Gymnastics #24 - The Road to Paris

[Theatregirl1122]

Looking that way. Kayla didn't do herself any favors tonight while Skye did. Inch. Resting.

I think Kayla helped herself on floor but hurt herself on beam and bars.

Suni finishing 4th AA with a fall on vault definitely doesn't hurt her as they put the team together. She won't do AA at Olympics this time, but it still looks good for her when you think about what would happen if something went wrong.

 

[Rukia]

Any word on Trinity?

She competed one event tonight so I'm not sure if she petitioned at the same time or if she even can why would i bother learning gymnastics rules when i have figure skating to worry about

 

[Carolla5501]

Any word on Trinity?

She’s not eligible to petition because you had to have certain scores or done certain events, and she hadn’t done them

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Can we stop putting pressure on Hezly? I have watched this girl since she was a junior and while she's having a great weekend here, she's not ready for the pressure of the Olys.

I don't think anyone is remotely trying to send her to the olys, tbh. I think they are thinking about the future and probably getting her experience as we move towards 2028.

 

[Karen-W]

Okay, gonna start some number crunching using Shilese and Kaliya's scores from Core Hydration Classic as a filler for what would get us the highest scoring team... I'll post the options sometime this evening, lol.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

A team does not have to put five members on correct? They could go with four if they wanted to?

 

[Garden Kitty]

Is someone doing a floor routine to "Dancing Queen?!" ?

I believe on Night 1 whoever was doing that routine was on floor during Simone's balance beam and when she dismounted it was almost in time to "you are the dancing queen".

Frankly I'm always amazed how gymnasts can maintain such concentration and do dangerous moves when there is a literal 3 ring circus going on around them.

 

[Karen-W]

Also, looking at the results from the AA, I'm kind of thinking they might only take 12 to Trials -

1, 2 - Jones & Lincoln - petitions accepted
3, 4 - Biles & Blakeley - automatic as top 2 this weekend
5 through 12 - DiCello, Lee, Chiles, Rivera, Carey, Wong, Sumanasekera, Roberson

There's a big drop off between Roberson in 10th today at 108.200 overall score and Zoey Molomo who is in 11th with 106.550 overall score.

ETA - they might go all the way down to Jayla Hang in 16th though - her 105.250 is good distance ahead of Marissa Neal in 17th with 104.400.

 

[HeatherC]

After what happened in Tokyo when we only had four members on the team and lost Simone in the team final, there is no way that USA gymnastics isn't going to name five members for their teams in Paris.

 

[alexikeguchi]

I'm going with Simone, Shi, Skye, and Suni. Jade appears to fill the gaps in that team but really needs to show significant upgrades at trials to separate herself from Jordan and Kayla.

 

[Spikefan]

A team does not have to put five members on correct? They could go with four if they wanted to?

If you didn’t have five talented gymnasts, sure. No need for US to do that unless they want to enrage a ton of people.

 

[museksk8r]

IMO, so many combinations of these talented women are more than capable of yielding team gold for USA. With Russia being absent, there’s not as much pressure for them to be perfect. Think last year’s worlds when Joscelyn went down with an injury and didn’t compete and Wong fell and scored terribly on beam and they still won gold by over 2 points.

With that being said, I think it makes the most sense to select athletes who have proven they can win medals on event finals or who show they have the most potential to do so to make up the team composition. I am leaning most toward a team of Biles, Jones, Lee, Carey and Blakely after Nationals. Chiles and DiCello are right there too.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Why on earth would you only take 4?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I'm going with Simone, Shi, Skye, and Suni. Jade appears to fill the gaps in that team but really needs to show significant upgrades at trials to separate herself from Jordan and Kayla.

Yup

 

[skatfan]

Okay, gonna start some number crunching using Shilese and Kaliya's scores from Core Hydration Classic as a filler for what would get us the highest scoring team... I'll post the options sometime this evening, lol.

You know about the Washington Post highest scoring team calculator?

 

[Wyliefan]

I'm glad they don't do parent cam in skating. Coach enthusiasm is one thing. Intruding on an athlete's relative having a private moment, not so much.

We just have Ted Barton trying to read parents' minds from afar.

 

[just tuned in]

I could happily do without Sam's commentary at the Olympics. She is a non-stop talking jinx machine.

Jade might add a few tenths of tumbling difficulty to her floor routine, but she is still losing a lot due to lack of expression. She barely moves on the dance stuff. Simone, Shilese, Skye, Suni, Kayla.

 

[Karen-W]

You know about the Washington Post highest scoring team calculator?

Yes, but I like playing with my Excel spreadsheet, dammit, lol.

Okay, so playing with the numbers, the following women can contribute to teams with the ability to score 175+ - Biles, Blakely, Carey, Chiles, DiCello, Jones, Lee, Lincoln, Roberson, Sumanasekera & Wong - those last 4 only contribute on FX and I can't see Kaliya getting the spot if either Jade or Kayla bring it at Trials.

Team 1 - Biles, Blakely, Jones, Lee, Lincoln - 175.475
Team 2 - Biles, Blakely, DiCello, Jones, Lee - 175.400
Team 3 - Biles, Blakely, Carey, Jones, Lee - 175.325
Team 4 - Biles, Blakely, Jones, Lee, Sumanasekera - 175.225
Team 5 - Biles, Blakely, Carey, Jones, Lincoln - 175.175
Team 6/7 - Biles, Blakely, Jones, Lee, Roberson/Wong - 175.125
Team 8 - Biles, Blakely, Carey, DiCello, Jones - 175.075
Team 9 - Biles, Blakely, Chiles, Jones, Lincoln - 175.050
Team 10 - Biles, Blakely, Chiles, Jones, Lee - 175.025

I'm not seeing much upside for Chiles either, to be perfectly honest, looking at the potential combinations that exist. Right now, it really does feel like the best team would be Biles, Blakely, Jones, Lee and either Carey or DiCello - Trials will be the key.

 

[pollyanna]

Yeah... Kayla's place on the team could easily be taken by Skye with Suni and Jade handling the specialist spots.

Well, she would be at the boards, so it would be a coach/parent cam combo.

 

[skipaway]

Those going to Trials
Simone Biles, Skye Blakely, Jade Carey, Dulcy Caylor, Jordan Chiles, Kayla DiCello, Shilese Jones, Sunisa Lee, Kaliya Lincoln, Eveylynn Lowe, Zoey Molomo, Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson, Simone Rose, Tiana Sumanseker and Leanne Wong.
That’s top 14 in the all-around, along with Lincoln and Jones.

 

[Karen-W]

And the men -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1797120462939361427

Fuzzy Benas, Jeremy Bischoff, Cameron Bock, Alex Diab, Asher Hong, Patrick Hoopes, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Stephen Nedoroscik, Curran Phillips, Fred Richard, Donnell Whittenburg, Shane Wiskus, Khoi Young, Colt Walker + Dev Team members Tate Costa, Josh Karnes, Kiran Mandava & Kai Uemura

 

[Theatregirl1122]

My brain refuses to entertain the possibility that Fuzzy Benas is the name of a person.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

If you didn’t have five talented gymnasts, sure. No need for US to do that unless they want to enrage a ton of people.

Lol well you took my comment the complete opposite direction

So only three gymnasts compete on each apparatus right now, for say, the USA - Simone and Jones could do all four …what if a country had another huge all arounder that would score high as well on all four … that’s probably no need for two other gymnasts, or what if they had a floor and Vault specialist that was great and a beam and bar specialist that’s great then theres no need for a fifth. Was just wondering… I was not meaning to apply this to the USA, it was just a scenario I was wondering about

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

My brain refuses to entertain the possibility that Fuzzy Benas is the name of a person.

OMG that’s how I was yesterday …. I was like come again?

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

She is a non-stop talking jinx machine.

She’s definitely the latter

Both night and one and night two

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

She barely moves on the dance stuff.

But it didn’t hurt her to become the Olympic champion… Unless they’ve change the rules where there’s penalties for not shaking your bonbon with smiles, and like you’re a hooter girl

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I still am not on board for Kayla even though I’ve always enjoyed her, she’s the most inconsistent one of them all.

 

[Coco]

Al Fong's gymnasts always do have really amazing form

That is thanks to his wife, Armine, a former Soviet gymnast.

She’s not eligible to petition because you had to have certain scores or done certain events, and she hadn’t done them

You might say she doesn't have a body of work, as it were.

 

[skatfan]

But it didn’t hurt her to become the Olympic champion… Unless they’ve change the rules where there’s penalties for not shaking your bonbon with smiles, and like you’re a hooter girl

The rules on floor have changed and Jade is now getting deductions on the dance elements for a lack of stretch, toe point, facial expression, etc. It’s not about shaking booties or smiles.

Jade has improved a lot on these elements since going NCAA, just not enough yet. If she can upgrade her difficulty on floor and do well on vault, she has a chance to be the fifth member, otherwise I think she’s an alternate.

@museksk8r, Interestingly, one thing that is not explicitly a criteria for the team is having world or Olympic medals.

 

[Coco]

Domestic judges are quite lenient on US gymnasts' dance elements, except for when they are judging Jade, apparently.