REWIND : WEEK SEVEN 04/11 : 2015 World Championships EF

[MaryClare]

All kinds of crazy shit happened. Maria Paseka becoming world vault champion, everyone becoming world bars champion. “This title really could be anybody’s. There are several gymnasts all with the same start value”, as Beth Tweddle said before the event.

It also occurred to me, as crazy as it sounds, but Simone wasn’t all that great on vault in her early career! She didn’t become world vault champion until 2018!

Here’s the BBC coverage, featuring the irreplaceable Mitch Fenner in his final competition as a commentator before he died. His enthusiasm for the sport was infectious. He expressed such joy for great gymnastics, regardless of the gymnast’s country. He had a very rare talent amongst gymnastics commentators, he was engaging and could tell the story. But he was also extremely informative and good at explaining the more technical aspects of the sport.



And day 2 (unfortunately couldn’t find the bbc coverage)

 

[RedBirdie]

2013-2016 Simone was all about the pacing. Aimee clearly had her difficulty watered down, going for execution over difficulty-for-difficulty's-sake. And I'd say it worked, because Simone just rolled up the next year with a really nice Cheng and won gold. (her Cheng, imo, has declined in quality ever since)

 

[MaryClare]

2013-2016 Simone was all about the pacing. Aimee clearly had her difficulty watered down, going for execution over difficulty-for-difficulty's-sake. And I'd say it worked, because Simone just rolled up the next year with a really nice Cheng and won gold. (her Cheng, imo, has declined in quality ever since)

Yeah, I’ll always be in awe of Aimee’s patience and restraint. Especially in the Martha era

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I was there!

 

[Passion]

Yeah, I’ll always be in awe of Aimee’s patience and restraint. Especially in the Martha era

Wasn’t Marta typically pro-watering down? She was generally pretty risk-averse.

 

[MaryClare]

Wasn’t Marta typically pro-watering down? She was generally pretty risk-averse.

She definitely was not pro watering down, she was pro endless repetition of difficulty packed routines. And she definitely didn’t care about pacing or the career trajectories of individual gymnasts. Even in 2021, Suni Lee felt that having a 3 pass routine was a sign of weakness, even if it scored higher!

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

2013-2016 Simone was all about the pacing. Aimee clearly had her difficulty watered down, going for execution over difficulty-for-difficulty's-sake. And I'd say it worked, because Simone just rolled up the next year with a really nice Cheng and won gold. (her Cheng, imo, has declined in quality ever since)

I feel like Aimee does not get enough credit for how amazing a job she did with Simone in the Rio quad. She was supremely paced, everything was controlled, and she always worked to fix execution errors. So much of the detail work she did with Simone that you could clearly see went out the window with the Landis.

 

[Passion]

She definitely was not pro watering down, she was pro endless repetition of difficulty packed routines. And she definitely didn’t care about pacing or the career trajectories of individual gymnasts. Even in 2021, Suni Lee felt that having a 3 pass routine was a sign of weakness, even if it scored higher!

She did cut skills out of gymnasts’ routines if she felt they weren’t going to hit. Shantessa Pama’s triple back off UB, Liukin’s beam mount, running mounts in general.

 

[JaJa]

2013-2016 Simone was all about the pacing. Aimee clearly had her difficulty watered down, going for execution over difficulty-for-difficulty's-sake. And I'd say it worked, because Simone just rolled up the next year with a really nice Cheng and won gold. (her Cheng, imo, has declined in quality ever since)

Aimee understood Simone both as a gymnast and a person. She worked with her brilliantly

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

This was also the first ever GB MAG world title, so that was a moment. Honestly, that first day was just one thing after another.