Gymnastics News #21 - Tumbling on to Tokyo

[ilovepaydays]

Senior Women Day 1 is about to start!

2018 U.S. Gymnastics Championships - Senior Women - Day 1 - International Feed

Live Scoring

There's probably a 95% chance I will probably get snarky on here tonight.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Rotation 1:
Jade Carey (FX) - Made me a tad too nervous
Ragan Smith (UB) - Oh that was a tad too awful.
Morgan Hurd (BB) - Nice job. But did she hold back?
Simone Biles (FX) - Went out of bounds twice. Not that it will probably matter.
Riley McCusker (UB) -
Jordan Chiles (VT) - YOWZA!
Shilese Jones (UB) -

Snide point: Um, NBC - Glasses = personality?

Shallow point: I like Morgan Hurd's and Riley McCuster leos the best. PRETTY! Simone's leo has a bit too much going on. Texas Dreams' leo look hideous.

Andrea Joyce reported on Kyla Ross and Madison Kocian's appearance on CBS This Morning yesterday. Joyce hopes to get to interview USAGym CEO Kerry Perry later this weekend. WHATEVS.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Rotation 2:
Ragan Smith (BB) - YIKES!
Simone Biles (VT) - Her Cheng and then her Amanar were a tad too insane!
Jade Carey (VT) - Good job.
Morgan Hurd (FX) - NICE! But I think her E score was a tad too low.
Riley McCusker (BB) - That dismount, though!

Snide point: Tim Daggett said for the second time during these championships: "There's no defense in gymnastics - they can't tackle each other while they are competing." WTF?!

 

[ilovepaydays]

Rotation 3:
Ragan Smith (FX) - Those landings looked too painful on her ankle.
Simone Biles (UB) - GREAT!!!!!
Jade Carey (UB) - Much better than at U.S. Classic
Morgan Hurd (VT) - Good job
Riley McCusker (FX) - A bit nerve wrecking.

I. HATE. WOLF. TURNS.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Rotation 4:
Ragan Smith (VT) - Good job. Please rest that ankle!
Simone Biles (BB) - Well, it was her doing Simone things.
Jade Carey (BB) - Really couldn't have done that better.
Morgan Hurd (UB) - REALLY GOOD!
Riley McCusker (VT) - Good job.
Jordan Chiles (FX) - Every landing was rough to watch. I don't think she could afford to do that.

Not at all surprised by the top three: 1) Biles - BY A LOT, 2) Hurd, 3) McCusker.

 

[HeatherC]

I don't get to watch the competition until NBC Sports airs it at 11 PM (don't have the Olympic channel here) but I did watch a few of the performances on You Tube (the ones that I'm pretty sure won't make the broadcast) and I'm impressed with Grace McCallum. She looked pretty good at the US Classic last month and has improved since then. I'm going to wait until I can watch the rest on my TV to make any other comments but it sounds like an overall great night of gymnastics.

Simone being Simone....

 

[Rob]

I know Ashton had knee surgery, and Maile was injured too, but where has Victoria Nguyen gone? Haven’t see her since 2017 World Cup. Gabby Perea? And I though Emma Malabuyo was competing.

 

[HeatherC]

Something must have happened to Emma because I thought she was supposed to be there too. If anyone finds out anything (I just looked and there wasn't anything on the US Gym site) please let us know.

 

[Karina1974]

Is anyone watching the women on NBCSN?? Is your broadcast video constantly freezing??

 

[Karina1974]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.62a54deaf5d9

Here is a link that explains her death a little bit. This is the first I am hearing, and I am in complete and utter shock. Apparently it was sudden, pneumonia complications.

Shushunova was one of my favorites. The competition between Silivas and her was unforgettable. I couldn't root for either one, I had the utmost respect for both of their completely different styles. RIP.

The AA competition is up on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/8pRTpq1r9dg

 

[Erin]

but where has Victoria Nguyen gone? Haven’t see her since 2017 World Cup. Gabby Perea? And I though Emma Malabuyo was competing.

Victoria competed at Nationals last year but had a disastrous competition which is why we didn’t see her on TV. I’m assuming she was injured, and that’s why we haven’t seen her since. Interestingly, she doesn’t seem to be verbally committed to anywhere for NCAA. I think she’ll be a senior this year so I guess we will see in November if she signs anywhere or if she is just done.

Perea did show up at one of the verification camps (I think April), which was how she qualified for Nationals but has been injured again. Haven’t heard any word about her trying for Worlds selection camp so I am guessing her season is done.

Malabuyo is still struggling with the back injury that was bothering her at US Classic. She didn’t do bars at all in podium training and it was clear on the other events in podium training that she was still hurting, so she withdrew. She is still trying for the world team though. She is planning to do four watered down routines at the next camp and then hopefully have full difficulty by the Worlds selection camp. We’ll see if that comes to fruition though. Texas Dreams doesn’t have a good history of keeping athletes healthy.

There are so many athletes fighting through injuries that I feel like this world team could be named based on who is left standing in October.

 

[Aceon6]

Texas Dreams doesn’t have a good history of keeping athletes healthy.

Any idea why? Coach Kim should know better having suffered the career ending ACL injury.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Senior men's day two has started! Right now, it's live on Olympic Channel, but NBC broadcast starts at 4:30 EST. Videos of routines are coming up on USAGym's YouTube. I'm not seeing a live video feed on YouTube for the senior men like I have for them women.

Live Scoring - Overall
Live Scoring - By Rotation/Apparatus

 

[ilovepaydays]

I was really hoping Yul would do so this year but the talk of the back injury is very disconcerting.

Interestingly, Yul's coach posted on twitter that the back issue is chronic and has been going on for a long time. But the injury was exacerbated when he jammed it doing a HB dismount last Friday. So it sounds like it's something that he is used to dealing with that has flared up - maybe not as concerning as I initially thought. I usually assume the worst with back problems, as those can take forever to heal.

Tim Daggett just said as Yul's completed his floor routine that the injury is a fracture in his back. I'm a bit concerned and freaked out now.

Rotation 3 is finishing up. Modi and Moldauer are looking A LOT better today!

 

[Rukia]

Shallow NBC broadcast report: Terry Gannon looks fiiiiiiiiiine in those jeans.

Back to gymnastics.

 

[Garden Kitty]

It's always a treat to hear Terry Gannon on a broadcast and nice to see him doing gymnastics. You know he respects the athletes and how hard these skills are.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Sam Mikulak did a clean AA today. Now do that again at Worlds.

Not sure which eight men they will invite to the world's selection camp, but based on what happened here, this is who I would send to Worlds

1) Mikulak
2) Moldauer
3) Bailey
4) Yoder
5) Modi or Bower

 

[Aceon6]

The broadcast was going sooooo well until Daggett said that Sam could contend for an AA podium spot at worlds. I guess Tim hasn't been watching the Chinese or Japanese lately.

 

[Rukia]

The broadcast was going sooooo well until Daggett said that Sam could contend for an AA podium spot at worlds. I guess Tim hasn't been watching the Chinese or Japanese lately.

I mean he was technically correct. Everyone could get injured you know.

 

[bardtoob]

{{shock}} . . . Shushunova is gone.

Rest in peace . . . I will remember your greatness and think in your prime you could have competed head to head with Simone Biles.

 

[SpeedySucks]

Any idea why? Coach Kim should know better having suffered the career ending ACL injury.

Kim’s coaches were Bela and Mary Lee Tracy. Neither one has a good track record of keeping gymnasts healthy, so you could say that Kim learned from the best...

 

[FiveRinger]

Kim’s coaches were Bela and Mary Lee Tracy. Neither one has a good track record of keeping gymnasts healthy, so you could say that Kim learned from the best...

Would it have been smarter to have surgery in 2017 and heal thru 2018. Was that an option? She seems to limping a lot, even just walking on and off the podium.

 

[ilovepaydays]

USA Gymnastics has selected the eight men who will be at the World Team Selection Camp.

Looks like Kimble’s petition was accepted.

 

[Erin]

Would it have been smarter to have surgery in 2017 and heal thru 2018. Was that an option? She seems to limping a lot, even just walking on and off the podium.

Probably. Strategically, the best answer would have been to do whatever needed to be done to get the ankle to recover - whether that be surgery, rest, whatever - and if that meant that 2018 was a write-off, so be it. It’s not as important of a year. However, it seems that she didn’t take the time she needed to recover given that she was back at camp only a month after Worlds. I had assumed when I heard that she was back at camp that her injury wasn’t serious. Torn ligaments is much different.

 

[savchenkoboss]

Does anyone think with her improved bars Simone can medal at bars at Worlds? Would love to see her medal or even win gold on bars in a major event someday. This year it seems likely to be a weak field so it would be a good year to do it, it would be much likely in a year like 2020 or even 2019 which will probably have amassed a stronger field.

 

[savchenkoboss]

Poor Ragan was crazy to not get the surgery. It looks like she wont even be in contention for the team this year, so this year was a write off regardless, and now she has wasted more time for nothing. Realistically she is probably better retiring at this point sadly. I doubt her being in contention for the 2020 team, especialy now.

 

[ilovepaydays]

Does anyone think with her improved bars Simone can medal at bars at Worlds? Would love to see her medal or even win gold on bars in a major event someday.

Didn’t Simone make the bars final at 2013 or 2014 Worlds and finished around 4th?

Could she medal at Worlds this year on bars? Absolutely. Could she win bars at Worlds? Not if Nina Derwael (Belgium) can help it. Her bars are INSANELY good! Simone’s not beating that!

Poor Ragan was crazy to not get the surgery. It looks like she wont even be in contention for the team this year, so this year was a write off regardless, and now she has wasted more time for nothing. Realistically she is probably better retiring at this point sadly. I doubt her being in contention for the 2020 team, especialy now.

I will say that Ragan should have probably taken this year off to heal that ankle the best she could. But I’m not convinced that surgery would have been the best option. I think because of the nature of how the ankle is constructed, surgery isn’t always effective - at least not near as much as knees or hips.

Does anyone know if Ragan has committed to a college team? Please tell me she hasn’t gone pro......

 

[escaflowne9282]

RIP Shushunova

 

[SpeedySucks]

Didn’t Simone make the bars final at 2013 or 2014 Worlds and finished around 4th?

Could she medal at Worlds this year on bars? Absolutely. Could she win bars at Worlds? Not if Nina Derwael (Belgium) can help it. Her bars are INSANELY good! Simone’s not beating that!



I will say that Ragan should have probably taken this year off to heal that ankle the best she could. But I’m not convinced that surgery would have been the best option. I think because of the nature of how the ankle is constructed, surgery isn’t always effective - at least not near as much as knees or hips.

Does anyone know if Ragan has committed to a college team? Please tell me she hasn’t gone pro......

Ragan has committed to Oklahoma. Given the stupidity regarding how her ankle injury has been handled, I hope she will actually be able to compete once she gets to college and doesn’t end up like Bailie Key.

 

[FiveRinger]

Probably. Strategically, the best answer would have been to do whatever needed to be done to get the ankle to recover - whether that be surgery, rest, whatever - and if that meant that 2018 was a write-off, so be it. It’s not as important of a year. However, it seems that she didn’t take the time she needed to recover given that she was back at camp only a month after Worlds. I had assumed when I heard that she was back at camp that her injury wasn’t serious. Torn ligaments is much different.

She’s in trouble. The one event that had nothing to do with her ankle (bars) was abysmal. If she insisted on training, there should have been a push for that event. The beam, her best event, was not up to par, either. I don’t see how she is going to make the world team at all. I hope that someone shakes some sense into her. The effort was valiant, meaning we all saw how much she was struggling, but perhaps not the right move. It seemed unnecessary. I hope she doesn’t damage the ankle further.

ETA....she is taller than Kim now!