Are there times when you wish you were a only a casual gymnastics fan? I do right now. Then, I would be going into Trials not knowing who the team might be and wondering what kind of exciting gymnastics I’m going to see. We spoil it for ourselves sometimes.

Examiner Blythe quotes Martha as saying what we already know. “Really, very honestly, I have one ideal team in my head. I still have the same team in my mind as I did two months ago.” So do we, Martha. So do we.

I don’t follow MAG as closely, but it seems like that race is a little more open, at least for the last spot. People who follow it obsessively may already know the team, but I don’t, so I have that exciting, casual feeling going into those Trials.

Women’s podium training yielding nothing much new. Nastia completed a bar routine that looks like it’s going to be 50/50 for hitting in competition. Regardless of the hitting, the difficulty is just 6.5, which is not high enough for a specialist.

Many of the veterans are going through the motions when it comes to interviews about how they fit into the team, but you can tell that they know the game. I don’t see a ton of delusion from those on the outside, which is nice. They can go out and enjoy their final elite competition, and we can enjoy watching them for the last time.

As we turn to evaluating how the group might fare in London, we need to look at a few specific routines. Unfortunately, the necessities of the five-member team leave few questions as to who will compete what in Team Finals (except perhaps floor), but the decision as to who will be the All-Around gymnasts could be made based on performances this weekend, so that will be fun to watch. The team is brimming with Amanars, but how people hit them at Trials will help determine lineups, so watch that. Martha loves Aly Raisman’s sturdiness, which makes me think Aly is still in it for an AA spot, but the tide certainly is moving the other direction. If she scores lowest of the main group on vault and bars (quite possible), how can she be kept in the AA? Expect Douglas and Wieber to go 1-2, but watch the fight for third. Ross beating Raisman could seal that.

One of my concerns over limiting the teams to five members was that it would make the Trials process anticlimactic if a clear five had already emerged. This appears to be the case this year. However, sitting back and accepting the preordained Olympic team of Douglas, Wieber, Raisman, Ross, and Maroney would be no fun. So here’s a look at the three things that anyone with a conceivable shot at the team (besides the total locks) needs to do next weekend to stay on the current “team”/make the actual team/get into the conversation.

McKayla Maroney

1) Be less concussion-y.
2) Start getting rid of that .3 step on vault. She won’t score a 16 at the Olympics otherwise.
3) Keep that double tuck in bounds. There’s no hope now that they will change the pass, so she just needs to keep it traveling forward and not land 15 feet OOB like she should. She’s way to talented to be a 1.25 event gymnast.

Kyla Ross

1) No falls. With her lack of senior experience, she will be dealt the “can she handle the pressure?” card at Trials. She has to prove that she can. Her position is the most susceptible to crumbling with a  poor performance.  
2) Outscore the other 15ers on beam. There’s a bushel of Sacramones and Finnegans and Liukins who can also score 15 on beam. Ross needs to beat them to maintain the status quo.
3) Send Martha some flowers with a card reading, “International look. Love, Kyla.”

Rebecca Bross

1) Obviously, fix the Splatterson. Imagine if she were hitting that dismount like she did in 2010. It would legitimately be a close contest between her and Kyla for that UB/BB spot. We should all root for that beam routine to come together because it will make Trials more fun.
2) Perfect execution on bars. If she’s going to knock off Ross, she has to match her for execution. She’s at a legs disadvantage, so everything else has to be pristine.
3) Repair broken brain. Thinking about the dismount has taken a toll on the rest of her beam routine as it looks more tentative than it ever has before. Watch for the connection between the walkover and the bhs+layout. Performing that fluidly is a good indicator of her confidence.

Elizabeth Price 

1) Prove herself a legitimate bars alternative. She’s the best bar worker of the vault and floor girls, which will certainly work in her favor come 2013+, but she needs to get credit for her iffy bail handstand and somehow outscore Wieber to make herself necessary. 
2) Work that Amanar landing. She has the potential to be the #2 scoring vaulter, but she has to nail a landing closer to Night 1 of Nationals, otherwise she can’t make the vault argument because Douglas and Wieber are more valuable.
3) See above but make it about floor. Right now Douglas and Wieber do everything just a bit better, making Price the ideal alternate. If she’s going to make the team, she has to prove superiority.

Sarah Finnegan

1) Prove impossible to ignore on beam. No one can match her potential score, but she’s not setting herself apart from the 15ers.
2) Um…suddenly learn an Amanar? She doesn’t fit well with the rest of the group because Raisman and Maroney already take the “bad at bars” spots on the team. She can’t compete with Maroney’s vault or Raisman’s floor.
3) Develop a time machine or some sort of Bruno Grandi/Nellie Kim mind control device.

Alicia Sacramone

1) Upgrade to a handspring double full on vault.
2) Perform a 5.7+ floor routine.
3) Convince McKayla Maroney that it would be really fun to spin around in chairs for a few hours.
(Easy as pie, right?)

Bridget Sloan

1) A 6.6 UB routine? There were some reports that she mentioned this at Championships. It’s quite possible she was just mistaken, but if she wasn’t we need to see it hit and outscoring Ross.
2) Get competitive floor landings back. Her best shot is to somehow make Sloan/Sacramone the new Ross/Maroney. She would do that by being usable on bars and floor with Alicia usable on vault and beam. They complement each other well.
3) Wear a shirt that says, “This isn’t 2004. Don’t Schwikert me.”

Anna Li

1) Win bars.
2) Win bars.
3) Win bars, and steal Sarah Finnegan’s time machine to remove her history of inconsistency.

Nastia Liukin

1) Obviously, win bars with a real dismount.
2) Beat all the other 15ers on beam.
3) Have a little heart-to-heart with Martha at one of their sleepovers (they have sleepovers, right?), and by “heart-to-heart” I mean “friendly hypnosis session.”

Kennedy Baker, Sabrina Vega, and Brenna Dowell will be able to put “2012 Olympic Trials Competitor” on their NCAA bios.