A. Who’s Going to the Olympics?
The women’s competition at the African Championships finished up earlier today, giving us two brand new Olympians to add to the pile. In an upset, Zeina Ibrahim Sharaf of Egypt won the competition to get an Olympic spot over her countrywoman Farah Hussein, who ended up in second. Both had some strong moments early in the day with Ibrahim looking very poised on beam, and Hussein having to wait 784 hours for her own beam routine before pulling out a confident set without major error. Going into the final rotation on vault, Ibrahim led Hussein by just 0.3, so it could have gone either way, but Hussein crashed her Yfull while Ibrahim landed hers, giving the competition to Ibrahim.
Because it’s just one per country, Farah Hussein will not get an Olympic spot, nor will Egypt’s Jana Mahmoud, who finished in 3rd place. The second Olympic spot on offer from the African Championships instead goes to Naveen Daries of South Africa, who fell on all four routines she attempted to finish 4th in the all-around but nonetheless gets an Olympic spot because no one (who wasn’t from Egypt) did better than her.
For fans of negative scores, we did have some at this competition, but it looks like they just showed up as zeroes on the final standings.
Ibrahim and Daries will be the second Olympians from their countries as Mandy Mohamed of Egypt and Caitlin Rooskrantz of South Africa already qualified at 2019 worlds.
The men’s competition is tomorrow.
This week also brought the announcement of four more Olympians on the men’s side, with Great Britain naming its team of James Hall, Joe Fraser, Giarnni Regini-Moran, and Max Whitlock.
The only member of the 2019 worlds team who did not make this squad was Dom Cunningham, who is understandably having his moment about it, but his results from the various trials this year really weren’t putting him in the highest-scoring team permutations, where Regini-Moran has passed him as the most useful FX/VT contributor, to join their typical top AAer James Hall, PB world champion Fraser, and Whitlock’s pommel horse.
Becky Downie also competed in her individual trial redo. I watch that first bars routine and say, “That’s all I needed. Put her on that team.”
The most sensible-seeming team to me that this point (which means it won’t happen) is the Gadirovas, Kinsella, and Downie. With the Gadirovas and Kinsella, you should be pretty content with the level of the vault, beam, and floor rotations. Especially if you assume Jennifer Gadirova gets back to her normal level by the time of the actual Olympics (she wasn’t quite there yet at the final trial), then those three provide basically your best three possible routines on VT/BB/FX. So then you’re just looking for the best bars routine you can to supplement that trio. Enter Becky Downie.
B. Hires and Retires
Washington announced that perennial which-big-program-is-going-to-snatch-her Jen Llewellyn has been hired as the team’s newest head coach following the departure of Elise Ray last preseason and the interim season from Ralph Rosso. Immediately after she was done competing at Oregon State, Llewellyn (Kesler) was unexpectedly thrust into the head coach position at Lindenwood for the team’s inaugural season and has been in charge ever since, enjoying her best result in 2019 when Lindenwood became one of the rare DII teams to advance to regionals.
In other developments, LSU vault coach Bob Moore—who has been in that position for 718 years and coached 4.57m national vault champions—has announced his retirement, leaving an opening on the LSU staff.
The elite world also saw a retirement this week with Marvin Kimble announcing that he’s done and won’t pursue Nationals/Trials this year following a wrist injury. Kimble had his best run at the beginning of this quad, making the 2017 worlds team thanks to his PB and HB ability and ultimately coming just 0.033 from the high bar final.
C. Meet Results
The results from the second day of Canadian Championships have now been released, with Ellie Black dominating day 2 as was foretold to pad her advantage to a casual 4.5 points over two days of competition. Brand new upstart Ava Stewart had a rougher time on day 2—everywhere but bars, where she excelled—but still managed to finish second on the day and retain that position in the overall standings.
The shakeup came in third place. Brooklyn Moors had been in third after the first day, but after receiving just an 8.600 on bars for her second performance, she fell to 8th position (despite the top score on floor), allowing Laurie Denommee to take the overall bronze medal.
Rose Woo did not compete the AA (did add vault on the second day) but hit both beam and bars to finish 3rd BB and 4th UB overall. Shallon Olsen hung on for the vault title, but finished just 11th in the all-around. Also note that veteran Jessica Dowling nailed bars and beam on the second day for 13.4s. Just saying.
Ana Padurariu provided an update that she got some nasty ankle surgery in the fall and is focusing on getting healthy for UCLA next season. Which succkkkkksss because if she weren’t injured she would be on this Olympic team.
So, where do we stand with the Canadian team? In a big old mess? Probably. Dude, this was supposed to be the easiest team to pick. Basically, Ellie Black is obviously a lock, Ava Stewart has probably earned it based on her performances this year, and then shrugggg?
If you take peak scores over the two days, you end up with a highest-scoring team of Black, Stewart, Moors, and Rose Woo. That’s sort of my default group, and I don’t think that one jank-o bars routine from Moors on the second day of nationals suddenly destroys her position.
But then what of Shallon Olsen? At nationals, her vault score was not enough to pick up the other events to get her onto the highest-scoring team, but the potential for a vault medal is…sort of appealing. Here, she did only barely outscore Ellie Black on the 2-vault rankings, but she has the historical medal pedigree in her corner. Plus the fact that her vault is a consistent and reliable score, as opposed to taking someone for a different event where she might fall.
A very legitimate strategy for Canada would be to say, “Hey, we’re probs not winning a team medal, so let’s maximize chances at individual medals and bring Olsen for vault, Moors for floor, Ellie Black for Ellie Black, and Ava Stewart because she earned it based on her AA performances this year.”
Rounding things up from last weekend’s Australian Championships, Georgia Godwin consolidated her day 1 lead to dominate the final standings, with new Olympic qualifier Emily Whitehead retaining her second-place position on the final day as well, and Breanna Scott taking third.
And for you Heath Bars out there, he followed up his bronze result in the all-around with a silver medal on high bar.
D. Future Schedule
This weekend is a little light compared to how things will be in June as teams start to get finalized and nations hold their last competitions, but we do have the Varna World Cup. Qualification is Thursday and Friday, finals on Saturday and Sunday, with all sessions starting at 2:00pm local time (7am ET, 4am PT). It looks like finals are on the Olympic Channel schedule for those of you in the US.
As is typical for the challenge cups in Europe, it’s not a bad field, particularly on the men’s side. High bar should be downright world class with Srbic, and Nory all on the list. On the women’s side, we thought we were going to get a Gerasimova/Vorona possible Olympic-decision showdown, but Russia has changed approach to make this more of a “lovely parting gifts” assignment for Perebinosova, Komnova, and Zubova.
There are no Olympic implications associated with the Varna World Cup—it’s just a regular ol’ world cup with Chuso and friends—which reignites the oddness that we’re holding these other world cup events but there has still been no news about Doha, the alleged final apparatus Olympic qualifier.
To me, time has expired. We’re getting pretty close to the deadline now, and if you haven’t even announced dates for the competition, let alone had a roster registration period or anything like that, how is it even supposed to happen?
Do I even bother asking, “Why didn’t you just turn Varna into the final Olympic apparatus qualifier?” or is it not worth the lost sanity?
For the weekend after, things get BUSY, with the US Championships, Pan Ams Olympic spots, the Cairo World Cup, German Nationals, and French Nationals.
Here’s a little taste (US time).
Thursday, June 3
4:00am ET/1:00am PT – Cairo World Cup, Women’s Q, Day 1
10:00am ET/7:00am PT – Cairo World Cup, Men’s Q, Day 1
10:30am ET/7:30am PT – German Women’s All-Around
2:00pm ET/11:00am PT – US Junior Men, Day 1
7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT – US Senior Men, Day 1
Friday, June 4
4:00am ET/1:00am PT – Cairo World Cup, Women’s Q, Day 2
8:30am ET/5:30am PT – German Men’s All-Around
10:00am ET/7:00am PT – Cairo World Cup, Men’s Q, Day 2
2:00pm ET/11:00am PT – US Junior Women, Day 1
3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT – Men’s Pan Ams (USA/Brazil subdivision)
7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT – US Senior Women, Day 1
11:00pm ET/8:00pm PT – Japan Event Championships Qualifying Part 1
Saturday, June 5
1:40am ET/10:40pm PT – Japan Event Championships Qualifying Part 2
5:30am ET/2:30am PT – German Event Finals, Day 1
8:00am ET/5:00am PT – French Men’s & Women’s All-Around
10:00am ET/7:00am PT – Cairo World Cup Event Finals, Day 1
2:00pm ET/11:00am PT – US Junior Men, Day 2
3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT – Women’s Pan Ams (Brazil subdivision)
7:30pm ET/4:30pm PT – US Senior Men, Day 2
10:20pm ET/7:20pm PT – Japan Event Championships Finals Part 1
Sunday, June 6
1:20am ET/10:20pm PT – Japan Event Championships Finals Part 2
5:30am ET/2:30am PT – German Event Finals, Day 2
8:00am ET/5:00am PT – French Event Finals
9:00am ET/6:00am PT – Pan Ams Event Finals
10:00am ET/7:00am PT – Cairo World Cup Event Finals, Day 2
1:00pm ET/10:00am PT – US Junior Women, Day 2
6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT – US Senior Women, Day 2
And then right after that, Russian Cup starts.
(Note: Germany will also have a final trial event on June 12th.)
E. GymCastic
Yes. Incompetent amateurs who fall in every event should totes get Olympic spots over actual gymnasts because FAIRNEZZ and FREEDUMBS.
MURICA, ain’t that right!
Great to hear from you Anon.
Looking forward to your amateur-Maloney to Gienger.
So nice you could weigh in, Noi Noi. Looking forward to your amateur hour of at least one fall on each event.
I don’t know anything about him other than the team‘s record but based on that LSU‘s vault coach must be pretty good and hard to replace.
Bob Moore coached the most vault champs in NCAA history so I’m very curious to see who they bring in to replace him. Yes LSU has had some of the most talented vaulters but he clearly helped a lot
Indeed he is. The loss of him and D-D in such a short time is real bad.
Was a fan of Dom Cunningham up until he posted that video.
What a dramatic cry baby!
Covid-19 did not RUIN YOUR OLYMPICS.
His role as the lead floor and vault specialist got surpassed by a better gymnast. That’s the bottom line.
That video really is a whinefest isn’t it? As if everybody else didn’t face the same difficulties he did!
I can’t imagine the frustration and disappointment he’s going through so I will refrain from commenting about his response. In objective terms, Dom simply did not work out mathematically on this team and I think this was a fair decision.
I do appreciate that he recognizes that the team selected was the best possible team. And no one can take away his (or any gymnasts) past accomplishments.
But…but it was unfair because he’s a crowd pleaser and was at a disadvantage because it was closed to the public!
I would say it’s a segue to an onlyfans career since he’s such a performer for the masses, but he literally has one of the worst bodies in men’s gymnastics.
Also the weird growth on his foot was beyond nasty.
A lot of people, Dom among them, should stop sharing their feelings online. Lots of things are understandable private feelings but don’t make a good crossover to public complaint videos. Like… most feelings.
Also “my Olympics”…. for heaven’s sakes, no one is entitled to an Olympics. Lots of people who are insanely talented athletes never get to go.
or we could just all accept that in the digital age people have feelings….sure some shouldn’t be shared (Jessica’s constant insanity is why I stopped listening to Gymcastic) but let’s be honest: this year was pure misery. Everyone should just get a pass on it.
Yep. ‘my Olympics’ was just beyond nonsense. And you are right about his ‘feelings’ as well.
Well, I am happy for Naveen Daries. She and Caitlin Rooskrantz are lovely gymnasts. They virtually tied at 2019 Worlds, but Caitlin earned the spot by less than a .1, so glad they both get to go. Hopefully their being in Tokyo boosts the sport in South Africa.
I just watched Naveen’s floor from Doha and I am SO impressed with her musicality!! Also, her music is amazeballs. So glad they both get to go!
ANA NOOOOOOO!!!
😭😭😭😭
Utterly ridiculous that African championships gives the same amount of spots as European championships. There are no good gymnasts in that entire continent.
Heath Thorpe or Heath Bar as you referred to him is a disgusting anti semite who’s posted horribly anti Semitic lies and propaganda on his social media. Why are we celebrating a person who ignites hate towards the Jewish people?
By anti-semite you mean he believes Israeli Jews deserve equal rights as Palestinians, right?
Gotta fight racist historical tragedies by being racist in the opposite direction, eh?
Wow. By equal rights you mean genocidal government policies designed to starve out, bomb, terrorize, and otherwise slaughter Palestinians, right?
Gotta love you Nazi Zionists who think Bibi’s fascist police state is the Promised Land!
@Anonymous 8:12 PM Sorry. My ballistic response was posted to the wrong person. Fixed it, but can’t delete the other. Apologies.
Wow. By ‘anti-Semitic’ you mean opposed to genocidal government policies designed to starve out, bomb, terrorize, and otherwise slaughter Palestinians?
Gotta love you Nazi Zionists who think Bibi’s fascist police state is the Promised Land!
It’s hilarious and crazy how you all try to justify your anti semitism because you don’t like one politician
Do you even hear what you’re saying? Calling Jewish people Nazis. Jewish people some of them who literally escaped Nazi Germany. And you’re calling them Nazis. What the hell is wrong with you?
This would be a great example of what a commentator I like refers to as a “great moment in just anti-Zionism.” Referencing Israel doesn’t make it any less blood libel.
So Mary you agree that Heath is anti Semitic and his posts on social media are part of the reason there’s been an over 500% increase of hate crimes against Jewish people. Because it is.
Lotsa Jewish Nazis just terribly terribly offended by the truth here. Hilarious and crazy how you morons think a) Bibi is the first or even the worst war criminal to run the Israeli police state b) Jews couldn’t possibly ever be fascists (I have the Adelsons on line one for you…) and c) calling Nazis Nazis is ‘blood libel’ but the libels perpetrated by Zionist hoodlums are just fine. Your stupidity about history is exceeded only by your rabidly pro-fascist mania. Run along now and stump for Death Santis, HeeHawley, and some of your other favorite politicians!
So Anonymous you agree that you can’t cite one quotation from Heath Thorpe proving anything like your libellous assertions? And that your psychotic Nazi Zionism is not only unfounded but completely disgraceful in an era when Asians are assaulted on the street and Blacks are routinely murdered in police traffic stops? You’re not the victims any more, BITCH–GET USED TO IT!
So all those things matter but not Jews. And you try to convince yourself you’re not an Anti-Semite. You’re every bit the disgusting Anti-Semite as Heath and all the rest.
Continue on supporting Hamas. It’s a real good look to support terrorists.
Continue your self-delusion, your ignorance, your support of fascist regimes, and your hate crusade against Palestinians, troll.
It’s a real good look on a dRUMPfanzee like you.
A total score of 43 in the AA gets to go to the Olympics. Only VT scored 11+, with a whopping 12.1.
Remember that at the US Olympic trials when people over 56 AA, hitting Tokyo podium worthy routines don’t even get to be alternates.
This is what “equity” looks like in the real world.
But, but, but, FAIRNEZZ! EQUITEEE! PARTICIPATION TROPHIES FOR THE GYMNASTICALLY CHALLENGED!
The Olympics has never been a collection of ALL the best athletes in the world. It’s always been a collection of the top athletes from each country even if the best in a particular country is incomparable to the best in another country. I would say very conservatively that 90% of all athletes competing at the Olympics have no chance of a medal.
The result of the Olympics being an international event is that many athletes who might be 20th best, 10th best, or even 5th in the world in their respective events won’t be there due to the entry restrictions placed on each country.
This doesn’t mean they’re handing out awards to everyone just for participating. In pretty much all cases, the three athletes/teams who get Olympic medals are truly within the top 5 in the world if not the actual best 3.
The frustrating cases like Jordan in 2012 and Gabby in 2016, which thankfully are few and far between, are a consequence of the Olympic’s stated objective of global representation.
No. First, many many sports have minimum qualifying times or standards which one must meet or better in order to be admitted to the Olympics at all, no matter what country one is from. This is non-negotiable and considered completely fair.
Second, the arbitrary and completely unfair participation-trophy limitations have nothing to do with the Olympics being an ‘international event.’ Until 1974, virtually every Olympic women’s gymnastics podium was all Soviet/East German, with the occasional brilliant Sov-bloc Central European like Caslavska. Nothing about those Olympics, or indeed the Olympics which still allowed three gymnasts per country in the AA, was not ‘international’–the only difference was that the best gymnasts made the finals and won medals then, as opposed to now when we get things like Yamilet Pena making vault finals in 2012 with her Butt-A-Prod.and finishing next to last of those who competed (it wasn’t last, though the last-finishing gymnast was far better, due to the vault’s start value.) One usually saw most or all of the best there were to see, which does seem a rather important issue for final rounds in a competition whose motto is ‘stronger, higher, faster…’
Third, this blanket and totally unfounded generalization is ludicrous on its face: “In pretty much all cases, the three athletes/teams who get Olympic medals are truly within the top 5 in the world if not the actual best 3.” That is factually false in a number of cases.
Fourth, the absurd limitations result in constant two-pering of great gymnasts from Olympic finals. Wieber and Douglas are only two of the most famous and this is anything but a case of ‘few and far between.’ In 1992, Roza Galieva, Vanda Hadarean, Kerri Strug, Maria Neculita , Li Yifang, Mirela Pasca, Dominique Dawes, and Oksana Chusovitina were among the leading gymnasts eliminated from AA finals by the twoper rule. In 1996, Kerri Strug, Alexandra Marinescu, Yelena Grosheva, Mirela Tugurlan, and Jaycie Phelps. In 2000, Yelena Produnova (!!), Loredana Boboc, Tatiana Yarosh, and Elvire Teza. In 2004, Oana Ban, Mohini Bhardwaj, Courtney McCool, Yelena Zamolodchikova, Alona Kvasha, and Monette Russo. Since then, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Deng Linlin, Wieber, Anastasia Grishina, Yao Jinnan, Douglas, Aiko Sugihara, Angelina Melnikova, and Jade Barbosa, among others. I will not even start to list the number of gymnasts eliminated from event finals because of a slight slip, balance check, correction, etc. Clearly, the list of gymnasts I’ve given here includes multiple World medallists and several World champions as well as many, many well-known gymnasts on the international scene. The frustration of the disenfranchisement of this many fine gymnasts has nothing to do with ‘stated objectives of global representation’ and everything to do with nauseating political posturing. The same sort of posturing cost us compulsories and knowledge of basic skills, which has damaged gymnastics hugely; these were bad ideas which have come close to ruining the sport.
I only brought up Gabby and Jordan because they are by the far the most well-known examples. I also didn’t share my personal position on whether I think limitations on event and all-around finals are right or wrong since the purpose of my post was to explain the modern purpose of the Olympics.
The fact is simply that ALL top athletes in a particular sport simply cannot make it the Olympics. You’d have at least 80% of the US women’s national gymnastics team within the top 90 athletes who qualify to Tokyo. Whether further restrictions like two-per rules are fair is totally up for discussion and there are valid arguments for both sides. Your argument about Yamilet Pena making the vault final is purely a result of the code of points and has nothing to do with global representation or fairness. She was in the top 8 under that code of points – she didn’t take any other higher scorer’s place.
Regarding my own opinion, I personally have no issue with one country winning all 3 medals in an event but at the same time, I don’t think an event final should be comprised of 5 Americans and 3 Russians. I think there is a better balance to be had, and it probably should be a three-per rule.
But the argument that the best 2 gymnasts from Africa shouldn’t make the Olympics just isn’t fair and is totally against the objective of the Olympics. No, neither of those gymnasts will come remotely close to qualifying for anything, but there is a level of global representation that is simply expected at the Olympics. This is not a “conservative vs. progressive” discussion point. This is simply the design of the Olympics as has been so since its modern reintroduction.
Anonymous at 11:13 pm – For the record, Oana Ban qualified for the AA in 2004, but was injured and had to withdraw, and so did Kerri Strug in 1996 (although Dominique Moceanu would not have been able to compete if Strug had not withdrawn). Just want to make a couple of factual corrections
As for this whole discussion on minimum standards, I think it will be a non-issue going forward, since gymnastics will have minimum standards that will need to be met in order to get to the World Championships, which will in turn result in minimums to get to the Olympics. But I also think that Naveen Daries is not the best example of this issue. She may have qualified with a low score at the African Championships, but she showed at 2019 Worlds that she is capable of a reasonably high standard and very nearly qualified over a number of other competitors there. It’s possible that she isn’t at her best at the moment due to all of the lost training time over the past year+.
WRONG!
Produnova qualified to the all around in 2000, Zamolodchikova did not. Produnova withdrew due to her ankle injury and that allowed Zamo to compete.
If you are gonna make shit up at least have your facts right.
Not to mention that in 1992, 1996, 2000 they weren’t “twoper’d” as you stated, as three per country qualified to the all around finals. 2 per didn’t start until 2003.
@Anonymous @4:02 You really are a sufficiently petty little twunt that you live to find anything–anything at ALL–wrong in a post with which you disagree? Ludicrous. I posted dozens of gymnasts and facts and you managed to find one or two minor errors and are shrieking in glee? Really? By the way, sweetie pie, learn English and logic; ‘making shit up’, which I did not do, is rather the opposite of ‘get your facts straight.’ You’re funny, if pathetic.
@Anonymous @8:05 You dragged in ‘conservative vs. progressive’ when it not only had no place in this discussion but had been mentioned by no one. My mention of ‘political posturing’ is not what you try to set it up as. Straw man much? Then of course you attempted to put words in my mouth; I did not say the two best gymnasts from Africa shouldn’t make the Olympics, but your little narrative/agenda doesn’t work without you pretending that I did. Finally, “This is simply the design of the Olympics as has been so since its modern reintroduction.” is nonsense and completely false. The Olympics have featured such things as Avery Brundage running vendetta after vendetta (most notably against Karl Schranz though there were many others) against athletes he hated on the spurious and frequently false grounds that they were ‘professionals,’ (although all Sov-bloc athletes were paid and subsidized one hundred percent!). Then there was William Jones, whose illegal actions unfairly handed the men’s basketball gold to the Soviets in 1972. Then there was Marion Jones and all the other track athletes like her, who took every illegal drug possible and lied about it under oath. Then there was Marie-Reine LeGougne, whose sleazy quid pro quo deal with the Russians in 2002 resulted in the farce of two pairs gold medals being awarded, though the Russian pair clearly lost. Then there were the Moscow *and* Sochi Olympics and their outrageously cheated results in multiple sports. Surely I needn’t mention famous cheater Nelli Kim, who retained power for decades after being caught red-handed? The point here is that the design of the Olympics for decades now has been–far from ‘global representation’– ‘cheat by any means possible to win’, because $$$$$ and gold are what matters.
You sound like an spoiled, ignorant, xenophobic American. I think it’s great that there is a wider range of countries competing in gymnastics even if their skill level is low. This is a positive thing. The Olympics is about the world coming together for sports, not a few rich countries crushing it. You people forget about the Cold War when the Soviet/Eastern Bloc dominated and countries like the United States were on their way up. Back then folks were bothered by a sweep of the podium, thus the two per country rule. Now you’re whining about allowing people who have absolutely no chance of making it to the podium (or even the finals) a chance to compete.
Little would-be snot, posturing, pretentious, US-hater, if you had bothered to read my post you’d have seen that I praised the Evil Empire era and in fact advocated the abolition of two or three per rules. You’re screaming and bitching about the inclusion of people who not only have no chance of making it to a final but whose extremely amateurish and incompetent presence keeps excellent gymnasts from having any chance to compete because they don’t happen to be from the right ‘underprivileged’ country. The Olympics is supposed to be about excellence, or hasn’t anyone ever translated the Olympic motto for you, moron?
I guess it’s the Woke Olympics now. Everyone gets a trophy!
Waaaaaah! There aren’t any left-handed vegetarians with lupus at the Olympics! You’re meat-ist and able-ist. Find one who does shitty gymnastics and make them an Olympian!!! Be WOKE!!!!!!!!!! Or else you’re a colonizer.
I do agree that Africa getting 2 placements was too much and it should have been capped at 1, with Europe getting +3 (which is still small in number).
I disagree that this is a “participation trophy”. There has always been a continental spot for Americas, Asia, Oceania, Europe. This is stipulated by the IOC for all sports.
Australia has typically qualified outright so Oceania was covered. However, Africa traditionally has had a gymnast selected. Typically it has been South Africa, who the RSA OC often then turn down the spot stating the athlete hasn’t “earned” it.
I like the idea of holding a championship so the athlete earns their spot, as opposed to just being named by a committee.
All sports also have triparte invite, to encourage sport in smaller delegation from non-powerhouse countries that don’t have the major funding or resources for sports.
Gymnastics in Africa has improve dramatically in the last twenty years thanks in part to the multiple opportunities that have been offered.
Take a look at Egypt. They have now become a team that is competitive in the mid to earlys 20s rankings. Yes they were 24th and last at the 2019 Worlds but weren’t far from Czech Republic. They also didn’t have Ibrahim, who earned her spot this year, so who knows where they would have placed. They have sent individuals to the Olympics before and now they have enough gymnasts to start fielding full teams.
That’s amazing.
I don’t know if tripartite is just a Summer Olympics thing? I know that figure skating does not have a tripartite spot, so not all sports have it, but maybe all summer sports do. I would actually love to see it extended to the Winter Olympics. If anything, the Winter Olympics needs it even more than the Summer Olympics.
Triparte is just for summer games. Winter Games is not attended by various countries because they don’t have a winter/ snow/ ice etc. A record 92 countries competed in 2018, typically its about 70.
As opposed to a Summer Olympics, in 2016 all 205 recognized NOC had at last one athlete qualified.
Summer sports provides more access.
If you are in Somalia you can run, play tennis, play basketball but you cannot ski!
Some people on this blog sound like an spoiled, ignorant, xenophobic American. I think it’s great that there is a wider range of countries competing in gymnastics even if their skill level is low. This is a positive thing. The Olympics is about the world coming together for sports, not a few rich countries crushing it. You people forget about the Cold War when the Soviet/Eastern Bloc dominated and countries like the United States were on their way up. Back then folks were bothered by a sweep of the podium, thus the two per country rule. Now you’re whining about allowing people who have absolutely no chance of making it to the podium (or even the finals) a chance to compete.
I am glad Daries qualified to the Olympics.
I still think the current qualification process is too slanted towards AAers and legitimate event final contenders are being left out. I wish that FIG had given spots to the top 3 non-team gymnasts on each event at Worlds 2019 going down the rankings in qualifications order instead of only taking the ones who made EF. Only Yeo Seojeong qualified from that route and the 11 other allocated spots got recycled back into the AA.
If they had given three per event regardless and exactly 20 for AA, instead of funneling 11 back into the AA for 31, we would have ended up with seven different Olympic qualifiers vs. those who actually qualified:
Emma Nedov, Georgia-Rosse Brown, Anastasia Bachynska, Angelina Radivilova, Bianca Schermann, Thais Fidelis, and Anapaula Guiterrez would qualify instead of Lihie Raz, Julie Erichsen, Arianna Orrego, Oksana Chusovitina, Ting Hua-Tien, Marina Nekrasova, and Tan Sze En.
In terms of event final contenders, the actual qualifiers have a much better shot than the fake group – but only because Chusovitina and THT bombed. Typically, the fake group gymnasts seem to be higher standards. (Had Chusovitina and THT hit, they would have qualified instead of Radivilova and Guiterrez).
On the other hand, the fake group would result in Australia and Ukraine both sending three gymnasts and Brazil, Hungary, and Mexico both sending two, instead of the one they qualified (with Andrade still likely to qualify at Pan Ams of course). No new countries would be represented. The seven countries missing out would be Israel, Norway, Peru, Uzbekistan, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, and Singapore.
Of these countries, Israel, Norway, Taiwan, and Singapore have full gymnastics training facilities. The three countries who would genuinely lose out on the chance for Olympic-associated gymnastics funding would be Peru, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. So the question is between those three countries vs. 2nd/3rd event final contenders for already qualified countries.
I agree 100% that they should have taken the top 3 non-team qualifiers from each event as that would have satisfied the need for representation while awarding more competitive gymnasts a spot.