It’s time for the 53rd 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 (unless they are super relevant and need to be answered in a timely manner). Something you want to know? Ask us anonymously by going through the contact form at the bottom of the page.

What happened to Sabrina Vega at Classics? I didn’t see her name in the results or any of her routines on the live feed.

She competed on beam and floor! She didn’t look fully back but had a VERY nice start. She looks very nice and in control of her gymnastics – just like the good old days – but just doesn’t have the difficulty yet, especially on beam where she competes lots of lovely skills but nothing is connected. On floor she had a tucked full-in, a double full, a whip to double tuck, and a double pike…it was all very well done though she put her hands down on the double pike at the end, probably still getting used to endurance…still, she got a 13.2 with the fall there, not bad considering she’s been away and injured for three years! She unfortunately didn’t qualify to nationals because of her fall there and low score on beam…she just didn’t have the numbers to make it further, but hopefully this will inspire her for next year!

Do you think the scores at the U.S. domestic meets are inflated to the extent that it doesn’t give a realistic idea of how the girls would do internationally?

Yes, domestic scores are inflated in the U.S…but they’re also inflated everywhere. It’s about time we just start to consider scoring at all non-FIG meets “the norm” and then consider FIG meets as having tight scoring. I’d say it’s more of a problem for other countries outside the U.S. than it is for the U.S. As a team, the U.S. women are SO far ahead of the game, their domestic scoring doesn’t matter. Last year scores were inflated at home but they won gold by seven full points. Does it really matter if Simone’s vault had an extra two tenths at Classics? And some gymnasts actually get under-scored domestically, like Mykayla Skinner on vault and back in 2012, Aly Raisman on many of her events (her bars scores internationally were so much better than her domestic scores).

The U.S. aside, let’s look at Russia. At the Russian Cup, Aliya Mustafina was awarded with a 15.5 for one of her beam routines. At Worlds a month later, she averaged a full point lower than that. For a team that really was struggling last year, don’t you think having super-inflated home scoring hurt their expectations way more than the U.S. domestic scoring hurt them? Last year the only place I saw where someone in the U.S. was hurt by domestic scoring was Ashton Locklear, who had scores of 15.7 and 15.85 for hit routines and a 15.2 for a rougher one…whereas in reality, her hit routines internationally were in the low 15s for all five competed (at Worlds and Pan Ams). Otherwise, I think everyone pretty much finished as they were expected to finish. Because judging is subjective, it’s more about the ranking than the score itself…does it really matter if Simone Biles is getting a 62.4 at home if she’ll ‘only’ get around a 61.8 or so at Worlds? Does it matter if the U.S. team on average is scored 0.1-0.3 higher per routine at home than at Worlds aka what would amount to 3.6 points higher as a team? Not if they’re beating other teams by 7 full points. Again, like with Locklear, they should try to pay closer attention at home than they are, but for the most part the U.S. is fine.

I think China is the only country without crazy domestic scoring…they actually lowball their athletes so then they’re pleasantly surprised at Worlds to see higher scores. But for the most part, I think some other teams – Russia, Romania, and weirdly, Japan…they’re huge offenders of domestic inflation – need to worry much more. Kohei Uchimura actually talked about the scoring at the Asian Championships last week, saying that it definitely creates a false sense of security and then disappointment when they don’t do as well at Worlds, but in terms of comparing teams with other teams, is it really overscoring if everyone’s doing it?

Why didn’t Ashton Locklear get a bars score at Classics? Is it because her coach spotted her? I thought that was only a deduction.

Ashton was there doing exhibition routines essentially because her full routines weren’t ready due to her comeback from injury. They planned beforehand for her to be unscored. She was unsure about whether or not she should compete, but Martha Karolyi wanted to see her progress and wanted her to get experience in an arena setting, so they brought her along without having her officially compete. In addition to her coach spotting her a couple times on bars, she also did just a layout dismount off beam. I believe the judges were watching/scoring her but her results were not made public.

Could you explain how D1 scholarship allotment works? It seems like there are just so many commitments to some schools (especially Florida) that there must be more than 12 on each team per year, so are some of the girls committing to compete and pay tuition without getting scholarships? And how do things like 5th years factor into the scholarship count?

Keep in mind that as people graduate, they free up scholarships. So let’s say a team like Florida is graduating four seniors in 2016. That will give them four scholarship positions for incoming freshmen. If their freshman class has six gymnasts, two of them are not on scholarship (they are “walk-ons”). As far as redshirts go, I believe the NCAA still honors the scholarship of someone who has a medical redshirt (even if that means there are 13 scholarships on the team for one season).

Do you think it is smart that a lot of Americans keep their floor routines for more than just a year? I feel like a lot of them got better at performing it the second year. On the other hand I love that the Russians have new routines each year its always so exciting to see who has what music and how will they perform it (even if they are hardly doing any choreo these days)

Yes, it’s definitely smart! They get comfortable with it and as that happens, they can continually fix the little things along the way, so if gymnasts are setting routines now for Rio, they have this year to work out all the kinks and then next year can focus on big tumbling and the performance aspect. It’s definitely a benefit! It is fun to constantly see new routines, but overall having it set far in advance is super helpful.

I heard a little while back that Anna Li was planning a comeback after she graduated, but I haven’t heard anything since. Is she still planning on coming back because she was one of my favorite gymnasts?

Were you asleep for the years 2011 and 2012? KIDDING! Sorry, I had to. But really, she graduated from UCLA in 2010 and then made her elite comeback in 2011, when she got a spot on the World Championships team. In 2012, she returned again and was named an alternate for the Olympic team, and since then she has been focused on coaching at her parents’ gym. Her little sister Andrea Li is a fabulous J.O. gymnast and should be on everyone’s radar in the coming years however!

In 2011, everybody thought Jordyn Wieber would be the Olympic champion, but because she peaked so early, she didn’t even make all-around finals in London. Do you think this will happen to Simone Biles? Is it possible for someone to stay on top for so long?

Jordyn Wieber didn’t make finals in London not because she peaked too early but because someone else on her team managed to get in by the tiniest margin ahead of her. She was still fourth best in the world, but because two of those ahead of her were from the U.S., that is why she didn’t make the all-around final, not because there was anything wrong with her level or ability. She did peak, technically, about a year before but she maintained that peak through to the Olympics. Every athlete is going to hit a peak and you can try to control when it will happen but it’s not always possible. But when you hit that peak, if it’s a good one and you can maintain it, there’s nothing wrong with peaking! Simone Biles has been on an upward trajectory since day one and shows no sign of stopping…but even if right now ends up being her absolute best, if she can maintain where she is over the next year she could still very well stay on top. She would need to not only peak, but then also watch her skills decline for anyone to really catch up at this point. I can see her having more competition next year as other gymnasts try to make their peaks happen in time for Rio, but I still think barring injury she shouldn’t have a problem continuing her dominance.

What do you think of Marissa Oakley? I loved her floor but think she is even more capable, especially in jumps, spins and general choreo…

We LOVE Marissa, especially on bars and floor. She has huge potential, which is why we were so bummed to see her get injured at Classics. Hopefully she can come back strong and try elite again next year because we think she has SO much to offer! Her gymnastics is just beautiful and so refreshing to watch.

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Article by Sarah Chrane and Lauren Hopkins