Post qualifications WAG musings

[Hatsumomo]

I’ve honestly never been so happy that they changed the vaulting apparatus to the table. Imagine Simone balking using the horse.

 

[kimbee]

Do you mean something behind the scenes like, Tom put an insane amount of pressure on Simone? Or that he chewed her out for messing up in qualifications and totally got in her head? And Lori saw the writing on the wall that Simone might not be able to compete (or was worried that she would withdraw as a giant F-you to Tom) and is doing preemptive damage control?

Otherwise, I don’t see how the narrative could be that Tom messed up. Messed up how? Team selection? Any coordinator would have put Biles on the team. And I believe most coordinators would have gone with the same team aside from Biles. Unless Skinner placed top-two, most coordinators wouldn’t have put her on the main team, specifically because they wouldn’t have wanted to use her as a contingency in a situation like we had today. The top three - Biles, Lee, and Chiles - had pretty much picked themselves for the team before trials. The fourth person was going to be an all-arounder, especially given that Lee was nursing an ankle injury, and Skinner simply isn’t a strong AA gymnast… Other all-arounders made mistakes at trials.
I am unsure how the athletes can say that they didn’t know what they needed to do to make the team, when it was clear that all-arounders were needed. We’d been discussing it here (technically at wwgym) for the past 5 years that four member teams pretty much meant that all of the team members needed to be strong AA athletes and that the plus one spots would likely be used for event specialists.
Obviously, Skinner stans are going to blame him, but he should be the bigger person and simply ignore them.

No one could have predicted Simone being unable to finish the competition. Unless something along the lines of my above theories truly took place, Tom cannot be blamed for a gymnast recognizing that her head isn’t in the game and that she would be risking her physical health and a potential team medal if she kept competing.

I would like to see Tom come out and defend Simone and applaud her for having the mental wherewithal to know her limits and protect herself.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

No, I don’t mean Tom pressuring Simone at all. Just the possibility of today not having come from out of the blue and them not thinking she was necessarily going to be her normal self. I don’t mean he saw this coming, but perhaps being worried about her counting a fall or more bounded landings.

If you think about it, most of us were still of the view that the US were the more likely winner today because they had so much more room to improve than Russia did. The large majority of that was going to be Simone: she lost nearly 2 points in landing deductions in prelims and if you take those away, the US would’ve qualified 1st and it still wouldn’t have needed to be a particularly amazing day from her.

 

[Doug1233]

Simone definitely did not plan to do the Y1.5 in warm up. And she rolled out of it.

I wonder if the long delay between her second warm up turn and her vault got into her head a bit.

But yeah - it very much looks like it wasn’t an injury, despite USAGs initial statement that it was.

I wonder why they did that. To protect Simone?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Best guess yes, unless it was a genuine error. It’s an easier and less controversial answer than telling the truth would’ve been and they may not have had permission from her to disclose. I see why they did that.

 

[Doug1233]

It’s a huge tell that she did the exact same error in warm ups. It was in her head.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Of course it was. That’s a given now, isn’t it?

 

[QuietColours]

They may also have just not been entirely sure what was going on with her when they were putting out some of the initial statements. As an example, anxiety/panic attacks and PTSD incidents can have very intense physical components, and Simone (like most elite athletes) is carrying nagging injuries. They may have still been working out exactly what was going on when they announced she was pulling out and felt they had to give a reason.

 

[Puffin]

But a mental health issue is also a medical issue - no?

 

[Doug1233]

But a mental health issue is also a medical issue - no?

I think it’s important to distinguish the two.

I also don’t think that the twisties are a mental health issue. But they can CAUSE mental health issues (I.e anxiety and fear about injury).

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

In terms of doing their best gymnastics, they were well-peaked absolutely…but they were also totally beat up. Jordyn developed a shin stress fracture just before London, McKayla’s toe, Hernandez’s abs, Kocian’s something surely…

I agree with those who think they shouldn’t have both Trials and Nationals. Have Nationals and then maybe a filmed internal trial with scores released to the public… Methinks the more domestic televised competitions, the more pressure the gymnasts probably feel.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

They’re not going to get rid of Olympic Trials because the USOPC requires them. The best bet is to have delayed nationals after the Olympics, use one day competitions like American Classic and US Classic to qualify straight to Trials.

 

[Puffin]

Trials doesn’t need to be 2 days either - the 2 day thing started back in time when there were compulsory and optional components

 

[JaJa]

I also don’t think that the twisties are a mental health issue.

Its probably just a vestibular issue. But it has to be extremely frightening and as you said lead to extreme fear of injury. And self doubt.

 

[Seyonne]

If Simone competes AA, for the first time in a long time I’ll have no idea what to expect. That’s kinda exciting.

 

[ucrgirl]

We have to remember that it might not just be “twisties.” She has been under a ton of pressure from NBC (and various other media) and has talked about how unenjoyable it is to compete for the organization that covered-up sexual abuse. The stress and isolation of a Covid Olympics is unique.

I suspect that after the Olympics (maybe in a few years) when she has had a chance to process, there will be several pieces to this puzzle.

 

[Tigerlillie]

Simone is on record saying she thinks lack of a touch warm up for Olympic vault finals is dangerous. I wonder how this will factor into her decision to do Vault finals?

 

[Doug1233]

Its probably just a vestibular issue. But it has to be extremely frightening and as you said lead to extreme fear of injury. And self doubt.

Look at it this way - Simone could have tried a bar routine, panicked, and scored a 4.0.

She obviously didn’t want that to happen.

 

[JaJa]

We have to remember that it might not just be “twisties.” She has been under a ton of pressure from NBC (and various other media) and has talked about how unenjoyable it is to compete for the organization that covered-up sexual abuse. The stress and isolation of a Covid Olympics is unique.

I am sure its not just twisties. And yes, I agree that after Olympics she will in her own time reveal more about it. But for now I just think it is important that she told everyone it was not a physical injury, that it was a mental/stress thing. I also tend to doubt very seriously that she will compete in any EFs. But I trust she will continue to do what’s best for her and for the Team

 

[JaJa]

Look at it this way - Simone could have tried a bar routine, panicked, and scored a 4.0.

She obviously didn’t want that to happen.

Yes. Absolutely.