It’s time for the 63rd 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.

Who do you think will be on the all-around podium at Worlds this year?

I think it’ll be Simone Biles, Larisa Iordache, and whoever qualifies as the second American, which will be the gymnast who has the best day in qualifications and could be pretty much anyone in that Gabby Douglas / Aly Raisman / Maggie Nichols group. Anyone outside of this top group would basically need to have their best day ever while also likely relying on a fall from one of the top three.

Do you think Laurie Hernandez can make the U.S. team next year? I totally believe she can be the dark horse.

There is a possibility, yes. I don’t think she’d make it if she looks like she does right now, however…though she’s fantastic, she doesn’t have a true standout event that would put her in the consistent top two or three, which is what you need for a five person team. But with some upgrades on bars and floor and upgrading her vault to an Amanar, I think she could certainly be in the mix. To go undefeated all season after coming back from two injuries is incredible, so now the next step is just upgrading and making herself a legitimate contender against the top seniors.

I love your blog! I was wondering what you thought about the FIG making protocols available for every routine like they do in figure skating? With all of the skills done, those that were downgraded, and all of the deductions to skills and routines overall?

Thank you! I’d actually love to see that, honestly. I can’t think of who it is at the moment but there’s one country that includes each judge’s score at their domestic meets, so you can see what the four e-panel judges each put down and then what it averages out to. It’s interesting because sometimes they all have exactly the same score, but at other times you’ll see one with an 8.9 and three with something much different, like 7.9-8.1. So I’d like to see that along with each judge’s reasoning for each deduction, and then I’d also like to see what the d-panel would have to say…d-scores are definitely easier for fans with code of points knowledge to figure out, but it would be cool to see exact reasoning as to why a skill was downgraded.

Do you know more about Ashton Locklear’s decision to un-commit from Florida? Does that mean she forfeited her NCAA eligibility?

I don’t believe she has made a decision to go pro yet (or at least hasn’t announced it, and considering she didn’t make this year’s Worlds team, it probably wouldn’t be the best decision) but she did say on her ask.fm that she is not doing NCAA, period. It could just be that she has been so injured, she knows she’s not going to make it past the stress of the Olympic season…but it could also mean she has 2020 in mind, since it will be much easier for her to make a specialist spot in 2020 than a team spot next year.

All of the U.S. junior talk right now is about Ragan Smith, Laurie Hernandez, and Jazmyn Foberg. But what about Norah Flatley? I think she has huge potential. Do you?

With gymnastics, people are often in an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of mindset. I think without seeing her this summer I n her final season as a junior, it’s just hard to judge her compared to her fellow 2016 first-year seniors. Considering we last saw her at Jesolo, it’s just hard to say how she stacks up, especially as her teammates have grown so much. I think Chow surprised us by having Shawn Johnson explode onto the scene as a junior, and then he surprised us again with Gabby Douglas’ metamorphosis in 2012. I absolutely still believe that Norah will be in the mix in some capacity next year. Prepare to get Chowed once again.

Do you think we will see a gymnast perform a Nabieva on bars anytime soon? What gymnasts, if any, competing today do you think are capable of performing it?

I hope so! I’d love to see a daring bars worker attempt it. I feel like it’s probably something Nia Dennis could do, based on the amplitude she gets coming out of her swing…girl knows how to work the high bar! I love that she’s at Legacy Elite now, if only because Anna Li was basically the queen of wanting to make MAG skills her own…I’d love to see her motivate Nia into doing the same.

Can you think of any female gymnast that has come out of the closet? I can’t think of any, but if you consider statistics…there should be a few! In the case that you can’t think of any, why do you think this is?

Lais Souza, who was named to three Olympic gymnastics teams for Brazil before retiring to become an Olympic aerial skier (and was paralyzed in the process), is publicly out. I believe there has maybe been an NCAA gymnast or two as well, but Souza is the most notable, I’m pretty sure. In general, there is such a stigma for gay athletes, and it’s especially true in a sport where the majority of female competitors are raised in conservative homes. They’re also very young on average and may not be as comfortable publicly coming to terms with their sexuality as the men, who are all adults by the time they reach senior international elite status…though even then, many of the adult men have a hard time with it and choose not to come out publically. It’s unfortunate, because the more who are able to come out, the more younger generations will feel comfortable with it themselves. 

Did Aliya Mustafina perform a Seitz at 2013 World Championships or her own skill? I remember commentators from NBC and BBC repeatedly saying that the skill would be named after her but it looked almost identical to the Seitz.

If I remember correctly, the skill Aliya attempted to get named for her in 2013 was the Chow half, which is the stalder shaposh with a half twist. The Seitz, meanwhile, is a toe-on shaposh with a full twist. Aliya successfully competed the Chow half, but so did Yao Jinnan and rules stipulate that if two gymnasts compete the same skill, neither one gets it named…though the skill is affectionately referred to by some fans as the “Yaostafina.” Never mind, this was actually in 2012! I believe Mustafina also tried to get the Seitz to mixed grip named for her, but I don’t believe they credited it as a different skill just because the grip was different.

Am I the only one who likes the new code of points better than the old?

Not at all! I prefer it times a million, honestly…and I think many other fans feel the same way. The only way I would consider going back to the ‘perfect 10’ system would be if there was a better way to differentiate between difficulty levels. That kind of existed in the last code, but not in a way that could truly separate the good from the incredible. Open-ended really is the way to go. Otherwise, the sport becomes super limiting because there’s no incentive to go for super difficult skills if they end up not being worth much more than much easier skills.

Why have so many gymnasts been doing jumps out of their leap series on floor? Is it to hide landing errors or hide leaps that might otherwise not get full credit?

I think staving off landing deductions is the number one reason. Sometimes leap series can be disorienting, as they often include rotations…so doing a straddle or split jump out of it can help get it back under control in time for the landing. I suppose it could also be for choreographic purposes…there are some great leap to jump series that are actually used as part of the routine’s choreo and artistry in addition to being just a dance element, though I do think the main reason is to keep landing deductions at bay.

How do you think the USA would place if this year’s Pan Am Games team went to World Championships? Do you think Russia or China could push past to first place or do you think the U.S. would pull through?

Well, the team earned a score of 173.8 in a final with three routines counting. Now, we know you can’t directly compare competitions, but the differences aren’t actually that great…just give or take a point or two. If you look at last year’s team final, China placed second with a 172.587 and Russia placed third with a 171.462. So it’s likely that the U.S. Pan Am Games team would definitely be battling with Russia and China. I think if these two teams made it through with no falls, they’d be more likely to come out on top, as last year was a messy team final with multiple falls for both in the team final whereas the U.S. team received their Pan Ams score without any real problems. But either way, it would be close!

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Article by Lauren Hopkins