Nancy Armour

[Doug1233]

Opinion: US gymnast Jade Carey made the right choice about her spot at the Tokyo Olympics

United States can send six women to Tokyo: Four-person team; Jade Carey in an individual spot; and a \

www.usatoday.com

I almost threw up reading this fucking trash.

 

[ucrgirl]

I read her previous article about Jade Carey. (The one raging about how Jade Carey might take someone else’s spot on the team and cause the US to send only 5 athletes.)

Have these people learned nothing from the onslaught of internet hate that Gabby Douglas experienced during 2016? (For not being Simone or not smiling enough when Simone won or for not winning an individual medal or ?) Why would she try to make Jade a target of that kind of backlash?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The ‘let this be a lesson to the International Gymnastics Federation’ line was a particular low in a turd of an article. Why the fuck would the FIG take the remotest interest in a national federation’s failure to make their Olympic qualification criteria say what they want them to say? I know they’ve already said they aren’t doing the individual route again next quad, but if they hadn’t, this particular domestic matter wouldn’t even register.

 

[cats]

The notion of giving spots to individuals who earn them rather than to federations to gift to whoever they please is actually quite progressive, IMO. The details of the implementation left a lot to be desired but the concept of using world cups and continental champs as Olympic qualifiers for individuals is good!

I usually like Nancy but this is all just absurd. Has anyone thanked Jade for preventing the women’s program from having to send a passel of athletes to Brazil and risk covid to get that 6th slot, or are we only mad?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I feel the same. There’s a lot wrong with the individual qualification system from this quad, not all of which is the fault of the pandemic, but in a sport where so many federations have abusive cultures, there’s something to be said for giving athletes a mechanism to bypass the worst of the politics and control. Say whatever else about it, it potentially offers an athlete the ability to keep their Olympic spot if they disclose abuse, instead of getting Becky Downie’d. We talk a lot about making federations and power structures less abusive, which is important of course, but perhaps not enough about ways to take some of their power off them.

 

[ucrgirl]

I feel the same. There’s a lot wrong with the individual qualification system from this quad, not all of which is the fault of the pandemic, but in a sport where so many federations have abusive cultures, there’s something to be said for giving athletes a mechanism to bypass the worst of the politics and control. Say whatever else about it, it potentially offers an athlete the ability to keep their Olympic spot if they disclose abuse, instead of getting Becky Downie’d. We talk a lot about making federations and power structures less abusive, which is important of course, but perhaps not enough about ways to take some of their power off them.

Hear, hear.

In another thread, someone pointed out that Becky would have an Olympic spot, due to her silver medal on bars, if GB hadn’t qualified a team at 2019 Worlds.

 

[irichluck21]

Well Nancy was right about one glaring point… USAG never made it clear that if you went the individual route that you give up the team medal. 100% correct on that one. That should have been written into the criteria, which would have avoided this mess.

 

[Doug1233]

But Rich - they didn’t make it clear because that wasn’t their position.

Their position always was that if you come Top 2 you automatically make “the team”. That trumps everything.

 

[irichluck21]

Right, but this was a new qualification procedure put out by FIG for this quad.

They could have easily added in a caveat stating that any athlete that attempted the World Cup circuit as an individual AND qualified a spot, would be excluded from the 4 person team based on already securing one of the +1.

 

[Doug1233]

Yes of course they could and should have done that. But Nancy doesn’t seem to be putting the blame on USAG for their failure to do this. Instead, they’ve scapegoated Jade and have bullied her into “doing the right thing”

 

[irichluck21]

Right! Had USAG made the decision for Jade, USAG would still be the bully.
No matter what they did USAG was going to be a “bully”.

My point was none of this would be any sort of drama if USAG put it in writing at the get go.

USAG: Jade qualified a nominative spot, she must take it because if not she forfeits a spot.
Media: USAG is a bully!!! Forcing her to take a spot and not decide for herself!

USAG: Jade can make her own decision if she wants to keep or give up the spot.
Media: USAG is a bully!!! Forcing her to decide if she wants the spot or not!

 

[Doug1233]

Or the third one…

Media: This is all Jade’s fault. How dare she be so selfish to even entertain the possibility of qualifying Top 2 AA at Trials even though its perfectly within USAG’s rules…

 

[irichluck21]

I haven’t seen this one yet…even though I have felt that for years now!!!

 

[RedBirdie]

USAG, when they drafted the selection procedures in early 2018, never imagined a US gymnast good enough to secure an apparatus +1 would pass on earning sure thing world and olympic team gold medals.

They really figured they’d secure a team spot via 2018 worlds, AA +1, and continental +1. Who in their right mind VOLUNTARY gives up a shot at guaranteed Olympic gold? So they never thought through dealing with apparatus +1. They drafted everything and had the USOC sign off before Jade decided to go the apparatus route. And once USOC approved Olympic procedures, changes cannot be made.

And because USOC says athletes can pursue all options to qualify to the Olympics, that meant USAG couldn’t prevent Jade from going to World Cup events. That’s why the process detail who could go on the world cup circuit was so hastily thrown together between nationals and worlds in 2018.

 

[ucrgirl]

Or the third one…

Media: This is all Jade’s fault. How dare she be so selfish to even entertain the possibility of qualifying Top 2 AA at Trials even though its perfectly within USAG’s rules…

I understand people may feel this way if the US had only 5 places (I’m sure every alternate would feel this way). But it is not okay for the USAG or USAG-friendly media to set up one of their athletes to be publicly excoriated for following USAG procedures. USAG needs to be able to weather the “USAG is a bully” media storm in this instance. It is part of protecting their athletes.

 

[irichluck21]

But there is also an underlying degree of selfishness as well.
Only 4 athletes were eligible for the apparatus route. Biles, Hernandez, Hurd, Carey. Hernandez was not in the picture in 2017/2018. Biles was just coming back and as long as she was not injured would be the star of the team. Hurd was reigning World champion and was clearly #2 behind Simone. So it was only Carey left.

Once it was mathematically secured, that should have sealed the deal. But instead she continued to state she was trying for the 4 person team. That is a slap int he face to all the other athletes that didn’t have the same opportunity as Carey. Knowing full well that if she made the 4 person team it eliminated a spot from someone else.

Also, to me there is some irony to the situation. So Carey wanted to make the Olympic team? Where was she in 2018 when the team needed her for floor and vault. She basically said “I’m good I want to try to be an individual”. Granted the team took gold by almost 10 points so even without Carey they dominated, but they also had the return on Biles as well. However, it is still a statement that Carey withdrew from Worlds so she could focus on individual qualification, a World team where she would have easily qualified to.

 

[RedBirdie]

I wonder how much was actually legitimate confusion on the part of the Careys about how the spots worked, and even USAG. We can say until we’re blue in the face that they should have fully understand how FIG was allocating spots and you can’t just decline an apparatus spot and still have your federation get an continental, but the fact is this new process is all sorts of confusing and convoluted; we were round and round on WWG trying to understand the rules! They were about as clear as mud. I mean, heck, we’re still unclear if points from WAG Floor will be reallocated since Jade will have secured a spot via vault–reallocation vs. no reallocation has the potential to play a significant role in determining who gets the floor spot! We’re a week out from Doha and no one seems to know, which is unacceptable. FIG sucks.

USAG should have understood the rules, and they should have communicated clearly with the Careys what those rules were and what what would happen by pursuing an apparatus spot. I’m willing to cut the Careys a bit of slack here, less so with USAG. But I’m still going to say ultimately this is all a result of FIG being a fucking disaster of an organization.

 

[RAFIKI]

Agreed. The floor points reallocation black hole of information is ridiculous. Do we need to get Ferrari and Mori tweeting FIG a la Petrounias?

 

[tempest]

Agreed. The floor points reallocation black hole of information is ridiculous. Do we need to get Ferrari and Mori tweeting FIG a la Petrounias?

Can you explain please?

 

[Doug1233]

I disagree.