What if Mohini Bhardwaj retired before Athens?

[irichluck21]

McCool had plenty of senior international elite experience.
She went to the test event in 2004 held in Athens, which she won the AA in and medaled on vault and bars
She was also a member of the 2003 Pan American Games team that won gold, and won a silver medal on floor. PAG was in Dominican Republic that year.
She was also a member of the 2003 Masillia Gym Cup, held in France, 2nd as a team to Romania and AA bronze medalist. She competed against athletes that had been at Worlds in 2003 and some of whom would be at the 2004 Olympics.

Additionally, though it was a domestic meet, she was at American Cup in 2004, placing 2nd. She competed along side Humphrey and Patterson who would become Olympians and Memmel the current World champion on bars. Internationally, Kylie Stone of Canada, Monette Russo of Australia, Irina Yarotskaya of Ukraine, and Elena Gomez of Spain also competed and all 4 went to Athens.

So technically McCool had 4 international experiences, she just didn't make it to Worlds.
She stayed a junior in 2003 despite being eligible for Athens. Not sure what decision that was made for other than perhaps they were aiming for her to win the Junior AA title, which Liukin won instead.

No way to compare McCool's 2003 Nationals as a junior to seniors as juniors only competed one day of AA that year.
McCool's day 1 AA score of 36.400 was also including a huge error and OOB on her triple full (8.700) on floor. If you doubled 36.400 it gives you 72.800 which would have placed her 10th in the seniors and dropped Memmel to 11th.


McCool's performance in Athens was likely not due to inexperienced at the international level, but being overtrained and injured. Kupets also underperformed but she was also over trained and injured.

I do wonder what a confident, prepared, and healthy team would have accomplished in Athens. 2004 is a prime example of Marta over pushing and overtraining.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

How did they decide who was going to Olympic trials? Was it just AA ranking?

Was the decision to not invite Alicia to trials considered ok at the time based on the team’s needs? She had the highest single VT/FX score at nationals if you only take the best score. It kind of seems silly. It to invite her based on a 7.25 bars score when we were in the 6-3-3 era.

 

[RedBirdie]

She stayed a junior in 2003 despite being eligible for Athens. Not sure what decision that was made for other than perhaps they were aiming for her to win the Junior AA title, which Liukin won instead.

One of the few times I've agreed with Al Fong. McCool didn't have a super successful 2002 junior season, so they felt she would be best served by remaining junior in 2003, since it was her age 15 season, and being successful, not getting lost among all the seniors. I do think it was the right choice. Certainly by having a strong showing in 2003, she was on the radar for 2024 and got a couple of high-profile assignments.

 

[RedBirdie]

How did they decide who was going to Olympic trials? Was it just AA ranking?

Was the decision to not invite Alicia to trials considered ok at the time based on the team’s needs? She had the highest single VT/FX score at nationals if you only take the best score. It kind of seems silly. It to invite her based on a 7.25 bars score when we were in the 6-3-3 era.

Yes, top 12 based on AA plus petitions. Sacramone never should have been doing bars, but Marta was still stuck in AA-or-bust mindset.

 

[rlayt]

Overtrained and underfed would definitely contribute to the errors we saw..

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I do wonder what a confident, prepared, and healthy team would have accomplished in Athens. 2004 is a prime example of Marta over pushing and overtraining.

Same, and on a similar point I wonder whether the 2012 team would've won if Marta had been permitted the 04 and 08 regimes. They were pretty walking wounded even without the final selection camp and the alternates had about one working leg between them. Probably even she couldn't have fucked 2016 up, but 2012 is a question.

I also don't rule out the possibility that the US could've been neck and neck with China in Beijing if properly managed.

 

[MaryClare]

Same, and on a similar point I wonder whether the 2012 team would've won if Marta had been permitted the 04 and 08 regimes. They were pretty walking wounded even without the final selection camp and the alternates had about one working leg between them. Probably even she couldn't have fucked 2016 up, but 2012 is a question.

I also don't rule out the possibility that the US could've been neck and neck with China in Beijing if properly managed.

In terms of depth, 2012 was the deepest and unlike 2008, there wasn’t anyone who could conceivably beat the US. Even a team of the 2nd Five, likely Price, Finnegan, Sacramone, Li and Dowell would have beaten Russia.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

In terms of depth, 2012 was the deepest and unlike 2008, there wasn’t anyone who could conceivably beat the US. Even a team of the 2nd Five, likely Price, Finnegan, Sacramone, Li and Dowell would have beaten Russia.

Maybe if they were healthy! But that is not what happened.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

In terms of depth, 2012 was the deepest and unlike 2008, there wasn’t anyone who could conceivably beat the US. Even a team of the 2nd Five, likely Price, Finnegan, Sacramone, Li and Dowell would have beaten Russia.

Funny that the CW at the time was that Russia and USA were neck and neck going into the Olympics. Even if you take Russia’s highest scores across the week they only squeak by less than a tenth than USA’s TF score, and that’s with noticeably looser bars panels as the week went on.