It’s time for the 245th 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 many gymnasts other than Brenna Dowell, if any, have competed eponymous skills in college?

One I know was coincidentally another Oklahoma gymnast, Kelly Garrison, back in the 80s when she performed her front shoulder roll, and another was coincidentally another GAGE gymnast, Terin Humphrey with her 2½ wolf turn on beam! There are others that are probable but harder for me to find to confirm. I haven’t seen every bars set Elise Ray ever did for Michigan, for example…the ones I have seen were pretty watered down and didn’t feature any of her three eponymous skills, but it’s possible she did one of them (I’d guess the stalder shoot) and it’s just not on video anywhere (or it is but I just haven’t seen it). Same goes for Shavahn Church on bars…I’ve never seen her do the Church but it’s possible she threw it at a meet or two.

I saw that Rhonda Faehn is now an assistant coach at Michigan. Do you have any insights as to why she might take an assistant position at this point in her career?

Well, she has been on the job market for a while at this point and was probably just looking for something to do. I’m guessing there were no head coaching positions available to her, but I’ve heard a lot of speculation about her taking over at UCLA given her history there and the fact that she and Miss Val are still close, so this might just be a way for her to ease her way back in. I’ve heard she is consulting at Michigan, not officially the assistant coach, so I doubt it’ll be a full-time job she’s planning on spending the rest of her life doing…but we can also consider the fact that Bev Plocki has been heading the Wolverines for 30 years now so she might be looking forward to retiring soon in which case that’s another big head coach position opening up that she could be up for.

Edit: I wrote this before Michigan let her go just a day after announcing her due to how this hire was received by some people who didn’t want her in a coaching position. My thoughts still stand in terms of why she’d take an assistant position, and I’d like to add that given what we saw go down this weekend, an assistant gig was probably a much easier way for her to test the waters in terms of the response from people. I think if she had gotten a head coaching job right off the bat, it would’ve been even more intense and then the subsequent mess to come out of that with then having to find another head coach and everything would’ve been much worse. But I thought I’d add some other thoughts related to the situation as a whole, now that I’ve had a little bit of time to think about it.

First, I think Michigan’s athletic department did everything completely wrong in this case and can’t believe how they handled it. They knew (or should have known) going in that hiring her was going to create a negative response from people, so they should have either (a) not hired her, or (b) hired her with a plan of action in mind to defend their reasoning for hiring her.

Ultimately, I and many others believe she is one of the only good ones in terms of those who were in charge in 2015, and she made a mistake that haunts her more than people could imagine. Pretty much everyone you talk to in the elite, NCAA, and J.O. gymnastics community has the utmost respect for her, which is why many, many people want to hire her. Many survivors who were on the national team as well as others who worked with her in various capacities are on her side. And based on the response from the Michigan gymnasts on the team – including those who are Nassar survivors – it’s clear they wanted her there as part of their program, and yet again, as with the gymnasts on the national team when Rhonda was let go from USAG in May, athletes’ voices are being ignored and those who stand up for her are being shamed and silenced. 

I hope eventually she’s able to publicly apologize for her mistakes, because I think this is the only way to make things right with those who are most vocally against her, though I’m pretty sure she hasn’t been able to do this in the past due to the legal issues surrounding the case so I’m not sure if some kind of road blocks still might stand in the way. But there are plenty of monsters and truly evil people out there that should be the focus of our time and energy, and a woman handed the biggest sexual abuse scandal in the history of sports only a few weeks into her job who thought she did the right thing and was lied to about it being handled? She’s not one of those monsters. She could have done more, yes, as could many other coaches and people within the inner workings of the national team who are not being treated nearly as violently as she is, but I can’t honestly say that I would have acted any differently thinking I did what I was supposed to and trusting my boss when he said it was being investigated but couldn’t say more due to FBI confidentiality.

It’s a horrible situation, and there are things Rhonda still needs to do to make it right, and I hope that happens soon because I think going through what she’s experienced as both someone who grew up in the abusive USAG culture and then held a high-ranking position during its most tenuous era, she has the most insane perspective of the inner workings of the sport, and she could really be in a unique position to offer insight that would help make meaningful, lasting changes to a community on the path to healing.

As a side note, when I’m critical of people going on the attack with Rhonda right now, I’m not talking about survivors criticizing Michigan for hiring her. Many survivors and their families emotionally blame her for contributing to conditions that led to further abuse and it is their right to deal with these feelings, even if she is not legally responsible. I absolutely understand why some survivors and their parents are still not ready to let things settle, and they have every right to make their concerns heard. I’m talking about people who are complete outsiders in this case who are attacking anyone who even remotely supports Rhonda, including many survivors who are on her side. These survivors also have a right to be heard, and it’s incredibly damaging to discount their experiences and relationships with Rhonda, who was side-by-side with many survivors during the healing process and continues to be a source of strength and support for them.

I really loved Nancy Armour’s piece about “whose voice counts” published yesterday on USA Today, which better articulates my feelings about the situation more than I could ever dream of, so I recommend checking it out!

In the 70s, it seems that loads of uneven bars routines had hop pirouettes not in handstand. Are these in the current code? Why and when were they removed?

To get credit for a higher difficulty pirouette today, they have to finish in handstand, so that includes hop pirouettes. That rule didn’t exist then so you had a few release pirouettes that were horizontal or even under the bar, but I believe as doing skills to handstand became more common, maybe in the mid 80s if I had to guess, they went from being common to basically being a requirement at the elite level, and so the non-handstand swinging skills like pirouettes not to handstand began to be phased out (though they’re still in the code, just at a lower value).

If a gymnast does two back handsprings on beam into her dismount, can that count as her acro series?

No, the acro series has to be separate from the dismount series.

Why did the U.S. put Alicia Sacramone on beam in the team finals in 2008 when Sam Peszek was known as the beam queen?

Sam was injured in Beijing. They only used her on bars in prelims, and then they didn’t use her at all in finals because she wasn’t top three on bars, and because she couldn’t contribute anywhere else due to her injury.

I’ve been rewatching U.S. nationals and it’s so interesting to remember what the stories were leading up to London. Heading into nationals two years before 2020, what are the major stories? Who will get Bross’d or Memmel’d and struggle to stay healthy?

Whatever stories we got this summer are the stories going into Tokyo in the same way Rebecca Bross was a huge story in 2010 and then Jordyn Wieber coming up as the junior who was going to beat her…I remember people in 2011 talking about nationals being amazing because we were getting “the next Shawn and Nastia” with both Jordyn and Rebecca competing. It’s funny/sad to look back in hindsight and see how much can change in a year. But in 2014, Simone Biles was the story and she stayed the story right through to Rio, so you never know…sometimes those who are expected to be “the news” stay exactly in that spot while others don’t work out. Anything can happen in two years so the story now could be completely irrelevant two years from now, or everything can go as planned. Right now Simone is the story, and unless something goes drastically wrong, she’ll probably still be the story in 2020, but you never know. As for who will get “Bross’d”…I mean…it’s impossible to say? We can’t exactly predict who will have a major season-ending injury in 2019 and not be able to get back to top shape.

I adore this current batch of GAGE gymnasts. Their lines are exquisite and perhaps only matched by someone like Riley McCusker. What do you think the chances are that we’ll see a GAGE gymnast make it to Tokyo 2020 barring injury and with a bit more difficulty added?

This is the one thing GAGE has always done consistently, producing beautiful quality gymnasts every single quad. Sometimes they’re overshadowed by other strong national-level gymnasts, but I’m glad both Kara Eaker and Leanne Wong have found a way to stand out in a deep field. The timing and circumstances are just “right” for them at the moment, or were last year and probably could remain that way this year and going forward to 2020. I think both have the potential to make it to 2020, with Leanne a potential top all-arounder with the ability to make the four-person team while Kara could end up being an option for a non-nominative spot and going for beam, but it’s impossible to say if they’ll actually make it, as there will absolutely be a lot of competition for all of the available spots in 2020 and even if both are brilliant at that point in time, if the circumstances around them aren’t fully in their favor, it’s not a guarantee.

Would it be possible for a gymnast to do the following passes in a single routine: whip whip double arabian, double layout, triple full, double tuck or pike?

Yup, entirely possible. In fact, it’s basically a mash-up of Aly Raisman’s routines, minus the whips.

Will there still be the U.S. nationals and classic this year if USA Gymnastics declares bankruptcy? Who pays for them?

Well, they declared bankruptcy, but at a restructuring level that still allows them to stay up and running without shutting anything down completely. In a worst-case scenario, if everything DID get fully shut down, the USOC would likely take over the elite programs in the interim and would probably hold some sort of national competition…maybe not in an arena for spectators since that would be the least of their priorities with nationals used to determine the national team and later the worlds team, but they’d probably host something at the training center just for the purpose of determining a champion and selecting teams. I don’t see it coming to that, though.

Do you think Emma Malabuyo and Maile O’Keefe are contenders for 2020?

It’s hard to say right now because we don’t know how they look and haven’t seen either in about a year. I think based on their trajectories and how they looked in early 2018, Emma looked like she had some real potential for 2020, but it’s impossible to predict when any gymnast is going to peak and it’s possible that we saw her hit hers. I do think Maile has reached her physical limits as an elite gymnast, so I don’t really see her as being a top contender for 2020 at this point, but I hope she stays in elite and continues to slay as one of the most consistent gymnasts we’ve seen in the past few years! And you never know…I know she has grown a lot over the past couple of years but it’s always possible that a gymnast who has ‘peaked’ at one time can come back and reach a new peak when she’s older and used to her body.

What is Evy Schoepfer’s 2018 floor music?

She used “Rise and Shine” by Deorro in 2018.

What are your thoughts on concentration pause deductions in NCAA? Do you think it will change beam routines, or do you think judges will ignore it?

I think the biggest problem is that some judges will ignore it (usually the judges who are most commonly assigned to top programs who also ignore every other ‘minor’ issue in a routine) but other judges will take them seriously, leading to an even wider gap between ‘the best’ and ‘the rest’ which is unfair.

How do you explain Brooklyn Moors’ struggle with consistency? Has she ever hit four-for-four?

Yeah she has, most notably in qualifications at worlds this year. I think she struggles under pressure at times, but she always seems to bring it when it truly matters, especially when it’s for her team. I think she also uses a lot of the early season meets to try out more difficult skills than she’s used to, and that can obviously lead to falls as well, whether she’s not fully ready to add it or just gets nervous about doing something new and gets too much in her head. But at a competition like worlds, she does what she knows she’s capable of, and she’s more than fine.

Can gymnasts choose any floor music they want as long as they get permission or do they have to pick from a pre-approved list?

In terms of the FIG, yes, there are no real restrictions. There are rules about music, like no lyrics and getting deducted if you don’t have speed changes and things like that, but they can show up with pretty much anything they want and as long as their coach or national team coordinator or choreographer approves it, they can go for it.

Why do you think the DTY stayed valued at 5.8 over three quads? Was it maybe undervalued at first? Do skills generally have dramatic changes in value from code to code or is the Amanar just not a good comparison because it has been lowered in every code?

I think it was almost like the ‘control’ vault in the Yurchenko family and other vaults around it were changed if need be, but the DTY stayed constant to accommodate all of the other changes. Like, when the Amanar went from a 6.5 to a 6.3, it didn’t have to be like that. They could’ve just raised the DTY, just like how when they took the Yurchenko 1½ from a 5.5 down to a 5.3, they could’ve just lowered the DTY. But it’s almost like they purposely kept the DTY steady at the 5.8 and adjusted everything around it. They only lowered it to a 5.4 this quad because they lowered every vault by about 0.4 on average to accommodate the decrease in CR on other events, and now they seem to be happy with every vault in the Yurchenko family being 0.4 apart to kind of even the playing field and make it more logical, but I could see them continuing to use the DTY (as the most common higher-valued Yurchenko vault in elite) as the control vault if they feel like they need to balance things out in the future.

Can walk-ons get academic scholarships or any other kind of scholarships? How often does this happen?

Yes, usually after they’ve competed for two or three years, if the head coach thinks they’ve done a great service to the school by consistently being part of a lineup, they’ll often get a full or partial scholarship for the remainder of their careers. It’s definitely a nice way to get recognition, especially when a walk-on goes above and beyond and ends up even out-performing many scholarship athletes. There are a bunch of fantastic gymnasts who have earned scholarships over the past few years, but I loved seeing Sonya Meraz get one because for the first three years of her career, she performed on all four events week in and week out while the rest of the team was always injured, and when they finally had depth her senior year it meant we didn’t get to see her much anymore, but it was clear that she had been the unsung hero of that team and seeing her get a scholarship was one of my favorite things to happen.

Do you think Jade Carey could realistically challenge Simone Biles this quad?

Not really. I think she could be a good number two on vault and floor, but while an incredibly powerful gal with some great work on her top events, I don’t see her or anyone else coming even remotely close to what Simone can do on these two events.

I’ve noticed that girls in the J.O. system and younger juniors in elite tend to walk on and off the floor in an odd tiptoe fashion. Is there a reason the younger girls do this, but the habit gets broken when they’re older?

Hahaha, when I was at Gymnix a couple years ago, the little girls who walked at the head of the lines to introduce the rotation groups were all about five or six years old and they not only walked onto the podium with the rotations like that, but anytime I saw them anywhere near or around the arena, they were doing the walk. I remember doing it as a kid in gymnastics, and we called it the ‘prissy walk’ at my clearly anti-feminist gym, but I’ve also heard it referred to as just a ‘gymnastics walk’ as well.

It’s HILARIOUS and over the top as hell, but it’s how coaches teach presentation, and it’s in no way a requirement within any sort of code or judging body, but most gyms will have their gymnasts do it when walking on and off the floor throughout their entire J.O. careers so that they’re constantly aware of and practicing presentation. Once girls become teenagers, many will just stop doing it because by that point they know the drill and don’t need to keep ‘practicing presentation’ by doing the most pretentious walk that has ever existed, but occasionally you do see some girls in elite doing it…mostly the younger ones, but occasionally you see it from the ones whose coaches are like “I don’t care if you’re 19, this is how we walk.”

What is your favorite apparatus to watch?

Bars. I love how nonstop and to the point it is, and I love that while many people see certain body types or aesthetic as “best” for bars, I love finding gymnasts with different qualities who still stand out on the event. And I love them ALL. Whereas on beam and floor I’m drawn to a more specific type of gymnast (usually one who is effortlessly fluid on beam, and one who knows how to perform and emote on floor), on bars, as long as someone is clean or at least paying attention to technique, I am into every single style and love how different one routine can be from the next. I love Fan Yilin as much as I love Becky Downie, and actually, sometimes I don’t even really care about the tidiness of a routine if it’s exciting enough. This is literally the one event where I love skill-chuckers with absolutely zero attention to detail…not that I think they should be topping the E-score charts or winning medals but if they can do something insane enough, I’m fully on board and don’t care what it looks like. I can’t WAIT for the first gymnast who is gonna go for a Kovacs and I will not care in the slightest how it looks because I will be so excited to see it happen.

I read that Rutgers asked for – and got – a video review in their first meet that resulted in the team score changing. Apparently these are really rare. What happened that triggered this? What are the rules for video reviews and why are they so rare?

I’m not exactly sure what happened there or what they reviewed. All I heard from someone there was that “coaches said the final score was under video review” but that doesn’t make any sense…it must have been that one routine was under review and that could change the final score? Inquiries happen pretty commonly; coaches generally have a little stack of inquiry forms at meets and they’re generally responsible and use them only if they really feel like something is way off. They could’ve done a video review for an out-of-bounds penalty that was given to the gymnast but the coach didn’t see her go out-of-bounds or something like that, but without knowing the circumstances surrounding what happened, I can’t say for sure. That’s just a common example of what gets reviewed. I haven’t seen anyone from Rutgers talking about it so I doubt it was a huge deal, maybe just a single routine that had to be reviewed?

What does being All-American mean in NCAA?

There are a few different categories of All-American.

The first is regular season All-American. This is determined once the regular season RQS rankings are in, with the top eight in each individual category (all-around, vault, bars, beam, and floor) making first team All-American and those ranked 9th through 16th making second team.

Then you have postseason All-American. Here, the top four in each individual category in the two preliminary sessions get first team honors, while those who place fifth through eighth in each session gets second team (so again, you have a total of eight first team and eight second team, but this is a one-shot deal where the only performance that matters is that one prelims performance, whereas regular season is about hitting consistently for the 12 or so regular season meets so they’re ranked at the top when the season ends).

Finally, there’s Academic All-American, which is based purely on academic performance. Schools nominate their best candidates, first regionally (these are the Academic All-District teams) and then the first team Academic All-District picks those who advance to the national ballot. A student-athlete can be first, second, or third team Academic All-American.

There’s also the Scholastic All-American team, which is awarded by the collegiate coaches association, based on a minimum GPA. At the Division III level, only seniors are named Academic All-Americans, and it’s based just on GPA.

Nicole in The Man in the High Castle. Played by Svetlana Khorkina, right?

Absolutely yes.

Do you think Nina Derwael could medal in Tokyo?

Absolutely! The field will beef up a bit by then but as others are going to be adding to their routines, Nina has a few more skills and combos she’s capable of as well, so she’ll be among the top gymnasts in that field.

What happened to Elena Arenas?

She dropped back down to level 10 for the 2018 season, capping it off with a 12th-place finish in the Senior B group at J.O. nationals (in addition to taking the state and regional vault titles, as well as the state all-around, bars, and floor titles). She still has two more years in J.O. before heading to LSU, and she kicked off her 2019 season at The Gala invitational in North Carolina in the first weekend of the month, winning the all-around, bars, and beam in addition to getting second on vault and floor in her division.

What are the requirements for a ring leap to not incur any deductions? Does the back foot actually have to touch the head?

No, it doesn’t have to physically make contact, but it has to look connected basically. To get credited with a ring shape, the gymnast has to actually make a ring shape, which involves throwing back the head and arching the back because the leg position on its own isn’t the only piece of the puzzle. Most have a nice leg shape and might dip their head back a bit, but if they don’t arch their backs to create that ring shape with their leg and torso working together, many judges won’t credit it. If she has the leg position correct, extended feet, her back arched, and her head thrown back, even if her feet are a couple of inches from her head, they’ll still credit it as a ring.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins