It’s time for the 18th edition of You Asked, The Gymternet Answered! We apologize if we haven’t gotten to your question yet, but we are trying to answer them in order. Something you want to know? Ask us anonymously by going through the contact form at the bottom of the page!

Do you think Mustafina’s E score should have been higher on bars at Worlds? What is your take on her being rundown and looking miserable? She has looked so sad most of the competition.

I think the Russian coaches tend to rely on her a bit too much. She’s an older gymnast who has already been through a complete Olympic quadrennium (a difficult task in its own right!) and now because the federation has no one else, they continue to push her to be there for everything. In Nanning, she ran the show in qualifications and in team finals, and then was expected to perform well as an individual, so my guess is that in addition to training her butt off, she also had the worries of the entire team on her shoulders. In terms of her E scores on bars, I think they were pretty legitimate…she isn’t quite as polished as she’s been in the past, but she’s also had a bunch of injuries including a shoulder problem, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t be at her very best.

Wait, is there now a rule that says gymnasts have to be constantly moving on the beam, even in between skills? Like I get keeping the connections going, but do they want everyone to be constantly moving like Larisa, as part of choreo? Because, eurgh that’s the worse and it’s actually why I’m not really a fan of her on beam, because I prefer calmer, more precise and methodical work like Kyla’s or Shawn’s or the Chinese girls. I hate overly faffy and fidgety movements.

I don’t think the rule is that you have to move constantly, but more that your movement has to be fluid. Iordache looks like she had 75 cups of coffee before getting out there, and I don’t think that’s exactly what the COP is going for. I think the problem with routines is that movement has been arbitrary when it’s supposed to be choreographed in the way a floor routine should be choreographed – with purpose and meaning and a method to the madness. A random arm movement between skills isn’t fluid movement. I think the Chinese routines do a good job of showing fluidity in movement, and I think I liked Asuka Teramoto’s as well, if I remember correctly…and other Japanese routines. Maybe Natsumi Sasada’s? But the idea is to connect movement fluidly, not to move constantly and have it look all jerky and crazy.

Do you think Kyla Ross is out from worlds next year with the return of strong seniors and juniors turning seniors and we already have girls working better bars than her.

No. On the contrary, I think Kyla has an edge over most others because while she may no longer be one of the top all-arounders next year if she doesn’t upgrade, she still could be the strongest specialist on bars and beam, and then in addition, also has a solid vault and a relatively strong floor routine if needed. She might go from being a top all-arounder to more of a specialist and/or utility player, but I think she’ll still be an important member of the team, kind of like her status in 2012. Even though there might be a couple of girls who work bars ‘better’ than her (and that’s debatable, because she had to downgrade this year and is still the most consistent on the team), she’s the only bar worker who also has a reliable beam set. You never know what will happen in the coming year…maybe Madison Kocian or Ashton Locklear will put good beam routines together or someone else will come along with solid, consistent routines on both events, but I think if I had to pick right now, I’d take Kyla as a specialist over anyone else.

Do you feel like Kyla gets overshadowed by Simone?

I don’t think so. Kyla has always played a supporting role. She has never been the star, and I don’t think she ever wanted to be. While I’m sure she wouldn’t mind winning gold over her teammate every now and then, she’s smart about her gymnastics and knows where she stands. She knows her difficulty isn’t as high as Simone’s and knows she can’t win without that higher difficulty, as she’s said many times.

What’s happened to Hill’s Gymnastics? I mean, they put athletes on four consecutive Olympic teams, but they seem to have faded off the map since Courtney Kupets retired from elite. Do you think a Hill’s athlete will be in the Olympic mix anytime soon?

I don’t think they have faded off the map just because they don’t have top elites. It’s actually rare to have an elite, so their track record is kind of rare and while gyms go through spurts like that, most fade from the map as quickly as they come…and though she had four Olympians in a row, one did it three times, so it’s not like she produced a ton of Olympians. Of course, it’s ridiculously impressive to make three consecutive Olympic teams as a single athlete, but I think Hill just lucked out with Dawes. She never had a WOGA or Texas Dreams atmosphere with 10 elites or elite-track gymnasts at a time. As for now, they have a very strong J.O. program that produces nationally competitive level 10 gymnasts and full scholarship recipients, and they also have promising talent, including a junior elite this year with one of the prettiest bar sets in the country (shoutout to Maggie Musselman). They also had Kytra Hunter in the last quad, and I’d say she’s a phenomenal success. Maybe we’ll see another top elite from this gym again, but if we don’t, it’s nothing against the gym. There are only so many Olympic team spots and how many U.S. club gyms with elites? The odds are automatically against you no matter how good your gym is.

Is Simone Biles able to go on Ellen without being pro? How does that work?

Yes. It’s an interview. It would be like sitting down with a newspaper or magazine to be asked questions or have photos taken. She’s not selling anything or performing, so it’s not like she’d be contracted and paid for her appearance. She can make as many public appearances as she wants, provided that she isn’t earning money for them.

What is Nica Hults’ injury?

I remember her mom posted some videos on Facebook and told the story back when it happened in September, I believe…she was vaulting and broke her wrist. Her first broken bone in her entire gymnastics career! She had to have surgery and is likely out of commission for awhile. She also had a hip problem during the summer…I believe a strain that made it difficult for her to perform most skills, and she wasn’t able to train at full capacity. I believe she started training her competition beam routine the week before nationals!

How come the World’s team is a different number of girls every year?

It’s not really. It’s four in the year after the Olympics because it’s not a team event, just an individual event. Then it’s six for the mid-quad year and the year before the Olympics when there are team competitions. The Olympics are different than Worlds because they’re organized by the International Olympic Committee, not the FIG, so the five-member team during the Olympic Games is a result of the IOC’s decision to make the field more inclusive since the number of spots for gymnasts is limited.

Is America participating in the upcoming World Cup circuit?

The U.S. offered a spot to one gymnast who turned it down in order to focus on school, as she has already missed a considerable amount this fall due to other competitions, and Martha Karolyi decided to not select someone to go in her place.

Do you think there is still potential for Maddie Desch to upgrade and be more consistent? Or what we have been seeing is all there is? I really want her to make the team next year and get to actually compete. It’s a long shot, but who knows. I hope being an alternate this year inspires and encourage her even more.

Absolutely! I think people forget that in 2012, she was one of the top juniors, right up there with Lexie Priessman and Simone Biles. She also has a beautiful bar set and a very strong DTY, and she typically trains beam and floor well from what I’ve seen, but I think her mind gets the best of her on those two events during competition. I really think the alternate spot this year and getting to train with super accomplished girls like Simone Biles and Kyla Ross for a month straight gave her a lot of motivation for the next season. I think she’s super talented and has grown tremendously from when I first saw her compete in 2010…and think she still has a ways to go. Her nerves got the best of her a few times this summer, but I think once she gets that under control, she’s capable of a lot of big skills and could be part of the picture for next year.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins