Gabby Douglas Comeback Thread (New goal: LA 2028)

[irichluck21]

Let’s hope she’s with Yevgeny.

She is with Valeri.

https://www.nbcsports.com/olympic/news/gabby-douglas-gymnastics-comeback

Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, returned to training at a gymnastics center, six years after her last meet, but she has not announced a competitive comeback.

Gymnastics coach Valeri Liukin said Friday that Douglas has been working very hard at his family’s World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Texas, confirming previous reports that did not name sources from last autumn.

Liukin was speaking to NBC Sports’ John Roethlisberger at the Winter Cup in Louisville. The next major meet is the U.S. Championships in August.

Douglas has not made any public statements about training or her gymnastics career.

A representative for Douglas said in late December that there was “nothing to report’ at the time when asked to comment on Douglas’ gymnastics future and the reports of her return to training, which included a photo that appeared to be taken at WOGA with coach Anna Liukin addressing a group of gymnasts including Douglas. Douglas’ gym affiliation was also changed on her USA Gymnastics bio to WOGA.

 

[RedBirdie]

AFAIK, Valeri fumbled every star gymnast he had except his own daughter.

Ding ding ding! And just ran McClain out.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

If she doesn’t go to Nationals, does she have a path to the Pan American Games?

Edit: also Atler^^

 

[RedBirdie]

I’d have to read the selection procedures again, but right now I’m at a baseball game, so just going from memory. But IIRC, world selection and Pan Am selection are the same camp, and attendees are selected from nationals +approved petitions

And maybe it’s just me, but I would not be inclined to approve a petition to camp from someone who hasn’t competed since 2016.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Thank you, RedBirdie. I wouldn’t either, but Gabby could say to Alicia, “I got you a Worlds team gold, you can scratch my back”

 

[Passion]

Douglas could be injured right now for all we know and no one would ever find out about it because she doesn’t use social media anymore.

 

[tempest]

Didn’t Onodi only start to get serious about the 96 games in early 96? I don’t think she competed in 93-95

 

[GymBeauty]

“Speed of rotation” isn’t a deduction in the COP on floor. It isn’t at all relevant.

Nobody said it’s a deduction, nor should it be (aside from the fact that if you rotate too slow, you’re going to land short). It’s definitely relevant to execution and the mechanics of how tumbling works though.

As someone who has done high level twisting skills, Shang’s rebound impresses me and is maybe the fastest I’ve seen. So far nobody has come up with any examples of a woman with that same amount of snap and form who has gotten better amplitude.

Something else that’s impressive is when someone can do a difficult rotational skill and open up early in the air with good form after completing rotation. It’s more difficult to do those things, and those qualities are still a part of actual gymnastics and dance, regardless of not being itemized in the COP. Gymnastics used to be judged holistically, taking these qualities into account, and there still should be some degree of it in current judging. The “COP” written on paper is not gymnastics itself, and the code certainly doesn’t change the mechanics that dictate physics.

Try posting illustrative pictures/videos or clips from the code that you think support your opinion

As I already said, and has been ignored, there’s NOTHING in the code for the majority of skills that actually defines what .1 or .3 amplitude deduction is supposed to be. It’s a grey area, and in any such areas, the judge’s own expertise should come into play.

“The code” is merely an attempt to quantify the millions of things that make up gymnastics itself. The current code, like every code before it, is murky in many ways. The landscape of judging right now is more anal retentive and filled with red tape than ever before, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t still gaps in the system. The Orwellian state of gymnastics we’re currently in also still has ZERO accountability and verifiability of the scores being given - deduction lists are not made public and therefore there’s still no way to know if things are being done fairly or accurately.

Current day judging is also not the same as it was several cycles ago. For decades the codes written on paper have offered the possibility of deducting everything to hell, but until recently the deductions were never taken so abundantly. Trying to judge past routines based on current standards is unfair and inaccurate.

I’d also like to point out that Doug’s nasty, ignorant remark is what started the debate in this thread. Don’t blame me for responding in detail to his personal attack and his fallacies.

 

[irichluck21]

Didn’t Onodi only start to get serious about the 96 games in early 96? I don’t think she competed in 93-95

Maybe…but there was not much competition to get onto team Hungary in 1996, plus it was a 7 member team.

 

[RedBirdie]

Yeah, 1996 Hungary is just a liiiiiiiitle bit different from 2023 USA.

 

[tempest]

very true but I think I read that Onodi refused to learn the UB compulsory so they could take her or leave her, she didn’t care

 

[Milkshakedonut]

This was my exact thought! I wonder if this is why McClain peaced out… things went bad when Gabby came back became the main priority

 

[cats]

I’d let Gabby come to a camp if her coach and her videos both indicate that she’d be able to keep up with the workouts. She’s a vast talent and on a short timeframe; ideally they would catch bad choices before they waste too much time on them.

To me the question of timing her comeback competition seems quite delicate given how miserable her summer 2016 was. She needs to start competing, but it also seems really important that she’s stepping out there feeling confident in her gymnastics and not having a five fall performance that will get her ripped apart for the 80th time.

 

[Laura722]

She at least reads her Instagram from time to time. I saw her like a recent comment on one of her posts the other day.

You’re right though, any number of things could be going on.

 

[RichardL]

Not speculating on Douglas and whatever is happening with her, but she’s a similar name as Dawes was at the end of the Sydney quad, and Dawes only showed up late in 2000 and made the Olympic team. Granted she showed decent elite shape in 1998 at the Goodwill Games but she certainly wasn’t playing the game with Nationals etc until the Olympic year.

 

[Passion]

I don’t think it really matters if she competes in 2023 or not. The more important thing is that she has been training for all of 2023. Using Douglas as an example of herself: She started her last comeback in 2014, didn’t compete at all in 2014 (first meet back was Jesolo 2015), made the Worlds team in 2015 and finished 2nd AA there. She didn’t need to compete in 2014 to do what she did in 2015, but she did need to start training then. One could argue that the attention (and tv show) that came from the 2015 showing did nothing to help her in 2016. So perhaps laying low this year and coming out next year under the radar is exactly what she needs to be doing.

(If she is even training for elite at all since she has never said that that’s what she is even doing.)

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

very true but I think I read that Onodi refused to learn the UB compulsory so they could take her or leave her, she didn’t care

Icon.

 

[RedBirdie]

This was my exact thought! I wonder if this is why McClain peaced out… things went bad when Gabby came back became the main priority

In this case my guess is more Valeri’s miserable track record of dealing with gymnasts that have major injuries. Chew 'em up and spit 'em out, there’s always another rising star waiting in the wings.

 

[Seyonne]

His most successful gymnast was his daughter. Didn’t she have injuries?Clearly he is capable of taking care of his gymnasts, he just chooses not to.

 

[MaryClare]

I don’t think it’s as simple as that. It’s always different when you’re dealing with paying customers v family.

Do we think Brian Carey could have, or would have turned any other bang average level 10 who was weak on bars and cannot dance into an Olympic floor champion and a top 10 Olympic AA place?

Would or could Andy Memmel help another former world champion returning to training in her mid 30s get to national championships?