Redoing Olympic Qualification: A Proposal

[Sparklesmom]

I think the plus ones (not on the team) should not count in the two per country rule.

 

[ucrgirl]

Did you see my way of handling that? Basically all World Cup and Continentals would be open to everyone, and then all the medalists at all of those events would do one competition for 3 more slots per apparatus / AA. I think that addresses your concern in a way that could be very clear-cut but also lots of fun.

I like this. It is simple. It erases the the weirdness of athletes like Jade choosing a path to the Olympics two years out. It makes sure athletes who are coming back from injury like Andrade have a path to the Olympics.

 

[QuietColours]

Should this be available to all athletes the year they become senior, or would it be available to athletes who will be senior by the start of the games? The one thing I didn’t like about the world cup series was that it was basically impossible for any 2004/2005 babies to qualify that way. But I also really, really don’t like the idea of 13 and 14 year olds competing as seniors. Could something be done specifically for younger athletes to give them an option for competing to help even out their chances of qualifying individually compared to older athletes who can try for spots all quad?

 

[irichluck21]

I am sure they can figure out something since they currently have Junior Continentals which are Qualifiers for both Junior Olympics and Junior Worlds.
Maybe a mini-World Cup circuit for juniors.

But yeah I do agree the World Cup circuit wasn’t fair since it started 2 years before the Olympics (and ended up being 3 years total).

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I wish there was a World Cup system for junior gymnasts because junior figure skaters have the Junior Grand Prix. But of course, it took a long time to get a junior gymnastics world championships, too. Why is it so hard advocating for competitive experiences for junior gymnasts?

 

[Denn]

That’s the beauty of the method I described — ANYONE who medals, even once, at a World Cup (Category I) -or- a continental, can go to the World Cup final and have a short of getting an Olympic berth!

No Junior World Cup needed!

 

[LMB]

Instead of automatically giving the top 3 teams an individual spot or two at 2023 Worlds, maybe factor in 2022 Worlds too.
So give the top 3 at 2022 a team entry, and then if they are able to make top 3 again at 2023 they get an individual spot?

 

[Denn]

OMG, I originally typed that! I removed it because I was worried people would think it was too complicated — or that they would say it’ll be weird if, say, a team medals in 2022 and then doesn’t medal in 2023!

Either way, this idea definitely provides incentives for the top teams to bring their A-game to 2023 worlds: they have a chance to win some spots!

 

[dweiss324]

I love the idea of top teams getting extra spots in in 2022-2023. I wouldn’t even mind if it rewards those teams during the actual competition. Say China and Russia and the US earned +2, and GB and Japan and Italy earned + 1, and the other teams didn’t…

Then, for instance, the top teams compete 6-4-3 as a team, the second tier teams compete 5-4-3 as a team, the rest of the teams compete 4-4-3 as a team. The incentive to do well at the previous worlds or international qualifying competitions goes up, and the reward for the top teams is more options, and opportunity for their increased depth to shine at the Olympics, many of whom would qualify on any other team, without the current +2 individual spots confusion. I don’t see the harm in having to earn some advantages. It makes things less cursory, and better reflects the talent distribution. You could even have a scenario where teams didn’t even have to qualify as a team to the Olympics, but different delegations could qualify different number of athletes, and then any delegation that had 3 athletes competing AA and no one else could still compete as a team (like Turkey in MAG). Say Spain qualifies three gymnasts, and the US 7… they could still both compete as teams, with the US having a well-earned advantage obviously.

If you don’t go that route, I’m also frankly not opposed to bringing 8 or 10 teams instead of 12, and not having them compete for team finals spots. If the team made it to the Olympics as a team, they should be good enough to have a shot at challenging the podium, and thus have an opportunity to compete for medals. Having 5-6 teams there that are on the bubble for making finals means they won’t be contending for medal spots anyways, at least on paper. I really don’t understand the point of quals for contending teams, when their gymnasts have to compete AA at podium training, quals, AND team, AND the AA final, and then go on to EFs. We saw some of Suni’s routines 5 times. We would have seen all of Simone’s routines 5 times. That seems like overkill to me. If there’s a way to combine “quals” for AA and EFs into the team final competition, it would bring parity to the fact that Andrade had a 4 day break between quals and AA, while top AAers from Russia, the US, and China had to compete in team finals. Not 100% sure how to do that, but I imagine it’d be possible to eliminate a round of competition for team athletes by combining things with some creative thinking.

I’d love more individuals that could have been relevant but got boned out of the Olympics. Love some of the suggestions here on how to make that happen. It’s ridiculous some of the circuitous routes some of these athletes had to take to get to the Olympics, and many solid options didn’t make it.

 

[Doug1233]

I’d be in favour if this was an extra event but not if it replaced both TFs

Ha it’s totally gonna replace it, we just know it!