Here, I’m tracking the athletes who are going to the Olympics and the path through which they are qualified. I’ll keep this in a tab at the top and update it as we learn more.

WOMEN

United States Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
China Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Russia Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
France Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Canada Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Netherlands Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Great Britain Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Italy Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Germany Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Belgium Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Japan Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Spain Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Individuals – 20 (2019 All-Around)	1. Flavia Saraiva (BRA) 2. Giulia Steingruber (SUI) 3. Georgia Godwin (AUS) 4. Diana Varinska (UKR) 5. Lee Yunseo (KOR) 6. Zsofia Kovacs (HUN) 7. Martina Dominici (ARG) 8. Alexa Moreno (MEX) 9. Danusia Francis (JAM) 10. Kim Su Jong (PRK) 11. Aneta Holsaova (CZE) 12. Marcia Vidiaux (CUB) 13. Maria Holbura (ROU) 14. Elisa Hämmerle (AUT) 15. Anastasia Alistratava (BLR) 16. Farah Ann Abdul Hadi (MAS) 17. Mandy Mohamed (EGY) 18. Nazli Savranbasi (TUR) 19. Barbora Mokosova (SVK) 20. Filipa Martins (POR)
Individuals – 12 (2019 Event Finals)	1. Yeo Seojeong (KOR) **The remaining 11 unused spots were put back in the all-around pool
Individuals – 11 (2019 All-Around – reallocated from unused event finals spots)	1. Ana Derek (CRO) 2. Caitlin Rooskrantz (RSA) 3. Jonna Adlerteg (SWE) 4. Gabriela Janik (POL) 5. Simona Castro (CHI) 6. Lihie Raz (ISR) 7. Julie Erichsen (NOR) 8. Ariana Orrego (PER) 9. Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) 10. Ting Hua-Tien (TPE) 11. Marina Nekrasova (AZE)
Individuals – 2 (2019 All-Around – reallocated from Japan’s unused host country spot and North Korea’s withdrawal)	1. Tan Sze En (SGP) 2. Megan Ryan (IRL)
Individuals – 4 (Apparatus World Cup Series winners)	VT – Jade Carey (USA) UB – Fan Yilin (CHN) BB – Urara Ashikawa (JPN) FX – TBD (ITA) **Italy’s spot will be either Lara Mori or Vanessa Ferrari, depending on the alleged conclusion of the series.
Individuals – 3 (Spots awarded following cancellation of All-Around World Cup Series)	1. TBD (USA) 2. TBD (CHN) 3. TBD (RUS)
Individuals – 2 (2021 European Championships)	1. TBD (RUS) 2. Larisa Iordache (ROU)
Individuals – 2 (2019 All-Around – next two Asian athletes on list due to no 2021 Asian Championship)	1. Milka Gehani (SRI) 2. Pranati Nayak (IND)
Individuals – 1 (2021 Oceania Championships)	May 21
Individuals – 2 (2021 African Championships)	May 26
Individuals – 2 (2021 Pan Am Championships)	June 5
Individuals – 1 (Tripartite Commission for under-represented nations)	1. TBD

In the event of cancellation of the Pan American Championships, those spots would go to Luciana Alvarado of Costa Rica and Karelys Diaz of Puerto Rico.

In the event of cancellation of the Africa Championships, those spots would go to Annabel Agba of Nigeria and Sofia Nair of Algeria.

The next alternates for general spots from the 2019 all-around standings are Maria Kharenkova (GEO), Argyro Afrati (GRE), and Maia Fishwick (NZL).

MEN

Russia Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
China Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Japan Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Ukraine Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Great Britain Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Switzerland Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
United States Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Taiwan Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
South Korea Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Brazil Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Spain Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Germany Team	1. TBD 2. TBD 3. TBD 4. TBD
Individuals – 12 (2019 All-Around)	1. Carlos Yulo (PHI) 2. Manrique Larduet (CUB) 3. Ludovico Edalli (ITA) 4. Milad Karimi (KAZ) 5. Loris Frasca (FRA) 6. Robert Tvorogal (LTU) 7. Alexander Shatilov (ISR) 8. Ferhat Arican (TUR) 9. Artur Davtyan (ARM) 10. David Huddleston (BUL) 11. Bart Deurloo (NED) 12. Daniel Corral (MEX)
Individuals – 18 (2019 Event Finals)	1. Artem Dolgopyat (ISR) 2. Rhys McClenaghan (IRL) 3. Cyril Tommasone (FRA) 4. Ibrahim Colak (TUR) 5. Marco Lodadio (ITA) 6. Samir Ait Said (FRA) 7. Marian Dragulescu (ROU) 8. Le Thanh Tung (VIE) 9. Shek Wai Hung (HKG) 10. Ahmet Onder (TUR) 11. Tin Srbic (CRO) 12. Tyson Bull (AUS) **The remaining 6 unused spots were put back in the all-around pool
Individuals – 6 (2019 All-Around – reallocated from unused event finals spots)	1. Rene Cournoyer (CAN) 2. Rasuljon Abdurakhimov (UZB) 3. Marios Georgiou (CYP) 4. Ivan Tikhonov (AZE) 5. David Rumbutis (SWE) 6. Andrey Likhovitskiy (BLR)
Individuals – 1 (2019 All-Around – reallocated from Japan’s unused host country spot and Larduet’s apparent withdrawal)	1. Sofus Heggemsnes (NOR) 2. David Jessen (CZE)
Individuals – 6 (Apparatus World Cup Series winners)	FX – Rayderley Zapata (ESP) PH – TBD SR – TBD VT – TBD PB – TBD HB – Epke Zonderland (NED)
Individuals – 3 (Spots awarded following cancellation of All-Around World Cup Series)	1. TBD (RUS) 2. TBD (CHN) 3. TBD (JPN)
Individuals – 2 (2021 European Championships)	1. TBD (RUS) 2. Adem Asil (TUR)
Individuals – 2 (2019 All-Around – next two Asian athletes on list due to no 2021 Asian Championship)	1. Dinh Phuong Thanh (VIE) 2. Loo Phay Xing (MAS)
Individuals – 1 (2021 Oceania Championships)	May 21
Individuals – 2 (2021 African Championships)	May 27
Individuals – 2 (2021 Pan Am Championships)	June 4
Individuals – 1 (Tripartite Commission for under-represented nations)	1. TBD

In the event of cancellation of the Pan American Championships, those spots would go to Tomas Gonzalez of Chile and Santiago Mayol of Argentina.

In the event of cancellation of the Africa Championships, those spots would go to Mohamed Afify of Egypt and Hillal Metidji of Algeria.

The next alternates for general spots from the 2019 all-around standings after David Jessen (should he receive the Larduet spot) are Tomas Gonzalez (CHI), Andrei Muntean (ROU), and Luka Van Den Keybus (BEL).

81 days to the Olympics, and with NCAA season out of the way, it’s time to start getting mentally prepared for the push to Tokyo. For realsies now. I’m starting this arduous process by planning out the critical benchmarks between now and the Olympics for various team selections and qualification of the remaining spots.

May 4-9 – Chinese Nationals

May 4 – Men’s Team/Qualification
May 5 – Women’s Team/Qualification
May 6 – Men’s All-Around
May 7 – Women’s All-Around
May 8 – Event Finals Day 1
May 9 – Event Finals Day 2

The Chinese national championship acts as the first stage of the Olympic trials process, though teams will not be named at this point. The official teams will be determined after two training camp competitions in June and early July. The national championship, however, is the final major public test and therefore our last chance to establish firm and dramatic opinions about what the team should be.

May 15-16 – NHK Cup

May 15 – Women’s All-Around
May 16 – Men’s All-Around

The NHK Cup serves as the final qualification event for Japanese team selection. At the end of the NHK Cup, the scores from the already completed All-Japan Championships will be added to the NHK Cup scores, with the top 3 athletes in the all-around being named to the Olympic team, and the 4th selected from among the top all-around finishers based on the “ekhsfkhjdfklhjfd” criteria.

May 18-23 – Virtual Canadian Championships

The Canadian Championships will be held virtually this year, with day 1 routines submitted between May 14-16 and judged on May 18, and day 2 routines submitted between May 19-21 and judged on May 23. The announcement of Canada’s women’s Olympic team will come on June 17th.

May 21 – Oceania Olympic Qualification

One Olympic spot is still available for both men and women from the Oceanic region, which will be decided at the Oceanic Championship—held in conjunction with Australian Nationals this year. The Oceanic qualifiers will be decided based on the all-around results of the first day of elite competition on May 21.

May 22 – US Classic

OK, yes there are no actual Olympic implications at Classic and it doesn’t mean anything, but it’s got to be on the schedule…

Continue reading The Path to Tokyo →

Sigh and a half.

Today, the FIG decided to put all our speculation to rest and brain fart out its decision regarding how the Olympic qualification and eligibility system will be amended for an Olympics taking place in 2021. Here’s what we now know:

Code of points: The 2017-2020 code of points will remain in force until the end of 2021. This was the only acceptable decision since this code has governed the entire qualification process, and it would be fairly ridiculous to change codes just for the Olympics.

If, then, the 2020 code is retained for the Olympics, it must remain in effect for the rest of 2021 too since you can’t very well suddenly switch to a new code for events for events in the autumn, allowing no adjustment period.

Age Eligibility: Athletes who turn senior in 2021 WILL be eligible to qualify for and compete in the Olympics. This will be the most controversial decision of the bunch, and I do take issue with it, though not for the reasons most do—which seem to have something to do with fairness. I don’t think it is unfair to other athletes, per se, to allow the 2021 seniors to compete in the Olympics because it will be 2021 and they will officially be senior gymnasts. Just like the new 2020 seniors were going to be able to waltz into the Olympics without participating in any of the qualification process in the 2020 Olympics. It’s now exactly the same for the 2021 seniors.

I do, however, view it as logically inconsistent with the code of points decision, which is making an understandable (and correct) exception to the usual way of things by treating these Olympics as the 2020 Olympics and refraining from making the normal rules adjustments for the 2021 year.

My favorite part of this decision is that it cites the technical regulations as justification, but then links to some document about parkour scoring. Good good good.

Apparatus Qualification: The least justifiable decision make by the FIG today concerns the Baku World Cup, which as you might recall had to be halted after qualification because the world is ending.

Continue reading FIG GONNA FIG: The 2021 Olympics Decisions →