US WAG world team trials

[Samxo]

BG has released selection policies for the World and Challenge cups. They didn’t last year, so hopefully it means they are going to be transparent https://www.british-gymnastics.org/technical-information/selection/womens-artistic

 

[Doug1233]

That’s a 9 page document full of nothing. The selection committee has full and total discretion.

 

[Puffin]

I thought we got the score for the Olympic qualifiers - including the “special event” that they made Becky Downie do a couple of weeks after her brother died

 

[Doug1233]

We did after months of painful teeth-pulling.

Did we get scores and videos for Euro Trials or World Trials in 2022?

I seem to recall that they regressed following Tokyo. Probably because Becky wasn’t competing.

 

[Bob]

do you think anything will improve now Colin Still has retired?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Who knows? The organisation has never seemed to think there’s any need for openness or scrutiny, it clearly wasn’t required as part of their public funding and I’m not aware of any change to those requirements. That plus the recent success means it’s hard to see where the incentive would come from. I haven’t heard anything to suggest the Whyte Review is going to do it. This is very far from an insider take though.

 

[MaryClare]

No. It’s much bigger than one person. Colin still has dominated gymnastics in the UK for years (ie he coached Amanda Reddin). It will take another generation of coaches for that to change

 

[Doug1233]

It will take another generation of coaches for that to change

What are your thoughts on Gadirova’s coaches? I’ve not heard too much about them. Did they just get lucky or are they very good technically (or both)

 

[MaryClare]

Hmm. How can I put this. They are very, very ambitious and very much rate themselves. They remind me a lot of Al and Armine

 

[Doug1233]

I guess it would be hard not to feel like you took a huge flex at the Olympics. Basically coaching half the squad that ultimately won the first medal (and then again at Worlds).

But some of the compositional choices have been…interesting, to say the least. Most notably on beam.

 

[MaryClare]

Yes. I’d say their technical ability is adequate for HPCs, but not great. I’m not sure who mentored them, but it definitely wasn’t one of the big 3 (Amanda Reddin, Christine Still, Liz Kincaid).

They are overly reliant on seeing what others are doing and copying. I’d also be concerned about their ability to plot a long term course through injury, growth spurts etc. They don’t have any experience to drawn upon and don’t seem the types to consult a more experienced coach.

 

[Doug1233]

Yes the drop off in quality from Jen has been disappointing. I hope they can turn her around. The tucked full in, on floor, for example, is just a huge miss. That skill is simply not worth doing in this Code.

 

[Samxo]

I just wish they’d sort bars out. Like Jess and Ondine (and Jen when she’s fully back) both have potential but bad routine construction. It would help them in AA and team (especially as they came 4th a worlds).

 

[navyblue]

Hmm… No, I’m not really saying that, I think both the Biles and Dos Santos II are sufficiently rare that there’s no reason making a claim about which is ‘objectively’ harder. The double back half-out vs. double arabian tucked is a different story, and yet I don’t think it would be sensible to rate a double back 1/2 twist any higher than a full-in despite its rarity (is it even in the code at all?), so E for both also fine.

In other words, when you have multiple valid reasons not to overcomplicate the internal logic of the difficulty ratings, then simply don’t – thus, defaulting to not distinguishing difficulty on the basis of when a twist takes place makes most sense to me. (and like I said, not in favor of putting arabian-style skills in the front tumbling category for that same reason).

 

[Doug1233]

ha I was just playing with you