It’s time for the 79th 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.

How much is an international score expected to drop compared to a domestic score? And when picking the Rio team, is Martha Karolyi more concerned with international or domestic scores? Looking at Aly Raisman specifically…when is it a red flag to Martha that a gymnast’s score is significantly dropping while abroad?

It depends on the gymnast, honestly. Some gymnasts are scored evenly at home and abroad, some get higher scores at home, and some actually get higher scores abroad. Because scoring is different at every meet, it’s impossible to say “okay, her scoring at Jesolo was X but her scoring at a world cup event was Y and her scoring at nationals was Z.” It’s hard to translate scoring from meet to meet because a stronger routine at Jesolo maybe got three tenths lower than a weaker routine at nationals. Scoring comes into play, but I think ranking is more important than scoring when choosing a team, and even though Aly’s beam dropped dramatically between home and at worlds, it was still the third-best beam score in the country and that was with being downgraded from around a 6.5 d-score to a 5.8 due to her nervous routine. In team finals, it was the second-best beam score in the U.S. and the fifth-best for everyone who competed beam that day.

That’s what you have to analyze. Beam judging in general was tough in Glasgow, and Martha Karolyi, Aly, and her coaches hopefully got the hint that trying to build a big d-score solely using connections wasn’t going to work because one or two little pauses ruins your entire score. I think scores aside, if Aly is consistently ranked the second or third best on the event this year, that matters more than getting a 15 at home and a 14 abroad. Martha is also taking into account the fact that Aly is also a top contributor on floor, which isn’t as much of an issue in terms of home and abroad scoring, aside from that first day at worlds where she had an uncharacteristic struggle, and if vault gets under control, she has that going for her as well. Basically a lot more comes into play than domestic vs international scoring, though I do hope judges in the U.S. take beam start values more seriously this year and don’t give credit for connections that won’t get credit at the Games.

Ma Yanhong had a very difficult bars dismount named after her, an F in the Code of Points. Has anyone done it since? Are there any other instances of elements not being performed since the originator did it?

I can’t think of anyone who has done it since, though with that dismount in particular, it’s likely because the style of bars has changed so much…her dismount fit the style of “old school” bars more with the clear hip and then the brief belly beat-esque hecht with the whole leaning on the bar thing before going into the dismount…you could do it off of bars today, but in the U.S. anyway there’s no real skill progression that leads to this I guess? Gymnasts learn giants and so most dismounts come from a giant swing, as opposed to the old school style (which is why I always get excited when I see things like toe front dismounts like the Moors). There are definitely other “one-and-done” skills, at least when it comes to competing skills on the elite level…like, maybe no one competed the Ma dismount after her but perhaps some toyed with the idea or attempted it in the gym? This is a way more recent example but I know for sure no one has done the Nabieva on bars…and then of course the Biles on floor, to get even more recent. 🙂 But off the top of my head I can’t think of any skill that was done in the 80s or 90s and then never repeated. Did anyone else do the Teza on beam?

Who do you think will replace Martha Karolyi as the U.S. national team coordinator after Rio?

I think it will come down to the two obvious choices…Valeri Liukin, who has been running the developmental program for a few years now, and Rhonda Faehn, who stepped in as Martha’s second-in-command last summer. I could see one of them getting the ‘big job’ in title but wouldn’t be surprised to see them working basically hand-in-hand with a lot of support from other members of the women’s national program since it’s going to be such a big takeover.

Why doesn’t Simone Biles compete uneven bars in the team final events?

Generally because she’s not considered to be in the top three on the event. She could be, and is sometimes, but at worlds this year the U.S. had Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian as the two best, and then both Simone and Maggie Nichols were kind of similar to fit into the third spot. Simone could’ve been the third option, but why use her when she’s already done one full all-around performance, and has to do all-around and three event finals coming up when you have Maggie with a similar score and not competing as much? In the end, Simone got a 14.666 in qualifications and Maggie got a 14.8 in the team final, so Maggie was definitely the third-best at worlds and Simone was fourth so in addition to it making sense to give Simone a break, it also made sense going by who was the higher-scoring gymnasts.

How many Africans from the African continent in total will participate in Rio? It seems no one qualified directly and it will depend on the FIG to nominate the spots for African gymnasts to participate in the Summer Olympics?

I was actually really bummed that Kirsten Beckett of South Africa underperformed at worlds because I totally thought she was going to qualify to the test event. The African continent did qualify into one spot at the test event, however, with the former French national gymnast Farah Boufadene landing a spot for Algeria. South Africa has the third reserve spot for the test event thanks to Claudia Cummins’ finish, so they could have a representative there if other countries have injuries. I think Boufadene can definitely qualify to the Games on her own if she hits, so in that case the FIG will only have to nominate one spot for African gymnasts to participate in Rio (and that spot will likely go to South Africa).

How long do you think it will take college gymnasts to upgrade their vaults now that the FTY has been devalued? What are some other high-scoring options?

Already many are upgrading beyond the FTY, and if you want a good example of 10.0 diversity, you really need to check out Cal, which has five different 10.0 vaults! The Yurchenko 1.5 was a common upgrade for many who did the FTY, and there’s also the Yurchenko half if it’s done Arabian-style with the twist before the flip…according to Greg Marsden, it was an oversight that this vault and the FTY in a piked position weren’t downgraded, and the Yurchenko half vs Yurchenko Arabian is already becoming a problem with judges rewarding non-Arabian vaults a 10.0 start value so I’d expect this to change for the next season.

Other common 10.0 vaults include the handspring pike half-out, front handspring front pike, the tsuk full (a tsuk half is also out of a 10 but I don’t think I’ve seen it), Yurchenko full with a back tuck or pike off, Yurchenko half-on front pike, and the Yurchenko half-on front tuck or pike half.  Of course, you also have Ashleigh Gnat doing the DTY, which of course is out of a 10.

Here’s a comprehensive list of all vaults that start from a 10:

Handspring Entry	• Front double full • Front 2.5 • Front triple full • Arabian back tuck half • Front tuck full • Front tuck 1.5 • Front pike half • Arabian back pike • Front layout • Front layout half • Arabian back layout	• Front layout full • Front layout 1.5 (Rudi) • Front double full • Front double tuck (Produnova) • Half-on 2.5 off • Full-on 1.5 off • Full-on double full off • Full-on front tuck • Full-on front pike • Full-on front layout
Handspring Springboard Entry	• Front tuck half • Front pike	• Front double full
Tsuk Entry	• Back tuck 1.5 • Back pike full • Arabian front pike half • Back layout half • Arabian front layout • Back layout full	• Arabian front layout half • Back layout 1.5 • Back layout double full • Back layout 2.5 • Back double tuck
Yurchenko Entry	• Back tuck double full • Back pike full • Arabian front pike half • Arabian front layout • Arabian front layout half • Back layout 1.5 • Back layout double full • Back layout 2.5 (Amanar) • Back double tuck • Half-on double full • Half-on front tuck half • Half-on arabian back tuck • Half-on front tuck 1.5	• Half-on front pike • Half-on front pike half • Half-on arabian back pike • Half-on front layout • Half-on front layout half • Half-on arabian back layout • Full-on double full • Full-on back tuck • Full-on arabian front tuck • Full-on back pike • Full-on back layout • 1.5-on full off

I’m new to NCAA and one thing that strikes me is how the girls all seem so extroverted. It’s all so bouncy and loud and in your face…I’d hate it! Do you think there is a place in NCAA for girls who are shyer or more introverted? Maybe schools that are more suited?

I feel the same way…I’ve been to a few NCAA meets and felt overwhelmed for the girls! Especially at regionals and nationals where you have six teams at a time warming up…because during warm-ups they’re all screaming and chanting and I just can’t with that, as an extremely introverted person. It exhausts me just watching them be that outgoing, lol. I think generally you just have to deal with it…maybe you’re not as loud or screamy during group efforts but you still cheer for your teammate? I always thought Brenna Dowell looked a little overwhelmed with all of the team stuff, like she was heavily participating but was a bit more reserved in her celebrating. Overall, Stanford seems like they have the most introverted kids…at the LSU regional a couple of years ago they were doing the same warm-up madness as everyone else but playing improv games like “big booty” instead of just casually jumping up and down and screaming. They seem like funny nerdy kids in general, and definitely have a few more outgoing personalities but for the most part they are definitely more reserved in their celebrations and when they’re trying to pump each other up or whatever. Unfortunately the nature of team sports is geared more toward extroverts, but those who are more lowkey just figure out what works for them (and probably go home and sleep/sit in the bath for 9 hours to decompress after, haha).

Do you know why Emily Gaskins switched her commitment? She’s a Gator fan through and through!

I don’t know the exact reasoning behind her change but sometimes a coach is a gymnast’s biggest reason for choosing a program…if it’s between Florida and LSU, for example, and everything’s amazing, the facilities, the team, the location, and you have to choose, it’s possible that it comes down to the coach, and perhaps she connected really well with Rhonda Faehn. So when Faehn left the program, maybe she had second thoughts because she didn’t know Jenny Rowland as well? I figured when Faehn left we’d see at least one or two change of heart decisions from verbal commits who wanted Florida for Faehn…with Gaskins it’s a bit surprising given that she’s from Florida, is a Gator fan since birth, her sisters went there, etc…but being a fan of a program doesn’t necessarily translate into that program being the best option for you.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins