Gabby Douglas Comeback Thread (New goal: LA 2028)

[MaryClare]

I wouldn’t want this. I always think of those gymnasts who peaked in 1990 and 1998 who never got a worlds to show it.

I think the sport has moved on from the peak as early as possible method.

Why would a coach have a gymnast peak in a year where there aren’t a world championships? It’s just poor coaching

 

[RichardL]

Atler and Moceanu peaked in 1998 for the U.S., but they were aiming for the Goodwill Games (and took home several golds). The other major players seemed to take that year as a "hold steady" season.

 

[irichluck21]

I don't think Moceanu necessarily peaked at Goodwill Games. I think she could have won Nationals if she had not hyper extended her knee. She seemed tentative on landings. Moceanu won vault and beam at Nationals. She didn't have a 10.0 SV on floor on night 1 either. Plus the bars errors.

I wonder what she would have been like in 1999 and 2000 had it not been for the coaching separation and then emancipation from her parents.

 

[RichardL]

I don't think Moceanu necessarily peaked at Goodwill Games. I think she could have won Nationals if she had not hyper extended her knee. She seemed tentative on landings. Moceanu won vault and beam at Nationals. She didn't have a 10.0 SV on floor on night 1 either. Plus the bars errors.

I wonder what she would have been like in 1999 and 2000 had it not been for the coaching separation and then emancipation from her parents.

I've always wondered the same thing! What a shame. I guess by peaked I meant that she was at her career best that year (not specifically for GWG but just the overall season), and it would've been nice to see how a healthy Moceanu would've done at a competitive Worlds. But we never had the chance because there wasn't even one scheduled.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

We used to have a World Cup final in the December of the Olympic year. Possibly every December, I can’t remember

In the 00s it was every other December. Even years. There never seemed to be any problem finding hosts and they were well attended. I expect they were attractive because the delegations were quite small and they only needed to last a couple of days.

I was sorry we got rid of the world cup finals. They were fun.

 

[irichluck21]

Yeah, last one I think was held in 2006.
After that they just announced a winner at the end of the circuit instead of doing a final.

 

[rlayt]

I used to dig around the TV Guide and subscribe to random sports things to find out about these ca. 2000

 

[Jerkin]

I wonder if it’s time to go back to simply having a full Worlds every two years.

I think it would signify a really bad setback for the sport if they were forced to do this. Having at least one prominent, yearly showpiece event that generates attention and money should be the goal of any sport really.

The fact that they still don't have a 2025 host just shows how badly the FIG has mismanaged the sport imo.

 

[Sasha]

Gabby is slated to compete at the American Classic. Oh, and she has a Cheng.

Gabby Douglas eyes competitive return at American Classic

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas plans to compete at the upcoming American Classic (April 27), her first competition since the 2016 Rio Olympics.

www.nbcolympics.com

 

[blake]

I wish they would've fact checked the part about the 3x Olympians. Linda Metheny and Muriel Grossfeld both competed in 3 Olympics way back when. It took all of 2 minutes to verify with Wikipedia.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she's actually training actually a Chusovitina

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I'll laugh if it's a cuervo.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Gabby is slated to compete at the American Classic. Oh, and she has a Cheng.

Gabby Douglas eyes competitive return at American Classic

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas plans to compete at the upcoming American Classic (April 27), her first competition since the 2016 Rio Olympics.

www.nbcolympics.com

That would be an insane development if she threw a Cheng. That combined with her bars would be a sure bet to put her on the team, even if her floor was mid. However, she didn’t really say she was going to bust it out next week, so I am dubious that it will actually materialize.

 

[RedBirdie]

I'll be shocked (happily so) if she does a Cheng. She got her vaults around in 2012 on pure raw talent. But she always had issues with her yurchenko by being off to the side and pre-twisting. It resulted in what could have been a terrifying vault at Pacific Rim in 2012 (really, absolute miracle she nearly landed this)



In 2015, she still had the same issues of being off to the side and pretwisting. And she never got than Amanar back for competition.



Now throw in that she's training with Valeri Liukin, who isn't exactly known for this ability to coach vault. She's so talented I don't doubt she can get a DTY back. But a Cheng? Guess we'll see.

Although if a Gabby Cheng makes Roberson redundant, bring it on.

 

[Laura722]

 

[Laura722]

The Cheng shocks me too. Gabby has always been insanely gifted and she looks more muscular to me now, so maybe? Wouldn't shock me if they do the DTY instead, but sounds like she's planning on the Cheng.

 

[crdubb17]

I’ll just have to see it to believe it lol. I don’t even know what it will look like, but honestly she always twisted early on her yurchenko so maybe it’s more of that technique (cheated half on with an early twisting rudi off). I just can’t see it looking big and powerful or with a strong block ala Rebeca or Simone.

This does get me excited for her prospects again, though. She literally made all of her teams because of her unique combo of having one of the top 3 bars with a really strong vault.

 

[RedBirdie]

Note the language in Ashlee Buhler's tweets. Gabby is "working" a new vault. Gabby "alluded" that a Cheng would "likely" be her primary vault. Absolutely no confirmation that she is landing a Cheng consistently or will be competing it next week.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

with that amount of pre-twist, I suppose a half-on wasn’t too much more of a stretch.

Note the language in Ashlee Buhler's tweets. Gabby is "working" a new vault. Gabby "alluded" that a Cheng would "likely" be her primary vault. Absolutely no confirmation that she is landing a Cheng consistently or will be competing it next week.

if I had to guess, it’s probably in the same shape as that front full + full-in we saw a couple of weeks ago

 

[RichardL]

Douglas and Carey showing up to start their bids as the two specialists on the Olympic team at the same competition is very exciting. I don't think we'll ever see a Cheng from Douglas but the fact that she's training it means that she's feeling confident about maybe being an AA contender as well. My money is currently on the Biles/Jones/DiCello trio, but who knows.

 

[ucrgirl]

Note the language in Ashlee Buhler's tweets. Gabby is "working" a new vault. Gabby "alluded" that a Cheng would "likely" be her primary vault. Absolutely no confirmation that she is landing a Cheng consistently or will be competing it next week.

In the NBC article, the journalist "connects the dots" and says it's a Cheng. (excessive snark deleted.)

I would guess there will be no Cheng in competition but it would be so cool if she proves me wrong.

I still just want to see her bars routine. She really could fly.