Simone is out of the AA, VT, UB and FX

[cats]

Being mad at Suni for being stressed that they were losing THREE routines for the final after it was already in progress is silly. That is an insanely stressful situation that, in my memory, no medal contending team has faced in the three count era, especially since they also had to watch Simone crash. There is no four person team that would have been good with losing a team member, especially not their captain.

Also what currently alive person is likely to forget about COVID? Who is ever going to hear “2020” and not shudder at the memories? What person who follows sports closely enough to know that it makes a difference to the athletes if something is pushed back a year is going to forget that this Olympics was delayed and weird?

 

[gymskatefan]

There are tons of people who don’t acknowledge that this year is delayed and weird at the present moment, never mind going forward in history when people just look at what’s written on paper.

It’s the same way the media and fans keep asking why the US swim team is flopping. Extra year, veterans not being able to hang on, newly age eligible and younger athletes being ready now, plus the playing field is just not the same across the world. There are athletes who lived in geographically isolated countries or with more government enforcement who had zero disruption to actual training schedules, and then those who had to train in backyard pools and ponds.

The narrative matters, and the media is totally failing the athletes by not living in the real world.

 

[cats]

What I don’t understand is your perspective that calling this the 2020 Olympics is contributing to that. Why do you feel that way? My thought is that, for most of us, having something happen a year later isn’t a big deal. Explaining that it changes this for sports and especially those sports where careers are short is something the media should be doing, but I don’t understand what that has to do with the name?

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Yeah, the first day of swimming felt very misleading. I’ve been disappointed ever since. I can’t say I blame the morning finals because this is the same schedule 2008 had when Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals. There are a few extra races now, but they did those at the 2019 World Championships (plus the 50 m in every stroke), so they shouldn’t have been unprepared for that. It can only be the extra year and varying training circumstances that threw everything off.

 

[gymskatefan]

Because in the history books, it sounds like those Olympic records stood for 4 years, not 5. It sounds like Simone was an average gymnast who was on top for one quad, not over two.

In one of her Today interviews a while back, Simone said that an extra year for a gymnast is like 5 for an average athlete. All the wear and tear on the bodies. She said all the people saying “it’s just one more year” can’t even fulfill their resolutions to go to the gym for 2 hrs a week. It’s not like swimming even where it’s much less stress on the physical body.

It’s not an unattended games (1984) or a normal surprise winner. By calling people 2020 Olympic champions, it totally ignores the fact that many athletes who qualified for these games were age ineligible and not physically ready in 2020. Listunova and Urasova wouldn’t have been eligible for a 2020 Olympics. Saying retroactively that they were “2020 Champions” ignores that and makes it sound like it was an inevitable conclusion and all else being equal anyway. That’s why the name matters.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Urasova was born in 2004. She would have been age eligible last year.

 

[gymskatefan]

Thanks for the correction.

Re: swimming, it was one off mentioned that in normal Olympic cycles, the US team would have done altitude training in Colorado for stamina, etc. which they skipped this time due to quarantine and restrictions. I mean a training camp in an outdoor pool in Waikiki isn’t exactly the same environment or focus at all. Funnily enough, that’s why all the US swimmers are so tanned.

 

[alc]

That is exactly correct. Anyone who works in the damage control area or knows anything about it knows that steps need to be taken very quickly. After the news cycle passes (which is basically has) its just too late to “set the record straight.” Everyone and their brother has weighed in on this at this point except the very people who needed to – USAG, the Landis and Tom. And its just too late for anything coming from them to correct the misinformation out there. This kind of behavior is reflective of the endless missteps taken by USAG after the Nassar scandal. Its just an inept organization in so many ways.

They hung Paul Hamm out to dry exactly like this too. I was the most casual of four year fans and even I was appalled by how incompetent they were.

And that was before the era of social media and toxic American politics. The tweet below sums things up perfectly for me.

 

[gymskatefan]

Honestly, the one and only reason they didn’t rebrand it as Tokyo 2020ne as originally done for a brief moment was the cost to redo all those logos, signs, gear, and merchandise already produced for the Games. That shouldn’t have prevented them from stating correctly that it’s the year 2021 for the record books, however.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Yeah, I’m just hoping 2024 will be better at this point. Swimming at these Olympics has been like a post-Olympics worlds. Well except 2009 because of the tech swim suits. Those worlds were crazy.

 

[tempest]

I fucking love George Takei

 

[rlayt]

fucking love George Takei

He’s always been so perfect at the wording and phrasing of things.

 

[JusticeMom]

But framing everything as a “mental health condition” I think does a disservice to actual mental health conditions. Not everything in your head is a mental health condition.

Yes. It is neurological but that does not mean psychological. I think there is a lot of confusion about what to call irregularities that relate to the mind.

 

[JusticeMom]

its on USAG. This happened in the context of her competing for USAG. Not in her personal capacity.

That does not mean she cannot act in her personal capacity while competing for USAG. One thing we agree on, USAG is either incompetent, unprincipled, or both ( I vote both).

 

[JaJa]

USAG is either incompetent, unprincipled, or both ( I vote both)

I vote both too

 

[Jack]

If double saltos are still ok, do we think dismounting with a double pike for beam finals will be possible? That might still get her gold if Guan falters.

I wonder if she could do the YDP and a lopez for Vault finals.

 

[MaryClare]

She has said that vault and floor are the worst affected pieces for her

 

[tempest]

I was wondering that as well, Jack along with her FX. I wonder she can twist forward so she could do something like this
Bile 1 + leap
double layout + leap
front full into double tuck
double pike
that’s at 5.6(if she does her normal dance… I think… I am NOT a code expert)
but unfortunately, I don’t think she will do any finals

 

[MaryClare]

Are you crazy?!

 

[dweiss324]

I think the idea of trying to water down a routine or two to 5.6 D at the last minute is just as insane as trying to compete full difficulty with the twisties. Why bother???