Gymnastic news #22 - Tokyo or bust

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Per USAGYM twitter. 2019 Women's World Championships Team: Simone Biles Jade Carey Kara Eaker Sunisa Lee Grace McCallum MyKayla Skinner Non-traveling alternates: Morgan Hurd & Leanne Wong

I am thinking Skinner is the alternate unless Carey or Biles gets injured there.
 
Honestly, I would have picked this team after Nationals - except I would have picked Wong instead of Skinner.

I’m skeptical of how well Skinner would actually score internationally.

I’m not surprised but I’ve been having a bad gut feeling about Hurd for awhile now.
 
ilovepaydays said:
Honestly, I would have picked this team after Nationals - except I would have picked Wong instead of Skinner.

I’m skeptical of how well Skinner would actually score internationally.

I’m not surprised but I’ve been having a bad gut feeling about Hurd for awhile now.
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It’s not just a gut feeling - she hasn’t shown the same consistency this season. I’m wondering if there’s an injury we don’t know about. It’s hard leaving a World champion at home.
 
skatfan said:
It’s not just a gut feeling - she hasn’t shown the same consistency this season. I’m wondering if there’s an injury we don’t know about. It’s hard leaving a World champion at home.
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But then again, it was Hurd (and I find it hard to believe that they didn’t approach Simone) that the Olympic Channel ended up using as the American for their “All Around” series. Two episodes are up so far.

I wonder how much it would help if she had other elites at her gym. She’s the only one at First State, right?

Well, at least Hurd hasn't gone pro.......
 
I have been routing for Skinner since day one. She has improved her upgrades so much it is incredible. Even if she ends up the alternate at these Worlds, it would be so amazing heading into this upcoming year!
 
Morgan. :wuzrobbed Every quad some junior pixie does this to me. ?

Well, it's not over yet. If she does have some nagging injury, or isn't fully healed from her elbow surgery, I hope she takes the time now to fully recover. Then, I hope Slava brings her along carefully as she works on adding back her upgrades. She can still kill it next year and make the Olympic team. I just wish she hadn't gotten involved with that All Around show. IMO, it just seems like more pressure to save face before the viewing public by making the Olympic Team, never mind Worlds. .
 
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No Morgan just seems wrong but I guess the other girls outperformed her this weekend. I hope she regroups, gets healthy (if she's dealing with an injury), and then comes back to :kickass: next year. :respec: :cheer:

Thrilled for my girl Grace McCallum and I really like Sunisa Lee. This is a strong team and I look forward to seeing what they can do next month at Worlds! :cheer2:

BTW-Someone explained to me that since the USA has already qualified their women's gym team for the Olympics, Jade is eligible to compete on this Worlds team because she wouldn't be trying to qualify to Tokyo twice which is what would have happened last year (and why she couldn't try for that team).
 
Winning Worlds at the beginning of an Olympic cycle and having never been to an Olympics is like winning Worlds as if the Olympics do not exist. They are completely unrelated.
 
Re Hurd, its too bad, but someone is always an “in-between-er” like Bross. Better to have an off year this year. Hope she pulls it back together next season. I feel like she'd have been better off not going to Pan Ams and just training. And that show, so many distractions.
 
skipaway said:
As it's highly possible the US women will take the World title, maybe USAGYM wants to see how Skinner will be scored by the international judges before considering her for Tokyo.
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People said the exact sane thing before Nanning and she came dangerously close to knocking out a guaranteed Kyla Ross from the AA final. She scores well internationally, one handed Cheng and all. And her form has only gotten better with NCAA.
 
I personally feel the U.S. women's team selection was not very smart. Yes, the U.S. team will win, probably by a lot, regardless of who they send, but this team does not make tons of sense in terms of balance and maximizing of potential scores. Biles, Lee and Eaker were obvious choices, but Carey and Skinner both have the same strengths and weaknesses, so there doesn't make a lot of sense in taking both of them. There isn't even much sense in sending them both to see if they could medal in FX or vault, because with the two per country rule, Simone is going to take one of the spots in both those event finals barring disaster, so only one of Carey/Skinner could make finals in either event anyhow. Grace McCallum is overscored nationally and not spectacular on any event even though she is a solid AA gymnast, and it is highly unlikely she would win an AA medal, so someone like Leanne Wong or Morgan Hurd who might not be as consistent this year, but have events that they could medal in and also maximize event scores for the U.S., would have been better choices.

I feel like Tom just chose the top finishers from AA selection because he felt it would be less controversial and USAG is obviously trying to avoid controversy of any kind right now, but I feel it was a poor decision.
 
bardtoob said:
Winning Worlds at the beginning of an Olympic cycle
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And all-around bronze at last year's World Championships.
And beam silver at Worlds.
And floor silver at Worlds.

I like Morgan.

I think she will make the Olympic team.

I think it's a mistake to leave her off now, but it's a learning experience. Both for Morgan. And for the team selection committee.

(I've never liked Tom, but it has nothing to do with Morgan. I never liked how he would tell his athletes they were "on" when they performed well. Rather than instilling the sense that they had earned their places and could do so again & again & again).
 
Dobre said:
(I've never liked Tom, but it has nothing to do with Morgan. I never liked how he would tell his athletes they were "on" when they performed well. Rather than instilling the sense that they had earned their places and could do so again & again & again).
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Interesting. Thanks!
 
Hopefully this will be a blessing for Morgan - help her stay healthy, give her time to improve and light a fire under her for next year - same for Riley. Aside from Biles I don't really see anyone as a total lock yet for next year's Olympic team. Still mad it's only four athletes!
 
dramagrrl said:
I personally feel the U.S. women's team selection was not very smart.
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Totally agree. Not to mention that this raises big questions for who goes up in team qualifications. Assuming McCallum is the alternate and you have both Carey and Skinner on the team, then both of them are going on vault in prelims. (Don't think floor is a given since Eaker outscored both of them there.) That means of the top three all-arounders from camp (Biles, Lee, and Eaker), only two can actually do AA in qualifications. Obviously this would be Biles and Lee, but it does kind of short-change Eaker who has had a great year as an all-arounder.

If they insist on using all-around standings as the primary indicator, then for a 5-4-3 format, I would have been fine with automatically taking the top three all-arounders, BUT then choosing two that complement each other event-wise. That would have meant taking Carey for vault and floor (she outscored Skinner on both) and someone for bars and beam. Based on selection camp, that should have been Wong.

As for Morgan, I'm fine with not taking her at all. She has not had a great year, and while she usually paces herself and peaks at the right time, she didn't this year. If she'd hit bars at camp, it would have been a different story as she could have had an argument for that bars/beam spot. But she didn't.
 
Dobre said:
(I've never liked Tom, but it has nothing to do with Morgan. I never liked how he would tell his athletes they were "on" when they performed well. Rather than instilling the sense that they had earned their places and could do so again & again & again).
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I also felt he was more upset for himself when 2 of his athletes were not on the Olympic team. I think he said something like "I should have had not 1, but 2 athletes on the team" - it came off like who cares about these young ladies' dreams, what about me!
 
The thing about US Gymnastics right now is that they have the luxury of choosing who is great today without regard for tomorrow because the pool is so deep (on the women's side). So, even though this team may not be to everyone's taste, it doesn't really set up anybody for an Olympic team spot. It is a really great experience to compete at Worlds and to understand that pressure, but Olympics pressure is different. Experience or not, those with the toughest of nerves will come through.
 
My gut is telling me that Skinner, if she can score strong enough internationally, will be a prime candidate for a four member Olympic team because of her experience. However, without scoring potential, she is a no go.
 
tripleflips said:
I find Skinner on a team that already has Biles and Carey so redundant. Doesn't the team have enough strength on vault and floor.
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Reasonable point, but, with Biles being a world medal contender on Bars, the formula has changed considerably. They could just go with one of their two or three beam/bars duel specialists, with Sunisa Lee or Kara Eaker easily filling that role.
...

If the Olympic Team was chose at the World Selection Camp:

Simone Biles
Sunisa Lee
Kara Eaker
Makayla Skinner

make the most sense, even when ignoring the AA totals and looking at only apparatus rankings. I wouldn't let Jade Carey near the team, given her bars and beam rankings drop off like a cliff compared to her floor and vault rankings.

www.flogymnastics.com

USA Gymnastics Announces 2019 U.S. Women's World Championships Team - FloGymnastics

The women’s Athlete Selection Committee announced the six women who will represent the United States at the 2019 World Championships.
www.flogymnastics.com www.flogymnastics.com
 
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LOL so Simone Biles submitted her new elements, and the triple double on floor was given a J (they added a new letter to the ToE) but her double double off beam was given an H - only one letter more than a full-in. So it has the same value as a double double on floor.
And Simone chimed in on twitter:
twitter.com

Simone Biles on Twitter

“hahahaHAHAHAHAHhahaHahaAhahAhahahaAhahahHAHAahaaaaaaaHa bullshit https://t.co/NAnzBlfh8c”
twitter.com twitter.com
 
danafan said:
LOL so Simone Biles submitted her new elements, and the triple double on floor was given a J (they added a new letter to the ToE) but her double double off beam was given an H - only one letter more than a full-in. So it has the same value as a double double on floor.
And Simone chimed in on twitter:
twitter.com

Simone Biles on Twitter

“hahahaHAHAHAHAHhahaHahaAhahAhahahaAhahahHAHAahaaaaaaaHa bullshit https://t.co/NAnzBlfh8c”
twitter.com twitter.com
Click to expand...

The double-double is overvalued on floor. But even taking that into consideration, I’m with Simone. Bullshit.
 
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