It’s time for the 31st 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!

At the WOGA Classic, does Irina Alexeeva compete for WOGA or Russia? And do you think (in the future) she could be useful to the Russian team?

She competes for WOGA in that she’s sent to the competition by WOGA, though she ‘represents’ Russia because it’s WOGA’s international meet so they highlight the fact that Alexeeva has Russian citizenship. Only a couple of national teams actually send athletes (the Chinese who attended this year actually were sent by their national program, for example). Even the Japanese teams that showed up weren’t really sent by Japan…there was one group sent by the Nippon Sports Science University and another younger group sent by the Saints Gymnastics Club, yet they both technically represented Japan in that they’re from Japan. I think Alexeeva could be very useful to the Russian team, though it doesn’t seem she actually has anything to do with their elite program (in that she’s not at Round Lake or anything). At this stage, it’d be super late for her to join their program, so while it’s not really impossible, it’s just not as likely as it was a couple of years ago.

How is Katelyn Ohashi competing in the elite division at the WOGA Classic? Is she planning on doing more than level 10 this season?

Ohashi is planning on competing level 10 this season, but did the international elite session of the WOGA Classic more for fun, and because people know who she is and she’d be a big draw. Even though it’s an international competition, it’s an invitational, not like…an FIG elite meet with all sorts of rules and regulations about FIG licenses and all of that. It’s kind of like the Nadia Comaneci Invitational international session, where they often have some big name competitors – like Oksana Chusovitina and Jessica Lopez – but then also showcase a lot of local level 10 girls using their J.O. routines just for fun. Ohashi did her level 10 routines at the WOGA Classic, also competed in the J.O. session, and has no plans for further elite competition this season.

Thank you for your wonderful question series. Can you tell more about Megan Roberts, who dominated the junior competition at Elite Canada? Was her success expected to those following the Canadian gymnastics scene, or is she a come-out-of-nowhere like Ashton Locklear or Jazmyn Foberg were in 2014? Is she a Rio prospect?

You’re welcome! Megan is 14 and will turn 16 in 2016, so she is eligible for Rio. Her success wasn’t really surprising for those who follow Canada’s elite happenings, as she’s definitely been one of their top juniors especially over the last year, though I can see why she wouldn’t be as familiar on the international level. She actually made her first appearance at Elite Canada when she was 12, exactly two years ago, and she dominated even back then, winning the all-around and every event but beam! She was also the junior bronze all-around medalist at the 2014 Canadian Championships, and competed quite a bit internationally last year, including at Gymnix, Junior Pan Ams, Pac Rims, and Massilia. Had Rose-Kaying Woo and Shallon Olsen not competed in the senior session, Roberts would have faced more of a challenge, but she’d still definitely hold her own.

What happened to Carlotta Ferlito? It seems she hasn’t been on the scene quite as much since she made that comment about Simone Biles.

After competing at the American Cup last year, Ferlito got very ill with about a billion different bacterial and viral illnesses I believe? I know she tweeted her list of diagnoses at one point, but there were a lot…like tonsillitis, mono, strep, toxoplasmosis, and anemia. She was actually sick at the American Cup, but got worse as the season went on and was unable to make it to any of the Serie A meets as well as Championships. Her first meet back was the Golden League in September, where she competed only on beam. She had a nice routine but couldn’t really contribute more than that, so they didn’t take her to Worlds. She then competed at Massilia in November, where she did the all-around for the first time in about nine months, and it was clear she still had a bit of work to do. At the first Serie A meet this year, she looked pretty good everywhere but bars (where she just had fluke falls), so I think as she continues high level training after such an extended absence, she’ll keep getting better with each competition and it’s definitely possible we’ll see her on the major international level again.

At the most recent World Championships I noticed that several American gymnasts (like Kyla Ross and Ashton Locklear) would produce routines that seemed the same or better than their routines at the P&G Championships, yet they were scored several tenths lower. Do American gymnasts get inflated scores at home meets? Thanks!

Most nations tend to inflate scores at home a bit because it creates a bit more internal competition…though it’s never usually as over-the-top as it was with Ashton Locklear’s bars. With that routine, I’m guessing the judges at Classics and Nationals just weren’t at an angle where they could see her mistakes, like the leg separations, and just gave her the benefit of the doubt? That happens sometimes…when a routine is that difficult a judge might think, like, “did she just have leg separation there or no?” and then they just give her the tenths because she’s doing such difficult work. I knew that would be the routine that would come out with a much lower score internationally, and it did, at both Pan Ams and Worlds. Kyla’s score wasn’t quite as insane at home, and for the most part when you see inflated scoring, it’s maybe a tenth or two per routine. I think a lot of the U.S. athletes are capable of earning similar – or even higher, in the case of Aly Raisman – scores internationally than they are domestically. Aside from Ashton’s inflation, the only other time it was really a problem in recent years was with Jordyn Wieber’s beam start value in 2012.

I know that Kyla Ross competed the Amanar vault at the beginning of 2012 and has said she plans on bringing it back. Do you know if she will compete it next year?

I don’t think so. I think her focus is more on bars and beam right now, and then bringing a few more upgrades into floor. At this point, she scores so well with her DTY, I honestly don’t think she needs an Amanar, especially when the only other top all-around competitor in the world doing one at the moment is Simone Biles (unlike last quad when you basically had to have an Amanar if you wanted to survive). My guess is that she’ll stick with the DTY for this year, and then if everyone brings out Amanars for 2016 and she wants to remain competitive leading up to the Olympics, we might see her attempt it, but even then I’m leery. Her Amanar was never really clean and the landings were always a bit scary…she lost way more in execution back in 2012 than she’d make up for in start value. Now that she’s at least six inches taller than she was in 2012, I don’t know if it’d even be possible for her to do it.

How well do you think Ellie Downie will do in her senior debut this upcoming year? Do you think she has a legitimate shot at an AA medal at Worlds? Or any event final medal?

I think Downie’s greatest contribution this year will be helping out the team on power events. Great Britain already has Claudia Fragapane rocking both vault and floor, but otherwise floor was pretty low difficulty so Downie could be a big help there, and will likely replace Kelly Simm, who had a great DTY but didn’t really contribute elsewhere. Individually, I think she had more of a shot at being successful at European Championships than she does at Worlds. Her start values are still a bit low (or at least were back in August when we last saw her at the Youth Olympic Games) and she incurs a lot of deductions for her form. I’d say podiums at Worlds are definitely off the table unless she’s added a ton of difficulty and has cleaned up quite a bit, but Euros would be a lot more feasible.

What can we expect from the Brazilian team in 2016? Any chance of medal individually?

I’d love to see them make it into the team final in Rio, but they’ll be cutting it really close, even with Rebeca Andrade and Flavia Saraiva on the team. Right now, Andrade is their best hope for an individual medal, and I’d personally like to see it happen on floor. She could also definitely find herself near the top of the all-around competitors, though with the all-arounders coming in from the big four as well as some of the girls who are typically in the top ten, it won’t be easy to get on the podium itself. But I can definitely see her challenging for it!

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Article by Lauren Hopkins