Post qualifications WAG musings

[makam]

My Musings:

1. I wish things had gone better for Canada. Stewart had a really rough elite introduction
2. Kim Bui made the AA final! I too am for the end of the 2-per (or at least top 5-10 automatically advance and it goes 2-per after that) but I love Kim so much, I am glad she benefited from it.
3. Hooray for Rebecca Andrade! what a lovely comeback.
4. I hope Larissa and Flavia can both do BB finals but if they don’t, I love the reserves so I wouldn’t totally die
5. I hope team usa does some reflection, digs deep, and comes out blazing. Maybe starting on VT will rev them up and finishing on FX will let Simone get some of the adrenaline out to not bounce quite as much. (she kept her Biles I + wolf in so she has been doing some work, it was just that one pass)

 

[rlayt]

Was Jesolo cancelled this year? It’s disappointing that there wasn’t more effort put into finding international opportunities to compete.

2020 was canceled. COVID was raging through Italy.

 

[irichluck21]

This didn’t age well.

 

[Caledi]

I think the US does have Brevet judges from other countries judge at nationals. But I think they usually live in or near the US, and it might be because there are so few US Brevets (because of the dumb restrictions that they impose).

 

[JaJa]

Tom offered the following insight: “I just want to re-emphasize, if anybody out there complained [that] USA Gymnastics only thought about medals, that was not the point."

What was the point Tom?

 

[rlayt]

I don’t understand what Tom was getting at. He doesn’t express himself well AT ALL.

Facebook’s college gym fans are in full-on foxic meltdown about Skinner.

 

[SJB1959]

Perskaia definitely had a say with Marta. Some gymnasts even trained at Capital a day here and there. I was on a flight back with her from a meet and she said Americans shouldn’t even do wolf and ring leaps and voila - they started to disappear from the repertoire. She also made a recommendation on the fly to a coach at a meet and an adjustment was made (can’t remember details). I cannot confirm, but heard Marta, Tatiana and a couple of other coaches were pretty close buddies, even playing cards at the hotels at night. If true, would have been hilarious.

 

[JaJa]

I don’t understand what Tom was getting at. He doesn’t express himself well AT ALL.

Understatement.

At a minimum, Forster needs to be able to handle the media and the pressure at a time like this. He needed to reflect confidence in his team. Not bark “I’m done” and go storming off.

I would say time’s up Tom. he just has to go.

https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/07/25/us-womens-gymnastics-team-simone-biles-qualifying

 

[JaJa]

Say what you will about Marta. But she would have known how to handle this FAR better and handle it in a way designed to up their performance.

Childish behavior like this will only erode their confidence. These girls have the skill and the talent. Its mental at this point. What a total jerk that man is.

 

[RedBirdie]

Jordan had the slightest bit of international experience. She went to the Stuttgart AA world cup in 2018, where she placed 3rd. Jordan also competed at 2018 Pac Rims, where she didn’t compete bars but did win gold on vault and floor.

Skinner competed at Gymnix in early 2020. The judges seemed less than in love with her, though she didn’t have great routines in the first place. Emily Lee beat her in AA.

 

[OnoNoKomachi]

The term for them is “outrage vampires”. They feed off controversy. That’s true of a lot of journalists, but they take it to the next level.

 

[KristyJ]

For the heck of it, I took a look at who we would have gained in finals with a 36 AA / 12 per event / 3 per country format. The list is notable–

AA- Viktoriia Listunova, Jade Carey (!!), Zhang Jin, Aline Friess, Lieke Weavers, Amelie Morgan, Asia D’Amato, Maellyse Brassart, Eythora Thorsdottir, Georgia Godwin, Hitomi Hatakeda, Aiko Sugihara

VT- Mykayla Skinner, Giulia Steingruber, Murakami Mai, Ellie Black

UB- Vladislava Urazova, Melanie de Jesus dos Santos, Jonna Alderteg, Tang Xijing

BB- Lu Yufei, Ashikawa Urara, Viktoriia Listunova, Sanne Weavers (!!!)

FX- Jennifer Gadirova, Nina Darwael, and a complex tie break situation involving Vladislava Urazova, Lilia Akhaimova, Jordan Chiles, and Mykayla Skinner

Floor is complicated because Urazova and Akhaimova tied but would be third and fourth for Russia, and Chiles and Skinner are in a similar situation. Not sure how tie breakers would work, if you’d make an exception and take both Russians and neither American, or if you should just take the whole crew and call it a day (my preferred route but likely impractical and then a final of 14).

It’s worth noting that all of the additions in EF would be legit medal contenders, and the additions in AA are very respectable gymnasts, many of whom have medaled in AA world cups. In AA seven countries would end up with three entries (Russia, US, China, France, UK, Italy, Japan), but you’d also gain athletes from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Australia. In EF you add a third athlete from some nations but also gain athletes from Switzerland, Canada, Japan, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, and Belgium.

Alas, even with 12 there’s still no Chusovitina in vault finals even with two-per.

Edited because I apparently can’t count

 

[Gymfan93]

I’m still conflicted about 2pc- I can see both sides of it really. But 24 in AA/the top 8 in EF is just cruel with or without 2pc. They should really make it 36/12.

 

[makam]

Aw man, I every one of those lineups. Though they are going back to 5 person teams, it would have been nice since they are so strictly limiting team size, if they had increased EF size.

Though they absolutely emphatically need to do something about BB judging before they even think about increasing EF size. It shouldn’t take 20 minutes to come up with a score that the gymnaverse judges can tally in their heads in 1 minute or John Roethlisberger can pull out of the air in 5 seconds.

 

[irichluck21]

I think it should be worth noting that Jade and MyKayla went up 5th or 6th in the rotation after everyone else, which is an advantage. It also helped them that Biles struggled all night, so in comparison hit routines by them looked better than they were.
McCallum had her issues but she was also the lead off on 3 out of 4 events.
Had she competed bars after Jade, I would imagine that her score would have lifted a tenth or more.

 

[Perfect10]

When do TF startlists come out?

 

[JaJa]

In addition to having skills named after her, they might give some thought to naming a new penalty after Simone. OOA for Out of Arena.

Last night reminded me a little of Simone’s days as a junior before she figured out how to control her power.

Nevertheless, I am confident she will get it together and we will see the Simone we all expect to see at TF and EFs.

 

[Gymfan93]

MAG came out today, but I’m not sure what time exactly.

 

[tempest]

I think start lists are due 24 hours before the start of the event

 

[Seyonne]

Who picks the lineup for finals? I assume Laurent and the other coaches, but does Tom have a role?