- Jan 31, 2021
- 513
- 693
No, it isn't that they are falling apart. They are less good than they were, that's all.
It's that people have short memories. Because they aren't pulverizing the other teams like they have in the past, there could be a slide back into some of the habits of the Karolyi Era, because maybe it wasn't actually wasn't so bad and they were winning.
Exhibit A - I got this from a College Gym FB Group. It's supposedly from the Skating Lesson. I did not write this
"The pendulum has swung. Cancel culture has had its impact on gymnastics. And this time, the casualty is the athletes.
USA Gymnastics is famous, infamous and notorious. It also carried itself out of the gymnastics wilderness multiple times to become unbelievably successful. And now they are back in the wilderness - just as they were starting to climb out.
The 2025 World Gymnastics Team for the USA is very talented. It is why they were chosen over the inexperienced newcomers. And if you look at the results, you could blame the leadership, you could chalk it up to a bad day, or you could look at the very loud, hypocritical online culture that has helped, hurt, skewed and paralyzed coaches and the athletes they are failing.
Half of Team USA are Florida Gators. Both of Florida’s top coaches accompanied the team to Indonesia. And yet, Team USA failed. Just as Florida has failed to win an NCAA Gymnastics Championship ever since Rhonda Faehn left despite having the most talented roster of the last decade.
When is a coach pushing? When is a coach guiding? When is a coach being abusive? These are all questions that gymnastics has attempted to answer over the last decade. We know that Martha Karolyi was abusive on an unprecedented level. We can always quietly acknowledge that she was strategic, cunning, intuitive and a visionary.
MyKayla Skinner was canceled by Simone Biles for saying something that was partially true - she also lacked self awareness, appeared bitter, and was tremendously inarticulate.
What MyKayla Skinner started saying about the national team camps has been discussed by countless coaches if you talk to anyone involved in gymnastics at the elite or collegiate level.
During the Martha Karolyi era, the pressure to perform at camp was paramount. If you watched the recent USA Gymnastics Pre-Worlds Puff Piece, the camps are unrecognizable. And before you attempt to say that I am arguing for a return to starvation and abuse, I’m not. I’m advocating for a return to the middle.
When USA Gymnastics got rid of Valeri Liukin and the Karolyi Ranch, they also got rid of many of the standards that were key to the success of the program. When was the last time you saw a video of the national team doing the famous national team warm up with the running and conditioning? When was the last time you saw the gymnast competing in physical abilities testing? If you talk to those close to the game, they will say that Simone Biles didn’t want to run as her body got older, so no one had to.
But Simone Biles was raised under the standards of Martha Karolyi and Valeri Liukin. She is also experienced and unbelievably talented. Most members of Team USA at Worlds were guided by Valeri and that system.
In private, people argue that Valeri is far better as a teacher than as a personal coach. Like the Karolyis, he certainly can be a visionary - and he can also injure athletes. And while some would argue about his routine construction on uneven bars or his vault technique, he is credited for guiding coaches to be better at their craft.
If you watch videos of podium training, Chellsie Memmel is kind and supportive. She knows the code and is compassionate. But there doesn’t appear to be any incentive to perform well or consequences for performing poorly. As Martha Karolyi always said, you compete as well as how you prepare. If you watched videos of podium training or the selection camp, the team did just that.
A few things stood out from the video that USAG and NBC Sports produced on the selection camp. There was a tremendous amount of editing. The vault did not have a hard surface to practice meet landings. And they went with gymnasts who could score well; they did not go with gymnasts who displayed consistency.
Skye Blakely is a wonderful talent. I rooted for her to make this team and hoped she could even do all four events. She has the potential to be world class. She is also returning from an Achilles injury and is not on the Courtney Kupets recovery timeline. She bombed day 1 of the selection camp and hit on day 2. This is relatively consistent with how she performed at Nationals. In selecting Skye, the national team essentially announced to the national team that you have to show you CAN hit your routines, but not that you WILL hit your routines.
If you have ever watched the documentary ‘Gymnast’ about Great Britain’s selection process in 2008, they selected athletes who could sometimes hit, not gymnasts who would hit. And the results followed.
Joscelyn Roberson I had had a rough trip to the World Championships. She appears to have reinjured her ankles and her back (expected given her excessive lordosis which is responsible for the line and lack of flexibility she is criticized for).
Who is USA Gymnastics even developing? Classics and Nationals had incredibly weak showings. And the depth is not encouraging if you count out potential comebacks from Olympians or NCAA athletes. If the team is going to succeed in the future, they need to rely on comebacks from Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Konnor McClain and girls who find their footing in college.
How can a national team culture even be successful when the girls who are relevant in March are never relevant in the summer? That isn’t just because collegiate athletes are staying around longer. It’s also a result of the ineffective culture of the current women’s elite program. And this isn’t new – this is something that Simone Biles and her teammates were masking over the last four years.
No one is advocating for abuse. But there needs to be standards and expectations. Otherwise, this performance is something that everyone should grow accustomed to. And it wasn’t even a strong field."
It's that people have short memories. Because they aren't pulverizing the other teams like they have in the past, there could be a slide back into some of the habits of the Karolyi Era, because maybe it wasn't actually wasn't so bad and they were winning.
Exhibit A - I got this from a College Gym FB Group. It's supposedly from the Skating Lesson. I did not write this
"The pendulum has swung. Cancel culture has had its impact on gymnastics. And this time, the casualty is the athletes.
USA Gymnastics is famous, infamous and notorious. It also carried itself out of the gymnastics wilderness multiple times to become unbelievably successful. And now they are back in the wilderness - just as they were starting to climb out.
The 2025 World Gymnastics Team for the USA is very talented. It is why they were chosen over the inexperienced newcomers. And if you look at the results, you could blame the leadership, you could chalk it up to a bad day, or you could look at the very loud, hypocritical online culture that has helped, hurt, skewed and paralyzed coaches and the athletes they are failing.
Half of Team USA are Florida Gators. Both of Florida’s top coaches accompanied the team to Indonesia. And yet, Team USA failed. Just as Florida has failed to win an NCAA Gymnastics Championship ever since Rhonda Faehn left despite having the most talented roster of the last decade.
When is a coach pushing? When is a coach guiding? When is a coach being abusive? These are all questions that gymnastics has attempted to answer over the last decade. We know that Martha Karolyi was abusive on an unprecedented level. We can always quietly acknowledge that she was strategic, cunning, intuitive and a visionary.
MyKayla Skinner was canceled by Simone Biles for saying something that was partially true - she also lacked self awareness, appeared bitter, and was tremendously inarticulate.
What MyKayla Skinner started saying about the national team camps has been discussed by countless coaches if you talk to anyone involved in gymnastics at the elite or collegiate level.
During the Martha Karolyi era, the pressure to perform at camp was paramount. If you watched the recent USA Gymnastics Pre-Worlds Puff Piece, the camps are unrecognizable. And before you attempt to say that I am arguing for a return to starvation and abuse, I’m not. I’m advocating for a return to the middle.
When USA Gymnastics got rid of Valeri Liukin and the Karolyi Ranch, they also got rid of many of the standards that were key to the success of the program. When was the last time you saw a video of the national team doing the famous national team warm up with the running and conditioning? When was the last time you saw the gymnast competing in physical abilities testing? If you talk to those close to the game, they will say that Simone Biles didn’t want to run as her body got older, so no one had to.
But Simone Biles was raised under the standards of Martha Karolyi and Valeri Liukin. She is also experienced and unbelievably talented. Most members of Team USA at Worlds were guided by Valeri and that system.
In private, people argue that Valeri is far better as a teacher than as a personal coach. Like the Karolyis, he certainly can be a visionary - and he can also injure athletes. And while some would argue about his routine construction on uneven bars or his vault technique, he is credited for guiding coaches to be better at their craft.
If you watch videos of podium training, Chellsie Memmel is kind and supportive. She knows the code and is compassionate. But there doesn’t appear to be any incentive to perform well or consequences for performing poorly. As Martha Karolyi always said, you compete as well as how you prepare. If you watched videos of podium training or the selection camp, the team did just that.
A few things stood out from the video that USAG and NBC Sports produced on the selection camp. There was a tremendous amount of editing. The vault did not have a hard surface to practice meet landings. And they went with gymnasts who could score well; they did not go with gymnasts who displayed consistency.
Skye Blakely is a wonderful talent. I rooted for her to make this team and hoped she could even do all four events. She has the potential to be world class. She is also returning from an Achilles injury and is not on the Courtney Kupets recovery timeline. She bombed day 1 of the selection camp and hit on day 2. This is relatively consistent with how she performed at Nationals. In selecting Skye, the national team essentially announced to the national team that you have to show you CAN hit your routines, but not that you WILL hit your routines.
If you have ever watched the documentary ‘Gymnast’ about Great Britain’s selection process in 2008, they selected athletes who could sometimes hit, not gymnasts who would hit. And the results followed.
Joscelyn Roberson I had had a rough trip to the World Championships. She appears to have reinjured her ankles and her back (expected given her excessive lordosis which is responsible for the line and lack of flexibility she is criticized for).
Who is USA Gymnastics even developing? Classics and Nationals had incredibly weak showings. And the depth is not encouraging if you count out potential comebacks from Olympians or NCAA athletes. If the team is going to succeed in the future, they need to rely on comebacks from Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Konnor McClain and girls who find their footing in college.
How can a national team culture even be successful when the girls who are relevant in March are never relevant in the summer? That isn’t just because collegiate athletes are staying around longer. It’s also a result of the ineffective culture of the current women’s elite program. And this isn’t new – this is something that Simone Biles and her teammates were masking over the last four years.
No one is advocating for abuse. But there needs to be standards and expectations. Otherwise, this performance is something that everyone should grow accustomed to. And it wasn’t even a strong field."
