US Classic Session 2 thread

[arabiandoublefront]

That's amazing you're going to be in Paris!

I'm really really really excited. I'm going on a tour of Italy for ten days before heading to Paris with my mom. I got almost all the tickets I wanted. I'm just waiting for the opening ceremonies resale in June. It's like my dream trip. It's making me not just want to take photos, but make a video blog.

 

[Gymnbf]

I personally hope Simone is done after Paris. It’s impressive Groundhog Day with flexed feet.

 

[JaJa]

I'm really really really excited. I'm going on a tour of Italy for ten days before heading to Paris with my mom. I got almost all the tickets I wanted. I'm just waiting for the opening ceremonies resale in June. It's like my dream trip. It's making me not just want to take photos, but make a video blog.

I am so glad that you will get to be there! How exciting!

 

[rlayt]

Trip of a lifetime!

 

[Beamer]

In general, there are always comebacks for the Olympics. With the 2028 Games being in the U.S., I imagine even more U.S. athletes than usual will make a comeback trying to make a home Olympics.

I could see Simone taking a break post Paris and coming back for L.A. Same with many others.

 

[JaJa]

Has Simone Biles said anything about continuing gymnastics after the Paris Olympics / LA 2028? Her current coaches are leaving WCC this year yes?

I don’t think she has said anything publicly. My guess is she has no idea what she will do post Paris. My hope for her is that she goes out on a high note, at the top of her game.

 

[Aeris]

I think Simone will be back for 2028. Home country Olympics is too big of a draw to ignore, the business deals she'll get will be staggering, and she has the incredible talent to still be competitive by then. Doing 4 Olympics and ending her career with a victory at home is a perfect, legendary conclusion.

 

[MaryClare]

I said last year that I think Simone will be back for 2028, after having a kid

 

[Rich]

Maybe as a specialist.

 

[irichluck21]

She hates doing bars so I could see her doing the Sacramone route toward LA 2028.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Now that WAGs are commonly competing to a high level well into their 30s, I think we have to work on the assumption that Simone might decide to come back at any point in perhaps the next decade. She's that talented, it's becoming more common and she's got the resources to return to serious training any time she likes. I'm not saying she will do it necessarily, but it's going to be a realistic proposition for some time yet.

USAG would do well to make sure their procedures mean she can rock up any time she's been back in the gym for a few months because she got bored and realised she can do an Amanar again, or similar. Not just while she's still a reigning Olympic champion, but after that too.

 

[wishfulgoddess]

I don't think Simone plans that far ahead these days. She has worked hard to earn the privilege of just winging it. If someday she feels satisfied, she can move on to anything else she wants in her life. If she later decides she misses gymnastics, she has both the talent and the connections to get back into it. I like seeing her just go with the flow. She seems happiest when she is focused on her passion for doing things as opposed to "the plan".

 

[navyblue]

Inject this straight into my veins. Sarah Korngold’s twitter AMA really showed what a shrewd coach she is. She seems to want to prioritize JO, but the elite world needs more coaches with this mentality.View attachment 10296

But also -- yes even at Classics?
- Switch half to switch leap (D+D); Arabian (F); Split + straddle (B+B); Bhs+bhs+layout (B+B+E); Full turn at horizontal (C); Side aerial (D); Bhs+bhs+double tuck (B+B+D)
F,E,D,D,D,D,C,B...

 

[navyblue]

I said last year that I think Simone will be back for 2028, after having a kid

The magazine/primetime interview headlines write themselves. GOAT conquers mental health, now motherhood, back for her throne bla bla bla. Not to be glib cuz the media around it would be annoying but can't deny it would be a genuinely incredible feat.

I don't really buy into to the fan theory that she would come back as a specialist. I get the sense that she's so competitive that if she's training she's really training and wouldn't pass the opportunity to win AA just to save herself some beam and bars practice.

Also I'm planning to go to the LA games, so that would be cool to see, but I am eager to see who can step into the vacuum created by her retirement. It'd be cool to move on to a non-American all-around champion... though I need to mentally adjust to the fact that more and more it seems less likely that the best gymnasts just suddenly emerge from the junior ranks. With the longevity trends, we're likelier to see a gymnast we already know slowly blossom into her top potential -- which is honestly a great change for both fans and casual audiences of the sport. Makes it more episodic and less of a classic 4 year cycle-type olympic sport.

 

[QuietColours]

It'd be cool to move on to a non-American all-around champion... though I need to mentally adjust to the fact that more and more it seems less likely that the best gymnasts just suddenly emerge from the junior ranks. With the longevity trends, we're likelier to see a gymnast we already know slowly blossom into her top potential -- which is honestly a great change for both fans and casual audiences of the sport. Makes it more episodic and less of a classic 4 year cycle-type olympic sport.

The Shilese approach, as it were. I like it.

 

[makam]

I don't really buy into to the fan theory that she would come back as a specialist. I get the sense that she's so competitive that if she's training she's really training and wouldn't pass the opportunity to win AA just to save herself some beam and bars practice.

Yeah, every time I try to build a future team that has Simone just doing VT like Chuso, I'm like, well if she is training vault she is probably going to throw some floor in there to mix it up cuz you can't just do vault 5 hours a day, and if she is doing floor, she's probably thinking why not beam too while I'm here, and then if she is doing 3, well, with her competitive drive, I have her back in AA.

 

[navyblue]

Yeah, it reminds me of the impulse us fans have to concoct scenarios that let Simone 'rest' on bars during Team Finals... ignoring the fact that she's pretty firmly the 2nd or 3rd best bar worker in the US at this point. (And the fact that she has more than enough stamina to do another 30 second bar routine and might prefer that over a long period of inactivity between vault and beam).

 

[Aeris]

But also -- yes even at Classics?
- Switch half to switch leap (D+D); Arabian (F); Split + straddle (B+B); Bhs+bhs+layout (B+B+E); Full turn at horizontal (C); Side aerial (D); Bhs+bhs+double tuck (B+B+D)
F,E,D,D,D,D,C,B...

Yeah that part was strange, maybe she was referring to Shilese's floor routine when they said they weren't counting a B at Classic? Could mean they are going to drop the Split full jump and do front layout to double back as the last pass, using the front layout as a B.

That split+straddle in Shilese's beam is screaming for a Front Aerial before it. She'd still be counting a B though, since they are wisely going to change the L-full to a regular full turn.

 

[Hatsumomo]

The Shilese approach, as it were. I like it.

Or Rebeca Andrade, who could have been the non-American AA champ if it weren't for her OOBs and Suni Lee being very smart with her FX and taking out the troublesome pass. And came back better than ever after three (!) ACL tears.

 

[Aeris]

Suni also should have taken the Double-L out of her routine, she threw away points there and could have gone 14.0 or maybe even 14.1 if we consider the choreographic improvement that could have happened if she was never wasting time on the extra element. At that point Andrade would have needed her absolute best floor routine to win.