Gabby Douglas Comeback Thread (New goal: LA 2028)

[irichluck21]

Give it max another hundred posts and someone will have dragged the Sydney AA into it.

I hoped we would get the classic Miller vs Gutsu!

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I will if you will!

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

what’s there to debate?

 

[Hatsumomo]

The Careys going for the +1 spot via the WC route was definitely a smart move because that guaranteed Jade going to the Olympics. The part they fell off on was deciding to also go for a spot on the main team with the knowledge that they would force the USA to forfeit a spot. Tom and USAG should have told the Careys before they started the WC +1 route that if they go this way, Jade will not be considered for the main team since she’ll have her Olympic ticket stamped.

It was also kind of stupid to try for the main team after sealing the +1 because Jade could have circumvented the Olympic year rigmarole and rested instead.

 

[Doug1233]

Simone herself thought Skinner should have been on the 2016 team, and likely her thought was the same about the 2020 team

Only because she disliked Gabby. She would only have vaulted in TF. Compared with the lift from Gabby’s bars (compared to Aly), it was a wash.

 

[irichluck21]

IIRC,
USAG originally didn’t want to go that route and made the criteria insane (had to have am individual medal from 2016 Olympics or 2017 Worlds)
That meant only Biles, Hernandez, Raisman (retired), Kocian (retired), Hurd, and Carey were eligible.
Out of those only Carey wanted to do it.
USAG then said no, but FIG said that no athletes could be denied.
That’s when USAG told Carey that they would only pay for 3 (out of the 8) World Cups, forcing the Careys to pay their own way for other Cups to ensure she had enough points (she went to one more in 2020).

At the time of deciding, Carey didn’t really have an elite bars routine. Rememebr she didn’t do bars in 2017.She ended up with bars at the 2018 American Classic but it was low scoring.

We forget how Carey drastically improved on both bars and beam toward Tokyo, but in 2018 it was highly unlikely that she would have a strong enough AA program to make the 4 person team specifically because bars was so bad, so the best decision at the time was individual route.

Jade had never intended on competing elite I believe, but Valeri Liukin had invited her to camp because of her vaulting talent.

 

[Doug1233]

The part they fell off on was

Did they fall off?

Who was hurt as a result of that decision?

 

[Doug1233]

And she ended up giving everyone a big fuck you when she won Olympic Gold and made the AA final.

 

[RedBirdie]

It was USOC that said USAG had to send Jade if she wanted to try to qualify that route. FIG had nothing to do with it.

 

[Denn]

To those responding to @GymBeauty: what’s the point? The rest of us already agree. Do you really care about trying to change this one person’s mind?

 

[Passion]

You say that as if Jade making the most of the FIG procedures that were legitimately available to her was a bad thing…

I am very literally stating what happened.

Brian and Jade Carey were determined to lock down a named spot on the US Olympic Team by way of the individual even World Cup circuit.

As Rich stated above, even going so far as to pay their own way to an additional World Cup event to ensure she got the points needed to do so.

That’s pretty damn determined.

I didn’t say it was a bad thing or a good thing. I didn’t add my opinion at all. I answered the question of why the USA had one NOC spot and one nominative spot instead of two NOC spots. The reason for that is the Careys.

 

[Doug1233]

USA could have had two spots to use for anyone, but the Carey’s were determined to lock one down for just them. USA had one NOC +1 from the AA World Cups. Once Jade took the named +1 from the individual event World Cups USA became ineligible to get a NOC +1 from continental championships.

Had the Careys not insisted on taking the individual event spot, USA would have easily had +2 NOC spots to play with, and Jade could have been on the main team.

I didn’t add my opinion at all.

Yeah, ok.

 

[Passion]

What part didn’t happen? Did someone else have Jade’s spot or was it just for her? Did someone else take the +1 individual event WC spot for the US or was it Jade who took it? Was USA still eligible for the NOC +1 from Continental Championships after Jade got the individual event +1 or was that off the table since spots were being awarded chronologically? Did the Careys refuse to go for the individual spot and have to be pushed into it kicking and screaming, or was it their idea? An idea they insisted upon when USAG wasn’t interested?

 

[GymBeauty]

We have been talking about Skinner’s Cheng. I’m not defending Melnikova’s score. I could go back and score all the gymnasts who did two vaults and get back to you and let you know if I think Melnikova should’ve qualified over Steingruber. But I’m not doing that.

We weren’t talking about Skinner’s Cheng…you quoted a post where I stated Melnikova shouldn’t have been in EF over Steingruber. You don’t have to watch everyone to give an opinion if the score between those two was fair, just those two.

Only because she disliked Gabby. She would only have vaulted in TF. Compared with the lift from Gabby’s bars (compared to Aly), it was a wash.

Simone clearly wasn’t good friends with Skinner just because of disliking Gabby, and your opinion about who deserved to be on the team is irrelevant to Simone’s opinions and emotional/mental state regarding the matter.

Regarding 2016, Gabby in retrospect was a good pick, unless we hold the EF performance against her, but nothing she had done all year (nor the previous year) showed she would get the score she did on Bars at the Olympics. Ashton Locklear and Mykayla Skinner both looked like they would add more to the team score, while being able to bring home an extra medal. Gabby finishing 7th in the AA at Trials and having no medal-worthy event was not a good look, and it didn’t help that there was talk of USAG pre-determining Gabby would be on the team no matter what, because of sponsorship deals.

 

[Doug1233]

Regarding 2016, Gabby in retrospect was a good pick, unless we hold the EF performance against her, but nothing she had done all year (nor the previous year) showed she would get the score she did on Bars at the Olympics. Ashton Locklear and Mykayla Skinner both looked like they would add more to the team score, while being able to bring home an extra medal. Gabby finishing 7th in the AA at Trials and having no medal-worthy event was not a good look, and it didn’t help that there was talk of USAG pre-determining Gabby would be on the team no matter what, because of sponsorship deals.

I guess Marta was smarter than the rest of us*, then.

And by *us, I certainly do not include me. I would always have picked Gabby for an international meet, over Skinner. There was substantial discussion at the time that Skinner’s Cheng wouldn’t even get credit by an international panel of judges.

 

[irichluck21]

To those responding to @GymBeauty: what’s the point? The rest of us already agree. Do you really care about trying to change this one person’s mind?

Learned my lesson.

 

[irichluck21]

It was USOC that said USAG had to send Jade if she wanted to try to qualify that route. FIG had nothing to do with it.

Thanks. I couldn’t remember if it was USOC, but I do remember that the FIG had stated that no organization could hold back a gymnast that wanted to go the individual route.

 

[GymBeauty]

There was substantial discussion at the time that Skinner’s Cheng wouldn’t even get credit by an international panel of judges.

That talk was in 2015; in 2016 her technique was sufficient to get credited.

I would have picked Ashton though. She added the most to the team score and looked more likely to medal. It’s unfortunate Gabby messed up the EF, because her failure to get that medal continues to make the selection highly questionable. Ashton was more consistent, and Skinner too on her event, and either of them would have medaled with their typical performances.

@Denn It’s not appropriate (nor intelligent) to be writing something like that. Forums are for discussion, places to learn and see other perspectives.

 

[Hatsumomo]

I’d bet more on Gabby Douglas making a comeback than Simone Biles at this point.

Don’t mind me; I’m just over here eating my words.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The difficulty for Gabby is that there’s the case for AAers, the case for specialists and on the data available at the time of selection, she fell between the two. So on the one hand she’s the middle ground compromise option, but on the other hand that means she gets the arguments from both sides. Also, part of the reason she was a good choice is that while Locklear was outscoring her on the team’s weak event at the time of selection, Marta could in no way have been trusted to keep her healthy. Gabby was the one most likely to actually stay in one piece. For obvious reasons it was difficult for USAG to articulate that.