It’s time for the 80th 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.

I absolutely love this section and always like the questions on it. Now I have a question, as I was watching the NCAA competition between UCLA and Florida…it was often said that a gymnast was “All-American.” What does this mean and how do gymnasts become All-American gymnasts?

Thank you! All-American status is earned if the gymnast places in the top four during each of the two preliminary sessions at NCAA Championships. These gymnasts are first team All-American while gymnasts who place fifth through eighth in each preliminary session are second team All-American.

Here’s some fantastic information about the Academic All-American awards from Makayla Hipke, who used to run the show behind the scenes for the Oklahoma women’s program.

“A gymnast can also be named an Academic All-American based purely on academic performance. In D1 and D2, the official award is sponsored by Capital One and CoSIDA (the official association for sports information directors). Gymnastics AAAs are awarded as part of the At-Large division, which covers a variety of Olympic sports. Schools nominate their best candidates, which is partly based on a minimum GPA, but at the same time you want high levels of athletic achievement. Then SIDs vote on the candidates, first regionally (these are the Academic All-District teams), and then the first team Academic All-District picks those who advance to a national ballot. A student-athlete can be a first-, second-, or third-team Academic All-American. There is also the Scholastic All-America team, which is awarded by the collegiate coaches association. That’s based purely on a minimum GPA, either for the academic year or cumulatively.”

At the D3 level, only seniors are named Academic All-Americans and it’s based on GPA.

Before 2012 I feel it used to be rare to have more than three falls in a beam final, but this quad’s worlds finals have been so rough. Why do you think that might be?

It’s hard to say why falls are more prevalent in some quads than others but I do agree that this quad has been ridiculous on beam. But I do think that gymnasts going through a relatively low-pressure season aren’t always fully prepared for the pressure of either (a) making the beam final or (b) hitting in the beam final.

Generally what we’ve seen this quad is a bevy of gymnasts who should be making the beam final not get in at all, like Flavia Saraiva, Larisa Iordache, Shang Chunsong, Maria Kharenkova, Aly Raisman, Carlotta Ferlito…these were among the top 20 or so beam workers in the world last year and yet none of them made it in due to issues in qualifications. That’s half the battle – getting the absolute best of the best actually into the final. So then we get to the final with the girls who were solid enough in qualifications to hit there, some of whom – like Simone Biles, Ellie Black, Wang Yan, and Seda Tutkhalyan in 2015 – are among the best in the world while others got in because they’re good but also because they got lucky that some of those with stronger difficulty couldn’t get e-scores to match.

So when you get to finals, you have a mix of ‘the best’ and ‘hit when it counted.’ Some who hit under the pressure of qualifications are now under the pressure of having to hit again and they freak out, which is what happened to the bottom four at finals last year…and honestly wasn’t really shocking, because how many times have we seen Black or Tutkhalyan look fantastic in qualifications but then get to finals and mentally not be as on? It’s a bummer but I don’t think it’s an issue necessarily affecting only this quad…I think because it’s just been year after year this quad, it’s more noticeable.

In a way it sucks to see the strongest on any event not get a medal she should be a shoo-in for, but at the same time I like that it’s never a predictable final. Like, for Sanne Wevers to have such nice work on beam but not stand out as much due to a relative lack of difficulty and then come in and get a medal over gymnasts with difficulty nearly a point higher than hers is pretty awesome and what makes the sport so fun.

Who do you think will make the Rio team for China?

Right now I’m pretty much sold on Shang Chunsong and Wang Yan as locks. I think Yao Jinnan could make it if she’s back to her old self, though apparently she’s struggling a bit in her shoulder recovery and given their depth, it might not happen. I’d also like to see Fan Yilin in the mix and think she should be, and I have very high hopes for Liu Tingting. These five are probably my favorites, and I think there’s a decent balance there…but you never know who will step it up and surprise this year.

How do you know Laurie Hernandez and Norah Flatley will have major upgrades this year? Is this just a prediction? If it’s just a prediction, why aren’t Ragan Smith and Jazmyn Foberg expected to upgrade?

Mostly from what they’ve said in interviews and what we’ve seen on Instagram. Laurie is definitely upgrading everywhere but vault from what I’ve heard, while Norah has shown a ton of potential upgrades for bars and beam on Instagram. Ragan has actually shown a few upgrades as well, like finally working on getting her Patterson dismount into her beam routine, but the talk about Jazzy has been relatively quiet, so I’m not sure what upgrades she’ll have. She did add quite a few last year and they tended to be where she struggled a bit, so maybe the goal for her is perfecting the upgrades she added in 2015 which is why we haven’t gotten wind of anything super crazy she’s adding this year?

Has there always been beam music for NCAA? What is its value to the gymnast — do they choreograph the routine to that music or do they just play any song that gets them “in the zone?” Perhaps both?

Beam music isn’t necessarily a ‘thing’ and you won’t hear it at meets with more than two teams because floor music is constantly playing and you obviously can’t have two different sets of music on at once. But music tends to be playing in the arena during all events – vault, bars, and beam – so it’s become a bit of a tradition to let gymnasts choose the song that plays during beam to help focus them for a lengthy routine. It’s not necessarily choreographed to the music, but rather choreographed to the beat of the song to help a gymnast keep her rhythm throughout her routine. Most gymnasts choose slower or more mellow songs to center them and calm them down, which can really be a big help for those who are nervous beam competitors. Others – like Talia Chiarelli, who uses Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” – go with songs that make them feel fierce or unstoppable to build their confidence on the event.

Some of the best beam workers with great rhythm are able to basically fully choreograph routines to their beam songs and that’s so awesome to watch…Erin Macadaeg is generally quite good at looking perfectly choreographed, as are many of the Oklahoma girls (like Chayse Capps, who is breathtaking). Another thing about beam music is that while most host schools will play music for their own gymnasts, not everyone plays the visiting team’s beam music of choice. It’s become more common in recent years but some host schools will just play whatever’s on their soundtrack du jour while the visiting team is on beam. But again, once you’re out of a dual meet situation and are competing at a quad or at regionals or nationals, you won’t have anything but another team’s floor music playing while you’re on beam.

Why do people believe that Norah Flatley is going to be such a big threat for Rio? She only hit half of her beam routines in 2014. Of course, we didn’t see much of her in 2015 so it’s hard to tell where she is besides small Instagram clips of her training. Do you think if she doesn’t make it to Rio, she will try for Tokyo 2020?

First of all, 2014 was two years ago. There were plenty of people who said “Gabby Douglas is fully out of the picture” after she fell multiple times at nationals in 2011 and less than a year later she was the Olympic all-around champion. A lot can happen in a few months, let alone two whole years. Gymnasts who are inconsistent as juniors or young seniors tend to grow in their confidence and already in 2015 Norah had improved her confidence on beam tremendously at Jesolo. You have to remember that in 2014, she was only 14 years old and working with some of the trickiest beam skills and combinations in the world. It’s not easy to stay composed through that, and still, out of her seven beam routines that year, she only had big mistakes on two of them. That’s a pretty fantastic track record, actually.

Secondly, look at her coach. I brought up the example of Gabby’s insane changes between 2011 and 2012, and guess who just happens to have the same coach as Gabby? Norah Flatley. Chow is a brilliant coach who knows how to transition a gymnast into the Olympic year. If you think Norah was even close to her full potential in 2014 or early 2015, I have news for you! Chow knows what he’s doing and even if he doesn’t create another Olympic all-around champion out of Norah, he’s not going to let the cat out of the bag two years before she’s supposed to be at her best.

Finally, her best event is beam, which was a major weak spot for the U.S. team last year and in 2014. That coupled with what is shaping up to be a pretty awesome bars set could make her a major threat this year. It puts her in direct contention with Madison Kocian, who has bars as a standout event but isn’t as strong on beam and knows she needs to upgrade and get more consistent there if she wants to go to Rio. It’s unlikely a gymnast who can contribute only one event in team finals will go to the Olympics on a five-person team, so if Martha Karolyi ends up going with a traditional UB/BB specialist, someone like Norah – assuming her bars upgrades are going to put her as a contender there – could be a very strong choice, especially now that Kyla Ross is out of the mix.

Of course, there are other ways to build a team that make a UB/BB spot unnecessary. Martha could opt for a UB specialist like Madison and then have someone similar to Aly Raisman in 2012 focusing on the other three, or you could see someone with a Maggie Nichols / Laurie Hernandez combo of strong UB/FX while someone else goes for just beam, or a Brenna Dowell / Elizabeth Price one-two punch of VT/UB. We don’t know. But if UB/BB becomes the desired combo, Norah has a major shot at filling that role if she lives up to the pretty realistic expectations gym fans have.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins