Gabby Douglas Comeback Thread (New goal: LA 2028)

[makam]

Hopefully moving forward the selection committee, if they repeat this type of thing in the future, will have the criteria posted way ahead of time.

Yeah, posting it the week before has shades of Martha and "we wrote this to deliberately exclude gymnast X who we are trying to teach a lesson."

 

[Jerkin]

Yeah, posting it the week before has shades of Martha and "we wrote this to deliberately exclude gymnast X who we are trying to teach a lesson."

Gymcastic are saying gymnasts were only informed about this on Monday

 

[rlayt]

I sure hope the transparency improves. Publish criteria, set it in stone then nobody gets hurt.

 

[Doug1233]

There shouldn't need to be criteria with respect to ex Olympic AA champions.

Carly and Mary Lou should be able to go to an April USAG fucking camp, if she wants.

 

[Passion]

MyKayla Skinner, who just had a baby and hasn't done gymnastics in three years, is qualified to this camp going by the criteria.

Lexi Zeiss, who won gold with the 2022 World team and just competed UB one month ago at Winter Cup, is not qualified.

I'm not saying one or the other should or should not be qualified, just pointing out the absurdity of the criteria. Why specifically are the 2020 medalists qualified to this camp? But not 2021 or 2022 Worlds? It's obvious they added 2020 medalists on there specifically so Suni could get an invite (that she ironically declined,) but it would be so easy to make that look less obvious by adding all major competitions of the quad. Just say all World and Olympic medalists from 2020-on are invited.

ETA: And then publish the damn thing before the season starts so the athletes know what to expect, not tell them a week before the selection camp.

 

[KorbutFan]

There shouldn't need to be criteria with respect to ex Olympic AA champions.

Carly and Mary Lou should be able to go to an April USAG fucking camp, if she wants.

Why stop there? Nadia Comaneci is a US citizen now.

 

[MaryClare]

Why stop there? Nadia Comaneci is a US citizen now.

As is Gutsu

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Why stop there? Nadia Comaneci is a US citizen now.

Frankly, Nadia should be able to go to any gymnastics camp in any country in the world, whenever she wants.

 

[lovegymnasts]

So was she hoping to go but was just not invited or did she opt out of going in the end? Feels like there is a massive difference between the two...

Edit: I see that Gabby categorically did not meet the criteria for this camp (Sunisa did).

Athletes attending camp met at least one of the following criteria:

• Current Junior and Senior National Team members
• Senior athletes who placed in the top 12 in the all-around at 2024 Winter Cup and achieved the U.S. Championships qualification score
• Junior athletes who placed in the top six in the all-around at 2024 Winter Cup and achieved the U.S. Championships qualification score
• 2020 Olympic Medalists

I'm sorry but this sport is weird sometimes. A freaking Olympic all-around champion from any year should have a much clearer route back into these events. She missed one event due to illness (regardless of the other drama) and with that alone she has so few options.

No, they need to earn it.

 

[Jerkin]

No, they need to earn it.

An Olympic AA champion/medalist has definitely earned their elevated status. It is what all of these other gymnasts (minus Simone and Suni) are trying to replicate.

 

[lovegymnasts]

An Olympic AA champion/medalist has definitely earned their elevated status. It is what all of these other gymnasts (minus Simone and Suni) are trying to replicate.

No, they haven't. They need to prove themselves currently like everyone else. What you did over 8 years ago has no relevance to what you can or cannot do today.
She has done jack squat.
She has not competed once.
She has not shown full routines.
What has she done??????
Nada with 2 months to nationals.
The obsession for someone who has not competed is ridiculous.

 

[rlayt]

I think many of us get excited about returning champions in comeback attempts. I want to see Gabby on the biggest stages but we have nothing to show from her except seconds long video clips albeit great ones.

Dominique Moceanu got no breaks. Morgan got no invite to trials.

We need to push for different rules if we want to see more lenient policies to allow former champions to go to camps.

 

[Kara]

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think the rules are perfectly fine. The communication of said rules is what needs to be fixed. Moceanu, Hurd, and until she proves otherwise, Douglas, showed nothing that was deserving of a spot at whatever they were petitioning into. How they found that out was shitty and needs to be done better.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

No, they need to earn it.

yeah, she should have won 4 Olympic gold medals. 3 wasn't enough.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

It’s camp everyone. She has already attended camps this quad. It’s not like she is petitioning onto the Olympic team or Olympic trials. If she had nothing ready, why would she want to petition to a selection camp?

 

[Jerkin]

No, they haven't. They need to prove themselves currently like everyone else. What you did over 8 years ago has no relevance to what you can or cannot do today.
She has done jack squat.
She has not competed once.
She has not shown full routines.
What has she done??????
Nada with 2 months to nationals.
The obsession for someone who has not competed is ridiculous.

You're acting like I said she should be on the Olympic team. It's a freaking training camp and she has already attended multiple.

And claiming that people are obsessed with her is utterly bizarre. She's one of the most successful and famous gymnasts of her time, there is nothing at all weird about her comeback attempt generating attention and discussion.

 

[lovegymnasts]

As far as I see she attended one
No full routines
What she did 8 years ago is irrelevant to what she is doing now which is nada.
And the obsession is real.

 

[JaJa]

yeah, she should have won 4 Olympic gold medals. 3 wasn't enough.

Being the AA Champion 12 years ago and winning Team Gold 8 years ago is not relevant to what she is capable of today. It just is not, and should not afford her any entitlements to Trials or camps for that matter.

 

[MaryClare]

As far as I see she attended one
No full routines
What she did 8 years ago is irrelevant to what she is doing now which is nada.
And the obsession is real.

I’m not particularly a Gabby fan. But here’s why I’m excited by the prospect.

1. She’s attempting a comeback 12 years after winning Olympic AA. That’s genuinely insane. It’s Shushunova attempting a comeback for Sydney.

2. We are so incredibly close to getting to witness 3 Olympic AA champions competing against each other.

 

[Doug1233]

Being the AA Champion 12 years ago and winning Team Gold 8 years ago is not relevant to what she is capable of today. It just is not, and should not afford her any entitlements to Trials or camps for that matter.

This isn't a petition straight onto the Olympic team.

It's a spot at a camp.

Let the Olympic All Around Champion go, if she wants to.