube channel, really don't mind it's in Spanish - currently watching loads of Spanish TV shows, even, and having fun comparing the languages.

For the pp who asked, I'm in Brazil, a perfect 12 hours behind Tokyo, so I only watch early in the morning and late in the night. Dragged myself out of the bed an hour ago to watch gymnastics and will neglect university for now. One exam gone, two essays mostly done. At least the pandemic means I get to type in front of the telly.

 

[macy]

that team final was WILD. losing Simone was unthinkable and devastating, and it was basically over then. very proud of the 3 of them that had to carry the team the rest of the way, they couldn't have been put in a tougher position and fought until the end.

now what happens going forward for Simone? there are rumors it was a mental issue today, will she be able to recover in time for the all around? obviously i would love to see her fight her way back and finish her career the way she deserves to, but its obvious she is exhausted mentally and physically. the pressure on her is more than it's ever been. i can't imagine she wants to be done more than right now. Jade will be in if Simone is out.

i hope Suni becomes a real star this Olympics. she was the most solid today of team USA and is proving she is an athlete you can rely on and trust.

however, i think how things have panned out so far for the women says a lot about Tom's incompetence. Martha was horrible, but at least she knew how to pick a team. looks like USAG needs to go back to the drawing board yet again...shocker.

 

[macy]

sorry for the double post, but just hopped on instagram to see part of an article Mykayla Skinner's husband shared-

"Skinner was actually a part of the four person team with the highest scoring potential, but it was believed by the three-member selection committee that Skinner was a better bet to medal as an individual due to her prowess on vault."

"...the all around, was selected for a team spot ahead of Skinner ever though Forster said Skinner would, mathematically, give Team USA a slightly better chance of winning gold."

Tom needs to GO. this was so unfair not just to Mykayla, but to Simone who he clearly expected to carry the team to gold medals. he basically did not even consider the other 3 spots or give much thought to them because he was betting on Simone. everyone thinks she is a machine and isn't human, but look what is happening now. i hope there will be enough pressure on him after these Olympics to step down. Mykayla deserved better and Simone deserved better.

 

[Amei]

Well in terms of Biles, its shady details about what caused the withdrawal at this point first it was injury with her leg and then this "mental" issue came up and that she might come back for individual events later in the week. Can't remember any instance of an athlete quitting the Olympics for mental issues in the past.

 

[Idiote]

Congrats on the ROC team for putting an end to the 11-year US dominance in WAG ! Despite the mistakes on balance beam they fought and pulled through with great routines, loved their reaction to winning gold

I feel bad for Simone Biles, I hope she can rest and recover before the events finals, and put this behind her ; I really feel that the enormous pressure and the incessant boasting from NBC eventually jinxed her. My cynical side can't help but kind of enjoy the US hubris backlash though, I must admit ^^' But these bad feelings have nothing to do with the athletes who did their best and fought well (especially Sunisa Lee who was steady all-around and downright phenomenal on bars !). The competition is not over, there are still a lot of gold medals to grab in the events and AA finals, they will be okay

And congrats to GB for the bronze !