Mixed Cup Medal at the 2028 Olympics?

[RAFIKI]

I’ll bet it’s fun to attend.

It is. Touch warm ups on floor with MAG/WAG going are quite entertaining! I never try and sneak my camera into the British because there’s too much to watch as it is without worrying about photos as well.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Looks like now confirmed? It's in the event programme, albeit doesn't say which apparatus will be used.

https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Games/LA28/Official-Programme-of-the-Olympic-Games-Los-Angeles-2028.pdf

 

[irichluck21]

I hope its an actual team event rather than mixed pairs.

 

[BB12]

Interested to hear how it will actually operate as I'm a bit sceptical.

There is no increase to the athlete quota so it seems like the event will be comprised from athletes already on the WAG/MAG teams which makes sense. I just get a bit of same routine fatigue by the end so depending on where it sits in the schedule will likley impact my excitement for it.

 

[J175]

I have to assume the event at Euros this year is the format they are thinking of for 2028. It's weird that the IOC have included an event at the Olympics without it being contested at a World Championships (yet), but it'd be weirder if they'd done it without seeing a proposed format.

We'll see how it goes next month, but I can't say I'm a big fan of the Euros format, with the pairs and arbitrary selection of apparatus. And I'll be surprised if there aren't any complaints about the scheduling, with less than 24 hours between the mixed event and WAG AA final, followed by apparatus finals the next day.

 

[Beamer]

I have to assume the event at Euros this year is the format they are thinking of for 2028. It's weird that the IOC have included an event at the Olympics without it being contested at a World Championships (yet), but it'd be weirder if they'd done it without seeing a proposed format.

We'll see how it goes next month, but I can't say I'm a big fan of the Euros format, with the pairs and arbitrary selection of apparatus. And I'll be surprised if there aren't any complaints about the scheduling, with less than 24 hours between the mixed event and WAG AA final, followed by apparatus finals the next day.

What is the format for it at Euros this year?

 

[cftmoonlight79]

I hope the US uses a more rested gymnast(like in a Hezly situation) instead of a Simone, who will have done a ton of competing.

 

[irichluck21]

US (or other countries) might not have a choice, it all depends what the qualifying procedures are and the schedule

For example, the European Mixed Team is the highest AAer from WAG and MAG qualifying.
Also the Mixed Team event is after Team Qualification/Team Finals and before AA and EF.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

US (or other countries) might not have a choice, it all depends what the qualifying procedures are and the schedule

For example, the European Mixed Team is the highest AAer from WAG and MAG qualifying.
Also the Mixed Team event is after Team Qualification/Team Finals and before AA and EF.

Which raises the possibility of conveniently timed injuries. I don't think there's any indication we're going to see a return to the rule where withdrawing from one event meant no further participation in the competition, so it's likely to come down to priorities for the countries concerned.

It'll be interesting to see what the chosen apparatus are. If it's the same format as Euros, that's bad for China. I'd be signing this one over to them now if they could sit out WAG vault!

 

[QuietColours]

US (or other countries) might not have a choice, it all depends what the qualifying procedures are and the schedule

For example, the European Mixed Team is the highest AAer from WAG and MAG qualifying.
Also the Mixed Team event is after Team Qualification/Team Finals and before AA and EF.

With how much the top athletes compete over the course of the Games, this makes me wince and feel like I'm going to be watching from behind my fingers waiting for the injuries that come when people are just exhausted.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Adopting the same rules as will allegedly be in place at Euros doesn't seem conducive to the event being taken seriously either.

I appreciate that space won't allow athletes a free choice of which apparatus to compete, that's unavoidable. But it would seem counterproductive for the rules to try and specify which gymnasts a team can use. If countries are given the same freedom as they get in other competition rounds, that surely maximises the chances of it being seen as desirable and taken seriously.

 

[irichluck21]

Does FIG have a say in Euros or is that UEG?

If so the IOC will defer to FIG...ugh

 

[makam]

With how much the top athletes compete over the course of the Games, this makes me wince and feel like I'm going to be watching from behind my fingers waiting for the injuries that come when people are just exhausted.

Yeah, if you end up with a gymnast who makes AA finals and several EFs...it is just mean to ask them to add in a whole other competition. Everyone could see that Simone was running out of gas the last day of EFs, I'm sure adding another event in there would have made it even tougher to have the mental and physical energy to make it through the last day...especially if you don't have a teammate that can keep up to your level (or however they are going to do it). If you are #1 WAG or MAG but your teammate is a 20 rank athlete, are you going to want to use your energy on a thing that probably won't get you a medal but could cause you to miss out on other medals?

 

[flappergirl]

It’s a good thing for people who didn’t make any finals

 

[Denn]

Already a mess. And the effect on qualification? Yikes...

But there is ONE idea that could turn out REALLY cool:

1. Go all in. Cut the men's and women's team events.
2. 8 teams qualify based on data from Worlds.
3. Automatic berth; qualifications for individual events only.
4. 4 men + 4 women.
5. Every athlete does 3 exercises — true team event.
6. Every women's apparatus covered 3 times; every men's apparatus covered twice. Teams decide how.
7. Vaulters do 2 vaults.

BTW, this also would allow them to go back to 2 individual spots per country rule. All 8 teams get that automatically so the qualification process isn't so convoluted. That would be 96 spots for the top 8 teams. That's half, and it seems totally fair. The other 96 spots get spread across other countries.

It’s a good thing for people who didn’t make any finals

Right, but with an Olympic gold medal on the line, I don't think that's who teams will put up.

 

[BB12]

I really dislike the Euro's concept where they have excluded certain apparatus. I understand the space issue but for it to work, I think you need to have every apparatus included.

Surely the arena in LA will be big enough to fit everything on the floor? Ive attended comps in an arena setting that fit them all so it can be done.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

With how much the top athletes compete over the course of the Games, this makes me wince and feel like I'm going to be watching from behind my fingers waiting for the injuries that come when people are just exhausted.

Yeah, this is my concern as well. I saw how tired the gymnastics looked on the last day of event finals last year and I can't imagine adding more competition.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

It will be an issue if they try and make the top athletes compete in it, for WAG especially. May work a bit better with MAG where there isn't such a small pool of gymnasts tending to be in almost all finals, albeit maybe that will reduce in WAG anyway with Rebeca dropping floor and Simone on hiatus/finished.

If it's to work, the best way would be to let countries use their whole roster. So assuming for the sake of argument that it's VT/BB/FX for the women as with Euros, and focusing on the women as I'm more familiar with them, I can see how this might've worked in Paris.

That format is tailor made for Ruby Evans, for example, and she made no finals after TFs. If Jade had been sufficiently recovered from the flu, it would've suited her too, and if not then Hezley is the obvious choice. Those are Zhou Yaqin's events, and she wasn't in the AA final. Andreoli also. In the best case scenario for the mixed event, it could be something that teams factor in when choosing athletes and lineups.

However, if either the rules or the programmes themselves approach it as right, another competition day for Biles/Andrade/D'Amato/Black/Kinsella then yes, hard to see how the consequence won't be even more visibly exhausted performances in EFs.

But maybe even without this, it's time to talk about teams being a bit more strategic about how much they use the best athletes. We all saw, for example, Alice Kinsella's EF performances last quad being much less tired when she'd not done all events in a TF and AA too. Then there's the question of whether Simone might've had more left in the tank by the final day in Paris if she'd sat one or even two events in TFs and the US had won by a few tenths less.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

The more I think about this, the more I think the event is going to be quite lackluster. Track has been doing the mixed 4x400 for almost a decade now, and it always ends up being a letdown.

It’s always the first event of the meet, and therefore the top teams all send their JV squads so that their medal hopes do not get injured, resulting in some random country like Poland winning.

I don’t really feel the need to watch an event featuring Grace McCallum/Hezly/Akhaimova etc. caliber gymnasts. Power tumbling should have been introduced before this event, and yet they continue to expand swimming events and allow for more athletes.