2010 US Womens Gymnastics World Team

[haribobo]

Vote for who you think will make the team (I think there's 6 on a team?)

[BigB08822]

I'm still undecided. I think Bross and Sloan are locks barring injury. Sacramone just made a very nice case for herself, she can be used on both beam and vault and who knows how floor is looking, is she training it? Hunter has so much difficulty on floor but her score wasn't extremely high, was it? I still think she has an edge since her vault is nice. The other two, I just don't know. We need a strong bar worker for sure, but all our strong bar workers are just girls with nice form and good enough difficulty, none of them will be even close to standing out or challenging for an EF spot on the event, which is what we need. I wish Liukin was back, if only for bars!

[Loves_Shizuka]

Where's Ivana Hong? Will she be at Nationals?

Sloan and Bross are locks (surely) After that I'm guessing Sacramone, Raisman and Larson. And not sure who else lol.

[FSfan107]

I only selected 5 by accident. I meant to vote for Larson too. My team right now would be : Larson, Sloan, Sacramone, Raisman, Bross, and Whitcomb. I really like Whitcomb's bars. I wish she was more solid on other events.

[bek]

really like Whitcomb's bars

Mackensie Caquatto though based on Classics is the better choice for bars specialist. Mac has a higher start value by 3 tenths than Whitcomb and scored higher than her at Classics as well. She was the only girl besides Bross who got in the 15s on bars. Also Mac's the better all arounder, the only event Whitcomb is better at is floor and really not by much, and its not like Whitcomb's floor is useful. Mackensie has a DTY which was the second highest scored vault of the day besides Alicia. I think you take Mac over Whitcomb. To be frank, I don't mean to sound mean but for a girl who wants to be a bars specialist, Whitcomb's D score on bars should be higher than a 5.9 Not that a 6.2 is great but its better. Mac also scored higher on bars at Jeselo too. To be quite frank neither girl's bars score at Jeselo was much to write home about and its problematic that these are our bars specialists.

[mkats]

Originally Posted by Loves_Shizuka

Where's Ivana Hong? Will she be at Nationals?

Sloan and Bross are locks (surely) After that I'm guessing Sacramone, Raisman and Larson. And not sure who else lol.

Hong tore her ACL in March; not sure when she's expected back.

[chipso1]

Hong is out until October/November, I believe, so she is definitely out for the rest of the season.

I voted for Sloan, Sacramone, Bross, Raisman, Larson and Caquatto. (Alts would be Hunter, Whitcomb).

Barring injury (and if they ever heal), Sloan and Bross are locks. Sacramone looks pretty damn good already, and brings maturity and leadership to this (relatively) young and inexperienced team. Raisman has been proving herself all season, and can be a solid back-up gymnast on many events, including VT, BB and FX. Caquatto is the big question mark, and I'm not sure if her heart is in it, but she is the "best of the rest" (i.e., sans Sloan and Bross), when it comes to U.S. bar workers. If not Caquatto, I think Cassie Whitcomb could fill her spot, too, but she's not as refined/clean on UB.

IMO, Hunter is great on FX, but that's about it. We don't really need her on anything else, and she hasn't scored *that* high on FX to warrant a trip to Worlds. She needs to clean up her leaps and dance first, and then we'll talk.

Williams is injured, so who knows if she'll be ready for Worlds. Even if she is, I think Alicia's rudi looked better than ever at Classics, and Alicia is kick ass on beam too.

A finals line-up of...
VT: Larson/or Caquatto, Raisman, Sacramone
UB: Sloan, Caquatto, Bross
BB: Sloan, Bross, Sacramone
FX: Sloan/or Raisman, Bross, Larson

...would be mighty competitive, IMO.

This could be a last-chance at Worlds for gymnasts like Caquatto, Whitcomb, and possibly even Raisman and Larson, so they better make the most of Nationals and the selection camps!

[bek]

Frankly in someways long term taking Whitcomb might be smart because she's more likely to stay in. However to be quite frank with Whitcomb, I'm not really understanding why she even trains beam, and why she's not working harder at truly upgrading her bars. To be frank, if you want to be a bars specialist, and bars absolutely is your ticket 5.9 is really not great. If I'm Marta I take Mack and hope that I can somehow convince both to stay in and work on upgrading the bars further. The US may very well need it, especially since I wonder about Sloan. Gut says Grishina and Komova especially are going to have huge bars D scores in London. The writing is soo on that wall. (Mustafina too but I"m not in love with Aliya's execution) Then there's the Chinese.

Chip do you really see not using Sloan on vault, vault is a very good event for Bridget. And in contrast, I don't think beam is a good event for Bridget at all.

Here's another thing I've wondered. I think Sloan's a lock at least my head tells me. But I'm wondering if the talk at Classics about Sloan not training hard enough could be very questioning. She really didn't look great at this competition.

[chipso1]

Originally Posted by bek

Frankly in someways long term taking Whitcomb might be smart because she's more likely to stay in. However to be quite frank with Whitcomb, I'm not really understanding why she even trains beam, and why she's not working harder at truly upgrading her bars. To be frank, if you want to be a bars specialist, and bars absolutely is your ticket 5.9 is really not great. If I'm Marta I take Mack and hope that I can somehow convince both to stay in and work on upgrading the bars further. The US may very well need it, especially since I wonder about Sloan. Gut says Grishina and Komova especially are going to have huge bars D scores in London. The writing is soo on that wall. (Mustafina too but I"m not in love with Aliya's execution) Then there's the Chinese.

A 5.9 D-score isn't so bad, especially for the lead-off gymnast on a 3-up, 3-count situation. Sloan and Bross (and Caquatto for that matter) all have D-scores in the 6s to help with the deficit. It's going to be impossible to catch the Chinese on bars from a start-value point of view, but the U.S. gains a ton of ground on them on both VT and FX (especially with Cheng Fei out of the picture right now). The Russians are also good on UB, but they have their weaknesses too. The U.S. should definitely outscore them on VT, and likely BB and FX. Yes, Komova and Grishina are stars, but there isn't much depth beyond them on beam and floor.

Originally Posted by bek

Chip do you really see not using Sloan on vault, vault is a very good event for Bridget. And in contrast, I don't think beam is a good event for Bridget at all.

Bridget won't be used on vault if her ankle doesn't get better (nor will she be used on floor, where she is also very good). Yes, she vaults a fantastic DTY, but I'm not sure if she'll be fully healed by then. This injury seems to be a lot more nagging than initially thought. The U.S. is deep on vault (Caquatto just scored a 14.850...), so I don't think there's anything to worry about here.

Beam definitely isn't her best event anymore, but I don't think Caquatto can be trusted on that even in a team final, and Larson had some mighty struggles on it, too. I think we'll get a better picture of how she'll score on it after Nationals.

Originally Posted by bek

Here's another thing I've wondered. I think Sloan's a lock at least my head tells me. But I'm wondering if the talk at Classics about Sloan not training hard enough could be very questioning. She really didn't look great at this competition.

I don't think there's any reason to believe that she's not training hard. It's tough mentally to work through an injury, and I'm sure she gets frustrated when her body isn't able to do what she wants it to do. True, she didn't look fantastic at Classics, but it's also a new UB routine and it will take time for her to feel comfortable with it.

[bek]

The Russians are also good on UB, but they have their weaknesses too. The U.S. should definitely outscore them on VT, and likely BB and FX. Yes, Komova and Grishina are stars, but there isn't much depth beyond them on beam and floor.

I disagree about no depth on beam and Fx. Especially when you consider that SIDOROVA made floor finals ahead of Komova and beam finals ahead of Grishina. Its one of those things were Komova and Grishina have gotten a lot of attention, but Russia has a strong group of juniors coming. I'd mention to that Afansyeva displaced some pretty big tumbling upgrades at the Japan Open and has been quite consistent lately! I'd hardly call Myzdrikova bad on floor either, when she qualified first in Qualfications for floor last year at worlds. On beam they have a little more depth than your given them credit for too.

Essentially what Russia has is four extremely talented all arounders in Ksensia A, Mustafina, Grishina and Komova. My gut tells me Ksensia A will be the odd one out but who knows. And they can take three of those all arounders, and build the rest of the team with specialists to fill the wholes.

VAult is where they will need to work on the most, but they know this and the comments were at Junior Euros that several of the young Juniors had good DTYS.

[chipso1]

I did not say the Russians had no depth on beam and floor.

I did not say Myzdrikova was bad on floor.

You should re-read my post. Anyway, this thread is about discussing the 2010 U.S. Women's World team, not team Russia.

[bek]

Originally Posted by chipso1

I did not say the Russians had no depth on beam and floor.

I did not say Myzdrikova was bad on floor.

You should re-read my post. Anyway, this thread is about discussing the 2010 U.S. Women's World team, not team Russia.

You said not much depth, and I was just kind of pointing that I disagree a bit. I'd agree that I think that the US has more depth on floor but in 3 up 3 count I'm not sure there will be a huge difference between the two countries. Beam is a bit problematic right now but NOT I think by London for Russia. I actually think beams a bit of a problem for the US if they have to use Sloan as well I'm not sure how long Alicia has.
Vault is absolutely where the US is by far better than everyone else. But I think other teams know this and also are working on upgrading to more Amanars.

The fact though is bars is going to be a big problem. People have been going over the bare bones of the routines that Alexandrov has given those kids, and the facts are that those routines are upgradable. Its had to explain but D score wise they have the potential to with upgrades to get into the 7 plus range. Just the way the routines are designed. Its problematic for the US that we can't get anyone with higher than a 6.2 right now (and with routines that don't like that upgradable) and Russia is displaying these kind of possibilities.

[Domshabfan]

Originally Posted by bek

You said not much depth, and I was just kind of pointing that I disagree a bit. I'd agree that I think that the US has more depth on floor but in 3 up 3 count I'm not sure there will be a huge difference between the two countries. Beam is a bit problematic right now but NOT I think by London for Russia. I actually think beams a bit of a problem for the US if they have to use Sloan as well I'm not sure how long Alicia has.
Vault is absolutely where the US is by far better than everyone else. But I think other teams know this and also are working on upgrading to more Amanars.

The fact though is bars is going to be a big problem. People have been going over the bare bones of the routines that Alexandrov has given those kids, and the facts are that those routines are upgradable. Its had to explain but D score wise they have the potential to with upgrades to get into the 7 plus range. Just the way the routines are designed. Its problematic for the US that we can't get anyone with higher than a 6.2 right now (and with routines that don't like that upgradable) and Russia is displaying these kind of possibilities.

I agree with bek, US has strong advantage in Vault, considering A Sac with Rudi, Wieber with her Amanar. Maronay if she is age eligible also has an amanar. But if you push these girls in the team, rest of the 3 apparatus will be disaster for US, difficulty wise. Russia on the other hand has one amanar from Komova and possibly have another from Nabieva (she hasn't performed since her injury), so it is not that bad for Russia. If Nabieva still has her Amanar that is huge boost for Russia considering she is one of leading athlete to make the 2012 team.


I think it doesn't matter if 5 ladies in US does amanar, they need at least two all rounders to have amanar to compensate for the shortcomings in UB and also because of 5-3-3 rules.

UB is where problem lay for US, they are finding it hard to upgrade above 6.2 D score. On the other hand Russians with Nabieva, Mustafina, Komova, Grishina are all capable of very high D value. Especially Nabieva, she has already successfully did a crazy move(laid out tkatchev) at Japan cup, with that she can potentially have as high as 7.5 (calculated by lepetitpoulet atIntlgymnast )as D score (excluding Bradwaj (F) which her practice videos on Facebook seems to suggest she is practicing), Musty also have unveiled her new dismount at Euros. plus, Grishina and Komova already has a 6.5 difficulty routine, with upgrades possible.

Beam: is not that dismal either. Komova and Grishina has done a lot of difficult elements during various tournaments in Russia. Musty already has a done 6.0 D routine. Afanasyeva also has decent routine, with this they can clearly match US.

Floor: Musty's 5.8, afan's 6.1 (credited 5.9). Russia just needs a decent routine from Nabieva (who is very powerful gymnast, same variety of gymnast as Produnova), Grishina and Komova.

With artistic score given more importance (from what i read), Russians should do very well on the floor.





This year for the worlds, US looks stronger than the Chinese and Russians. But for 2012 I think it is very close between the three with Russians possibly having the advantage.

P.S. I expect Russian team for 2012 to have Afanasyeva, Komova, Grishina, Nabieva, A. Mustafina (i would love to see Naila in the team, but that looks unlikely).

[haribobo]

12 ladies will be at the camps to decide world team

http://www.gymnastike.org/article/22...ection-Process

[pollyanna]

Thank you for the the link.

I was a bit sad about this, although I really didn't expect her to go to Worlds:

Vanessa Zamarripa of UCLA was invited to the selection camp but declined.

In a UCLA press conference, Bruin Head Coach Valorie Kondos Field explained the situation and the plan for Vanessa, "We went into this elite season hoping to stay healthy, hoping to compete well and hoping to represent not just UCLA but all of collegiate gymnastics well, and we felt she did that very well. We've discussed with Marta that she is not in a position gymnasticly to go to the world training camp and to make a run for that team because we need to work on her start values and while she competed her new vault (the Cheng) beautifully for the first time, the second night she competed it she did put a hand down. So it isn't as consistent obviously as Marta would want it to be to take her to Worlds, and Marta was very upfront and clear with us about that which Chris (Waller) and I greatly appreciate. There was no grey area. Marta says she needs a good 6 months training that vault and doing it in pressure situations to be able to compete it any time she needs to, and we feel exactly the same way." She did say that they plan to go to a skills training camp with Vanessa in November.

[BigB08822]

That is a shame, that vault was needed and I think worth the risk, frankly! There isn't another potential score that big on the team.

[BigB08822]

I was thinking about the World team and for me there are 3 locks at this moment:

Sacramone, Bross and Larson

For sure I think we would see them contribute in the following ways during TF:

Bars: Bross
Beam: Bross, Sacramone
Floor: Larson, Bross
Vault: Sacramone

Both Larson and Bross would be viable vaulters as we will have plenty of Baitova's to chose from, the highest scoring in preliminary will probably go up along with Alicia. Even if we took other gymnasts worth nothing on vault, Larson and Bross would both suit just fine on vault. So the holes to fill are obviously bars and a spot each on beam and floor. How would you best fill those? I am thinking we take our best potential bars score, even if they are worth next to nothing on the other events. Then I would think about taking Hunter because she obviously has potential on floor and her beam isn't so bad, plus she is another back up on vault. Raisman would be a really good alternate but she needs another year of polishing to get to the World level, IMO. Anyone agree or disagree?

So for me:

Bross
Sacramone
Larson
Hunter
Bars specialist (Caquatto? Whitcomb?)
Sloan (if healthy, even if only for bars and beam but being healthy she would be viable on all events assuming she gets back to old form)

The biggest question mark for me is Hunter, is she good enough on floor and beam to be useful? Her FX is out of this world but she has a much lower SV than you would anticipate because of her leap and turn issues and her form is ragged. Her beam is nice but is it top 3 on the team and consistent enough? If I am wrong about anyone I think it is her.

[bek]

Originally Posted by BigB08822

That is a shame, that vault was needed and I think worth the risk, frankly! There isn't another potential score that big on the team.

It may be a bigger mistake than Marta even knows. Reports were over at the Russian Cup that Mustafina and Nabieva threw Amanars. (I'm not sure how good they were look at the vaulters we are talking about here) but it seems Russia will have 2 Amanars in Team Finals this year.

[Cloudy_Gumdrops]

I read at GGMB that Whitcomb is injured. Broke a tibia and has torn 2 ligaments.

MLT is a freaking menace at this point.

[BigB08822]

Originally Posted by Cloudy_Gumdrops

I read at GGMB that Whitcomb is injured. Broke a tibia and has torn 2 ligaments.

MLT is a freaking menace at this point.

Well that throws a wrench into my predictions but I hope she is ok.