It’s time for the 64th 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.

The North Koreans nominated their team so obviously those rumors of boycotting were false…do you know where they came from? Why did people think they were planning to boycott?

I’m not sure where the rumors came from, and I remember being confused when I first heard them on Tumblr, because I hadn’t heard it anywhere else so I’m not sure where they initiated. They could’ve come about because North Korea boycotted Universiade this summer? Though that competition was held in South Korea, so naturally with the tension between the two countries, you might expect North Korea to boycott. Perhaps they wanted to boycott Great Britain since they are allies with the United States? I’m not sure, but I never heard anything about them boycotting from an official source.

What’s the deal with MyKayla Skinner’s floor music? I heard someone say she picked a Scottish song for Worlds but it’s actually an Irish song, and then she wore a green leo to nationals because she got Ireland and Scotland confused? How did no one realize this?

Her floor music actually includes a remix of “Scotland the Brave” so that’s pretty much on point. The leo…I believe her choreographer told her to wear green for Scotland, so it’s possible he was just not thinking clearly or assumed that Scotland and Ireland are somehow related. Outside of the UK, most people don’t know about the history between the two countries and that there’s a big divide, probably in the same way most people in the UK don’t know about various rivalries throughout the US and might confuse one state’s famous tradition for another’s. It was nothing more than a silly and unfortunate mistake on their part.

Do we see the consequences of Alexander Alexandrov’s firing in Russia in this year’s Russian Cup with all of the falls? What are your thoughts or reflections on this?

I don’t know if it can fully be blamed on Alexandrov getting fired, and Russia pretty much always looks a mess at the Russian Cup and they usually get it mostly together before Worlds. I actually think their team this year is very strong even without one of their key players, and you can’t always blame lack of consistency on coaches. Let’s give them until Worlds, and if they make lots of big mistakes there, then they definitely need to rethink how they operate.

Slightly off-topic, but do you think there is a possiblity of a sequel to “Stick It?”

I don’t think a sequel necessarily, but there’s always room for more gymnastics movies! While “Stick It” is popular among gymnastics fans, I don’t think there was really that much of an audience to make it popular enough for a sequel…otherwise we probably would’ve seen one shortly after the original.

I have heard that Lizzy Leduc lost her scholarship to LSU. Do you know why/how this happened?

We don’t know for sure why she lost her scholarship. It happened around the same time that Sarah Finnegan accepted a scholarship, so the general thought is that LSU ended up not signing Lizzy so they could sign Sarah instead. There was also talk about Lizzy wanting to defer from the 2015-2016 season to the 2016-2017 season so she could contend for an Olympic Games spot for the Philippines. Apparently LSU didn’t know of her plans and so there was a mix-up that led to them assuming she wasn’t interested, though I don’t know how legitimate this is. Either way, she secured a spot at Illinois and should really shine there!

Why did Aliya Mustafina rank so low on bars at the world championships in 2014? I thought she had a pretty good routine.

It was a great routine. Her execution was actually one of the highest execution scores of the day, right behind teammate Daria Spiridionova. However, lots of gymnasts had good execution that day, and Aliya only couldn’t keep up because her difficulty was much lower than we’re used to seeing from her. Had she put up her 6.5 difficulty that she performed this year, she would’ve had bronze with a 15.3. But because her difficulty was a 6.3, she ended up in 6th with a 15.1. That’s how tight the 3rd through 6th place gymnasts were…all within less than two tenths. So yes, she had a good routine, but so did pretty much everyone else.

What’s the deal with Irina Alexeeva? I’ve heard so much about her and her goals of competing for Russia, but why does she want to compete with them when she lives in the US and is a citizen here? Also, when would she turn senior and what are her scores like?

She has actually changed her allegiance to the US and I believe if she goes the elite route, will attempt to compete as a US elite. She generally competes at the WOGA Classic every year so we have a somewhat good idea as to what her skills look like, and she’s not bad. She definitely needs to add a lot of difficulty, and while her beam is promising, she’s not super clean or consistent there just yet. She’s still young, though…born in 2002, she would turn senior in 2018.

Do you have any updates on when or if some of the British gymnasts are coming back from injury? Rebecca Tunney, Ruby Harrold, Gabby Jupp, Teal Grindle…also did Rhyannon Jones retire as I don’t think she has competed this year?

I believe this question is a bit dated (meaning that I take 200 years to answer questions), so you may already know that Rebecca and Ruby are back. Ruby just made the Worlds team, though Rebecca – who competed at British Team Championships and the Osijek Challenge Cup – isn’t quite where she needs to be just yet and doesn’t have her bars back. Gabby is still dealing with her knee injury and has done bars recently but isn’t in total shape just yet. Teal hasn’t competed since last spring I believe, due to back issues and shoulder surgery. She is training again but while injured, she grew quite a bit and is struggling with some of her skills. And Rhyannon, while there was no official retirement announcement, I believe has retired. There’s nothing concrete, but she made a comment somewhat recently on twitter about how she “used to” get measured/weighed at the gym, insinuating that she no longer does because she’s no longer there.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins