Here’s the latest rundown on the status of events in reaction to the coronavirus:
A day after the US announced that it’s too scary to go to Italy, the Jesolo competition officially self-canceled. Fear not, that weekend was already packed with NCAA regionals and the Tokyo world cup (maybe…), so you won’t suddenly be left with no gymnastics excuses to get out of doing things.
The US also said there will be an alternate competition opportunity at camp that weekend for those American gymnasts who would have gone to Jesolo, and I don’t know what that means. You don’t get an international assignment in Italy, but to make up for it, you have to spend a weekend in Indianapolis…?
Doha has announced a 14-day quarantine period for those entering Qatar from China, South Korea, Egypt (?), Iran, and Italy. This was announced 13 days before qualification begins at the Doha Apparatus World Cup. So that’s not ideal.
Vanessa Ferrari said on the socials that the Italians won’t be going to Doha as a result. That has potentially huge implications for the Olympic floor spot, but if the Italians do end up competing in Baku the week right before, they can still lock most other competitors out before Doha. People like Bachynska and even Pihan-Kulesza will nonetheless feel like a door has been cracked open slightly.
Doha also announced that its world cup event will be held behind closed doors. Attendance is expected to remain constant at zero.
All other FIG events are currently slated to continue as scheduled, and everyone (except Russia) successfully arrived at the American Cup. But if anyone falls, it’s the coronavirus’s fault.
In today’s ridiculata, Russia announced that it will not send Nikita Nagornyy and Lilia Akhaimova to the American Cup because of the coronavirus. And we all went, “Wait huh?” Does…does that make sense? Oh, it doesn’t? Cool.
All the other countries are like, “K fun, I’m gonna head to Milwaukee and lick a bus stop and get my Olympic points. Peace.”
There’s actually a lot to follow on this fine Sunday. I’ll start with Kentucky’s visit to LSU—in LSU’s second meet of the weekend. LSU did not follow my instructions (big surprise) and pretty much went for it with the lineups on Friday, adding back Edney on vault and Desiderio on floor. We’ll see if it’s the same today.
LSU took a big step with Friday’s performance, the first of the whole season that I would classify as a “good meet” by LSU’s standards, but now does face the most challenging remaining competition on the team’s schedule until SECs, Kentucky.
Obviously, the first order of business. A Kerri Strug biopic is currently being shopped around, with Olivia Wilde attached to direct. We’ve all been workshopping this story for 24 years, so…battle stations.
Even if this gets made and distributed (long way to go), there are 99 ways it could go wrong, so prepare for all of them, and hope that we’re actually in the correct moment in time for this movie to be made…slightly non terribly? No one is interested in pretending everything’s great anymore, right?
Because if this had been made in 2006, it would have been all sports movie, she did it on one leg to win the gold for RED WHITE AND BLUE, hooray, Bela saved America by shouting you can do it, Kerri doesn’t talk in a “been in the gulag for too long” whisper at all I don’t know what you mean, EVERYTHING’S FINE [nervous laugh], American hero teammates who love each other.
We’ve got some delightful Pac-12-hosted meets on the schedule midday today, probably the two meets of the weekend I’m most interested in—though by all accounts Georgia/Arkansas was a thriller yesterday. I haven’t gone back and watched the ones I missed on Friday, though I promise (maybe?) I will. If for no other reason than finding some good GIFs for the weekly GIF recap.
Meanwhile in early action Rutgers is having a true nightmare, with two falls on vault and three falls in the first three bars routines.
The long-delayed Maggie Haney hearing finally started this week and within 13 seconds resulted in a provisional suspension, pending the results of the hearing and investigation into allegations of verbal abuse such as threats, bullying, and harassment in addition to having gymnasts compete while injured.
It is at least somewhat encouraging that USAG has decided the prospect of garbage behavior like that gets you a suspension now, instead of a cake like before. Cut to the other elite coaches hiding their Most Verbal Abuse trophies from previous quads.
For now, Maggie has been added to the suspended members list and prohibited from contact with minors. There is a logistical wrinkle to this since Riley McCusker is 18 and could therefore continue to train with Maggie should she so choose—but there could not be any minor gymnasts in the gym at the time, and Maggie couldn’t coach at camp or at meets. So basically she’s suspended from coaching for the time being.
