Gabby Douglas Comeback Thread (New goal: LA 2028)

[GymBeauty]

1. It’s a total lie and distortion of reality from you to say to Skinner was “unusable on every event except vault”. She was usable on every event, and factually outscored McCallum on Floor and in the AA at the Olympics, and in best AA score at Trials! That’s on top of already being in the highest scoring team!
2. McCallum in 2021 showed no capability whatsoever of winning an individual medal at the Olympics. It’s delusional to think so. Skinner clearly had both the ability and consistency on Vault to win a medal (and also potential on Floor); Skinner scoring very high and being displaced in qualifications because of the two-per rule is not somehow a bad thing that gives McCallum a better case. That medal capability, if needed from Skinner was still there, whereas McCallum couldn’t do that at all, seeing as she wasn’t medal-worthy on any event. Nothing she did in 2021 even showed a level of performance that would be likely to make a finals.
3. McCallum doesn’t come out on top for AA. She was given two chances to do AA at the Olympics and both times scored lower than Skinner.
4. Same as #3. You keep trying to say Skinner is “lucky” McCallum made a mistake in qualifying, when McCallum made a significant mistake EVERY time that year in the AA!
5. Skinner’s longer career and experience absolutely does not amount to “age eligibility and nothing more”. What a PSYOCHOTIC thing to say. Skinner had years and years more of competition and gymnastics experience, and constantly showed how steady she was under pressure. It’s unbelievable you are actually trying to erase someone’s life, trying to say a 25 year old was simply “age eligible” before an 18 year old, and a decade of top level gymnastics experience, including being at the Olympics as an alternate and being forced to train exhaustively every day by Marta, means nothing.

Fact is McCallum was the better gymnast for the team make up of 4-3-3.

No, the fact is McCallum was the LOWER scorer for the best team lineup (and not just some kind of unrealistic “best” lineup, but an actual concrete one) AND for medal chances! You don’t select a team simply based on average AA score per person, that’s such dumb Tom Forster-esque level reasoning.

Even going by the fallacious notion of “higher average AA score”, McCallum wasn’t any noticeably better than Skinner before the Olympics (less than .1 average!!), and that’s literally the ONLY thing McCallum had going for her! Her best single day AA score was lower than Skinner’s!

A smart team selection is choosing the team composition that can score best together and individually win the most medals. Picking McCallum means adding 0 other medal potential, decreasing both the team’s scoring potential and realistic expected score, and not even being better on average when looking at AA (which the 4th person on the team wasn’t supposed to do anyway!).

It’s not like it’s an argument of unreliability either. If there was a gymnast who was able post a high score once and then did poorly every other time, or who had a history of doing well domestically but then crumbling internationally, that would be a different discussion. It’s not the case here. Skinner was just as reliable, or more reliable, than McCallum – and especially on her top individual medal potential event, Skinner was one of the most reliable ever.

It’s also important to look at trajectory, and Skinner was continuously getting better as the year went along, with higher difficulty routines than McCallum and showing better potential for further scoring improvement, if an actual good team coordinator had been giving routine advice. Also, a massive LOL at you trying to say “Skinner was only better because her vault had higher start value”, as if that somehow doesn’t matter for scoring.

Rehashing Skinner vs McCallum when we could’ve had Wong or a healthy Hurd/McCusker instead is depressing af.

If only Wong hadn’t missed that one Beam routine at trials. Although in the end that actually would have been worse for USA’s results, given everything else remaining the same. There still would have only been a team Silver, and a Vault medal would have been lost.

OMG, the cringe level of Tom Forster picking Grace McCallum for the individual spot just because she finished 5th at Trials. You know he would have.

 

[tempest]

her Yeo was pretty good

 

[RichardL]

You act like Skinner wasn’t chosen for the Olympics, which she was… for her medal potential on a single event, which we all agree on. And you continue to refuse to admit that Skinner hit her best AA ever during Olympic qualifications, which there was no evidence for her ability to do. Like others have said, using actual Olympic results to reverse-criticize a team decision from weeks prior is just a big shrug from me. For most of us here, there was plenty of reason to go with McCallum, and I’m very glad it happened that way. Have you watched podium training, by the way? McCallum killed it, and absolutely everyone agreed that she was the best choice by then. Of course she under-performed on the day, but someone always does.

 

[dweiss324]

This is excruciating.

 

[irichluck21]

I thought Yeo fell on her eponymous vault, but my memory of Tokyo is a little fuzzy, so I’ll gladly be corrected.

When you typed fall from Yeo, I vaguely recalled her falling on a vault but thought it was the DTY second vault, so you weren’t alone. That said, the deep landing on her eponymous vault in addition to the DTY landing deductions pretty much added up to a fall, so while she didn’t actually fall, she incurred enough deductions to equal a fall.

 

[GymBeauty]

There certainly was evidence Skinner could do what she did at the Olympics, what planet are you living on? What she did at the Olympics is still far away from what she was capable of, but unfortunately her coaches didn’t understand the code very well.

How many times does it need to be said though, she already had the higher AA score over McCallum at trials. Trying to talk about podium training to defend McCallum shows how desperate the defense is, she wasn’t particularly good there to begin with - you’re just decoying. Her floor and bars in podium both had multiple big errors (with little artistry on floor). Skinner in training showed the better VT + FX combo, exactly what that 4th member of the team was supposed to be competing on.

Some of you just need to admit you don’t like Skinner because of whatever dumb thing she said. It’s pointless to pretend like you’re objective about it.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

It’s unbelievable you are actually trying to erase someone’s life

Us to MyKayla Skinner:

 

[Milkshakedonut]

It’s so interesting to how people perceive different dynamics between the gymnasts. While some will say Gabby was bullied, others say she was the one being snooty, arrogant what have you. I’ve always been in the camp that Gabby comes off as a bit cold, distant and I hate to say it but “unlikable”. It’s not just being an introvert, or being shy or what have you. Doesn’t mean Simone and crew weren’t feeding the fire, but I also don’t think Gabby is the most friendly team mate either.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Of all the hills to die on, you chose this one…

 

[rlayt]

Of all the hills to die on, you chose this one…

They must have nine hills and nine lives.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

The vault final was insanity. Zero major errors aside from Carey’s balk. But more importantly, the reigning Olympic bronze medalist Steingruber didn’t even qualify to the final with two good vaults! Neither did Murakami with her new Chuso II (Rudi) and DTY. Black was third reserve

 

[GymBeauty]

It’s so interesting to how people perceive different dynamics between the gymnasts. While some will say Gabby was bullied, others say she was the one being snooty, arrogant what have you.

Something people seem to forget is Gabby had a ton of racism directed towards her in 2012 and into carried over to 2016, where she was vulnerable for the team spot. Simone was shielded from a lot of this in her career, as a result of Gabby already taking the brunt of it.

Gabby didn’t smile much in 2016 and this also had people attacking her on social media, as if her lack of outgoing-ness was some kind of personal attack on humanity. I think in regards to other gymnasts, this demeanor and her conservative, very controlling stage mother also made it difficult for Gabby to be relatable…but that’s not exactly her fault.

Steingruber didn’t even qualify to the final with two good vaults!

Thanks to Melnikova’s horrible, overscored Cheng.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Something people seem to forget is Gabby had a ton of racism directed towards her in 2012 and into carried over to 2016, where she was vulnerable for the team spot. Simone was shielded from a lot of this in her career, as a result of Gabby already taking the brunt of it.

It was awful how Douglas was subject to racist attacks, of all magnitudes, from anonymous people and surely people she has known throughout her life too. I don’t think racism stops and give Biles a break, just because Douglas was unfairly treated. I’m sure Biles has faced her fair share of racism unfortunately. We needn’t forget when Ferlito said she should do blackface and maybe she’d start winning, after Anterp 2013.

Melnikova’s vaults are at 2:36:00. Her DTY was huge but with a big hop. The Cheng had a large step off line but she had more amplitude than some of your faves

 

[GymBeauty]

Melnikova’s Cheng didn’t have more amplitude than Steingruber’s Rudi, no way. Let’s look at this mess of a Cheng – .3 legs on entry, .3 form in air, .1 pike down, .1 chest, .1 feet apart, .3 hop, .1 step, .1 balance, .1 deviation from line, .1 out of bounds, .1 height, .1 distance = 8.2 (.566 lower than actually given). A little higher would be understandable, not over half a point more.

 

[Yarotska]

She was the weakest gymnast put on any US Olympic team post Sydney.

And yet she still wasn’t the weakest performer on the team in Tokyo.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

I was talking about Skinner’s Cheng, not Steingruber’s Chuso II

 

[Doug1233]

Feast your eyes upon Mohini Bhardwaj!

Mohini Bhardwaj 2004 Olympics Qualifications Uneven Bars (USA) - YouTube

Yeah this was a good one.

But the fact we need to go back 20 years to find one, kinda proves my point.

 

[Doug1233]

Personally I think there’s a high chance Biles wouldn’t have melted down if Skinner was on the team instead of the bland, lower-scoring McCallum.

And the winner goes to…!

 

[Doug1233]

I think it’s very far fetched though to say that Mykayla’s inclusion on the team could have averted Simone’s mental block.

It’s not only far fetched, it is absolutely nonsense. Skinner was on the team. They were training every day together. The fact that Grace was competing on TF day and Skinner wasn’t, is absolutely completely irrelevant and its an absolute idiotic point to even think of, let alone mention.

 

[Doug1233]

The problem, the only problem, was Tom

The only mistake he made was choosing Skinner over McCusker.