Following the inevitability of yesterday’s US win and the thrilling “who’s the least splatty” preposterous of the race for the other medals, it’s now the men’s turn to try to deliver an equivalent level of delightful nonsense—but to the race for the gold medal.
Heading in, three clear countries have separated themselves in qualification—Russia, China, Japan—and it would be a major surprise were even one of them not to medal. Those are the three. But the race among the three of them? It’s live, with not enough separating them to feel confident that the qualification hierarchy will be maintained. A single dire rotation changes everything. And even Japan, which seemed a clear #3 entering worlds, will be buoyed by how close it came to China even while not getting the hoped-for contribution from either Tanigawa.
Unfortunately, it looks like Ukraine is throwing the team final again to focus on individuals, despite qualifying in 4th, by not using some critical routines—like Oleg on PB.
Russia and China did not walk out with their alternates. All the other teams did. No one did a little dance, which is a shame.
Rotation 1
Stretovich – FX – double double, bounce back – double front 1/2, out, stuck , nice – front 2/1 to front full, stuck – 2.5 to rudi, small hop – 1.5 to 1/2, stuck – 3/1, only a small hop.
Kaya hits PH
Modi – VT – larger bounce forward on his Kas 1.5. I’m interested that he’s vaulting over Wiskus. 14.200
14.400 for Kaya. 14.300 for Stretovich.
Lin – FX – double front pike 1/2 out, small hop – 2.5 to front 2/1, way OOB, both feet – double front pike, small hop – front full to randi, so nice – 2/1, stuck – 3/1, little hop. It was ALMOST his qualification performance, but that major OOB will hurt.
Moldauer – VT – Kas 1.5 – small hop forward, great form as always
Beautiful PH routine from Kakeru. 14.533
Nagornyy – FX – triple back, small hop back, nice – double front pike 1/2 out, smallish bounce – front 2/1 to double front, great, small hop – 2.5 to full to 1/2, awesome form, small bounce – full in final pass, nice landing – 14.900
Mikulak – VT – small hop forward on his Kas 1.5, good, best of the trio. 14.200. I had it better than that.
Baumann is gaining quite a bit of swing on rings, but he stays in handstand until he steadies and then sticks his dismount.
Xiao – FX – punch randi, hop – 3.5 to 1/2, stuck landing – double double tuck, a little short with a hop – stuck 2/1 – 3/1, excellent and stuck. 15.033
Hashimoto hits a third PH routine for Japan. Very strong rotation for them. 14.466. 43.399 for Japan.
Dalaloyan – FX – front lay to double front pike 1/2 out, bounce – 1.5 to randi, small bounce – front full to double front pike, large lunge – double double tuck, little hop – 2.5 to front full, knees, a little slip – 3/1, bounce back. Did not have his sticking shoes on that one.
Oleg – PH – hesitation in his handstand curcle but he keeps going, good save – loses his legs a little on a one-pommel circle – just pulls around his intended dismount pirouette at the end, and in rushing, doesn’t stick the dismount. 14.500
Still waiting on the score for Dalaloyan. 14.633.Russia improves on qualification.
Deng – FX – double front pike 1/2 out, perfect, stuck – front full to randi, lands entirely OOB just like Lin – another small hop on third pass but keeps it in – double double, a little down and hop to the side – 2/1, stuck – 3/1, lunge back. Some problems for China in this rotation.
So China goes 43.333 on floor to Russia’s 43.833, an event that China won in qualification. China currently trails Japan’s 43.399. The trio is already establishing a lead.
Rotation 2
Guy, don’t shout “LADIES BONGOS” at the crowd.
Gischard pretty large lunge forward on Kas 1.5
Sun wei with a little leg break on one pommel – great russians on the end of the horse – very smooth magyar and sivado and a solid routine overall. 14.200
Hall – VT – stuck his Kas 1.5! Very nice.
Stretovich – PH – very slow handstand circles but controlled well – and the rest of the routine is very strong. Good.
Braegger sits down a vault –
Kaya with a bit too much of an angle on his first maltese – good cross position – great stick on double double layout. 14.366
Moldauer – PB – nice healy – peach to peach 1/2 with a an arch, pulls it back – diam – tuck elements are both solid – double front 1/2 out, a bit deep with a hop forward. Fine.
Zou with another hit on PH. Super clean. 14.683.
Giarnni – stuck handspring 2.5! Awesome vault.
Nagornyy – PH – gets really sluggish on his russians on the end of hte pommel but works through them for a hit routine, some hip angle some mushy legs, but a hit. 14.166
Hop back on rings dismount from Wataru.
14.833 for Giarnni with a 9.233 E score. Not nearly enough E score separation on vault.
14.300 for Wataru
Modi – PB – peach to diam to bhavsar, hit – tippelt, smoothly up to handstand, healy, diam to stutz, held well – goes for the dismount today, small hop. Form things, but good.
Xiao working with tremendous speed and cleanliness on PH – no problems like in qualification. Really strong PH from China, which they needed this time. 14.900
Kamoto – SR – maltese lowered to cross, nice cross position – good planche held for 78 minutes – layout salto but generates quite a bit of swing into the maltese – handstand positions very secure – double double layout, stuck. Nice. 14.766
Belyavskiy – PH – had a loose back moment on a russian travel but the rest has looked clean, finished well, China will certainly move ahead after two, but Russia did the hits too. Russia will expect to be the better team on rings and vault.
Mikulak – PB – healy, good – peach 1/2, walks and some arching – tuck 1/2 and front straddle to swing are nice – bhavsar, excellent – tippelt, moothly done, stutz, good – double front 1/2 out, stuck. He had that one moment on the peach 1/2, otherwise stellar.
Wow 15.200 even with an error. Almost like he should be in the PB final or something. Sigh.
After 2:
China – 87.116
Japan – 86.831
USA – 86.266
Great Britain – 85.898
Russia – 85.665
Switzerland – 82.365
Taiwan – 81.432
Ukraine – 80.898
Russia lost a few tenths there compared to qualification, while China gained 2.5 points. Huge deal.
Rotation 3
Nagornyy – SR – finishes with small hop on double double tuck. 14.533
Kaya – VT – Kas 1.5 a lunge forward and toward the center
Modi – HB – yam, quite piked – layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, good – tak 1/2, good position – tkatchev – layout tkatchev 1/2 – double double layout, small hop. Good one. 14.016
Great Kas 2/1 from hasimoto, awesome
Deng a little low on double double layout but hits, small hop. Had some handstand hesitation in there – 14.533
One hesitation from Baumann on PB in handstand, lowers a little quick on his Stutz – double front 1/2 with a hop
Dalalolyan – SR – excellent maltes and cross positions – so flat – small hesitation swinging up to handstand, second one is better – double double tucked, hop back – 14.666
Wataru hits his double front pike with a hop forward. 14.833
Radivilov – VT – a little short on Drag with a hop
Wiskus – HB – catches Cassina – Kolman, hit with legs – catch close on kovacs and has major elbows swinging out of it, keeps going – tak 1/2, OK – double double layout, stuck.
Stuck rings dismount from Sun Wei. 14.233. This is where they lose a little on D to Russia.
GRM double front 1/2 out PB dismount, a little short with a hop
Lee CK – HB – very late on his tak turns – layout tkatchev – tkatchev – double double, stuck. Nice finish.
Abliazin with a large lunge back on his rings dismount, not his strongest set but a hit 14.533
Good PBars for Yusof, just lunge back on double pike. 14.500
Mikulak – HB – Cassina, good – Kolman, caught – layout tkatchev – tkatchev t- tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/2 is late – stalder with a little tightness – double double layout dismount, stuck. 14.666
Tang with lovely height on his releases again – sticks double double layout.
After 3:
1. Japan – 130.705
2. China – 130.482
3. Russia – 129.397
4. GB – 128.864
5. USA – 128.481
6. Switzerland – 124.598
7. Ukraine – 123.197
8. Taiwan – 122.546
Rotation 4
Xiao – VT – short on his Kas 2/1 with a large lunge forward, not the landing China wanted.
Fall on a layout tkatchev for Yusof
Stretovich – solid Kas 1.5, small hop forward, nice.
Moldauer – FX – randi, stuck, lovely – front 2/1 to front full, just a little short with a hop – doubel arabian 1/2 out, small slide – nearly goes OOB on his side pass but no flag – 3/1, bounce back. A little more hoppy than he was in qualification but none of them large. 14.400
Sun Wei with a bounce back on his Kas 2/1, but stronger finishing position
Two steps back for Whitlock on his doubel double layout dismount on HB. 13.066
nagornyy – VT – stuck dragulescu, excellent, just the cowboying to deal with, the rest was fab –
Lovely bhavsar from Kaya double front 1/2 out, stuck. Awesome.
Deng sticks his Kas 2/1, very nice, some form but perfect landing.
Dalaloyan – VT – bounce forward on double front pike this time. 14.966 somehow
Hall – HB – just does catch his Cassina – kovacs, good – Kolman, nice swing out of it – yam – tak 1/1, great position – double double layout, step back. 13.916
Wiskus stuck his final four passes on floor, good routine. 14.266
Kamoto really crooked on a diam and hasn’t really found hiw way back, lots of mushy and rushed vertical positions on stutz elements – second half is much more solid – double front 1/2 out, managed to stick it somehow despite I believe clipping the rail on his way down.
Braegger catches too close on his Kolman and can’t swing out of it, lots of form and a correction the other direction.
Mikulak – FX – double front pike, college stuck – 2.5 to double front, medium hop – front 2/1 to front tuck full – 1.5 to front full, stuck – 3/1, little hop. Still a few too many hops, but obviously much better. 14.666
Kakeru – PB – healy – peach 1/2, dolif – front straddle to arms – stutz – bhavsar, nice – double front 1/2 out got a little hairy, low with a boucne back, but he landed it
Fall for Fraser on HB.
After 4:
1. China – 174.481
2. Japan – 174.037
3. Russia – 173.829
4. USA – 171.813
5. GB – 168.512
6. Ukraine – 165.429
7. Switzerland – 164.531
8. Taiwan – 163.978
Save for Japan being ahead of Russia at this point (Japan going to HB and Russia going to PB means advantage Russia), this is business as usual in terms of expectations coming into the day.
Russia is going to need to catch China in this rotation to have a real shot.
Rotation 5
Kaya – HB – nice position on tak 1/2 – layout tkatchev – tkatchev 1/2 – german giants to stalder – tak 1/1, really nice position – flat yam – double double layout, stuck
Hit pommel horse from Modi
Nagornyy – PB – peach to one, healy very nice – peach 1/2, OK – makuts, nice – diam and diam 1/2, so smooth, well done – double front 1/2 out, stuck. Excellent routine. 15.300. Huge.
Lin – PB – double back to arms, good – peach 1/2 with a hesitation, some elbows – log swing diam was a little late – nice bhavsar – tippelt, clean – double pike, small slide back
Moldauer was going through very well but couldn’t dismount as intended, just pressed up to handstand and finished
Extremely late tak 1/1 from Hashimoto on HB – double double layout, hop forward
Dalaloyan – PB – diam to stutz, good – tippelt and sits on the bars! Artur! front straddle is good – stutz – double tuck 1/2 out, stuck, awesome, sucks about the tippel. Eeesh 13.966
Xiao – PB – stutz, just a little short of vertical – double back to arms, good – stutz – lovely kitck out on his next double back element – front straddle to arms – some elbow hesitation on handstand – tippelt, double pike, bounce back. Not his very strongest, but will give them an advantage now compared to Dalaloyan.
Giarnni sat down on floor
Kamoto – HB – tak 1/2, good – Cassina, caught – Kolman, got it – layout tkatchev, solid – tak 1/1, late but not terrible – yam – double double layout, very deep with lunge forward
Just 14.100 for Xiao. Looks like China let Russia back in after all.
Belyavskiy – PB – peach – diam a little short – tippelt, nicely done – bhavsar, great style – stutz to one is a little archy, he’s having some mainor handstand position troubles, but double front 1/2 out is stuck. It works. 15.133.
13.966 for Mikulak on horse.
China needs a normal Zou hit now to avoid Russia being able to come back on HB.
Zou – PB – makuts work is ideal – diam, right on – frotn straddle to swing, perfect – bhavsar, excellent – tippelt, no trouble today – healy – double front 1/2 out, stuck. So there’s that.
16.383 from Zou means Russia is going to need help from China in this final rotation.
After 5:
1. China – 219.622
2. Russia – 218.228
3. Japan – 216.194
4. USA – 212.612
5. GB – 210.378
6. Switzerland – 207.197
7. Taiwan – 306.878
8. Ukraine – 205.328
Rotation 6
Sun – HB – fall on layout tkatchev. Here we go, potentially the opening Russia needed. layout tkatchev 1/2, hit – DLO 1/1, hop back. OK now. 12.766
Kakeru – FX – doubel front pike 1/2 out, excellent, stuck – front full to randi, small bounce – double front 1/2 out, still pretty triangel shaped, bounce back – 2/1, stuck – 2.5 to 1/2, stuck – 3/1, bounce back
Hop back from Moldauer on double double tucked on rings. 13.833
Stretovich – HB – tkatchev to layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, hit – tak 1/1, good – layout tkatchev 1/2 – double double layout, small step back. 14.666
Russia moves ahead of China by a half point after 1 routine.
Deng – HB – layout tkatchev – layout tkatchev 1/2 – tkatchev – tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/1, very late – DLO 2/1, stuck. 13.841. Eesh. China losing the plot.
Hashimoto falls on floor
Stuck rings dismount from Mikulak
Dalaloyan – HB – layout kovacs, lovely – kovacs – layout tkatchev – layout tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/2, good – tak, nice – DLO 1/1, stuck landing. 14.366
Russia now has a lead of about a point on China.
Lin – HB –
kaya with a great stick on double front 1/2 out – double front pike, large bounce – front 2/1 to front 1/1, small hop –
Lin – HB – he’s a bit late on his tak 1/1 – Kolman is nice – layout tkatchev 1/2 – yam, nice – double double layout, nearly sticks, small step.
Max falls on PH. Well, I supposed better to get it out of the way now
Howard nearly falls on rings dismount
14.500 for Lin. That means Nagornyy needs a very manageable 13.500, which he will get with any kind of hit.
Nagornyy – HB – yam – layout tkatchev – layout tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/1, fairly late – tak 1/2, same – tkatchev – tkatchev 1/2 – double double layout, stuck, and that will do it
Well deserved on the title for Russia. They were the better team today, even without Sun falling on that inital HB routine they still would have deserved the win, though it would have been a lot closer. I thought they might have thrown it away when Dalaloyan sat his tippelt, but they endured.
It will be China for silver, and then Japan for bronze, as we expected. The US team met expectations with their performance in the team final, followed by GB, then Taiwan getting a tremendous 6th place, followed by Switzerland and a Ukraine team that phoned it in.
FINAL:
1. Russia – 261.726
2. China – 260.729
3. Japan – 258.159
4. USA – 254.578
5. Great Britain – 251.611
6. Taiwan – 248.243
7. Switzerland – 247.038
8. Ukraine – 246.593
Wiskus didn’t do vault in prelims so I guess that’s probably why not in finals.
It makes me laugh all the people that were like Trevor Howard NEEDS to be on the team for vault and then he ends up not being used in team finals anyway on vault. I don’t understand why he switched he vault from the Roche?
Bower on pommels probably would have added more than Howard on rings in the end.
didn’t think Trevor would not score that well on rings here in quals but maybe he can change that today
but yeah his vault issues were unexpected I feel. it had been working fine before…
Not sure if Trevor hurt himself or what happened, but his rings was only 0.2 higher than Yul in Q, .07 higher in TF, he had the dropped VT in Q and didn’t even do one in TF. If he was hurt, why not use Allan on PH?
They could have used it for sure?
Donnell’s Tokyo stocks just went way up if they’re going to bring a specialist. I’m not sure how they’re going to deal with Yul, Akash and Shane, since they have similar strengths and weaknesses. Shane’s HB potential though is just showing up and that’s a big plus in his column if he can nail it down by spring. Anyone know if Alec is expected to recover soon? 4 man Tokyo team is going to be interesting.
It’s upsetting to see how much Howard crumbled during this world championships. From being the strongest vault and rings score at trials to becoming unusable on vault (after changing his rock solid double front?!?!?) and not even delivering a 14.0 on rings…
China being normal China on floor except XRT with that crazy score
Japan coming for you with that rings rotation!
Does anyone have a link to the live stream? My cable provider doesn’t access the Olympic channel.
I’m using vpn to watch live on fig youtube
BBC are saying Mick-cool-lack. That’s wrong isn’t it? Should be Mikeu-lack?
I say it the former way.
Most people say Mick-cool-lick or Mick-cool-lack, I think!
Mikulak is a Slavic name. In certain Slavic languages the first vowel will be like a long “e” in English (as in speak and eel). In Ukrainian it would be a different sound that is hard to express in English since it doesn’t exist. The second vowel sound would be like a long “u” in English as in “cool,” while the last would be like “ak” as in “father,” but that would also change slightly depending on how each Slavic language deals with stress/vowel reductions. each syllable starts with the preceding consonant which is not repeated (you wouldn’t say “cool” and “lack”, rather “coo” then “lack”). So Mee Koo Lahk (a speaker of North American English should be able to sound that out based on the “transcription” used) is the best approximation across Slavic languages, but language specific pronunciations of the first vowel sound and stress/vowel reductions would heavily influence how it sounds to the ear. It’s probably just fair to accept that British announcers and even Sam himself have naturally different pronunciations (since none of them are likely native speakers of a Slavic language) that are not actually wrong. Sam’s pronunciation in his case for his name should be the default, but one cannot fault the British announcers for not knowing this and for using British English norms for deciding the pronunciation of that name. I’ve never heard Sam say his last name, but one of the commenters below wrote out a form that I imagine is most likely how he and most Americans/Canadians would say it.
This was fascinating!
That’s interesting. Britain has had a lot of Slavic migration, so it wouldn’t surprise me if a non-British colleague of theirs said “It’s Mick-cool-lack” and they went with that.
I agree, this was super interesting. Thanks for taking the time to write it out. I was the anon at 3:00 PM and should have specified that I’m American. I try to go by the person’s own pronunciation, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say it either, now that I think of it!
Yes Zou!
the actual pbar final is right here apparently
+1
Congrats Russia! You have to feel for Sun Wei, whose fall cost China the gold. But fabulous clutch performance from all three Russians on HB at the end.
And great job US to hit and move up to 4th! Unfortunately, the gap between them and Japan is still just too big even on a mixed day for the Japanese.
very happy for a solid U.S. performance. The best they can do is keep themselves in the mix…you never know if a team might falter. Very very happy for Russia though!
Can’t ask for much more from Team USA – they had a great day. Sam would have made FX and PB finals – plus qualified 2nd in AA – with his performance today. Hope he can replicate this for AA – would love to see redemption for him with an AA medal.
Very impressed with Russia – they are so fun to watch.
Sam is great when he hits but that AA field is so strong.. I’m not a MAG follower but XRT and Nagornyy and Dalaloyan all seem like they are in a different league from Mikulak, and then there’s a batch of dudes on his tier as well that he’d have to fight off.
Good luck to him though.
Sam is potentially pretty close to the same league as those guys. These can obviously change if they change their routines or don’t get credit for something, but the credited D-scores (taken from team final/AA prelims) were:
Nagorny: 36.4
Dalaloyan: 36.1
Xiao Ruoteng: 35.7
Mikulak: 35.2
(Sam is mainly just a little behind on rings and vault)
All 4 men have superb execution, so if all 4 hit everything great, then yes, Nagorny and Dalaloyan have the edge. But a hoppy floor exercise or missed handstand pirouette on high bar, and a .3 step on vault can all dent your E-score over a point together, meaning Sam is definitely in the top tier of potential athletes and can definitely be competitive with them depending on the day. Basically Sam is always in contention for an AA bronze, which is high-level potential.
Sam isn’t Simone or Suni…. but he is Melnikova.
Really solid work from the U.S. today! I don’t believe they counted any falls? They were never going to medal but they should be proud of how they recovered from a disastrous qualification.
Really solid work from the U.S. today! I don’t believe they counted any falls? They were never going to medal but they should be proud of how they recovered from a disastrous qualification.
Sam and Yul had fall level execution on PH, not sure if either actually fell though.
The team did the best they could. We all know one of the top 3 teams have to fall 4+ times for US to contend for a podium spot. Hopefully next quad, we’ll have smarter training so the team will be better balanced for team scores and some EF contenders.
I don’t know if it’s possible to get back to the highest level with the depth (or lack thereof) that the US men have. Unlike with girls, gymnastics isn’t a big sport for boys, who usually do baseball or basketball or football and stuff like that. Lack of depth means the teams don’t have as much potential, meaning it’s harder for them to medal on big stages, meaning that boys don’t see it and go “I want to be an Olympic champion like they were”. It’s a cycle that’ll be hard to break unless they have luck on their side.
The US does well at Olympic sports largely because it has the strongest financial incentives out of any country, in the form of NCAA scholarships. The US, to my knowledge, does not perform well internationally in any sport that has neither a professional league nor a major NCAA presence.
With men’s gymnastics dwindling to 16 programs and counting, I do not see a path for the US Men to contend for medals. I imagine that the situation will get worse, not better.
The US Women are also poised to lose their dominance probably as early as next quad. The US women have dominated the past 8 years because they did not fall and others did. Yes, they had a difficulty advantage, but their execution advantage was always larger than their difficulty advantage. Without Marta, their execution is no better than the rest of the world’s execution. Once Simone leaves, I think the US may be a contender, but it will likely revert to the 2004 and 2008 quad levels. That’s a shame.
They need to recruit better. Shorter guys have a huge advantage here and no where else. Just being decent is a full college scholarship waiting.
That said, you have gymnasts focus on the 2 or 3 apparatuses they’re best at, that’s how you develop medalists and optimal teams. This whole picking barely elite AA’rs and working them on everything is not working.
Sometimes I’m not sure if fans appreciate how deep international MAG is. It’s not like the women where the USA is leagues ahead and where just staying on most of the apparatus will get you silver and bronze. MAG has multiple extremely competitive countries. 4th place is really really good. It actually means the USA is in the top group of programs. Not the same group as Japan, China, Russia, but still in the top. It’s a terrific result that can keep building up. Sure the USA men would love to be where the USA women are. But the USA rhythmic program would probably love to be where the USA men are. Right now we’re thrilled if one USA rhythmic gymnast makes the cut to even compete in finals. Victories aren’t all about medals and I find the USA men very exciting and interesting to follow whether they’re winning multiple medals yet or not.
Re: Square444
MAG teams are basically:
Tier 1 – Podium contenders
Tier 2 – likely TF qualifiers
Tier 3 – likely Olympics qualifiers
Tier 4 – the rest
The US have been steadily losing grounding within Tier 2. They had almost the best possible result today they could, when a typical meet would put them in a 5th-7th position, several points shy of the podium. There were many key gymnasts injured and not performing here from other teams.
Next quad they will immediately begin at Tier 3. Depending on training, maybe they can pull it back up to Tier 2 by 2024, but … yeah. If we continue down this path, it’s highly unlikely we’ll have a qualified men’s team in Los Angeles, 2028.
@ one Anon: the US WAG will be less dominant without Simone but they will still be the team to beat. I think you’re giving way too much credit to Martha. Those teams won in spite of her, not because of her.
@ square thing: I think the problem is that the men’s team seems to be on a slow downward trajectory, not that 4th place is of itself anything bad.
Congrats Russia ! MAG is fun to watch again. I hope these guys keep bringing the big D s and clean execution for the Olympics .
Lol. The big Ds…
But enough about the Italian team.
Sad for my favorite Sun Wei, but thrilled for the Russian men! They’re an outstanding team, really happy to see them win gold
Ukraine was 100% right to phone it in, tbh. They weren’t going to medal regardless and Oleg is very fragile this quad and needs to be saved for the AA. Very American to think TF is be all end all.
You might say it is very typical to think that for countries that regularly win team medals. The reverse also applies. It is unlike teams that contend for team medals to “phone it in” and preserve their athletes for the events where they may actually medal. No need to make it about any one nation. It is just maths. If Canada has the best shot at individual medals, then it is understood that that is where the focus will lie. If the U.S. program believes they have a great shot at a team medal, then it is expected that they will find great importance in that event.
I singled out America because a) Spencer is American lol, b) it IS a very American attitude to care a lot about TF, even when they can’t even necessarily win a medal out of it – see the American men year after year not giving the deserved attention to EF potential to chase unrealistic TF dreams.
Oleg is fragile all the time. I’m not a fan of Ukraine’s approach – it completely goes against the spirit of the sport to tank team finals in
favour of event finals.
It must be exhausting for Sam to do the AA three times in a competition, but I don’t think his individual medal chances would improve if he were to rest during the team finals. He’s not fragile and his issues with performance are usually mental (e.g. self-doubt, lack of focus).
Other than Sam, there isn’t a gymnast with strong medal potential that needs rest.
I think Ukraine should withdraw from TF if they’re not going to try to put up their best showing. Every routine risks injury, why do it at all if you’re going to half ass it? Do they get something from their federation?
Oh please @ “against the spirit of the sport”. They were dtill there, with entire lineups in all events (this time). They just didn’t use their best options. Other sports do it all the time. Football teams do it at the damn FIFA World Cup. People don’t give 100% of themselves all of the time, specially if they know it won’t matter, and they are: right. Again, very American to expect otherwise. Don’t be dramatic.
I think Oleg is one of the few exceptions of gymnasts with medal potential and clear injuries that justify taking it easier.
Different countries have different priorities. I imagine there was pressure for the team to do the TF, but also to rest him. So they tried to satisfy both needs. Is it fair to country #9? Yeah, Ukraine won it, they can do what they want. Giving their athletes more experience is always a bonus.
They had the same medal chance as the US — none barring total meltdown of one of the top 3 countries.
yeah, they’re a little delusional on that score …