It’s time for the 250th 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.

What’s the best Olympic finish for a country of all time? The U.S. was super dominant in 2016, winning four golds, four silvers, and one bronze. Is that the record since two-per-country was introduced?

The team with the most medals ever was the Soviet Union in 1960 with a total of 15 medals…aka they won pretty much every single medal available with the exception of the gold on beam. Since two-per-country was introduced in 2004, you’re correct in saying that the United States in 2016 has the record, with a total of nine medals. Prior to that, the record belonged to the U.S. in 2008, with a total of eight.

Can you give me more insight on who to watch in Division III gymnastics? How does postseason work?

For a little primer on Division III…there are two conferences, the NCGA East (which is all schools on the east coast) and WIAC (which is all schools located in Wisconsin and Minnesota). Teams pretty much stay in their own regions during the regular season, though occasionally you’ll see a D3 team compete at a quad meet with teams from other divisions (I went to a quad at Rutgers once and it was all D1 programs and then one D3 team).

At the end of regular season, postseason involves regionals and nationals. Regionals are also basically a conference championships for each of the two conferences, so you get the NCGA East regional and a WIAC regional. All teams in each conference get to compete at regionals, and the top three teams from each regional qualify to NCGA Championships, which are nationals. Individual all-arounders and event specialists can also qualify to nationals from regionals, and you generally see pretty much every D3 program represented at nationals whether via team or individual qualification.

There are two days of competition at D3 nationals, with the first being the team competition (all six teams that qualify compete in the final; unlike NCAA Championships, there is no semifinal), and the second being the individual apparatus finals. The all-arounders compete during the team competition as well, and the all-around champion is determined during the team competition…however, since there’s no semifinals, the apparatus specialists who get to compete at NCGAs are determined at regionals, so everyone who qualifies to nationals on an event gets to compete in event finals.

Brockport is often the team to watch in the NCGA East, but Ithaca is also usually pretty huge, and both Springfield and Ursinus tend to be close behind, though Ursinus has seemed to struggle a little this season so far. They’re generally fantastic on beam, though, so hopefully they find their groove again! In the WIAC, Whitewater and La Crosse – both University of Wisconsin programs – are pretty big. The other UW programs are often on the same page and tend to score in the mid-to-high 180s, and I remember being surprised last year to see Hamline (a Minnesota school) end up at nationals, which was awesome…I think it was their first nationals in about a decade and it was quite an upset to see them get top three at regionals.

Recently, Centenary became a D3 program, but they still compete as part of the MIC conference (which has a few lower-ranked D1 schools as well as two D2 programs) and they generally continue to compete within that conference and at the USAG Championships, which are nationals for the Ivy League (D1) programs as well as all of the D2 programs.

Will the new FIG rules affect Irina Alexeeva?

No. Firstly, anyone currently registered under an ‘adopted’ country is basically grandfathered in, but secondly, Irina was never a U.S. citizen registered with the FIG, and she is actually from Russia. I think the new rules are meant to weed out the country hoppers who are like “well, I can’t make my own country’s team, so I’m going to look for some country where I’d be number one and get in that way even if I have zero ties to that country” (like Kylie Dickson and Alaina Kwan in 2015) or those who have ties to multiple countries and bounce around between them year after year (like Oleg Stepko and Olivia Cimpian). There are still going to be many legitimate cases where gymnasts live and train in one country but compete for another because they have some sort of tie to it, either having been born there or having a parent born there. But a lot of these nonsense jumps from place to place are going to be cut out, which has been a long time coming, honestly.

Kyla Bryant consistently scores 0.05 to 0.075 lower on bars than I’d expect. What do you think she’s being deducted for?

Stanford tends to get lower scores than other schools in the Pac 12 for some reason. Elizabeth Price had many routines over the years that got close to a tenth lower than they would have elsewhere. It’s hard to say what she gets deducted for without seeing a specific routine and a score to go with it, so I looked at one of her routines that got a 9.85 and think the same routine would’ve gotten a 9.9 in the SEC or at other Pac 12 schools so yeah, those judges were probably tougher on the little things than they are elsewhere. Alex McMurtry used to get 10s on bars all the time with piked hips in her swing, for example, and Sarah Finnegan gets 10s with bent elbows…I feel like judges who go to the top five schools don’t deduct for these things at all whereas smaller programs get attacked for them.

Why were Adeline Kenlin and Olivia Dunne not invited to the national team camp this month?

Usually the January camp is when everyone is invited because it’s a skills camp as opposed to a camp that determines assignments, so without knowing for certain, it’s my guess that they were invited but for whatever reason chose not to attend.  

Edit: I spoke to Olivia’s coach who said she was invited but is currently in a boot and they want to make sure her ankle fully heals before she’s back at camp!

Do you think Ashton Locklear will have trouble qualifying to classics or nationals without a second strong event? When will she return to camps/competition?

She’s planning on returning to camp this spring, and also said she’s working on bringing floor back, but I honestly don’t think that will help her either way if she’s not doing a full all-around set. She either needs to be a top-four all-arounder or consistently in the top two on bars. She’ll still probably easily qualify to classics and nationals, but making teams is going to be difficult for her.

How do you think the U.S. will consider alternate spots differently for Tokyo than they have in the past? If a team athlete is injured, can one of the individuals take her place? Can an alternate take an individual spot?

Yes, if the athlete is injured before the deadline (aka 24 hours before qualifications usually) then they can use either one of the individual athletes or an actual alternate to take her place. The problem with bringing in an outside alternate is that they have to strip the injured athlete of her credentials which the program is reluctant to do for some reason, so being able to bring in an individual athlete for the team could be what makes the most sense. I know in the past they preferred to not even replace an injured athlete, so this could be a work-around? I think they’ll still probably consider three alternates like they have in the past, but this time around they’ll definitely want two of them to be the next-best all-arounders in case they do need to bring one in, and then the third can maybe be a specialist who can take over for the non-nominative individual if necessary.

Will Simone Biles compete in the other world cups because it’s a series and she’s competing at Stuttgart? Also, the overall top gymnast earns an extra $100,000 so will Simone not be able to win that if she only competes at one world cup?

No, the U.S. will split the world cup assignments up between four separate gymnasts. If Simone only competes at one world cup, she likely won’t have enough points for the overall series title, especially if other countries send the same gymnast to various events. Most countries break it up to give experience to a variety of athletes, but Elisabeth Seitz did three world cups last year, so her three point totals would likely beat Simone’s one meet.

Is a split leg double layout harder than a normal one? How is the split leg differentiated from a leg separation that would be deducted? Would other split leg skills work in elite? Are other positions allowed besides tuck, pike, and layout?

I personally think it would be harder because having the split legs makes the first flip less aerodynamic, so you’d need a lot more power going in. As for the leg separation, even though the legs are apart, the athlete still has to be in control of them. They’re being held in an actual position and aren’t just flailing around, and even though they’re meant to be split, if the gymnast shows a lack of control in holding that position, it’d be a deduction.

Split leg skills aren’t currently in the code for elite, though gymnasts used to compete them in elite. Gymnasts used to also compete straddle saltos, but right now the only body positions allowed are tuck, pike, and layout.

Did UCLA change their minds about wearing Under Armour leos this year?

I believe so…not sure what happened and I didn’t see any news about the change, but it’s definitely something I’m happy about! I like that they have more unique leos than most other programs.

Has there ever been a case where a collegiate team has missed regionals because of lower scoring over the course of a season? The disparity between the SEC/Pac 12 and other conferences might make this an issue.

Oh, I’m sure there has been a case of this, but it has very little to do with the Pac 12 or the SEC. The top 36 teams make it to regionals, and whether LSU, Florida, UCLA, Utah, and others are scoring a 198 with some overscoring or a more realistic 197.5, this has roughly zero effect on the teams battling it out for those last few spots in the top 36. At that point, their own crazy home scoring becomes an issue, and in some cases, it’s FAR crazier than anything you see in the big conferences.

Last year, Central Michigan was borderline for regionals, and their average was in the neighborhood of a 195.5, but at the last regular meet of the season that counted for the RQS – the MAC Championships hosted at Central Michigan – they got a miraculous 197.025, about a point higher than any other meet that season, and even though that score was dropped for the RQS, it allowed them to count their next-highest home score, which secured them the 36th spot in the rankings and a place at regionals.

I used CMU as an example because while it was a fantastic meet, it was one of the most blatant score blow-ups I’ve ever seen, and routines that would’ve been a 9.7 one week were suddenly going 9.9+ which like, fine, if you’re going to ignore smaller form things, at least be consistent with it and over-score EVERY week! But there were a few teams last season hovering around the 36 mark that would all of a sudden have a season best that was way higher than usual and you can tell it’s just these last-minute pushes to make it in. It’s weird because judges are generally impartial and they come from all over, so it’s not like they’d have any particular tie to that school for the most part, but I think subconsciously judges want to reward teams at home because the home crowd is pulling for high scores, the atmosphere is nuts, and judges are kind of low-key influenced by this.

But no, as ludicrous as some of the scoring is in the top five and in some other big conference programs, it has no effect on whether a borderline top-36 team will make it or not. Like, LSU and UCLA getting more realistic home scores last year wouldn’t have helped Utah State or North Carolina make regionals.

I thought Trinity Thomas was a lock for LSU and UCLA but she ended up at Florida. How did that all happen?

She probably just wanted to go to Florida and chose that program over others. I’m sure every program wanted her so at that point it comes down to what she wants and prioritizes. I actually heard at one point that Georgia was looking like an option for her so I’m sure every program she looked into was hoping she’d choose them.

What current skills do you hate for each event?

On vault I dislike a majority of front layout vaults because most gymnasts can’t get the layout position correct and they end up being either super arched or super piked…or sometimes both throughout the course of the vault. On bars, there isn’t anything I really dislike. On beam, I don’t outright dislike wolf turns and think some are done super well, but I don’t like the lazy back-to-back wolf turns (though I understand why coaches want to exploit that loophole). And on floor, really nothing, but I don’t love when a skill’s rotation or landing is cheated using a jump or a punch-out skill.

Dvora Meyers’ essay in favor of a union for gymnasts was very interesting. Would there be some way to form an athlete’s organization that could represent both amateurs and pros, and provide basic support like legal representation? Have athletes spoken out in favor of forming some kind of organization like this?

No athletes have spoken out about forming something like this, though it’s been something I’ve wanted them to do for a while, especially when Rhonda Faehn was let go last spring and the gymnasts began their #WeStandTogether campaign to show that the athletes were standing up against something USAG decided for them. I think it would be awesome for the national team athletes to get a lawyer or someone to advocate for them so they could at least have more of a say in decisions affecting them at the national team level. The fact that athletes are the money makers for the organization and yet are represented by people that have every interest at heart EXCEPT theirs is beyond insane to me and needs to change.

Is Sydney Townsend still on Michigan’s team after what happened?

Yes, she’s still on the team, but I believe she may be taking the season off while they work out the legal issues and what implications they’d have on her.

Why do college gymnasts do the Yurchenko 1½ instead of the DTY if they want a 10.0 start value? A lot of elites already have a DTY and a blind landing can make the 1½ harder. Is it that much more difficult to do the DTY?

I think if someone has the power to do a DTY, then yes, a DTY is inherently going to be easier to do than a Yurchenko 1½, because the landing makes it a bit easier…but there are some gymnasts who just don’t have the power/strength to throw a DTY week after week, and so they focus on the 1½ instead. The landing does often become an issue for many, but for those who can perfect it – and many can! – it’s better for them physically to be doing it compared to a DTY, which would require a bit more strength and energy as well as a harder landing, which most gymnasts wouldn’t be able to handle on a weekly basis. From an outsider’s perspective, it’s easy to say “is it REALLY that much harder to just throw an extra half twist?” but from a gymnast’s perspective…YES IT IS!

Is Jaymes Marshall injured? Is she still doing elite?

I honestly haven’t heard anything about her in quite some time. I know she was injured last year, which caused her to miss competitions in 2018, so I’d imagine she’s still injured now, especially because I haven’t seen her in any level 10 competitions so far this season either, which suggests she’s likely still interested in continuing with elite once she’s healthy enough to do so.

Do you know what the deal is with Aly Raisman and GK Elite? They ended her contract with her even though it was supposed to go through 2020 because of her suing USA Gymnastics. Is that true?

I haven’t heard anything about this personally, but since GK is basically joined at the hip with USAG, I’m not surprised. I think without USAG, GK would be a muuuuuuch smaller company than it is now. Thanks to the USAG partnership, GK used to basically be the only leo company in the U.S. with a few tiny ones on the side, and it’s really only been recently that we’ve seen smaller leo companies start to become bigger thanks to social media and influencer marketing making some local brands a bit more nationally recognized. Even though it reflects poorly on companies that are tied to USAG right now – which is why so many larger brands have pulled out of sponsorship contracts – I think GK benefits more from their partnership with USAG than USAG does, and so it’s not surprising that they are siding with USAG and not survivors that used to once rep GK.

What happens if an NCAA gymnast gets injured mid-routine and can’t finish it?

She’s scored for the portion of her routine up to where she fell, and then the next gymnast goes up. That’s the benefit of six-up, five count…they can have someone fall on the first skill and basically get a courtesy score, but they still have five other full scores to fall back on.

Is there a Jesolo competition in 2019?

Yup! It’s being held from February 28 through March 3.

Now that Alex Naddour has been cleared by SafeSport, will he be a contender for the pommels spot again? Or did that whole ordeal taint his prospects?

I honestly think he has to be done, really, because although he’s been cleared, his reputation has likely been pretty much destroyed at this point so it’s going to be hard for him to come back now being in the spotlight for something unrelated to gymnastics and likely having to face media attention that will focus on his accusations. But you never know…maybe he truly believes in his innocence and therefore doesn’t care about what other people think?

It’s tricky because someone being cleared by SafeSport doesn’t necessarily mean they’re “innocent” of anything they may have done…it just means that the SafeSport investigation couldn’t conclusively get the evidence needed to suspend or ban them. I’m not saying definitively that this is the case here, but it’s just something to consider, because if there is some evidence out there that something happened, even if he was cleared by SafeSport, people involved with the national team may have more information and may not be willing to welcome him back.

For example, if an accuser decides they don’t want to speak out at a hearing, and the only evidence against the accused was the accuser’s word, it’s impossible for SafeSport to make a decision in favor of the accuser. Even if dozens of other people know the situation and believe/support the accuser, if the accuser doesn’t speak out at the hearing, there’s really nothing that can be done.

Again, this isn’t specific to Alex, but just what I know from exploring other cases with coaches and others who have been cleared by SafeSport but NOT cleared in terms of how certain people continue to think about them privately. Despite being cleared by SafeSport, many people ‘in the know’ will warn others, and it’ll be hard for them to find work or opportunities within that community.

How would Katelyn Ohashi’s floor routine this year score under the elite code? Would it be competitive on the international stage?

It wouldn’t be competitive internationally. Her D score would only be a 4.2, so her max score for a perfect routine would be a 14.2, but I’d say at her very best, her max E score would be maybe an 8.8-9.0 in elite, meaning a total score of about 13.0-13.2 on her best day with no landing faults. There are quite a few things in her routine that don’t get deducted in NCAA but would absolutely be targeted in elite, mostly related to her leaps, but there’s also some in-air form that the NCAA judges aren’t looking closely at as well…though with fewer skills than a more difficult elite routine, she’d have fewer opportunities for tough judging and will still be able to score fairly well from the E panel. I’d think they’d also take a deduction for a lack of variety in elements, since she does a barani to split jump in two different passes. She wouldn’t get credited by the D panel for the barani the second time, but she’d also probably have a composition deduction for lack of variety.

For teams already qualified to the Olympics, aren’t 2019 worlds kind of meaningless? It’ll probably be a pretty weak field, since the stars on qualified teams will probably skip out to avoid injury. Do you think the U.S., Russia, and China will send B-C teams? Why would Simone Biles bother attending?

I mean, it’s still world championships, which is basically the Olympics for gymnasts in a non-Olympic year. Simone isn’t gonna be like “why would I want to go to worlds?” just because the U.S. team is already qualified. She and any other athlete who gets selected for the team next year will be honored to go, and there’s not much logic behind wanting to skip to avoid injury since injuries are far more likely to happen in the day-to-day training in the gym than they are at a meet. The U.S., Russia, and China will still want to win world team and individual medals just like they would in any other year.

Where is Christian Gallardo? I thought he opened Future Gymnastics but then I read he got hired at Alabama Elite.

Yeah, Future is his gym but it looks like he’s now the team director at Alabama Elite, so I’m not sure if he moved or what…maybe it’s like a consultant kind of role? Maybe he moved but is still running the business side of Future? I’m pretty sure he was just at a meet with Future last weekend, and Alabama Elite announced him as team director a month earlier, so he could just be consulting in Alabama…also, I think Shania Adams recently moved to Future, so I’d imagine that would be to work with him if that is the case! We’ll see, but that’s my sleuthing for now.

I noticed Nebraska qualified in first place to the Super Six in 2003. What happened to them in the Super Six? What made them do so well that year?

Sometimes teams have really strong standout seasons (and Nebraska has pretty consistently been a top program even if they don’t make the Super Six every year). In a scoring system that’s not open-ended, it really just comes down to whatever team is the most “on” when it counts, and for Nebraska, they just happened to be the most “on” in the semifinal that year. It was more about other teams NOT hitting than Nebraska doing anything extra super special in their session. They scored similarly to many of their other meets that year, and only scored about two tenths lower in the Super Six with a pretty much equally solid meet, but other teams did better than they did in prelims. UCLA scored basically a point higher, Alabama and Georgia were half a point higher…when a meet is won on a one-shot kind of deal, the only thing that matters is that specific night’s performance so it didn’t matter that UCLA and the other teams struggled in comparison in prelims. They came out in finals and crushed it.

Do you know what’s going on with Jazzy Foberg? Is she injured, resting, or struggling to adapt from elite to college gym?

She’s injured, and had elbow surgery last fall. I believe she’s redshirting this season.

Does a Weiler kip count as a clear hip circle root skill on bars?

Technically yes but since it’s a front hip circle, it’s considered to be a separate root skill from a back hip circle. A gymnast can thus perform a Shaposh, a Hindorff, and a clear hip half, for example, and still do a Weiler kip.

Are skills that are swung forward and backward on bars considered the same skill? Can Anya Pilgrim submit her inbar front half as a new skill in the code?

No, they’re considered different skills, and YES, if Anya competes her forward inbar half at a meet that counts (like junior worlds this year, hint hint) she can get it named for her in the code of points.

I’ve seen gymnasts wearing black straps on their feet when training bars. Are they weighted? What’s the purpose?

Some gymnasts train with weights on bars because it creates more resistance, so if a gymnast can do a skill with the weights on, once she takes them off, the skill is a bit easier without that extra resistance. I’ve worn ankle weights at the barre in ballet and there’s no better feeling than struggling through an adagio with weights on, and then doing it again with no weights and feeling SOOOO FREEEEEEE.

Ankle weights also help with training technique on cast handstands, so some coaches use them for that purpose, and they’re commonly used on one leg to balance out the weight if a gymnast has a boot on her other foot.

Additionally, gymnasts sometimes wear supports around their ankles/heels to protect from whacking their feet on the low bar…these are often just hockey elbow pads or something, nothing special, but it could be what you’re seeing.

Katelyn Ohashi never sticks the landing in her second tumbling pass and always hops out of the tuck. Why isn’t that a landing deduction? Is it an artistic/dance choice?

It’s supposed to be choreography/an ‘artistic’ choice, basically a loophole to get around having to show control on a landing. Many gymnasts do this, where they’ll have a little cat leap or hop out of a landing as part of choreography, especially in a front element with a blind landing or if they’re trying to protect their ankles/knees from another hard landing. I think you can still show control going from a tumbling pass or jump into a little choreo dance out of it, so even though it looks like ‘cheating’ it’s still pretty clear if someone is stumbling out of a pass into the dance, or if they’re doing it well.

Do you think Jordan Chiles will enter college next year or defer and attempt to go to the Olympic Games?

I think she’ll try to make it through 2020 at the elite level and will defer college until after. Even if she doesn’t make the team, getting to the U.S. trials is a huge deal and many gymnasts who know they won’t make the team will defer for a year to get the shot to at least go to trials and get to compete at that level.

Do you believe Gabby Perea has hit her peak? Any updates on her condition or if she’s competing this season?

It’s hard to say, considering she’s been injured for such a long time at this point and we haven’t seen her do anything in a while. I’d say the fact that she grew so much and keeps getting injured kind of tells us that physically, she might be at her limit…but you never know. I also thought the same about Madison Kocian based on how she looked in 2012 and 2013, and then she kind of grew into her adult body and made adjustments in how she trained, the kinds of skills she trained, and she became an entirely new gymnast.

Do you know who is on floor and what their music is at 0:55?

Well I know the song for sure is “Secrets” by OneRepublic…but no idea who’s training floor at that moment.

If a female gymnast does a Kovacs on bars, could she get it named even though men do the same skill on high bar?

Yup! There are many skills out there that had already been named for men and later got named for a woman on the same or similar event.

Can Laney Madsen compete at U.S. nationals, as she didn’t end up representing Bulgaria at worlds? Will she be able to handle the pressure of qualifying to Tokyo given her lack of experience?

No, because her FIG nationality is listed as Bulgaria, she is no longer eligible to compete at U.S. nationals even if she didn’t actually compete at worlds. We’ll see if she can qualify to Tokyo…she’ll have to do fairly well in the all-around at worlds this year as her best shot in. There are many international gymnasts capable of about a 50-51+ (which will likely be in the neighborhood of the cutoff, at the minimum) whereas Laney hasn’t really gotten close to scores like that yet, even at U.S. elite qualifiers (which are normally overscored compared to international meets). She’s really going to have to improve a lot this year in her consistency and execution if she wants to qualify. Considering she hasn’t yet gone to an international meet, if I were her/her coaches, I’d have her at as many friendly meets as possible, at apparatus world cups, at Euros…if she just shows up at worlds and hopes for the best, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Who is Trista Goodman? I see she’s attending the January camp but she wasn’t at nationals last year.

Trista trains at Salcianu Elite with Maile O’Keefe. She originally did Hopes back in 2014, but then took a break from competing before returning in 2017. She attempted to qualify to the junior elite level that year, but at one point was only doing bars and beam so she couldn’t get her junior qualifying score, though when she came back in 2018, she got her elite scores at the KPAC qualifier.

She competed at both the American and U.S. Classic meets last year, and though she didn’t qualify to nationals, she was still notable to me for her floor routine, which was gorgeous…she had a gold leo on and did a Beauty and the Beast routine that to this day gives me chills for just how freaking beautiful it was.

This is her first year at the senior level; who knows if she’ll have the scores to be big as a senior, but a ton of girls get invited to the first national team camp of the year because it’s more of a skills camp and a way for the national program to assess who should start coming to verifications.

Do you think any other UCLA floor routines will go viral? I think the other routines deserve more attention.

Yeah, there are many NCAA routines this year that I think “should go viral” over or alongside Katelyn’s in terms of choreography and performance level, including several on UCLA’s team, but my absolute favorite so far has been Alicia Boren’s. It has a similar musical theme as Katelyn’s, but I think the idea is better executed in Alicia’s…though Katelyn is perhaps the better, more effervescent performer, and I understand that this is what the public is drawn to, not necessarily the same things I look for.

Is Victoria Woo still planning on doing NCAA? What about Rose?

Victoria was originally going to Ohio State, but she decided she wanted to continue elite to try to make the 2017 worlds team, in her home province of Montreal, and then decided after that to stay and continue training elite with Tokyo in mind. She’s now going to university in Canada, and will be at Elite Canada next week, as will Rose, who hasn’t committed to any program as far as I know.

Is it possible to do a double salto from the high bar to the low bar?

It would be REALLY tight but I guess someone tiny or who can rotate quickly could probably make it happen…

Any update on junior worlds in Hungary? Will it be team or individual competition?

It’s going to be a team competition, but a small one similar to EYOF with just three per team. There will be individual medals in the all-around and on each apparatus up for grabs as well.

Have a question? Ask below! Remember that the form directly below this line is for questions; to comment, keep scrolling to the bottom of the page. We do not answer questions about team predictions nor questions that ask “what do you think of [insert gymnast here]?”

Article by Lauren Hopkins