Probably a combination of the impact of Covid and the white report.
The gymnasts who are juniors now were 9-10 years old during Covid. That’s a hugely crucial time in the training of an elite bound gymnast. It’s usually the time where the biggest % increase in training time occurs. A typical jump would be from 12 hours a week to 20 hours a week. Traditionally in GB, the years when the gymnast is in year 5 and year 6 are big development years, since primary schools are often much more accommodating in allowing flexible hours (often unofficially).
Instead of that, this age cohort had nearly a year out of the gym, with a lot of uncertainty and then a further year before the competition programme returned to any degree of normality. Sure, many gymnasts develop later and the sport is now trending towards longer careers. But I’m not sure that any of that can mitigate for that lost time and BG’s current set up doesn’t appear to be fit for purpose.
