Gymnastics News #21 - Tumbling on to Tokyo

[AYS]

Maybe her body is finally catching up since she had kidney stones removed. She's never performed like this before. Can anybody really take advantage though? It seems she's still so far ahead of everyone else.

If I understood correctly, they weren't removed. I think Terry said "they haven't passed yet". She was just diagnosed and she's competing with the pain still (I guess they're managing the pain with whatever is allowed).

Morgan succumbed to the pressure on beam.

 

[Rukia]

Geez competing at this level with kidney stone pain...I can't imagine.

 

[AYS]

Well those who were bored with watching domination with no question of the outcome should be enjoying things. I personally wanted to see domination but hopefully Simone will nail floor.

 

[VGThuy]

Morgan may not medal if Mai and Angelina perform up to standard.

ETA: It looks like Angelina did not opening the door for Morgan.

 

[Rob]

Biles sits down her vault and comes off the beam, competing with a kidney stone, and is still in 1st, though not by much. Well.

Aw, kinda hoping for a medal for Melnikova.

 

[Jimena]

I'm not watching the women at the moment. Just coming by to say that Artur and Nikita are so cute! Going way back to when I was a child and fell in love with men's gymnastics because of Dmitri Bilozertchev in 1988, I've always have a soft spot for the Russian men.

 

[Tesla]

Simone is simply incredible. I don't care if she doesn't win gold, just competing with a kidney stone that she can't really take medication for is out of this world!

 

[VGThuy]

This sport is really dead isn't it? Remember how much of a stink we made when Vanessa Ferrari won with a fall (and Paul Hamm at 2004). Here Simone wins with two falls and makes another major error on beam and NOBODY else in the World can take advantage. That's not an image of a healthy sport.

 

[Rukia]

This sport is really dead isn't it? Remember how much of a stink we made when Vanessa Ferrari won with a fall (and Paul Hamm at 2004). Here Simone wins with two falls and makes another major error on beam and NOBODY else in the World can take advantage. That's not an image of a healthy sport.

Is it really the sport though? Or is Simone just that good? Minus Simone it was an actual competition.

 

[VGThuy]

Is it really the sport though? Or is Simone just that good? Minus Simone it was an actual competition.

I think it's both. However, you can just see and read about the performances and know there isn't much depth to the competition. The U.S. is dominating mainly due to Simone but even without Simone, they'd still be ahead by like 4-5 points as opposed to 9-12.

 

[Rob]

Very nice for Mai after last year's disappointment. And Morgan on the podium again, she's no "year after" fluke.

 

[caseyedwards]

Wow what a lousy wreck of a win!! Just awful awful awful! Then whole sport has collapsed as US has made huge strides in technical difficulty while none of the rest of the world has even tried to keep up or can’t. It shows that gymnastics has died in Russia Romania all over the world.

 

[Deleted member 40371]

Wow what a lousy wreck of a win!! Just awful awful awful! Then whole sport has collapsed as US has made huge strides in technical difficulty while none of the rest of the world has even tried to keep up or can’t. It shows that gymnastics has died in Russia Romania all over the world.

Oh for f**k sake, Russia won team silver, comparing them with Romania is just maaad.

 

[Loves_Shizuka]

Late, but for Artur and Nikita!

Congrats to Simone!

 

[Garden Kitty]

If I understood correctly, they weren't removed. I think Terry said "they haven't passed yet". She was just diagnosed and she's competing with the pain still (I guess they're managing the pain with whatever is allowed).

Morgan succumbed to the pressure on beam.

I read that the stone moved a bit which made it less painful, but like you I read that they weren't removed and she couldn't take medication for the stone.

 

[Erin]

If I understood correctly, they weren't removed. I think Terry said "they haven't passed yet". She was just diagnosed and she's competing with the pain still (I guess they're managing the pain with whatever is allowed).

That's correct. They are waiting to deal with it until after the competition is over.

I don't love that Simone won with two falls, but we have said all along that she could win with two-three falls and I guess today she just proved it. I think that something needs to be done with the WAG code because these competitions have been super messy and disappointing, but I still think the right person won based on the code. It's like the skating competitions where someone with the more difficult program and better PCS falls but still wins. I don't like it, but it's right. The bigger problem is the messy competition itself.

Murakami's floor score seemed too high and Morgan's too low, but I thought Morgan's bars score seemed a bit high so I'm not sure where I stand on the silver/bronze, nor am I sure if I care. They both belonged on the podium and I can't get too fussed about the order.

 

[Tesla]

Simone is that good. And if Simone weren't there, the US wouldn't have won the Women's AA title.

 

[caseyedwards]

Oh for f**k sake, Russia won team silver, comparing them with Romania is just maaad.

But was absolutely nowhere close to winning! So just because Russia won silver doesn’t mean they were good in anything. They weren’t. Only United States is good now.

 

[VGThuy]

Simone is that good. And if Simone weren't there, the US wouldn't have won the Women's AA title.

The first time since like 2007 Worlds...ok 2011 Worlds too since Komova came in second and 2010 Worlds where Mustafina won. Even then Morgan counted a major error and still almost won silver. Mai did score one tenth lower on FX but so did Morgan. Even if Mai still came out on top over Morgan, if Simone wasn’t there, Grace or Riley would have and who knows what they could have done. The fact is there are individuals who can do well in AA, but they are like what 3 of them? In the whole field of international women’s gymnastics? The depth isn’t what it used to be.

 

[mjb52]

I'm mostly concerned about Simone's health - I really wish having won this title, she would go home and get the kidney stones taken care of (or get them taken care of in Doha, if that is the plan). The US has plenty of gymnasts who can perform well in event finals and should that really be the priority anyway?

 

[Rob]

Mai Murakami quote: “When Simone fell twice I wasn’t thinking I could win. I was thinking...SIMONE CAN FALL?!”

If Simone isn't there, so many of them are thinking "I could win." And that produces different reactions. No telling who would have stepped up and who would have succumbed to the pressure.

 

[Spareoom]

Mai Murakami quote: “When Simone fell twice I wasn’t thinking I could win. I was thinking...SIMONE CAN FALL?!”

If Simone isn't there, so many of them are thinking "I could win." And that produces different reactions. No telling who would have stepped up and who would have succumbed to the pressure.

THIS. I'm thinking back to last year, which was the first WC in years that Simone was not present at AND Regan Smith being injured in warmups. There were a lot of nerves and errors, including one from Mai which took her out of the medals. There's no saying what would have happened tonight if Simone hadn't been competing...we could have seen a lot of meltdowns from people who were solid tonight due to some pressure being "off".

I think someone elsewhere said that Morgan's winning score last year would have been 7th this year...the field improved, overall. Who knows if it was an effect of Simone being back in the mix?

I think we can all agree, Biles competing raises the bar for gymnasts everywhere. Even when she falls and wins, people are still challenged to do their very best.

 

[Braulio]

Wow what a lousy wreck of a win!! Just awful awful awful! Then whole sport has collapsed as US has made huge strides in technical difficulty while none of the rest of the world has even tried to keep up or can’t. It shows that gymnastics has died in Russia Romania all over the world.

Russia = Women Team Silver Medal Worlds 2018, European Champions 2018, 2016 Olympic Silver Medal. Men Team Silver Medal 2018, 2016 Olympics. All Around world champion 2018 and bronze medalist

Yeah death is good isn't it?

 

[MR-FAN]

Love Simone, but winning the AA title with 2 falls begs the question: are major mistakes penalized as appropriately as difficulty is rewarded?

I don’t know, I’m a very casual viewer of gymnastics, but I’m a fan of the new penalty rules for major mistakes in skating, that allows skaters of Hanyu and Medvedeva’s caliber to place behind others when they make mistakes

 

[UGG]

None of Simone’s competitors have ever said they think they can beat her, or they want to win. Not that it’s a wrong assumption but it would be nice to hear a little competitiveness from someone. It’s like everyone is ok competing for the podium.

 

[MR-FAN]

None of Simone’s competitors have ever said they think they can beat her, or they want to win. Not that it’s a wrong assumption but it would be nice to hear a little competitiveness from someone. It’s like everyone is ok competing for the podium.

Shades of Plushenko in 2006

 

[Willin]

I thought what Mustafina said in an interview was very interesting. When asked about Simone's ADHD meds (which are apparently still scandal-tastic in Russia), she said that regardless of any medication no one could beat Simone's level of difficulty. I couldn't tell if that meant she bought into the medication narrative or not, but it certainly suggests she understands Simone's success is more about her ability to do insanely difficult things than anything else.

Personally, I'm fine with Simone winning with two falls based on her difficulty level alone. In skating I had a problem with overvalued quads because so many men could do quads and/or so many men were ignoring everything else to get a quad. In women's gymnastics, Simone literally is the only one doing these insanely difficult things. The other athletes aren't even trying them in competition. If they're so difficult that only one gymnast in the field is even capable of attempting them I think it's perfectly reasonable to give them that high a difficulty score.

As for the falls, I haven't watched yet, but girl's got a kidney stone. I'm just happy she's even able to compete.


(On a side note, research has shown that the jostling of a rollercoaster can help pass kidney stones. Apparently the jostling of gymnastics is not enough. Therefore Simone should find a rollercoaster to ride before the event finals)

 

[caseyedwards]

Russia = Women Team Silver Medal Worlds 2018, European Champions 2018, 2016 Olympic Silver Medal. Men Team Silver Medal 2018, 2016 Olympics. All Around world champion 2018 and bronze medalist

Yeah death is good isn't it?

No one in women’s can compete with America. There is no competition. It’s that gold is impossible for anyone but Americans in women! Non American women’s gymnastics is dead compared to Americans.

 

[Rukia]

I also don't think you could create a code in this open ended scoring where Simone couldn't dominate outside of creating a seperate code just for her where she gets more deductions. It's not like she's just chucking difficult stuff. She gets some of the highest E scores too. Everything she does is clean and neat. Simone's just an anomaly.


Also I'm editing this because I wanted to say how happy I am for Mai Murakami for getting that medal. I love her gymnastics. And also for Morgan Hurd. I've been a fan of hers since she was a junior, and I feel like people just thought it was a fluke that she won AA last year. It was no fluke. She's good.

 

[Coco]

Execution deductions are harsher on gymnasts with lower difficulty, but that is not what is making Simone so untouchable.