Best "Year" of USA Gymnastics

[YurchenkoLoop]

her winning floor in 2009 was horrifying enough. She and Carey make Raisman look like Sylvie Guillem

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yes, I’ll stan all day for Beth on bars but we did not need her as world floor champion. I’d much rather the universe had found another way to balance out all the years of frustratingly timed injuries and wrong end of 50/50 calls.

 

[MaryClare]

There was so, so much hype for Beth re 2006 commonwealths. It’s hard to imagine now, but England really hadn’t been very successful at CWGs and there was huge expectation that she could sweep the medals. It was also this that led to the frostiness, shall we say, towards Shavahn Church.

 

[MaryClare]

Bars was really mad in 2003-2005 and became a bit of a lottery (and a really, really good argument in favour of open ended scoring).

Only 2 gymnasts from the 2003 UB final were in the 2004 final. Likewise from 2002, only 2 of the gymnasts were in the 2003 final

 

[RedBirdie]

It was also this that led to the frostiness, shall we say, towards Shavahn Church.

Spill. That was so long ago I have zero recollection.

 

[Concorde]

2002 Finalists in 2003

1. Kupets (qualified for the final in second place but had to withdraw due to injury)
2. Petrovschi (injured, did not compete at 2003 Worlds)
3. Ezhova (fell in qualifications)
4. Tweddle (qualified)
5. Van Leeuwen (beneficiary of a weaker field in 2002, also very late pirouettes)
6. Zharganova (just missed qualifying, hurt by competing in Subdivision 1, along with ill advised routine construction with the giant double full)
7. Khorkina (only credited with a 9.8 SV, likely would have qualified with her ‘standard’ routine with the Ricna)
8. Yarotska (qualified)

2003 Finalists in 2004

1. Memmel / Vise (did not qualify as competing members of the Olympic team)
2. Tweddle (13th in qualifications but second reserve behind Krasnynska after factoring in two-per-country. Hurt by competing in early subdivision and not being from a ‘power’ country, and also catching her Gienger a bit close and with bent arms)
3. Pyon (qualified)
4. Li (qualified)
5. Yarotska (fell in qualifications)
6. Krasnynska (12th in qualifications and first reserve after factoring in two-per-country)
7. Fan (9th in qualifications and scored high enough to qualify, but bumped due to two-per-country)

 

[MaryClare]

Amanda Reddin and Beth were reportedly very, very hostile to Shavahn coming over to represent GB. There was a big attitude that Shavahn would just come over and “take everything” that Beth had “worked so hard for”.
Ultimately it was injury that ended Shavahn’s gymnastics career, but her experience in GB was pretty miserable- Liverpool had a number of gymnasts on the national team at that point and none of them would talk to her although she was friendly with Becky Wing (who was at Heathrow where she was affiliated) and Marissa King. Still, she got her name in the COP, so maybe it was worth it.

The one good thing that did come of the whole situation was that Amanda led the other coaches in insisting that Don Peters, who was by British standards unqualified, not be allowed to coach in BG member clubs or at national team training. All purely to make things difficult for Shavahn, but turned out to be a good thing.

 

[RedBirdie]

Wretched and so god damn petty. Escape the clutches are Marta only to be met with that? What a bunch of pathetic wankers.

 

[RAFIKI]

Well at least her 2005 floor was more enjoyable than her 2009 routine. Might just be my music bias though.

Really interesting bars analysis Concorde/MaryClare and Church details MaryClare. Can totally imagine Amanda having that attitude but Beth being hostile surprises me.

Best say something on topic….ummm….2002 was an unusual year because of the EF worlds, but I bet there aren’t many teams of worlds newbies that come away with three individual medals. I remember the skepticism around that team selection (Kupets, Postell, Sheehan, Humphrey) but it paid off. There’s no argument for it being USA’s best year, but perhaps the year that most exceeded expectations?

 

[MaryClare]

Really interesting bars analysis Concorde/MaryClare and Church details MaryClare. Can totally imagine Amanda having that attitude but Beth being hostile surprises me

Amanda was similarly hostile a couple of years later when GB tried to bring Carol Orchard over to work with the national team. She resigned after a couple of camps because the situation was unworkable

 

[Concorde]

This is going off on a bit of a tangent, but still related to Church. In 2003 there were some shenanigans with her start value on bars. She received a 10.0 SV at the American Classic, where Jackie Fie gave the Russian giants in her routine a provisional D value. However, at Nationals, Church was only given a C for the skill which killed her start value.

 

[rlayt]

It would be interesting to ask Jackie Fie her take on that!

 

[MRR]

Never, ever thought I would see Raisman in the same sentence as the great Guillem.

Skylar Brandt is a better comparison.