Best/Worst of Paris 2024

[Sasha]

Best Leo: Martins, QF


Worst Leo: the blue and white Brazilian one with the weird-ass neckline


Best EF podium: pommels and UB


Worst EF podium: I MEAN.


Biggest surprise: the French meltdown. I wasn't necessarily expecting them to perform to their capacity, but I wasn't expected that either.


Biggest heartbreak: France


Gymnast you’re most impressed by: probably Suni Lee, given her circumstances


Gymnast you most hope to see continue on to LA 2028: Esposito


Final thoughts: 100% with @onodian on this one. I'm not sure I've ever seen this level of collective exhaustion on the gymternet after an Olympics? Or am I projecting?

 

[barefoot]

Best Leo: Red looks stunning on Simone, and I loved Alice's aqua blue.


Worst Leo: The Chinese leotards almost never work for me.


Best EF podium: Everyone on pommels was just THRILLED and it made me so happy.


Worst EF podium: Sweet Jesus, the ongoing disaster, although I adored the three that stood atop the podium.


Biggest surprise: Daiki underachieving, only Stephen making finals out of the US men, Brody's QF meltdown, Jade not qualifying for floor (although I loved seeing Jordan on floor)


Biggest heartbreak: Melanie DJDS. I wish I could hug her.


Gymnast you’re most impressed by: Suni - what an incredible recovery. And almost all of the men's USA team stepped up and THEN SOME. I was so proud of them!


Gymnast you most hope to see continue on to LA 2028: Definitely Frederick Richard. And selfishly, Simone.


Final thoughts: One of my favorite Olympics ever, right up until the horrible ending.

 

[Livi]

Best Leo: Nemour AA, Andrade AA, Brazil TF

Worst Leo: Romania Lidl, Andrade VT with that unfitting neck thing going on and of course Mexico QF

Best EF podium: I liked pretty much all of them on the MAG side, very deserving winners. For WAG, definitely UB. Vault was very good too. BB was a surprise and FX.. well, yeah.

Worst EF podium: That has to be FX for all the reasons.

Biggest surprise: Andrade FX gold, the BB podium

Biggest heartbreak: France and especially MDJDS, initially Barbosu FX EF, but by now my heart goes out to all three involved

Gymnast you're most impressed by: Alice D'Amato and frankly all of the Italians. Kaylia Nemour

Gymnast you hope to see in LA 2028: As many of them as possible, as long as they like.

Final thoughts: It's been going on for a few years now, but I enjoy seeing the change in interaction between gymnasts from different countries (or even their own). If you'd watch a competition from 20 years ago, very often they're not even congratulating each other, let alone talking (or smiling). It was already much better on the men's side and fortunately it has grown so much over the last couple of years. And even the Chinese are really opening up and I love seeing it! (I always suspected they weren't really allowed to interact outside their own team)

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Best Leo: never really my thing, but I liked all the ones of Brazil's that actually fit. Can I give an honourable mention to the big puffy China coats? It's always exciting when they make an appearance.


Worst Leo: the one Andrade had in the vault final with the big gape. She should've had a point on the D score for vaulting whilst that flapped around, and the same amount removed from the E score.


Best EF podium: WAG bars. MAG vault and PB were great too, which is just as well since we sorely needed to be fortified for the events ahead. I'm so pleased for Yulo too. We need him to do the English Championships every year, it clearly suits him.


Worst EF podium: too soon.


Biggest surprise: I never thought GB WAG would be in a position where they were challenging for team and bars medals. Of course I hoped Becky would make the final and hit well, but had anticipated it would be a 14.666 5th place job. Really didn't see it coming that she'd be the 3rd highest scorer in the Games overall.


Biggest heartbreak: even after the events of the last week, still France WAG bombing and not getting even one final.


Gymnast you’re most impressed by: Kaylia. It's not just the bars, though of course I'm delighted. It's turning up with the DTY too. Got to be a leading contender for 2025 world AA champion


Gymnast you most hope to see continue on to LA: Rebeca. And I want to see more WAGs in their 30s in 2028 too. That's a wonderful trend. This is the first Games with a 30+ WAG on the podium since 2008, and the first 30+ team medallist since I don't know when but probably the 50s? @MaryClare may know.
I also want to see a lot of the crew who missed out due to injury this time round make it to 2028. Jess, Shilese, Ondine etc? Yes please!


Final thoughts: Donatella's still going to be in position after the election, isn't she? That will be to everyone's detriment.

eta- just looked it up and Agnes Keleti was 35 when she won team silver with Hungary in 1956. I think she might have been the last. A badass indeed.

 

[Hatsumomo]

And even the Chinese are really opening up and I love seeing it! (I always suspected they weren't really allowed to interact outside their own team)

Not allowed to or just couldn't? The language barrier can be a bitch sometimes. When a good chunk of the field has English as a first or second language, it can be hard to try and jump into conversations. I don't know really know how the education works in China's centralized sports system. I remember when Cheng Fei and Lauren Mitchell were trying to have a conversation with each other in Beijing.

 

[MaryClare]

Best Leo: never really my thing, but I liked all the ones of Brazil's that actually fit. Can I give an honourable mention to the big puffy China coats? It's always exciting when they make an appearance.


Worst Leo: the one Andrade had in the vault final with the big gape. She should've had a point on the D score for vaulting whilst that flapped around, and the same amount removed from the E score.


Best EF podium: WAG bars. MAG vault and PB were great too, which is just as well since we sorely needed to be fortified for the events ahead. I'm so pleased for Yulo too. We need him to do the English Championships every year, it clearly suits him.


Worst EF podium: too soon.


Biggest surprise: I never thought GB WAG would be in a position where they were challenging for team and bars medals. Of course I hoped Becky would make the final and hit well, but had anticipated it would be a 14.666 5th place job. Really didn't see it coming that she'd be the 3rd highest scorer in the Games overall.


Biggest heartbreak: even after the events of the last week, still France WAG bombing and not getting even one final.


Gymnast you’re most impressed by: Kaylia. It's not just the bars, though of course I'm delighted. It's turning up with the DTY too. Got to be a leading contender for 2025 world AA champion


Gymnast you most hope to see continue on to LA: Rebeca. And I want to see more WAGs in their 30s in 2028 too. That's a wonderful trend. This is the first Games with a 30+ WAG on the podium since 2008, and the first 30+ team medallist since I don't know when but probably the 50s? @MaryClare may know.
I also want to see a lot of the crew who missed out due to injury this time round make it to 2028. Jess, Shilese, Ondine etc? Yes please!


Final thoughts: Donatella's still going to be in position after the election, isn't she? That will be to everyone's detriment.

eta- just looked it up and Agnes Keleti was 35 when she won team silver with Hungary in 1956. I think she might have been the last. A badass indeed.

Yes, would be 1956. Our perception of the 60s in gymnastics is often one of much older gymnasts, but they actually weren’t compared with many of today’s competitors. It would be interesting to do an average age comparison of say 1964, 1992 and 2024. I’ll bet that 1992 is starkly different

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yeah, the norm seemed to be about 18-20 before the dawn of the pixie era. There are a few in the 60s, like Latynina, who kept going til their late 20s but they seem to have been exceptional. Of course, we don't know how long Caslavka might've had if it were up to her.

 

[Livi]

Not allowed to or just couldn't? The language barrier can be a bitch sometimes. When a good chunk of the field has English as a first or second language, it can be hard to try and jump into conversations. I don't know really know how the education works in China's centralized sports system. I remember when Cheng Fei and Lauren Mitchell were trying to have a conversation with each other in Beijing.

Good point!

 

[Big_rock_show]

USA gymnastics asked what US Leo people liked the best and so far the qualifications Leo is winning

 

[arabiandoublefront]

USA gymnastics asked what US Leo people liked the best and so far the qualifications Leo is winning

I stick by my opinion that it looked awful in the arena. It's okay in photographs.

 

[irichluck21]

Unpopular opinion here but I would have rather seen the fireworks leo as the team finals leo and the team finals leo for all around and event finals.
The TQ gray/blue one is gorgeous too so I am glad they used it in TQ, though I was expecting that one to be podium training and fireworks to be TQ.

Out of the 8 leos the Fireworks one is definitely the best of them, although I like all of them and don't think there was a single bad one of the bunch.

 

[MaryClare]

I was expecting the podium training Leo to be the prelims Leo. I thought the black one would be used as an individual leo and the blue and white one, which no one seemed to like that much, for podium training.

I get why a lot of people like the black leotard though, it’s not a colour the US use

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I was expecting the podium training Leo to be the prelims Leo. I thought the black one would be used as an individual leo and the blue and white one, which no one seemed to like that much, for podium training.

I get why a lot of people like the black leotard though, it’s not a colour the US use

They used black in 2021, too. Podium training, iirc. It was a lot nicer than this year's black leo.

 

[RedBirdie]

Podium training leos always seem to be better than the competition leos.

 

[brg09]

Unpopular opinion here but I would have rather seen the fireworks leo as the team finals leo and the team finals leo for all around and event finals.
The TQ gray/blue one is gorgeous too so I am glad they used it in TQ, though I was expecting that one to be podium training and fireworks to be TQ.

Out of the 8 leos the Fireworks one is definitely the best of them, although I like all of them and don't think there was a single bad one of the bunch.

I think this may be the first time in... a while that I've liked every single US leotard. I wonder what the actual process is--does GK come in with some ideas and prototypes and then someone on USA gymnastics staff offers tweaks, or there are a bunch more and these were the ones that made the cut? Either way, someone earned their keep here! Keep them around!

I do wish the fireworks leo had been worn during the actual competition, it might have been my favorite, too.

In fact I'm not sure I saw any leotards from any country that really made me wonder what the designers/NOCs were smoking. Even the weird Brazil leotard that Rebeca wore during vault EF--the one with the weird cut-out--wasn't bad. It just wasn't well-thought out and rode up as she wore it.