It’s time for the 290th 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.

*****

Please note that I am offline for the month of June, and am posting a backlog of questions and answers in the meantime. If you submit a question, it will not be answered until at least July!

Thank you, and stay safe!

*****

What are the ways that are left for Rebeca Andrade to qualify for Tokyo?

Her one shot that she has left would be one of the two all-around spots via the Pan American Championships, and honestly, she’s probably the most likely to get it if she shows up and looks strong and competes well. I feel like it’s going to be a Canadian and Rebeca getting those two spots, though there are a few more low-key names in the mix…but it’s gonna take a lot for Rebeca to end up missing out.

Why do meet organizers continue to do business with FloSports, particularly higher-profile college meets that presumably have a choice of coverage providers?

While the fans and many parents of athletes certainly don’t love FloSports because of the high cost and no individualized payment structure (e.g. paying just for content that’s relevant for you instead of paying a high cost just to watch one thing a month), as well as for things that have happened in the past with how they’ve treated athletes (which has nothing to do from the gymnastics team, it’s all the frat boys who run everything making decisions without knowing anything about the sport). 

That said, meet organizers love them because who else exists to run full streaming coverage of random gymnastics meets? NBC and ESPN aren’t going to broadcast Gymnix or Jesolo or any of the dozens of level 10 meets Flo broadcasts. And Flo is kind of in a world of its own as an online streaming platform for gymnastics. There are other similar companies that do other sports, so Flo might have competition for broadcast rights for something like track or wrestling, but for gymnastics, they’re it. For colleges, though the bigger conferences have like, ESPN or the PAC 12 Network or smaller local network teams covering them, some programs don’t have anything so Flo fixes that problem for them. A lot of college programs couldn’t stream meets at all back in the day, so this became an option for those teams (or for the random invitationals like Metroplex that didn’t have someone to broadcast).

I noticed that some gymnasts don’t connect their passé during a turn. Their foot sticks out past their knee. Is that not a deduction?

No, there’s no rule about having to be in a perfect ballet passé in gymnastics. The skill isn’t “full turn in passé” but rather “full turn on one foot.” You can be in fully turned-out ballet passé for this, but most aren’t. Those who do go to passé do more of a jazz passé with the knee turned in, but most don’t even bother bringing their foot to their knee at all, and turn more with their ankle mid-calf because that’s also allowed.

Do you think Simone Biles will attend the U.S. Classic next year, given that it’s an Olympic year, or will she skip in favor of resting for nationals and trials? When are the competitors usually announced? 

I think she’ll probably go. I’m normally like “she’ll go but maybe won’t do the all-around” and then she ends up going full-out with a top-notch all-around performance, haha. So based on her history of being a badass even that early in the season, I totally see her showing up and winning it.

Do you have any tips for attending a real life competition? It’s been more than ten years since I’ve been to one and this will be my daughter’s first time. Any advice for a more memorable viewing experience would be great!

Honestly, I always say just go to enjoy and don’t get overwhelmed! With four events going on at a time it can be hard to see everything and to know where to watch, which gymnast is where, and so on. I see people going to meets on their phones with full results pulled up, start lists, everything, and they end up missing everything because they’re buried under the stress that comes from trying to follow everything. Maybe pick a few “don’t miss” people and try to know where they’ll be in each rotation, but I feel like you do end up missing a lot of really great moments if you’re trying too hard to catch it all.

Also, definitely watch the meet. Every time I look out into the stands at meets, it’s everyone on their phones filming and staring down at tiny screens the entire time. You’re like 15 feet from Simone Biles! I PROMISE YOU seeing the gymnast do her thing in real time is a million times better than seeing it on a screen. If you do feel the need to take pictures or film routines, go for it, but try to keep your eyes on the actual things in front of you because I promise you, you miss so much when you’re just seeing the tiny version on your phone. I will occasionally record a routine when I’m covering a meet if I’m close enough and think it’s going to be a huge moment and I’m really happy I have Epke Zonderland’s 2019 Euros high bar EF saved on my phone to watch over and over because it was insane. But there was also so much happening beyond the small piece my phone was capturing and I would have missed all of that if I was glued to my phone. Just hold your phone below your eye line, center it on what you want to record, hit record, and then look up. Best of both worlds. One time I gave this advice and someone was like “OK BOOMER, YOU HATE TECHNOLOGY.” I promise you I don’t, and I’m not one of those people who’s like “you’re missing out on human interaction and seeing the world because of these evil phones!” I’m on my phone literally 200 hours a day normally. But I also really just don’t understand why someone would pay hundreds of dollars to NOT see the best gymnasts in the world because they’re staring at their phone the whole time?! Just stay home and stream it on your phone and save the money?! IT MAKES NO SENSE!

Is there an organization that offers trips to gymnastics events (with tickets, accommodations, and so on)? I’m thinking specifically of the next world championships in Denmark.

I believe Paul Ziert of International Gymnast did something like this for Montreal…I’m not sure if it’s something he normally does, and think this was mainly because Montreal was an easy trip for his U.S.-based subscribers to make (and I think it’s also because Paul has a relationship with Nadia Comaneci, who was the ambassador for that world championships), but I haven’t seen anything similar for Copenhagen. However, it’s really not all that difficult – and probably much cheaper! – to organize a trip yourself. That gives you more control over where you’d get to stay, what you’d be doing in your off-time…I personally just prefer having that freedom, though I get why it’s probably easier to have an organization take care of it, and then you’re usually also guaranteed pretty good seats. I’ll add a link in a future You Asked if there does end up being something like this, but if anyone, I’d check in with International Gymnast since that’s the only company I’ve seen offering something like this.

Has there ever been a situation where alternates are actually called up during the Olympic Games?

Yes, it’s happened before, but I think most athletes so badly want to compete in the Games that usually if they’re injured, they do whatever they can to stay in rather than have someone go in for them. Like, Elsa Garcia was injured going into the 2012 Games so she only ended up able to do two events, but there was no way in hell she was gonna give up her spot entirely. For girls on teams, they usually tell people they’re feeling better than they actually do, but obviously if a devastating injury happens super last-minute rendering them entirely unable to compete, they have to bring in an alternate, which is what happened with Morgan White leaving the team in 2000 when they were already in Australia, and why Tasha Schwikert ended up competing.

Why don’t gymnasts wear footwear that would support the heavy foot/ankle impacts on vault and floor? Like actual athletic shoes with padding?

Gymnasts can’t wear actual shoes in competition, just the “beam shoes” that you see some girls wear on beam and vault mostly to help their feet from being sweaty, and then the little lyrical shoes for turning on floor, which are usually skin-tone and only cover the toes, not the heel (though I think the Chinese gymnasts also get away with wearing white socks for their turns which sounds crazy to me because when I turn in socks they get super twisted). 

Mostly sneakers aren’t recommended anyway because they add weight and bulk, which makes flipping really difficult. Sunisa Lee recently posted her a video of doing home training on grass during COVID-19, and her sneakers completely threw her off on a front aerial, which is generally a super easy skill for her. I’ve seen gymnasts rehabbing foot and ankle injuries wearing sneakers in practice, usually when they’re just doing drills or as they’re starting to come back to training hard landings, but they take them off for routines and most prefer to just stick with tape because it’s lighter and easier to manage, slash won’t change your aerodynamics entirely when you’re flipping in the air.

Does Yamilet Peña have a chance of getting to Tokyo?

Not really. There are two all-around spots available at the Pan American Championships that she could contend for, but she’s not going to be one of the top all-arounders there, so I don’t see that one happening for her, sadly.

What does a walk-on spot get the athlete? What do they NOT get compared to a full-ride athlete?

They basically just don’t get the scholarship to cover their tuition, room/board, and other things like books and supplies (though in some instances I’ve seen walk-ons get the same housing as the scholarship kids and have it paid for so that could be an incentive some programs offer walk-ons). Everything else is exactly the same, though. They’re on the team regardless of whether their education costs are covered, so they get the same access to training, the gear, the coaching, the travel, the support offered by the athletic department in terms of recovery and tutoring…all of that is part of being on the team and is unrelated to the scholarship.

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