US WAG Olympic trials Night 1 Discussion

[glamafonic]

Yeah, like good for Skinner that she’s hitting, but it’s not like McCallum and DiCello are falling on their faces and for McCallum in particular this was her best meet this year by far and the scores aren’t properly reflecting that in relation to Skinner. And that’s not on them, nor is it an achievement of Skinner’s. That’s on the judges.

Also, she literally hasn’t been scored at a world championships in seven (7!) years. Vault will be fine because they bunch and she’s legitimately improved there, but she hasn’t once been judged at a real international competition in this quad where the E scores have been way tighter.

 

[Doug1233]

Skinner was just disgusting overscored across the board except for vault.

Can you believe there was 7 tenths E between Riley and Skinner on bars?

Can you believe there was 5 tenths E between Suni and Skinner on beam?

Can you believe that Skinner BEAT Chiles on E on floor?

This is NOT OK! Push the panic button

 

[Bogwoppit]

You know the PTB have basically decided. So unless someone falls on their face, Skinner will be going.

 

[Doug1233]

I just don’t get it because USAG scoring is on the whole reflective of the tighter E this quad.

And at classics Skinner did get much more accurately scored (still over but not as bad). And she has not improved that much, or at least as much as the scores reflect.

The judges really seem to pick certain athletes where they have a blind spot. It’s like they’re scared to give a low 7 if it’s a hit set. It results in completely unacceptable bunching and is so unfair on athletes like Grace and DiCello

 

[Doug1233]

If by “bringing it” you mean awful posture, foot form, leg extension, lack of split, and body shape, yeah, Skinner is bringing it!

 

[tsarinajen]

Just going to leave this here.

 

[Doug1233]

Lol, it’s a funny sign. But Morgan didn’t deserve to make it to Trials based on what she showed at Nationals.

I’m more pissed for Finnegan. She beat Wong AA at Classics.

 

[glamafonic]

I legitimately think Forster is just going to take whoever finishes 4th. As bad at the scoring may be, it has McCallum, Skinner, and DiCello all within .3 and all the math (in its various permutations) has them adding roughly the same to the team score.

I just don’t see Forster or USAG wanting to deal with the blowback of skipping over the 4th place finisher for the sake of a couple of tenths that won’t matter.

 

[Perfect10]

And it kills me because the overscoring of Skinner has her there now. But I agree. We’ll see if she can reproduce night two (same for Grace and Kayla). I’m hoping McCallum or DiCello squeaks ahead. They’re all so close.

 

[makam]

Her competition for 4th are not
They are not
That’s on them

McCallum is working her way back from injury. If you look at her scores 2 weeks ago and her scores yesterday (assuming the judges gave them somewhat fairly) she is on an upward swing to peak at the Olympics. She left tenths all over the place on floor and still scored second best. She left tenths on beam and got a bit hosed on UB. She was slightly gifted on vault. But the point is, there is still more gymnastics in her and her form is good even by international standards and she is a good lead-off on any event.

Skinner performed each event to nearly the best of her ability, got judging gifts all over the place (except vault funny enough), and still is only a 10th ahead of McCallum. That isn’t “bringing it”. Unless not falling on beam for the first time in three meets is the standard to bring. And if we are going to reach back into athletes pasts for examples of their greatness or faults…how did Mykayla do at Nationals before the Rio trials, especially on beam?

Well, it will be interesting to see what Sunday brings and if any judges get shuffled or talked to about applying deductions as the rulebook requires (or if they’ve been told who to go easy on because they’ve been told who Forster wants to see on the team…^conspiracy music^)

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I could equally see him taking whoever maximises the team total according to the scores here, if that’s a different person, but it’ll be one of the two. He’s going to go with something that only takes one sentence of explanation and justification.

 

[Doug1233]

But what are “the scores here”?

Nationals and Trials or just Trials?

Classics?

“Best of”?

Average? Mean or median?

When your top 6 team score permutations have about 0.3 between them, these things obviously matter.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I think probably Trials. Again, easiest to justify.

 

[Doug1233]

Average of both Trials routines?

So Wong is out, for you.

 

[JDB]

I’m sharing my favorite photo from the Facebook album again. I love when a ring leap looks like the diagram in the code of points.

 

[Doug1233]

And AA? Or combined VT/FX score?

 

[makam]

Nice picture. I wasn’t on Team Emma because I figured Kim’s coaching would knock her down at some point but she does have nice skills when it isn’t tumbling.

I think it is interesting that Russia’s team absolutely requires its new seniors to be competitive while Team USA seems to be going back to its “graveyard” and resurrecting old talent to make up its team.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

For me as in my prediction rather than preference? Yes, I think she’s out now unless several others bomb very hard tomorrow. My guess is they’d put Skinner, McCallum and DiCello all on before her, and that whichever of the latter two isn’t on the team will be the individual.

 

[lovegymnasts]

Skinner performed each event to nearly the best of her ability, got judging gifts all over the place (except vault funny enough), and still is only a 10th ahead of McCallum. That isn’t “bringing it”.

Bringing it, is doing the best that you can. McCallum can beat Skinner but she is not “bringing” her best. She needs hit to the best of her ability to knock Skinner out of 4th. If she had a better landing on vault, she would have. If she doesn’t, I’m not going to hate on Skinner. This is it. This is crunch time. Whether you have been battling an injury or not, this is when the team is being selected. Put the best that you’ve got out on that floor. She can’t control things in regards to Skinner. She can control her events…throw the best she’s got in their face.

 

[makam]

Totally get your point. I’ve always been on the “what can you do for me tomorrow” train rather than the “what did you do today” one that the team coordinators seem to default to (aside from Gabby for Martha). It is why I was team Maggie for Rio and why I was disappointed. I want the athletes to show they are not peaked at Trials but have more to give for the Olympics.