WAG/MAG Podium Training Notes/ Quick Hits/ Reports (Wed. July 21- Thurs. July 22)

[ArnoldRimmer]

Jordan’s leaps on beam, looking back now, were REALLY bad. Like, Skinner bad. I can’t believe we were all so blindsided by the execution deductions. Looking back now it’s so clear that, compared to the Russians, those body shapes absolutely deserved being hammered. I guess we were so deep in the USA Classics Nats Trials tunnel that it was hard to take a step back.

I hadn’t seen this PT set until now, and rewatched it alongside the US Nationals routines. And yeah, for all that there’s a decline in the quality of Jordan’s work between Nationals/Trials and the Olympics… the leaps were still pretty crap before Tokyo weren’t they! She looked a lot more poised and fluent on the beam in May and June, but she wasn’t hitting the leap positions much better.

 

[irichluck21]

Jordan made the team specifically because she hit all her routines leading up to the Olympics, the scoring really didn’t matter much because the others were inconsistent.
McCallum, Skinner, McCusker, Hurd, Wong, Eaker, DiCello, Blakely, Jones, McClain were falling all year long.

When you have Emma Malabuyo who was completely off everyone’s radar and IMO had no chance at making even the Olympic Trials, was suddenly 4th ranked after nationals and a potential spoiler to the team, you know nationals was a shit show.

Skinner should have come no where near making the team let alone get picked as +1. But that is how it worked out.
When everyone else is falling and there is one athlete hitting cold each time they get the call.

This has happened before with Natasha Kelley, who then got hammered in execution at Worlds (and also downgraded routines).

 

[Doug1233]

Yes, Grace, Riley and Morgan all should really have been well ahead of Jordan if they were all injury free and hitting. And Leanne and Kayla should have been battling Jordan in the AA.

How crazy that Jade fucking Carey ended up in the AA final. Props to her. Can you imagine telling her in 2017 that she would be in the Olympic AA final?

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

I still think a hit Chiles is far better than people give her credit for. And maybe if she had more competition from Hurd and McCusker she would’ve busted out the Amanar

 

[Doug1233]

Perhaps. But her Wolf Turn is always a 3 and all 3 of her leaps are 1/3s. That’s a full point off just on body shape. Built in.

Urazova is literally 0.0 for those issues.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I think she might just have been at the wrong competition. The E panels at worlds probably would’ve suited her better.

 

[Doug1233]

Yes for sure. That 7.666 in prelims would have likely been an 8.0-8.2 at Worlds.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

mmm a little over-exaggerated.

Her switch leap. No deduction.

Gogean. .1 for split maybe but it’s hard to tell from this angle–which is the only angle we ever get of her Gogean

Johnson take off .1 bent knee

Johnson split is fine

 

[Doug1233]

For the Johnson, there is 1 there for bent knee (but it was a clear 3 in prelims). i also think it is borderline uneven leg position - which would turn a 1 into a 3 and potentially the 3 into a 5 but j think thats too harsh.

So IMO in most cases her Johnson gets a 3 (whether because of the bent knee and/or uneven leg position).

Her Wolf Turn clearly gets a 3 for body shape / alignment:

Re: the split, she arguably makes 180 on both but her hips are so splayed out it wouldn’t surprise me if they took at least 1 on each. Maybe 3 for the Gogean.

Look at her back foot in the gogean. Her toes are almost pointing up. She’s halfway to straddle.

I know they removed the “uneven hips” deduction for cross split. So it’s technically not in the code anymore. But in real time it gives a bad impression.

It would not surprise me if she was pushing a point, on average, from the E Panel for these 4 elements, for body shape alone.

 

[makam]

It is so weird to me that she couldn’t do the wolf turn on floor but was okay at it on beam. I guess it was worth more than any other double or triple turn (?) because I can’t see how it was more reliable for her since she practically fell out of it at every competition. It was definitely a deduction black hole. The Landis should have put the kibosh on that one after her struggles with it in the competitions early in the season. Or tried to call it a new skill and get it named after her. Wolf turn in a half squat, add it to the code!

 

[KristyJ]

As much as her split position and leaps weren’t the best this year, they were very much improved IMO over 2019.

 

[Seyonne]

I can see these things in still photos, but my eye doesn’t catch it in real time. I’m always amazed that the judges are able to.

 

[Kittentoes]

I feel that it is rather generous to say her wolf turn was ok on beam.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Good point about the Johnson being uneven, and yeah looking at the prelims vid, her knee bend was definitely worse. Yeah, .3 is warranted

It’s fine that her back leg is turned out though. Turnout makes for a longer line. Unsquare hips is a different story tho

 

[Doug1233]

Unsquare hips is a different story tho

They removed it from the Code so you can only really deduct for lack of split. Which I really dislike.

Hips turned out should totally be a 0.1 within the body shape rubric.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Yeah, I know it’s not a deduction but it’s still bad technique. It’s hard to tell if hips are unsquare on beam in particular, unless it’s a turning leap/jump in which case it’s more apparent