Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts

[ucrgirl]

I am really starting to warm to Mykayla… I must be getting old.

I’ll probably edit that bit out later. Don’t do drugs kids.

Me too. Her improvement on vault has been shocking.

 

[MRR]

Morgan’s reaction to needing top 4 on an event to advance to Trials:

 

[Vanessa_Steck]

Tom is not looking good. My heavens.

 

[MaryClare]

I honestly don’t see why so many people think Morgan should have advanced to trials?

 

[mnesiptolema]

Because they like Morgan’s gymnastics and support Morgan as a person more than anybody else on Team USA at the moment. Fair enough, I like her too, but it makes perfect sense why her petition wasn’t accepted. Morgan herself also seems to understand this.

However, it’s another example of a gymnast saying Tom had explicit expectations that he didn’t actually pass on to anyone. That would be frustrating. If you’ll tell the NBC film crew what Morgan needed to do, why wouldn’t you tell Morgan?

 

[irichluck21]

Morgan can easily say it was “news to her” because it doesn’t fit her narrative.

Why is this even a discussion?
Morgan Hurd’s performances at Nationals did not warrant a OT invite bottom line.

Also Tom’s criteria makes sense as to why Riley got an invite to Olympic Trials.

Sorry but Morgan was injured and a hot mess at Nationals and did not deserve an invite to Olympic Trials.

 

[MRR]

I don’t think for a second Hurd should’ve advanced to Trials. But requiring top 4 on an event is…something, especially when Amari Drayton’s highest placement was 14th and qualified.
Specialists will be held to a different standard than AAers, of course, but that’s a vast discrepancy to not communicate anything, especially to an athlete with pedigree.

 

[MaryClare]

But Morgan wasn’t going down the specialist route. Perhaps in the future olympic trials should be limited to top 8 AA then up to 6 specialist or petition spots. This time was different due to 5 alternate slots available, but in a normal cycle, gymnasts shouldn’t be competing at trials unless they have a reasonable chance of making the team. Plus clear requirements for specialists would allow athletes and coaches to make informed decisions to maximise chance of Olympic selection. Perhaps if Morgan had just focussed on bars and beam she may have looked very different.

In 2024, with the return of 5 person teams, they should be stating at the start of the selection process we want 3 AAers, UB/BB and VT/FX. Gymnasts should then know exactly which spot they are aiming for

 

[MRR]

I only said specialist because Morgan did two events at Nationals. She intended to do all four at Trials, but given her elbow I doubt that was realistic.

 

[QuietColours]

Morgan’s performance wasn’t one that should have advanced to Nationals, but she was owed clear communication about what was expected of her to advance; an athlete with her (or Chellsie’s) level of experience should never be surprised by whether or not they advance to the next competition.

Additionally, the petition criteria document was exactly the same for Classics → Nationals and Nationals → Trials. She didn’t finish top 3 or 4 on an event then either, but she apparently met the criteria well enough then. But when the written, communicated criteria were the exact same two weeks later, she didn’t.

 

[makam]

I don’t understand the need to cut Trials competitors down to 14 or whatever. While it adds to the length of the competition (slightly), it gives the audience more gymnastics for their buck, NBC doesn’t show the non-leading contenders anyway and gets more time to sell ads, and it gives gymnasts a nice memory to move on with. Like would having Laurie, Chellsie, or Morgan doing an event or two at Trials really have hurt the credibility of the event? So what if they had no chance of making the team, if the fans want to see them, let them. Maybe set up a rule that previous world or olympic medalists get additional consideration or get to do an exhibition routine like they do in NCAA.

 

[ucrgirl]

I think it would hurt the credibility of USAG by giving the impression that favorites get a free pass to Olympic trials. I am fine with past champions getting the benefit of the doubt from Classics to Nationals, but you should qualify to Trials on current ability. Now if Morgan had been maybe second or third on beam one night that would have been one thing, but she was unfortunately not going to be ready for Trials.

 

[QuietColours]

Then they need to document those requirements and share them with the athletes well in advance on the competition.

The issue really isn’t whether or not she should have made Trials. It’s the inability of USAG to communicate key information, and what appears to arbitrary changes of standards from the documented criteria.