British WAG (and MAG!) talk

[RedBirdie]

I wonder if she landed awkwardly, or if it was one of those slow unravelings.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yes… Annia had about 2 extra months of recovery than Jess will

Even then, she was really held together with string and I’d imagine the fact that it was pretty obviously last chance saloon made a difference. If Annia’s circumstances were more like Jess, if she’d already won an Olympic medal and could realistically assume she had lots of opportunities left ahead of her in the event of a full recovery, maybe she wouldn’t have taken the risks she did in 04.

Obviously we don’t know anything exact yet, but I’d hate to see Jess take that kind of risk for Paris when her risk/benefit calculation could be so different.

 

[tsarinajen]

I wonder if she landed awkwardly, or if it was one of those slow unravelings.

I had this thought too. On a positive, since she’s 19, the puberty monster won’t make it harder for her to come back. It’s a tight timeline, but she could be back.

 

[Passion]

Assuming she’d have to be 100% by July 1st at the latest for a last minute team selection, she has exactly 8 months and two weeks from today. Though recovery actually begins the day after surgery and we don’t know when she had surgery or if she had it yet.

All the injuries in 2003 benefited from USA hosting Worlds much earlier than usual, in mid-August. The 2024 Olympics started in mid-August, so everyone had exactly a full year to recover/prepare between competitions.

2023 Worlds was early October with the Olympics starting at the end of July. We’re already only 9 months out from teams arriving in the Olympic Village. Anyone who had a major injury at or in the immediate lead up to Worlds is going to be struggling against that timeline.

 

[MaryClare]

The advantage that Jess does have is that there’s so little depth in the GB national team that she wouldn’t need to be back on all events for Olympic selection

 

[ruby]

I think bars/beam to old level is possible. Vault and floor to her old level won’t be.

And even that depends on the extent of her injury. Is it really “just” the ACL or did she tweak more? How succesful is the surgery? How well does she heal? Will she be pain-free once training intensity is increased?

I wish her all the best but we have to remember that Rebecca Andrade is an absolute anomaly regarding recovery from an ACL tear (or 3). Most people in all types of sports struggle and don’t manage to come back as strong as they were vefore the injury.

 

[MaryClare]

I think bars/beam to old level is possible. Vault and floor to her old level won’t be.

And even that depends on the extent of her injury. Is it really “just” the ACL or did she tweak more? How succesful is the surgery? How well does she heal? Will she be pain-free once training intensity is increased?

I wish her all the best but we have to remember that Rebecca Andrade is an absolute anomaly regarding recovery from an ACL tear (or 3). Most people in all types of sports struggle and don’t manage to come back as strong as they were vefore the injury.

A lot of it will depend on how successfully/how much effort British Gymnastics will put into lobbying Sports England in terms of funding surgery and rehab. Her competition record and age means they have a lot of leverage, but that’s how it will come down to. Will they buy her the best treatment and rehab available or not.

It’s not unlike what you see amongst Russian athletes. Olympic medalists are often flown to other countries for treatment and rehab. But if you’re a second or third tier elite athlete, if you’re lucky, you’ll get what’s available in Moscow. If you’re unlucky and don’t live in Moscow, you’ll get what’s available in the nearest city

 

[Deleted member 408]

Luckily the UK is incredibly small, and the Gadirovas are based quite near London where most expert medicine is concentrated.

 

[MaryClare]

Luckily the UK is incredibly small, and the Gadirovas are based quite near London where most expert medicine is concentrated.

Britain is rubbish for this kind of treatment. Literally no top athlete in “revenue sports” gets treatment in the UK. In Europe, Switzerland and Germany are generally the best.

 

[Deleted member 408]

Britain is rubbish for this kind of treatment. Literally no top athlete in “revenue sports” gets treatment in the UK. In Europe, Switzerland and Germany are generally the best.

That’s so interesting, thank you for enlightening me! Genuinely - I’m worried my reply sounds sarcastic but I don’t mean it that way at all. I only follow gymnastics so I don’t know anything about sports medicine otherwise. Strangely I know a lot about medical resource distribution in other respects through my own experience and related reading, but I had no idea we (as a nation) were so backward in sports medicine specifically. For most conditions, being close to London is a huge benefit.

 

[MaryClare]

That’s so interesting, thank you for enlightening me! Genuinely - I’m worried my reply sounds sarcastic but I don’t mean it that way at all. I only follow gymnastics so I don’t know anything about sports medicine otherwise. Strangely I know a lot about medical resource distribution in other respects through my own experience and related reading, but I had no idea we (as a nation) were so backward in sports medicine specifically. For most conditions, being close to London is a huge benefit.

I’m no expert and I don’t have any medical background at all. But Britain isn’t known as being particularly good at any healthcare other than I think cardiovascular stuff. Even if you can afford to pay for the best treatment on offer in the UK, you can usually find much better outcomes in other countries. Especially when it comes to cancer, obstetrics and sports medicine.

 

[Deleted member 408]

Oh yes, there are huge issues with cancer medicine here, in particular. I am fortunate not to have cancer (at least, as far as I know). I agree, our healthcare is not overall impressive relative to the best globally - I am only speaking as to where it is better to be located within the country itself. One notorious issue is the “postcode lottery” (with the NHS), whereby treatment access varies hugely depending on location. But even going beyond the NHS and having access to private medicine, most of the top specialists are based in London (some of these are well-regarded on a global basis, but that’s with respect to their research, not the patient experience or outcome necessarily).

Anyway, sorry for going a bit off topic! You are definitely right as to all the major points.

 

[ruby]

My country is very well known for knee surgeries as well - we are good at a sport where it’s an exception for an athlete never to tear an ACL during their career. There’ve been a few countries who’ve sent gymnasts.
It is still not guaranteed to have the best possible outcome. ACLs suck and the best surgeon can only do so much. :-/

 

[QuietColours]

It did not sound like it was due to the cheng though did it?

Stop applying logic to my righteous indignation!

More reasonably: It doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there was pre-existing damage and the knee was primed, especially if she tore it on a timer. Taking a Cheng to hard surfaces too quickly by itself wouldn’t have been the sole issue if that was the case; high level gymnasts do a million skills that can do it, bit by bit.

 

[tsarinajen]

Per their Instagram stories, I believe the Gadirova twins are in Egypt on vacation. Jess just had a pic out a plane window so I have no idea if she’s had surgery or not.

 

[RichardL]

I’m so glad we got to see that Gadirova FX in TFs. That performance will be watched for decades, alongside the routines from Biles and Andrade from the same evening. Amazing.

 

[navyblue]

I’m currently watching VT EF and Wong’s Lopez still looks good enough for straight to me. Guess I need to do a lot of revision before taking my judging exam.

disagree emoji only to say, NO - stick to your guns! The judging is dead wrong here, not you

 

[RAFIKI]

Heheh! Thanks. Well at the very least I’ll be trying to screenshot and cross-reference with the COP (unless someone’s already done it and I missed that in one of the worlds threads).

I’m not sure what stage of grief I’m at re Jess.

It’s really terrible timing because coming back in some form for Paris is tantalisingly possible. Do you try and come back on all four? Do you stick to bars/beam and compete with Downie? Do you think long term and target 2025? I can’t really see them going for the latter, Paris is just too tempting and BG will want those potential medals. Course I know nothing about how possible any of those comeback scenarios are.

13.8ish UB + reliable 13.9ish BB from Jess
vs
14.2-6 UB + unreliable BB from Downie

That’s an interesting quandary for team selection. I think this also makes things harder for Jenn. No one knows what’s she’s capable of atm but she’ll need to do more events than just floor next year.

I guess I’m at the bargaining stage. I’m going to go and watch her TF FX

 

[rlayt]

If it did end up Gadirova vs. Downie for one spot and both were at their best who do you predict would come out ahead?

 

[MaryClare]

If it did end up Gadirova vs. Downie for one spot and both were at their best who do you predict would come out ahead?

Gadirova. Downie will always be a headcase. Sorry