Qualifications

[profmom]

I know we could talk forever about the various facets of Simone Biles' awesomeness. What caught my eye today that I guess I hadn't really attended to before was just how much she does in her beam transitions. Everything she does between skills is superbly done and enhances the routine.

Oh, that Amanar!

Can't talk about Brenna Dowell. Too sad about bars.

 

[Terry]

Devastated for Aly. Except for Tfs worlds is over for her. It is worse for brenna though. This was the end of her elite career. period. Aly can redeem herself with solid performances in TFs and next spring. But Marta will not give brenna another chance.

 

[flippingtogether]

Love this article about Brenna - great to know how tough she is and how she never gives up
http://thegymter.net/2015/10/12/brenna-dowell-the-girl-with-nothing-to-lose/

 

[Empowered]

I know there are lots of people bummed for Brenna, but the one I feel sorry for is Maggie. She earned a chance compete for an AA spot in finals, and had she done what she always does on bars she would have had that second spot above Gabby.

She took the bullet so Marta could roll the dice with Brenna and I truly feel the choice was wrong. Gabby may win a medal in the AA, but a 57-58 is hardly what a US all arounder should be scoring.

Just my two cents, refrain from pitchfork attacks.

 

[All Chalked Up]

And Ellie Black! 4th! I believe that is the highest a female CDN gymnast has ever placed at Worlds, or one of the best. So happy. She works so hard, in and out of the gym, to be the best she can be, as does Dave and Keiji. She is setting CDN gym to a whole new standard in my opinion.

And of course Biles as always was incredible to watch. It's a given by now, but still amazing to watch. Heartbroken for Brenna, sad for Aly as well. Super proud of Dougie. Kocian has one of the nicest double pike dismounts I've seen. Nichols blew it out of the park, I wish she competed AA in place of Aly (as much as I lover her), she beasted all the events she competed. Really showed everyone who thought she would get whooped by the judges.

Sad for the Romanians as well, seems to be a lot of injuries. Not China's day, poor Shang. How did Komova do? I didn't follow the Russians quite as closely.

 

[Seeker]

What happened to Shang?

 

[Terry]

I know there are lots of people bummed for Brenna, but the one I feel sorry for is Maggie. She earned a chance compete for an AA spot in finals, and had she done what she always does on bars she would have had that second spot above Gabby.

She took the bullet so Marta could roll the dice with Brenna and I truly feel the choice was wrong. Gabby may win a medal in the AA, but a 57-58 is hardly what a US all arounder should be scoring.

Just my two cents, refrain from pitchfork attacks.

I agree with you completely. Marta made some serious mistakes with this team. Aly was not a mistake -- she just had a really bad day. If she had hit she would have overscored Gabby. But not letting Maggie do AA was a real mistake. And having Brenna on the team was a big mistake.

 

[Seeker]

I was very surprised that Brenna was selected. Hindsight proves it was a mistake, but I was surprised at her selection at all, surprised she wasn't the alternate and extremely surprised that they didn't change her bar routine construction at all. Not that I know what they should have/could have changed it to, but it was such a crazy and wild routine that required her to be so precise...no real opportunity for her to make an error and cover it. Once she missed that first skill, she was done.

 

[flowerchild]

Simone is just an incredible athlete. Unbelievable!

I have to just shake my head over the fact that Nichols didn't get a shot at the AA. She was very solid. A shame.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I know there are lots of people bummed for Brenna, but the one I feel sorry for is Maggie. She earned a chance compete for an AA spot in finals, and had she done what she always does on bars she would have had that second spot above Gabby.
She took the bullet so Marta could roll the dice with Brenna and I truly feel the choice was wrong. Gabby may win a medal in the AA, but a 57-58 is hardly what a US all arounder should be scoring.
Just my two cents, refrain from pitchfork attacks.

Agreed I feel sorry for Maggie, but it was also Aly who pushed Maggie out, so that Aly could have a shot at all around. You can argue that Brenna had a bar routine with finals possibility (on paper), but aside from Skinner, Aly has by far the weakest bar routine on the team. Maggie will know for next time... hit your stuff cold in training on beam.

I actually feel that Aly was somewhat scored correctly at these worlds, perhaps the judges sitting up in line with the apparatus has allowed them to see the poor quality of work compared to other gymnasts. The positives about Aly's gymnastics is her consistency, when you take that away she is nothing special aside from some big tumbles. I do feel for her though, It is kind of harsh in a way to suddenly be deducted for stuff that was previously getting some leniency/overlooked.

 

[B&M's mom]

As Aly came in 5th in the AA qualifying with a fall and an out of bounds deduction, I don't think she did that badly. I'm very impressed with how far she's come in a short period of time. What she is doing is far better than the majority of the other gymnasts.

 

[profmom]

I think if Maggie has a good day in TF, she will seal her spot for Rio, as long as she can stay healthy. I, too, had hoped she would compete AA, but she looks to me like a girl on her way up.

 

[Seeker]

The other thing to note is that Maggie had a pretty rough go at podium training. Being her first Worlds, maybe Marta didn't want to overwhelm her by throwing her into the AA. She was very, very nervous during podium and was not hitting like she had been in camp. Looking at it from the other side -- as in Marta was not trying to take anything away from her, but rather hold her up or help her hold herself together so that this WAS a good experience for her. And it was...she did great and hopefully built some confidence in the process. I also don't think that it was Aly that "took her spot" -- Marta easily could have put up 4 or even 5 AA's and she chose not to. That has nothing to do with Aly...probably has more to do with getting experience for as many girls as possible. Maybe Brenna took her bars slot? That didn't work out so well, but it didn't hurt the US team either.

 

[gymdog]

As Aly came in 5th in the AA qualifying with a fall and an out of bounds deduction, I don't think she did that badly. I'm very impressed with how far she's come in a short period of time. What she is doing is far better than the majority of the other gymnasts.

Lol well apparently a second place performance isn't up to par either, desoite the fact that take away Simone Biles who we can all agree is obviously going to beat everyone by a million points, and Gabby would be in first after qualifying...second best gymnast in the world right now. So I dunno about that, meanwhile I'm trying to figure out how to get some kids to do a mill circle (let's be clear...not even do it perfectly, just DO a mill circle that ends on top of a bar) so maybe I'm more impressed by the process of gymnastics than I would be otherwise.

Anyway, I don't really think Aly was on point this weekend, not just that judges decided to take more deductions. Still one of the best gymnasts in the world. That's an accomplishment.

 

[gymdog]

Aly on beam at championships:



Quals:



Execution is within three tenths with the p and g's routine obviously being better...she lost a couple connections and has a lower D score in the worlds routine. I get that she is not the traditionally flexible elegant beam worker but I have to say the first hit routine is great...not many gymnasts in the world can do that...to say it's nothing special seems kind of funny given the actual numbers of gymnasts vs gymnasts that can do this...but that's just me maybe in other countries there are tons of gymnasts that can do this that just for some reason never make it to international meets?

 

[Empowered]

Simone Biles who we can all agree is obviously going to beat everyone by a million points, and Gabby would be in first after qualifying...second best gymnast in the world right now

Gabby is not in second place after qualifying. Take away Biles and Switzerland has their first ever AA champion.

1 BILES, SIMONE USA 16.000 14.666 14.966 15.966 61.598
2 STEINGRUBER, GIULIA SUI 15.500 14.141 13.466 14.533 57.640
3 DOUGLAS, GABRIELLE USA 15.300 14.750 13.066 14.400 57.516

 

[gymdog]

Gabby is not in second place after qualifying. Take away Biles and Switzerland has their first ever AA champion.

1 BILES, SIMONE USA 16.000 14.666 14.966 15.966 61.598
2 STEINGRUBER, GIULIA SUI 15.500 14.141 13.466 14.533 57.640
3 DOUGLAS, GABRIELLE USA 15.300 14.750 13.066 14.400 57.516

Okay I missed that so good for Giulia I'm super proud of her because no one will beat Simone so in my mind it sort of is like a win. So then Gabby is in third by a tenth and a half which is great too. Mostly my point is gymnastics is really hard. If you don't believe me, coach level 3

 

[Terry]

Hey guys -- this was Qualifications. Lets see what happens in competition. Simone wins AA by a mile. But we do not know who will win silver and bronze.

 

[sce]

Execution is within three tenths with the p and g's routine obviously being better...she lost a couple connections and has a lower D score in the worlds routine. I get that she is not the traditionally flexible elegant beam worker but I have to say the first hit routine is great...not many gymnasts in the world can do that...to say it's nothing special seems kind of funny given the actual numbers of gymnasts vs gymnasts that can do this...but that's just me maybe in other countries there are tons of gymnasts that can do this that just for some reason never make it to international meets?

I agree, Aly looks great and was just sharper at P&G's, very pleasing to watch. These girls have to be on and hit so many timess: nationals, camp, podium training, then World's. At some point they will have an off day. And off for Aly on beam is some pretty small things.

I also don't understand the Gaby bashing. I thinks she is still on the way upwards with her return, and she performed second best in the world yesterday. Could Maggie have beat her if she'd done AA, well maybe but that does not mean Gabby performed poorly. We have a lot of talent in the US, and part of what we are seeing is Marta's judgement calls on how to field the team. She did not just give Gabby and Aly a chance, she made the prove themselves, and I feel they have done so.

 

[gymdog]

Maggie would have been second with a routine that didn't come off the bar because of vault, most likely. But I'm also not sure what was going on with her bars leading up to this. Brenna in the lineup makes more sense in the context of two routines that potentially might not hit, but one has a higher D score if hit. This is pure speculation, though. Presumably though, Maggie would beat Gabby (and Giulia) in All Around because that's what's happened leading up to this.

I have to assume performance at the selection camp and podium training was the main factor in the lineup selection and that the decision was made with best available information. Marta isn't really known to make decisions drive by emotion or wanting to give someone a chance because she feels bad for them, so I can't imagine it was anything other than the best data available. I was sitting behind her at the airport after championships and she was poring over the score print outs for ages despite presumably already being very closely aware of the general outcomes. Gabby is pretty strong all around and like Simone has potential to still do well even with a major mistake (here, not only falling but falling in such a way that a major skill would not get credit). I'm not sure Maggie has the same cushion right now so that probably factored into it. I LOVE Maggie and wanted to see her compete all around but decisions had to be made somewhere I guess.