It’s time for the 39th edition of You Asked, The Gymternet Answered! We apologize if we haven’t gotten to your question yet, but we try to answer in the order in which they were received. Something you want to know? Ask us anonymously by going through the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Before we get started, I just wanted to address a couple of things. One person asked why the majority of our Q&A posts focus on the U.S. The answer is simple – we answer questions about the U.S. because we receive questions about the U.S. If you look through our website over the past month, you’ll see that we have more coverage related to non-U.S. countries including meets like Swedish Championships and the Polish International that no one has covered but us. We’d love to answer your international questions, but unfortunately we receive very few.

Also, someone else asked if questions are being answered in the order in which they were received. For the most part, yes. Recently, I took a few newer questions and put them at the front of the line as they related to current competitions and it made more sense to answer them now rather than letting them sit for months as is what happened with all NCAA questions. Hopefully we can catch up and get to everything that’s been asked of us, but if it’s been several months and we haven’t gotten back to yours, feel free to send it again to make sure we see it. I’ve also combined several questions (i.e. if multiple people ask about a certain athlete’s situation) and I tend not to answer questions that are like “what do you think about [insert name here]?” if only because someone one day sent in “what do you think about…” with 30 athletes following. We’re here to answer questions to help fans learn more about the sport, not necessarily to just share our opinions on everyone! Sorry!

Why did Lizzy Leduc and Bridget Dean switch colleges? Any ideas? And is that looked down upon?

I’m not sure what happened with Lizzy…I believe she was initially supposed to be part of LSU’s signing class for the 2015-2016 season but wanted to defer with the intent to qualify for the Olympic Games representing the Philippines. I’m not 100% sure, but heard that this was miscommunicated and LSU didn’t know of her plans to defer? I do know her spot wasn’t “given away” to Sarah Finnegan, as others have suggested, but I think from what I’ve understood there was an issue with her deferment. And Bridget hadn’t signed a letter of intent for Kentucky, just verbally committed, so it’s possible LSU hadn’t originally expressed interest but when they did, she opted for the stronger program. Since she had just verballed, it’s not such a big deal…Lexie Priessman also changed her verbal commitment from Georgia to LSU so it happens, especially when the trend for collegiate programs pressures gymnasts to commit to schools when they’re 14 or 15. How are you supposed to know what you want to do in four years?! I think recruiters kind of have to expect that it’ll happen from time to time.

Do the gymnasts get prize money for a medal at the European Championships / World Championships / Olympics? Or do they just get the medal and the flowers?

There is some prize money at World Championships but not much. I’m not sure about European Championships, but if there is, it’s not given out by the FIG. At the Olympics there is also the incentive of money, but coming from the individual nations’ Olympic committees rather than the sport’s governing body. I remember reading an article about how in the U.S., athletes get $25k for gold medals, $15k for silver, and $10k for bronze.

Other countries throughout the world pay out much more than this, however, both in terms of cash and then gifts on top of it. In China, for example, they give houses and luxury cars to champions in addition to about $55k per gold medal. Italy gives a lot of money to its gold-winning athletes (about $182k for gold), Russia’s gold medalists get about $135k, Kazakhstan is known to be quite generous (triple jump gold medalist Olga Rypakova was awarded $250k), and Singapore promised $800,000 to potential gold medal athletes in 2012! Other countries are less generous…Great Britain gave no prize money but put medalists’ faces on stamps in 2012, which leads to royalties that can reach into five figures.

I have a question you may know, is Ariana Agrapides still in gymnastics? Her Instagram shows she does track now and she hasn’t been around in the general gym “talk” and publicity lately so I’m growing concerned…

Ariana is taking a break from gymnastics at the moment, though she hasn’t given up on the sport completely. She plans to compete as a level 10 next year, still at MG Elite, and I’ve heard she possibly has plans to do elite in the future. I think MG Elite being a small program needs to focus all of their energy on Laurie and Jazzy at the moment, since 2016 is where they’re looking, and since Ariana wouldn’t factor into an Olympic scenario until 2020, it’s possible they just want to focus on the two who need to make it next year? That being said, now that the new Olympic format is out, I really hope Ariana does reconsider elite for her future! Her vault prowess but weaknesses elsewhere make her a perfect candidate for a specialist role if she can get a second vault.

Do you think Norah Flatley can get an Amanar in time for Rio?

I think so! I think she’s probably been training them and will show up next year with one kind of how Gabby did things in 2012. She clearly had been working on her DTY for quite awhile but kept it under wraps until this year, and it looks great considering it’s a brand new vault for her. I definitely wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Chow is waiting and taking things slow with her upgrades, and then we see her unleash like a beast next year.

Hi! I’m wondering, how come so few gymnasts are doing the Amanar in this quad?  Seemed like it was THE vault to have last time around.  Was it more than just the 0.2 devaluation?  It doesn’t seem like that much of a D score drop…

Fitting that this question comes after the question about Norah! I honestly think coaches are waiting until it’s necessary to bring it out. In the last quad, everyone had an Amanar really early on, so there was more pressure to have one early on in order to be competitive in the all-around. But now, since no one is really doing one, you can still have a shot at an all-around podium without one because it won’t make or break your AA score the way it did in 2011. I think we could possibly see a couple more this summer, but next year is probably when most will bring them to light. I’m sure many have been training them and showing them at camps, but just waiting to perform them until they absolutely need them in order to keep injuries at bay.

How can you tell when someone has the “it” factor? I see comments about it all of the time and I don’t understand what it means. Does it have to do with how well their skills are executed at such a young age?

I think it’s a combination of having everything going right in your gymnastics. It’s the kind of thing where you know it when you see it. Like, Simone Biles clearly has the ‘it’ factor. She has big skills, she does them well, she’s having fun on the competition floor, she is a big personality in interviews…basically every aspect of the sport and everything that surrounds the sport makes someone a ‘total package’ or gives them an ‘it’ factor.

Do you think Bailie Key has peaked too soon? Does her body just not allow her to upgrade? She has been super consistent, but her skills seem very low (like on beam) and she has been competing at practically the same for years. Many have said she was a lock for Rio, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

I don’t think anyone’s really a ‘lock’ for Rio, maybe with the exception of Simone and that’s only if she stays at her current level (though she does have some leeway to dip a little below, honestly). Bailie has definitely improved on some events (bars and floor most notably) since her junior days, though it does seem like her beam had deteriorated a bit since we saw her do it last. Still, though, could just be a slump. She seems to be struggling with just a couple of skills and if she can get over that, her beam looks like it should be fine. Her all-around potential right now is still about the same as it was in the past, so even if she hasn’t skyrocketed, she’s managed to maintain her difficulty and even grow a little which is definitely an accomplishment.

I definitely see a little Jordyn Wieber there, in that Jordyn was so solid as a young elite and then just kind of stayed at that level for a long time. It didn’t hurt Jordyn, as she still made it to the Olympics, but it did maybe give everyone false hope about her because it went from no one else in the U.S. being at her level to suddenly several girls in 2012 who were beginning to challenge and then defeat her. That’s the ‘problem’ for the athletes who get really good at a young age, I think. You never know who can come up and be a surprise at the last minute, so even if you didn’t necessarily peak too soon and then start to falter, if you stay at a level for a long time and don’t move beyond that, it can be a little dangerous if others are late bloomers as Gabby and Aly were in 2012. I think we could have similar circumstances to Jordyn and Gabby with Bailie and Norah next year, but you never know – there is probably a lot in Bailie we haven’t seen yet!

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Article by Lauren Hopkins