MyKayla Skinner Olympic participation

[ArnoldRimmer]

Reading that just makes me so sad. Everything about this is tragic.

 

[MRR]

Going back to McCallum v. Skinner for a sec: I think beam is McCallum’s strongest argument for the team, by far.

Ironically it’s an event she may not touch outside of prelims. The top 3 are generally solid and consistent, and Simone has never sat out beam in TF. However, the top U.S. bars worker has ankle and Achilles issues, and we only need to look back at McCusker to see where an athlete can’t do anything but UB, so BB becomes pivotal. Your options are McCallum, whose routine is bare bones with risk and also choreographed within an inch of its life, thus very hard to knock lower than a high 13-low 14. Or there’s Skinner, whose set is a bottomless deduction pit with risky acro series hit maybe 60% of the time. There’s no comparison.

Floor is definitely an event where McCallum is tempting based on Trials night 1, but so far it ends there. She’s hit 1 of 4 sets in the previous two competitions, and Lee’s a fairly safe option as long as she rotates her turns. I had concerns regarding Chiles’s third pass, but she performed it the best she ever has at Trials. And if it’s a choice of Skinner BB or FX in TF, you would much sooner go with the latter.

 

[irichluck21]

Agree MRR…

 

[Doug1233]

It really was a no brainer. The conversation was Grace v Wong.

Skinner was always only going to be the +1, if anything.

ETA: I wonder what Tom would have done if Skinner came 4th at Trials…

 

[MRR]

That’s the $64,000 question, and it was only 0.3 from happening.

Tom isn’t married to rank order when it comes to designating roles on a team, and we only need to remember Stuttgart where McCallum was the beneficiary over Skinner. This is easier said than done under an Olympic selection with intense scrutiny, and Skinner would have the argument of not only being top 4 but also on the highest scoring team. However, given his alternate selections at the last two Worlds, it’s feasible he wouldn’t have done anything different. He still has the +1 to throw Skinner a bone, and McCallum is kept on the main team where he wants her, as recent Worlds experience and AA coverage would indicate.

The discussion gets more interesting if you freeze night 1 and name a team. Jade has no Cheng, Skinner has two EF vaults interchangeable on the highest scoring team, and McCusker hit bars. The balls to the wall approach would be to put Skinner on main, McCusker +1, and dump McCallum, and I wonder if there was any temptation to do that. McCusker’s fall night 2 and McCallum passing Skinner evaporated the possibility, and Skinner top 4 was unsustainable over both days.

I’ve never rooted for McCallum, but on night 2 she called the bluff of just about everyone who isn’t a fan of Skinner or Utah. Midway through the second rotation, she was the only person standing between her and an Olympic gold medal.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Re the temptation after Night 1, my feeling is no, because it doesn’t feel like a Tom thing to do. He likes safe choices. I’m not sure balls to the wall is in his vocabulary. There have been accusations from various quarters about him showing favouritism towards Grace during his tenure, but honestly, I think he just has a preference for what she represents.

 

[Doug1233]

She shouldnt even be thinking about the Olympics. She is so far away from the conversation. If all of the Olympians withdrew from the Worlds running, she would still struggle to make the Worlds team.

I gotta give credit to my girl Skinner. I was wrong.

It just goes to show that holding out for gymnasts better than you to get injured (Morgan, Riley) or fuck up badly (Leanne, Kara), and building up a fanbase such that the HPC is too scared not to pick you (Youtube), can actually get you to the Olympics.

 

[ucrgirl]

Me too. I thought she had no chance. ( she’s a bit lucky that Jade was injured and not in a rush to show her best stuff.)

I also didn’t think Laurie would be healthy enough to last through the 2016 selection.

 

[cats]

I think there is an actual real bit of inspiration about not counting yourself out of the race before it’s run, and being willing to take some risks in life.

 

[rlayt]

Nobody can beat Mohini’s story. Delivering pizza to pay for training is hard. That was inspirational.

 

[dweiss324]

I’m fully on board the skinner train at this point, if only even for a vaulting silver. She took the bet, did the work, and maybe it wasn’t rational, or a preferred result from most people who love form or technique, but… She is an impressive woman and I’m finding myself rooting for her. Let’s goooooo!!!

 

[ucrgirl]

maybe it wasn’t rational, or a preferred result from most people who love form or technique

Well her vaults have pretty decent technique and that’s mainly what she is here for. Her vaults wouldn’t be an embarrassment on the podium.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Despite her Cheng block becoming safer and improving, her post-flight has lost what dynamism she had pre-college.

Her Amanar is absolutely her superior vault in my mind, despite its more anxiety-inducing landings. She has become really consistent with the Amanar tho

 

[Hatsumomo]

And then having Pamela Anderson as a sponsor. That was so random.

 

[lovegymnasts]

And then having Pamela Anderson as a sponsor. That was so random.

I still have a framed picture of Pamela Anderson at trials that my friend begged me to take when we saw her at the stadium walking with her body guard. He spent more time watching her in the skybox than the gymnastics.

 

[Doug1233]

Her vaults wouldn’t be an embarrassment on the podium

Yes precisely. And, to be fair, this is why she was the +1 and not on the team.

 

[Doug1233]

Full gymnastics practice with the OLYMPIC COACH watching

Tom Forster visits Desert Lights and gives feedback.

It’s still weird how this happened and Hurd never got the same treatment.

 

[KathySantoni]

What do you think Tom should have done to improve Hurd’s performance at Nationals?

 

[Seyonne]

Morgan lost time due to injury. Not sure Tom could have helped there.

 

[irichluck21]

It’s still weird how this happened and Hurd never got the same treatment.

Or Shilese Jones, Grace McCallum or any other gymnasts for that matter.

It definitely comes across as favoritism.