Gymnastics News #21 - Tumbling on to Tokyo

[chipso1]

A propos of the age issue in gymnastics, I just saw this:

32-Year-Old Mom Launches Comeback to Elite Gymnastics
https://www.wesa.fm/post/32-year-ol...0jwYiqSyEuf8WFnXPx-bMzs1JGDhZrcBEcDOT7EUNgGHs

It's like Deanna Stellato/Zoe Jones, only in gymnastics.

Good for her! A comeback at any age takes guts. I'm impressed with how she looks after only a few months of training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=---FPwPkHas

 

[caseyedwards]

A propos of the age issue in gymnastics, I just saw this:

32-Year-Old Mom Launches Comeback to Elite Gymnastics
https://www.wesa.fm/post/32-year-ol...0jwYiqSyEuf8WFnXPx-bMzs1JGDhZrcBEcDOT7EUNgGHs

It's like Deanna Stellato/Zoe Jones, only in gymnastics.

A younger Oksana Chusovitina!!!

 

[Rob]

I just saw this online. Was thinking of her today with the discussion of first year seniors who got injured. I hope she makes it to Classics.

 

[FiveRinger]

https://youtu.be/I5Qz6ccmrD8

Simone in Stuttgart 2019

My DVR picked this up. I was disappointed that she has recycled that floor routine. I really wish that she would challenge herself artistically.

 

[VGThuy]

It's still many months till Worlds, right? I know gymnasts who change FXs can change them later in the season, some times ever after Nationals. That said, she's outgrowing the whole woman going "oh" and sound effects. She looked pretty bored of it.

 

[ilovepaydays]

My DVR picked this up. I was disappointed that she has recycled that floor routine. I really wish that she would challenge herself artistically.

Or at least not have floor exercise music that makes me want to claw my eyes out. It’s not like she doesn’t have the money to get something better.

 

[skatfan]

It's still many months till Worlds, right? I know gymnasts who change FXs can change them later in the season, some times ever after Nationals. That said, she's outgrowing the whole woman going "oh" and sound effects. She looked pretty bored of it.

She looks totally over that program. No real performance quality to it, but of course the tumbling blows everyone out of the water.

 

[Rob]

I'm so tired of the signature hand to mouth "oh" - its gotta go.

 

[dramagrrl]

Good for her! A comeback at any age takes guts. I'm impressed with how she looks after only a few months of training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=---FPwPkHas

She (Kristal Uzelac, now Bodenschatz) is actually a perfect example of the discussion upthread about gymnasts peaking in their early teens. She won three junior national titles in a row (1999-2001), with the first one being when she was 13, I believe. Everyone in the gymnastics community hyped her pretty heavily as she got closer to senior age eligibility, but she was never able to match her junior success in her short senior career. Good for her for attempting a comeback. I also hope she makes it to Classics.

Switching topics - I think Simone's current FX is atrocious, not just for someone at her level, but even in general. She needs to get more sophisticated and interesting choreo and music ASAP.

 

[just tuned in]

She (Kristal Uzelac, now Bodenschatz) is actually a perfect example of the discussion upthread about gymnasts peaking in their early teens. She won three junior national titles in a row (1999-2001), with the first one being when she was 13, I believe. Everyone in the gymnastics community hyped her pretty heavily as she got closer to senior age eligibility, but she was never able to match her junior success in her short senior career. Good for her for attempting a comeback.

Carly Patterson moved up to srs. Kristal was very bitter about it IIRC.

 

[caseyedwards]

I’m very surprised FIG hasn’t abolished music and stuff in women’s Floor and not made it like men’s floor. I don’t get it!!

 

[skatfan]

Switching topics - I think Simone's current FX is atrocious, not just for someone at her level, but even in general. She needs to get more sophisticated and interesting choreo and music ASAP.

Simone should use her time improving her dance and choreography. It’s clear she’s completely bored by that routine. Frankly all the US routines are pretty uninspiring.

 

[Rob]

I don't mind Morgan's or Riley's because they had some drama and musicality to them.

 

[Winnipeg]

I'm so tired of the signature hand to mouth "oh" - its gotta go.

Good One! You're a poet and you don't even know it!

 

[ilovepaydays]

Meanwhile, Shawn Johnson East is now expecting!

 

[HeatherC]

Well, last summer we drove two hours north to Columbus for the US Classic and this year we're gonna drive two hours south because it's actually coming to Louisville! I just bought our tickets for it tonight (great seats right in the middle section where we can pretty much see everything). Tickets are pretty reasonably priced IMO and even though we can't go to the Hopes event this time (we're gonna drive down Saturday morning instead of Friday night this time), we're excited to see the junior and senior events at the Classic on Saturday. So excited to see live gymnastics again this summer!

And I am SO happy for Shawn and her husband!

 

[pollyanna]

Well, last summer we drove two hours north to Columbus for the US Classic and this year we're gonna drive two hours south because it's actually coming to Louisville! I just bought our tickets for it tonight (great seats right in the middle section where we can pretty much see everything). Tickets are pretty reasonably priced IMO and even though we can't go to the Hopes event this time (we're gonna drive down Saturday morning instead of Friday night this time), we're excited to see the junior and senior events at the Classic on Saturday. So excited to see live gymnastics again this summer!

Thanks for letting us know! I will most likely attend all including the Hopes event. If I do, would love to meet you and your fellow attendees.

 

[Dobre]

32-Year-Old Mom Launches Comeback to Elite Gymnastics
https://www.wesa.fm/post/32-year-ol...0jwYiqSyEuf8WFnXPx-bMzs1JGDhZrcBEcDOT7EUNgGHs

Good for Kristal (Uzelac). That was a career that was cut much too short. It was really just a great generation of U.S. ladies gymnasts coming through the pipeline, with Vise, Patterson, Postell, Kupets, Humphrey all moving up out of juniors. (Carly did her job in the AA at the Olympics. She was a bit iffy in the team event earlier, but zero question in the AA for me. What I really appreciated about that generation was 1. the number of strong beam workers and 2. they were among the first that had the tumbling versatility so many generations struggled with previously. Flipping, twisting, forwards, & backwards all at a high level).

 

[Rob]

I also think about the number of bar workers in that quad. Kupets, Vise, Memmel, Humpheys, Heenan. UB world champions stayed home and we needed help on vault.

 

[Aceon6]

I also think about the number of bar workers in that quad. Kupets, Vise, Memmel, Humpheys, Heenan. UB world champions stayed home and we needed help on vault.

How quickly things change.

 

[HeatherC]

I also think about the number of bar workers in that quad. Kupets, Vise, Memmel, Humpheys, Heenan. UB world champions stayed home and we needed help on vault.

Ugh, I'm still gutted from Hollie Vise not being on that 2004 Olympic team. If only she hadn't been struggling with a back issue because she was a pretty strong AA gymnast before her back starting giving her trouble in early 2004.

 

[Dobre]

I wanted Terin to make it. I would have sacrificed nearly anyone. I just thought her gymnastics were unique & different; and I believed, sincerely, that if she made the team, the nerves would basically be over for her and she would compete well at the Olympics. (She did).

I was always sad that Ashley Postell didn't get to compete at the 2003 Worlds. Loved her work on beam.

 

[VGThuy]

Man the 2001-2004 quad where a 9.5 was a good score and a 9.7+ was like a 10.00. Terin's scores never seemed to match the level of difficulty she was producing. Was it because there just were too many built-in deductions with her form and non-fully rotated dance elements? You'd think GAGE would have constructed her routines differently if that were the case.

 

[Lucy25]

Does anyone follow Simone on Twitter? The last couple weeks she’s been posting things about how sad she is. But she doesn’t give an explanation. Anyone know what’s going on with her?

 

[ilovepaydays]

Does anyone follow Simone on Twitter? The last couple weeks she’s been posting things about how sad she is. But she doesn’t give an explanation. Anyone know what’s going on with her?

I believe she has said in interviews that she has dealt with anxiety.

 

[Dobre]

Was it because there just were too many built-in deductions with her form and non-fully rotated dance elements?

No, I don't think so. I think it was like it is in skating. Prove yourself consistent and then you get the scores. Plus, in gymnastics, you have to have the big final spots in the team lineup. (And in order to get those, you generally either need to be a specialist or a National Champion). She was an all-arounder, rather than an event specialist (there are more opportunities to prove yourself if you have a super strong event, as you only have to deliver on the one event in order to bring home a title); and she often made the mistake. Not always a huge one, but when you're an all-around contender, you have to deliver everywhere in order to break through. And Terin always felt the pressure of being on the bubble for making the team, so she often struggled at the qualifying event: Nationals. Her strengths were floor & beam. Her bars were good, but the U.S. had 3 World Champions on bars, and they had too many riches on floor at the time for it to help her break through; plus it's hard to make a team based on beam if you have any kind of reputation for making mistakes. She didn't have a top vault until that final season (most of the American all-arounders didn't). In the end, the team didn't use it because when the nerves were on, those new risky elements tend to be the first to go. But I do think it primed her for serious consideration in the Olympic season. She ultimately made the team for the right reason. She was an all-arounder. Once they decided to hand pick the vaulters, that was exactly what they needed.

 

[ilovepaydays]

USA Gymnastics just tweeted that there will be a BIG announcement on Tuesday at Noon EST.

It apparently involves Jake Dalton.

 

[VGThuy]

@Dobre it just seemed odd that Terin who had been around internationally one year longer than the Carly Patterson/Hollie Vise/Chellsie Memmel/etc. generation who was doing all kinds of difficulty and variety was like only maxing out at like 9.3 on floor and early to mid 9.6 on beam for a hit routine for her. Bars became a surprise strength for her at the Olympics. I remember her saying after prelims in Athens that she thought she was a floor specialist but now she’s not sure what her speciality was after making bars final.

Honestly, I wish the US didn’t have so many injured gymnasts by trials and afterwards. They had a bars advantage over the Romanians and we needed strong vaulters, but beam and floor cost the US the gold that year and those stupid dance jumps were giving the Americans trouble it seemed as their 10.0 SV seemed to come from those combos and connection bonuses and bad form or not rotating them completely made them lose their SV. I think that’s what explained Terin maxing out at 9.3 internationally on floor.

 

[Dobre]

Courtney Kupets was expected to deliver. She was supposed to do beam. She didn't. Even Carly didn't deliver as much as she could have for the team. Courtney McCool came off the beam, when it was supposed to be her best event and she was expected to be a rock. It happens. Your top athletes--they are the ones facing the most pressure at an Olympics. And that was an era when even a wobble would hurt your scores. You never expect your best to falter at an Olympics. The coaches/selection committee had undoubtedly considered leaving off Terin, Mohini, and Annia (along with Holly & the other girls who actually did miss out)--but the bubble athletes weren't the ones that underperformed. They delivered up to expectations. It was the athletes with the medal hopes on the line that didn't reach their best. They needed the experience. They did well. They just didn't do their best.

 

[VGThuy]

I remember some people knowing McCool was not going to get those connection bonuses at the Olympics and her score would be a few tenths lower than what USAG expected. Of course, nobody expected her to under perform that badly in prelims. She did have excellent form though comparatively to her teammates.