US WAG Olympic trials Night 2 (LIVE DISCUSSION)

[tsarinajen]

Riley’s Instagram post . I’m so sad for her.

 

[irichluck21]

Right. But then it became we NEED a vaulter.
Anyone could have done that, hell even Addison Fatta who by the way has a stunning DTY.
It’s not like the rest of the US is vaulting Yurchenko fulls.

DiCello, Wong, Fatta, Jones- any one of these ladies would be the anchor on 8-10 of the teams competing in Tokyo.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Heartbreaking. I hope she goes on now to do whatever is best for her. If that means going for worlds, great, if it means college, great, if it means fucking the sport off entirely, great.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

They would, but essentially in that situation they’re logically going for the one who’s best AA cover alongside vault, which is Grace, or the best vaulter full stop, which is Mykayla.

Obviously yes anyone they choose other than Riley (and possibly her too actually) is going to be able to deliver a vault that doesn’t cost them the team title, if they decide they want to try and protect Sunisa as far as possible. But they can hardly pursue that as an option or a strategy.

There’s a reasonable expectation from those involved and the public that the selection aim at being merit based, even if they almost certainly would still win by taking the top 3 and picking the remainder out of a hat. There are different arguments that can be made about what constitutes merit based, but whatever they go for needs to be defensible on those grounds. If only for the sake of appearance.

 

[Perfect10]

Oh my gosh. Ugh. I know what if’s are pointless, but man… she is my biggest what if.

I would have loved to see her as the other +1 with Jade. Not saying the selection was wrong. Based on trials, it is the most obvious. But what if…

 

[Puffin]

There’s zero logic in looking at those vault scores and deciding Carey is more useful on a team than Skinner.

I wasn’t doing that - just saying that there is no guarantee to the assertions that Jade is definitely down and out and Skinner will beat here in vt quals

 

[audie83]

I apologize in advance for this dumb question, but if a +1 is subbed in for Team Finals, do they get a team medal too? I’m still so confused.

I also don’t know if the +1s get to rotate with the team. I hope that they are, especially since they’ll be wearing different leos.

 

[Puffin]

I apologize in advance for this dumb question, but if a +1 is subbed in for Team Finals, do they get a team medal too? I’m still so confused.

I also don’t know if the +1s get to rotate with the team. I hope that they are, especially since they’ll be wearing different leos.

I’m not whether you can do this - I thought (but may be wrong) that you cannot substitute anyone after qualifying starts - Isn’t this why Chellsie had to compete UB with a broken ankle/foot in 2008?

I believe that the +1s rotate with the team but must war different leos

 

[MRR]

Yes, quals is the deadline for subs.

So a Peszek in Beijing could’ve been subbed given the +2 rotate with the main team, and her injury was right before the team marched out. Kupets in Anaheim could not have been replaced as that was between prelims and TF.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Do you know if the 4 person teams are supposed to use an individual plus one sub rather than an alternate if someone gets injured before quals? I was thinking about what might happen in that situation. The rules don’t seem to cover that exact situation, but the way it was written looked to me like the spot would stay with the US if they subbed in Mykayla for eg Sunisa.

 

[Puffin]

Yes, quals is the deadline for subs.

So a Peszek in Beijing could’ve been subbed given the +2 rotate with the main team, and her injury was right before the team marched out. Kupets in Anaheim could not have been replaced as that was between prelims and TF.

Not sure if would have been possible as Sam was injured in warm up - I also seem to remember an issue in 2008 that USAG didn’t have the alternates in China? I seem to remember that they were in Japan and could not have been got there in time (even if Marta had tried) edited to say I think that the US had not applied for visas in time for the alternates

 

[irichluck21]

I find it interesting that on Twitter there is this trending conspiracy that Tom named Skinner as the +1 to punish Jade.

First, I don’t understand the conspiracy. Skinner earned a spot based on her Trials and other specialist faltered.

Second, these same people are saying that Riley should have been named the +1 and then Skinner named to the 4 person team “for vault”…but like do they even realize that Skinner can still got for vault finals even if she is on the team.

So if the conspiracy is that they want to punish Jade so they did this, what else was Tom supposed to do?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yes, I think that could be a heat of the moment response. There are several more obvious explanations here.

 

[Puffin]

It is a nutty conspiracy theory but you can’t get past the fact that only 2 of Simone, Jade and Mykayla can make vt final

Personally I think it is more about Tom not really thinking in strategic terms, it’s the easy decision to go by AA standings (and he doesn’t seem to like making big decisions that he might get criticized for :roll_eyes: ) … and deep down I’m not sure that Tom fully understands the rules …

 

[Gymfan93]

I think it’s just that he went rank order. If it had been Kayla or Leanne in fifth, he’d have taken them.
No malice or sinister intents, just plain lack of critical thinking.
Plus, Riley kind of took herself out of contention with the fall, although I still think he would have gone rank order regardless.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Yes. There’s the old saying about never attributing to malice that which you could attribute to incompetence. To this I’d also add laziness: I think both of those things are more likely most of the time than actual malevolence. And then there’s also the remaining explanation, ie that this is genuinely the most sensible choice.

 

[gtu07]

Twitter is just the prime place for all things conspiracy theory even for more serious issues like the pandemic, vaccines, and masking. So I guess I am not surprised that some folks are stirring up some bathroom graffiti level crap even if it doesn’t make sense.

 

[Doug1233]

Disappointed in Spencer for this ridiculous conclusion.

 

[MRR]

Wasn’t that right before they marched out? I guess there’s a gray area as to what the start of the qualification competition means, as in whether it’s the start of the comp for everyone or just that competing subdivision. The FIG’s explanation:

“Should a team athlete sustain an injury between the technical meeting at the Olympic Games and the beginning of the Qualification competition at the Olympic Games only, he/she may be replaced by 1 of the 2 individual athletes qualified (with no restriction on the apparatus on which the replacing athlete may compete). The injured athlete shall in no way be authorised to participate in the Team Final”

https://www.gymnastics.sport/public...ympic Qualification System Tokyo 2020 ART.pdf

 

[irichluck21]

Peszek injured herself on floor exercise in the warm ups before the qualification subdivision. However, qualifications had already begun so they would have been unable to sub her out.

They had up to 24 hours before the start of the competition to make a change. Once qualifications began they could not sub.

Had Peszek injured herself during podium training, she could have been subbed out.