2021 U.S. Olympic Trials | Senior Women’s Day 2 Live Blog

/ June 27, 2021

Screen Shot 2021-06-27 at 6.23.35 PM

Grace McCallum

Welcome to the live blog for the second day of senior women’s competition at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, held in St. Louis, Missouri!

Please refresh your browser every few minutes to see the most recent updates, which will appear at the top of the page.

9:51 pm. The U.S. Olympic team is Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Grace McCallum! Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner are the individual athletes.

9:20 pm. U.S. Trials Standings

1. Simone Biles 118.098 (60.565, 57.533)
2. Sunisa Lee 115.832 (57.666, 58.166)
3. Jordan Chiles 114.631 (57.132, 57.499)
4. Grace McCallum 112.564 (56.498, 56.066)
5. MyKayla Skinner 112.264 (56.598, 55.666)
6. Kayla DiCello 111.231 (56.298, 54.933)
7. Kara Eaker 111.097 (55.565, 55.532)
8. Leanne Wong 110.532 (53.799, 56.733)
9. Emma Malabuyo 110.531 (54.832, 55.699)
10. Shilese Jones 109.632 (54.999, 54.633)
11. Addison Fatta 106.698 (53.399, 53.299)
12. Zoe Miller 105.797 (52.465, 53.332)
13. Amari Drayton 105.631 (53.099, 52.532)
14. Ava Siegfeldt 103.396 (51.565, 51.831)
15. Emily Lee 98.697 (53.399, 45.298)
16. Jade Carey 80.065 (52.899, 27.166)
17. Riley McCusker 28.366 (14.800, 13.566)

9:16 pm. Emily Lee FX: Crashed her double double hard and….she looks like she hurt her ankle, stopped her routine and sat down. Now she’s being helped out by medical.

9:13 pm. Emma Malabuyo FX: Double layout and full-in both landed well! Double tuck also strong. Hit the last pass. Good routine! 13.733

9:12 pm. Kayla DiCello FX: Was fighting with internet throughout this routine but she hit everything, had one pass OOB, maybe not the set she needed but not bad either. 13.500

9:09 pm. Shilese Jones VT: DTY, a little tentative on the landing, but strong overall and good In the air. 14.900

9:07 pm. Leanne Wong VT: Good DTY, small hop back. Just not the amplitude that some in the first rotation had. 14.700

9:05 pm. Ava Siegfeldt VT: Yurchenko 1.5, good landing! 14.166

Jordan Chiles FX: Full-twisting double layout and double layout are both excellent. Gets her leaps with no problems, front double full to front full is also good. Switch side half, and a double pike with a hop back. Incredible. And she also gets a standing O! 14.233

9:02 pm. Suni Lee’s 58.166 is the second-highest of her career, and beats Simone Biles’ AA score of 57.533, though Simone will win with the overall combined score!

8:58 pm. Sunisa Lee FX: Double double to start, solid. Switch ring to tour jeté half. I always miss the entry on her second pass, 1.5 to front full I think? Double tuck with a hop back. WHAT A NIGHT! 13.933

8:55 pm. Simone Biles FX: Opens with the triple double, step back OOB. Biles, doesn’t go into the stag, takes a step. Front through to full-in was a little short but not bad at all, and then she sticks the double double. STANDING OVATION!!!!!!!! 14.600

8:51 pm. Zoe Miller FX: Double layout, small hop back. Also hit a 1.5 through to double full at the end. Good routine! 12.866

8:49 pm. Amari Drayton FX: Saw a really strong double layout, then a whip whip to double back, great. Stumble back on the double pike. 12.066

MyKayla Skinner VT: Amanar with a step forward, I feel like that one looked better overall than the Cheng did!

8:48 pm. MyKayla Skinner VT: Cheng with a step back. I think she REALLY needed that stick but this just hasn’t been as tight of a meet as she needed to really show that she should go, not with Grace stepping up. 15.266

8:47 pm. Kara Eaker VT: Yurchenko 1.5, maybe a little deep in the landing, but it’s not bad.

8:44 pm. Grace McCallum FX: All she needs to do is hit and I think she’s got fourth. Big stumble on her double double, OOB, won’t be TOO much of a hit for her but she needs to calm it down. Front double full is better. Good on her leap series. Triple and double wolf turns. Third pass, didn’t see what it was, ankles are fully turned in, I wanted to scream for her on that landing. But she seems fine. Double tuck was good!

8:43 pm. Addison Fatta VT: Good DTY!

8:40 pm. Rotation 7 Standings

1. Simone Biles 103.498
2. Sunisa Lee 101.899
3. Jordan Chiles 100.398
4. Grace McCallum 99.064
5. Kayla DiCello 97.731
6. Kara Eaker 97.064
7. MyKayla Skinner 96.998
8. Emma Malabuyo 96.798

8:37 pm. Kayla DiCello BB: Hit her flight series and a transverse jump. I think my internet is working again. Double tuck, maybe a little low but just a small bounce there. Good hit routine.

8:36 pm. Ava Siegfeldt FX: I saw the double layout and double pike, she had a stumble back on the latter.

8:32 pm. Jordan Chiles BB: Hit the flight series, then a front aerial with a little skid before the jump into the back handspring, tiny bobble on that aerial but she did a good job to hide it. Sorry, lost internet for a second, but the rest was excellent, and she nailed the full-in yet again! 13.900

8:29 pm. MyKayla Skinner FX: Small bobble back on the Moors, it looked like the flag went up. Form was the same as usual. Good double double. Full-in is solid. Last pass, front tuck through to 2.5 with a big step forward. Not as strong as night one, but again, she’s great at fighting. 13.500

8:27 pm. Sunisa Lee BB: Front aerial to split jump to back handspring was very nice. Switch ring was gorgeous, to split leap, switch to switch half to split ring jump, excellent side aerial loso loso, double full, some crossed ankles but fantastic routine yet again. 14.733

8:24 pm. Kara Eaker FX: 3.5, gets it around better than usual, but the punch front goes completely sideways. Whip to triple is better. Gets the 2.5 to front full. Double pike to finish, landing not quite there, but not too bad. 13.700

8:23 pm. Simone Biles BB: Hit the wolf turn and flight series, then the leap series to back pike, but then had a huge wobble and a fall on her side aerial. LORD BEER ME STRENGTH. Full-in dismount with a hop back. She looks pretty pissed. 13.700

8:18 pm. Zoe Miller BB: Side aerial loso good, switch to switch half to back tuck, solid. I wasn’t typing through the rest but she looked good, hit the dismount. 13.133

8:15 pm. Amari Drayton BB: Nails the bhs loso loso, little check on the front aerial, had a tiny check on something after that but nothing major that I saw. Step back on the double pike dismount. 12.600

8:13 pm. Addison Fatta FX: 2.5 through to double tuck, love it, hop back OOB. Good double pike. Double full to finish was also good! 12.600

8:11 pm. Grace McCallum BB: Hit both of her wolf turns at the start with ease. Tiniest adjustment on a transverse jump. Split leap, pauses before the side aerial loso, smart thinking, tiny scoot back. Front aerial, solid. Sissone to full turn, wobble and break at the hips. Hands almost touch but I don’t think they did. Double pike, looked maybe a tiny bit deep but stuck! 13.800

8:08 pm. Emily Lee BB: Solid side aerial loso loso. Switch to switch half, good. Short on her bhs bhs layout series and has a big wobble but saves it. Front aerial to strong jumps. Also had a good transverse jump in there after. Side somi. Another hit transverse jump. Hit the dismount. 13.566

Shilese Jones FX: Full-in half-out double tuck, a little hop to the side and then a slight balance check but god I love that pass. Double layout stuck cold. Arabian double front with a step forward. I love the choreo into the corner before her last pass and the crowd did too. Double tuck with a little hop back. 13.533

8:05 pm. Emma Malabuyo BB: Gets the standing arabian and the bhs loso loso! Punch front also great. Good front aerial to jump series. Double pike with a couple of steps back. Very good! 14.200

Leanne Wong FX: Great double double to start. Whip to triple full STUCK!!! Leanne, GIRL. Full L hop turn, 2.5 to front full was a little iffy, and then she pretty much sticks the double pike at the end. Great work. 14.233

8:03 pm. Rotation 6 Standings

1. Simone Biles 89.798
2. Sunisa Lee 87.166
3. Jordan Chiles 86.498
4. Grace McCallum 85.264
5. Kayla DiCello 83.931
6. MyKayla Skinner 83.498
7. Kara Eaker 83.364
8. Emma Malabuyo 82.598

8:00 pm. Sunisa Lee UB: Nabieva to Bhardwaj, van Leeuwen, blind change to piked Jaeger to Pak to Maloney to Gienger, effortless, nice handstand before the full pirouette, and a baby hop on the full-in dismount. 14.900

7:57 pm. Kara Eaker BB: Big wobble on her opening leap series. Full L turn. Front aerial to split jump to straddle jump, some flexed feet in the latter. Super solid on the side aerial loso loso, switch to switch half to Korbut, switch ring, I can’t see her legs, to another Korbut for no reason, god bless Al Fong, side somi, long pause before the 2.5 dismount, some form but a good landing. 14.566

7:56 pm. Simone Biles UB: Short on the Weiler half, tries to muscle through, but can’t and has to turn herself around, Maloney to Tkachev, toe full is great tonight, big piked Tkachev to straight Pak, van Leeuwen, bounce back on the double double dismount. Her face is like “lmfao.” 13.833

7:53 pm. Addison Fatta BB: Double wolf turn, bhs loso, tiniest adjustment, front aerial, little check there as well, good extension on her jump series, I could see the straddle especially well, side aerial, switch to switch half, transverse split jump half I think there, and then a good double full dismount. 12.733

7:51 pm. Zoe Miller UB: Inbar full, Komova II to Pak to Chow half, some leg form on the latter two skills, inbar half to straddle Jaeger, toe point! Stalder to stalder half, double layout, looks like she pinged off a second early but no problems getting it around, chest just as vertical as usual maybe. 13.633

7:50 pm. Jade Carey BB: Full turn, front aerial to split jump to straddle jump, slight check on the bhs loso loso, switch to switch half to back tuck, solid, had a leap into a side aerial, then a switch side, transverse split jump half, tiny hop on the double tuck. Really great work. 13.433

7:49 pm. Amari Drayton UB: I wasn’t typing at the beginning, caught both of her releases that I could see, and a Pak, van Leeuwen, and double tuck dismount. Good!  13.566

7:45 pm. Shilese Jones BB: A hit routine for her! I saw the standing arabian and punch front, and she also nailed the double pike dismount. 13.300

7:43 pm. Grace McCallum UB: Stalder full to Maloney to Pak to Chow half, I think I got all of that right, piked Jaeger, the release after was good, Ricna I think, and hit the dismount! Another really good routine for her tonight! 14.000

7:40 pm. Leanne Wong BB: Switch to straddle, lovely form on the switch leap. Side aerial loso, solid! Little check on the full L turn but connects to the pirouette, switch ring with a wobble, I couldn’t see her leg form. Front aerial, split ring jump, wolf jump full, excellent side somi to switch jump half! Wow. Triple full a hair short with some leg form but that was a win for Leanne on beam. 14.000

Emily Lee UB: I didn’t type through this, but it was a hit routine, just a few form things like her body line not being straight consistently. Hopped back the double layout dismount. 12.900

7:37 pm. Ava Siegfeldt BB: Little hop forward on her punch front, bhs bhs layout, legs apart and a fall, sadly. Nice on the Onodi. Switch to switch half with a wobble, full turn, front aerial to split jump to straddle jump, she was a bit slow into the jumps. Hit the dismount. 11.833

Emma Malabuyo UB: Stalder full arches over a bit but she goes it, to Maloney to Tkachev, muscles through the hop change before her piked Jaeger, Pak with legs apart and flexed feet, Chow half, legs aren’t at all there, full-twisting double layout with a hop. She can do that routine cleaner but good fight through. 13.433

7:36 pm. Kayla DiCello UB: Hit the stalder full to Chow part of her opening series but missed the Tkachev out of it, piked Jaeger is good, then a big Church, Pak  to van Leeuwen, flexed feet a bit, full-out, hops her feet together. 12.800

7:34 pm. MyKayla Skinner BB: Candle mount, bhs tuck full, little wobble with her leg up, side aerial to split jump to straddle jump, switch to switch half, short there, to back tuck, good connections, transverse split jump half, wobble, leg up, then a straight jump full from the side position, also an adjustment. Check on the full L turn. Definitely a more nervous routine than night one but she’s fighting through. Full-in dismount, low landing, big lunge forward. That won’t be a good score at all, unfortunately for her. 13.400

7:33 pm. Jordan Chiles UB: Piked Jaeger, toe full to Tkachev, piked Tkachev to Pak, Maloney to Gienger, great handstand before the full-in, stuck!!!! A superstar. A queen. A legend. 14.433

7:32 pm. Touch warmup just wrapping up!

7:27 pm. Rotation 5 Standings

1. Simone Biles 75.965
2. Sunisa Lee 72.266
3. Jordan Chiles 72.065
4. Grace McCallum 71.264
5. Kayla DiCello 71.131
6. MyKayla Skinner 70.098
7. Emma Malabuyo 69.165
8. Kara Eaker 68.798

7:25 pm Addison Fatta UB: Piked Jaeger, toe full to Pak, short handstand before the Maloney to Gienger, some leg form there but not severe, toe-on to giants, double layout with a hop. Good! 13.400

7:22 pm. Jade Carey UB: Church to Gienger, awesome connection, blind change to Ezhova, Maloney to Bhardwaj, very nice. Van Leeuwen, some foot form, blind full is a bit late, and she nails the landing on the full-in dismount. Really strong routine for her! 13.733

7:21 pm. Zoe Miller VT: Beautiful Yurchenko 1.5, just a bit deeper than she needs to be as she tries to absorb a stick, ends up having to step OOB, not bad though! 13.700

7:20 pm. Shilese Jones UB: Stalder full to Maloney to Tkachev, misses her next release, the Downie, UGH. Back on for the Pak, short handstand before the van LEeuwen, some leg form there, toe half to front giant to double front, hop forward. 12.900

Amari Drayton VT: DTY, just a large step back, mostly clean in the air. 14.300

7:19 pm. Grace McCallum VT: DTY, fantastic landing, and her leg form was super sharp throughout. A really clean vault! 14.766

7:18 pm. Leanne Wong UB: Toe full, some ankle separation, to Maloney to Pak to van Leeuwen, nice. Good handstand before the stalder half to straddle Jaeger, stalder to her giants, then a double layout with a step forward. That’s what she needed! 13.800

7:16 pm. Emily Lee VT: DTY, some knee form throughout, small hop back. Solid overall! 14.466

7:13 pm. Touch warm-up for the second half of the rotation now!

7:11 pm. Ava Siegfeldt UB: Ray to Pak, solid, lovely handstand before the toe full, Maloney to Gienger, blind change to front giant to double front, stuck!!! Beautiful work, Ava! 13.466

7:10 pm. Emma Malabuyo VT: DTY, big step back but another solid one for what has been a fabulous opening group of vaulters! 14.333

7:09 pm. Kayla DiCello VT: DTY, looked like one of her stronger landings! Just some leg form, mostly in the second half of the twist. 14.833

7:08 pm. Jordan Chiles VT: DTY, absolutely stunning, drilled the landing. Maybe a slide back actually, it’s hard to tell from my angle but it looked like her feet did move. Still SO good. 14.933

MyKayla Skinner UB: Weiler half to Maloney to Tkachev, Ray to Pak, good, slight leg separation, van Leeuwen with some leg straddling, and a hop to the side on the double double, still some leg form issues but much tighter than her night one routine in terms of her rhythm! 13.500

7:05 pm. Riley McCusker UB: Arches over the toe full and comes off the bars. I hate this!!!! Back on for Maloney to Tkachev, Downie, Ricna to Pak to Chow half, double front half landing is deep, but she gets it around. Aside from the opening element and the dismount, she looked good. 13.566

Sunisa Lee VT: Strong DTY, I didn’t see details but didn’t see major problems either. 14.600

7:04 pm. Simone Biles VT: Does the Amanar for the second vault, super clean of course, big hop forward but not quite as big as with the Cheng. Just a couple of feet instead of like, six.

7:02 pm. Kara Eaker UB: Church to Pak, good! Nice handstand before the shaposh half, and out of It too, clear hip to clear hip full, a little late there, toe half to piked Jaeger, good, ugh, then arches over her very last handstand and has to take a second to get back into the swing of things, double layout to finish. SHE WAS SO CLOSE. 13.233

Simone Biles VT: Cheng with a pretty huge hop back. Her usual fabulousness in the air. Crazy big. Again, they need to extend the podium. 15.400

7:01 pm. Looks like things are wrapped up on bars already, maybe a few turns left on vault for the touch.

6:58 pm. The national anthem is DONE! Touch warmups are beginning for the first rotation. Simone Biles will get the meet started on vault in just a few minutes! If she does well it’s because I said good luck to her earlier.

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115 thoughts on “2021 U.S. Olympic Trials | Senior Women’s Day 2 Live Blog”

  9. I love that this is essentially Simone’s worst meet ever and yet she is still going to end up in first place. She’s incredible!

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    • Her 2018 Worlds AA finals kidney stone performance was worse, although she still won by over 1.5 points. Honestly, I feel like Suni is a little underrated because Simone is so dominant, but…. holy shit, man, can she bring that 58 to Tokyo?

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  10. Graces floor score is a bit high. She landed completely out and then had a huggee step bounce on top of it, on her first pass as well as low on her full in… 13.500 the same score as Skinner with that huuuge first pass error, and low on the full in?

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  11. I mean if vault and floor is the deciding factor all the girls neck and neck Grace Skinner and Kayla, all got the same floor score. And we know Skinner got the highest vault score out of those three. Skinner is on the team.

    But Sunisa getting a great 13.933 with 3 passes… I mean slay…

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  12. I’m thinking it’s btwn MyKayla, Leanne and Grace. Kayla seems like she doesn’t even know she’s in the running (and a super talent) and she’ll be obvs alternate. I can’t even pick btwn the other 3. Leanne has been inconsistent AF since forever, but boy did she show up tonight on the ‘weak’ events. MyKayla has great potential on those, and Grace truly has 0 weakness at the end of the day. And don’t even get me started on Riley vs Kara for the solo gig. Good luck to the selection committee…

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    • The best Leanne can hope for is alternate. She won’t make the team. The fourth spot is between Mykayla and Grace. Whoever doesn’t get picked could get the individual spot unless they go with Riley or Kara. Otherwise either Grace or Mykayla will be the alternate if they do not get the individual spot.

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  13. Based on the 2 day average per BalanceBeamSituation

    Based on average score over the 2 days:

    Biles, Lee, Chiles, Skinner: 175.080
    Biles, Lee, Chiles, Wong: 174.981
    Biles, Lee, Chiles, Eaker: 174.831
    Biles, Lee, Chiles, McCallum: 174.730
    Biles, Lee, Chiles, Jones: 174.681
    Biles, Lee, Chiles, DiCello: 174.647

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  14. I’ve wanted Leanne on this team for years, but I didn’t see it w all of the inconsistency. I’d honestly go w MyKayla if I was on the committee (w guilt because Grace WOULD show up and be reliable anywhere in Tokyo) but they can’t rly go wrong. They could shave me and put me in a wig n leo, and I could do my all dance fx routine, and we’d still win!

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  21. I dont get Toms reasoning. This wasnt the highest scoring team he picked AGAIN. But we will win. He is just so all over the place. lol.

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  22. I’m sorry. I understand the appeal of grace but darn it…if there were only five members instead of four. Poor Riley. I feel bad for her.

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  23. I think Grace is improving in the 4th best AAer legitimately and Skinner earned her spot full stop. Not sure I get taking two vault specialist. But full-on snub for Riley? Like just take the AAers in order for alternates? And leave your second best chance for another medal not even with an alternate spot? Yikes. No strategy at all. That’s just a hard snub. Curious about the logic. Even taking top 8 all around plus McCusker would have made more sense.

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    • I’m doubling down on this Riley snub now just realizing that they didn’t fill all of their alternate spots. There’s five and they only picked four. So what’s with that?? Did they give it to someone who turned it down? Did they not give it to anyone? WHY didn’t it go to McCusker?? Tom wouldn’t say in press.

      The argument that she missed on day two of trials fails to recognize that every other meet with Olympic event final numbers. (AND it’s not like everyone else was the model of consistency). If we’re all about inclusivity why leave that spot unfilled???

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  24. So Suni beat Simone on day 2. This has never happened ever. Suni is so amazing with a downgraded bars imagine. AA 1st and second. Dont forget Simone beating Jordan by less than 0.1 omw what a great team. I feel for Riley. She couldve made bars event final. Grace was lucky to make it. But being overscored helped her.

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    • I dunno. I think Grace was scored the same as everyone else…which is to say I think EVERYONE was over scored lol. I’m thinking they know Grace can step in on any event and post a competitive score when she hits and she’s shown it at international competitions before posting high 13s/14s on every event at one point or another. I don’t think they have that faith in Skinner because they know her execution is low, and Leanne and Kayla didn’t show more consistency than her.

      I do think it’s weird she got the benefit of the doubt where Riley didn’t though. But she also finished 4th at trials and in most other Olympic sports you make the team from only trials. Aaaaand because gymnastics has no clear process it’s probably best to just take the top people at trials. *shrug*

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  26. Suni beat Simone on day two in the AA. Wow. That has never happened. And she had a downgraded bars. Suni is a queen.

    Also my heart breaks for Riley. There goes a medal oppourtunity on the bars.

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  27. What I find kind of bizarre is taking Skinner as an individual with Carey already having locked up a spot. Nothing against Skinner at all, and I could actually have seen putting her on the team proper, but she doesn’t help the team in an individual spot, and she doesn’t realistically increase the likely medal haul because either she’s going to 2-per-country Carey or vice versa. It would’ve made more sense to take someone like Kara or Riley who could challenge for a medal that the USA might otherwise not get. (Speaking of Riley, I think she could’ve been in the mix for the individual spot if she hadn’t fallen — I certainly hope so, it would be a pretty awful thing for the team to do to accept her petition knowing she has no chance — but I can see how it’s hard to justify taking someone who only did two routines and had a miss on one of them.)

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    • For me, the thing with Jade and Mykayla is that Jade has been doing such under par gymnastics at this point- which makes sense given that she already has the spot so why go all out, but also makes it difficult to build a team around her. The knowns are that no other gymnasts have out performed Mykayla’s vaulting on their pet events, and vault is a surer thing than the other events. In this situation, I get deciding based on the knowns over the unknowns.

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  29. Tom’s “integrity of the process” doesn’t make sense to me. I am perfectly fine with taking the top 4 AA, but that process only has integrity if you spell out beforehand that is the process. You can’t keep athletes in confusion on how the team will be picked and then fall back on rank order. And I love rank order, but it’s not a process with integrity if you keep it secret until you pick. If you say in advance, the top 4 will make it, the athlete’s know that’s the deal and how they should prepare. There’s no integrity in a rank order selection unless the athletes are told beforehand that is the selection.
    Grace is a wonderful athlete, and, I think, underappreciated, so happy for her.
    But funny Mykayla’s been knocked off 2 Olympic teams by being on the wrong end of each opposite selection process. In 2016 she was 4th AA and they went (according to the selection committee) for a bars specialist. In 2021, they go with rank order even though as a vault specialist, she’s consistently part of the highest scoring team.
    The only thing I’m not mad about is the wasting of the individual spot, since it always bothered me Mykayla was prevented from competing for the World Cup spot that Carey got to try for. Since Carey didn’t do 2 vaults at Trials, we won’t know until the Olympics who the 2nd best vaulter in the US really is. But always bugged me Carey never had to prove she was the best against her teammates, and that her teammates were shut out from competing against her in World Cups. (NOT Carey’s fault. USAG’s fault). So I’m not that upset about the individual spot. Glad Myk gets to be an Olympian, but think she should have been on the team, and Kara/Riley for individual.

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    • Yes. Tom literally told Mykayla to train AA ( per her youtube) and aim for the team spot as Jade already had the individual spot with the same strengths. lol Then of course flips it up and changes.

      Tom gon Tom.

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  30. So Tom/the selection committee just took another easy way out by just awarding all the 5 spots to the top 5 AAers? lol…. Yeap I kinda saw that coming.

    I always kinda knew it was always between grace and mykayla. While this is not the best situation skinner was probably expecting, it is really the next best thing for her from being an alternate again. So I am glad in the end it did come out for her in quite a good way. She finally did get a chance to be at the olympics!

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  31. Aahhh, Tom forester strikes again! Takes the top 5, minimal strategy, badabing badaboom. Didn’t even need to get off stage to do that.

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    • Yep, we already that was coming…. Zero strategy. Just basically awarding all spots including alternates based on AA scores….

      While I am happy that mykayla will now be officially performing in the olympics and this is probably the best scenario for her given that she wasn’t able to get the 4th team spot outright with the worse alternative being an alternate (thats a good pun), This whole selection committee is a complete farce from day 1. We kinda knew it but this completely confirmed it. It’s possible that this whole thing was agreed to by all the coaches and gymnasts before and we just weren’t allowed to know about it? If that was the case, they shouldve been transparent and let everyone knows that they are going strictly by that and forget even having a committee…lol…..

      Lauren, I cant wait to see your piece on this whole thing soon!

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      • I honestly feel like Tom wanted Grace on this team no matter what. He told media the difference between what grace and skinner added to the team was like .5, so he went with rank order to be fair. This completely ignores the fact that the rank order difference between Skinner was smaller than that! He has always had a soft spot for Grace. No matter how many times she falls, she still gets the go-ahead. Even NBC had no glue why he picked Grace.

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    • Seriously this. You have Mykayla scoring over 15.2 on vault in the U.S., when she has been consistently underscored on vault nationally compared to what she gets internationally. The 2012 team was fine with taking Maroney only for vault and Gabby for bars in 2016, despite other athletes placing higher in the AA, but when it comes to Myk contributing over .7 on one event….suddenly it’s all about AA.

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      • Interesting.I looked it up and that’s true. The athlete rep Jessie DeZiel is a former Twin City Twisters gymnast.

        That’s a tough one to avoid though, because you want the Athlete’s Representative to be someone who can relate to elite gymnasts. Many elite gymnasts come from the same top gyms, so it would be hard not to have an Athlete Rep that was not a former athlete from a Trial’s competitor’s gym.

        I definitely think the Selection Committee needs to much more clear and forthright ahead of time,what their actual criteria will be. But while I have disagreements with the selection and process, I certainly believe Grace is worthy of her spot. She is a two-time World gold medal team member who has consistently been in the top AA group since 2018. She is a 4-event even-keeled all arounder who can step up on any event, with good form and decent difficulty across the board. Grace has a resume of experience and she placed 4th AA at Olympic Trials.

        I personally think the spot should have gone to Mykayla but at the same time absolutely believe Grace is a deserving Olympic team member.

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    • This..
      This is the only thing that could end up pissing me off with the team selection.
      At the moment, it seems like the most likely outcome. But Grace has said she’s aiming to compete 3 events in team finals. So let’s see

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  33. In another direction Utah Red rocks have 3 going to Tokyo. Grace and mykayla to compete and Kara as an alternate. NCAA 2022 will be very interesting Go utes

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    • The USAG made nitpicky rules (after realizing Jade would sue them if she couldn’t go, so they quickly designed last minute requirements to keep anyone else from trying). Their cobbled together Rules said you could only go if you were a national event champ in 2018 or earned an individual medal in 2016-2017. So despite Mykayla being a World gold team member, World bronze vault medalist and 2016 Olympic alternate, she didn’t meet their specifications (specifications designed to make sure no one tried for World Cups, aside from Jade Carey camp who had already threatened to sue, so they had to let them go.). Basically they designed admission to World Cups to prevent everyone but Jade from going.

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      • USAG preference would have been to have all 6 positions as being non-nominative so they can select all 6 at trial. Carey threw a wrench into that. So USAG had to do what they did. In the end, both parties have conflicting interests so it is what it is…

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        • I kind of disagree. The USAG could have said, well, we have no choice but to let Jade go, so we’re going to let anyone who’s top 3 on an event, including Jade, go to 1 World Cup meet. If they place in the top 3 there, they get to go to a 2nd, then a 3rd. And make everyone sign a form saying that they understand if they secure the specialist spot, they will not be eligible for the team.
          And whichever US athletes want to try that route can go battle it out amongst eachother and, in the end, only one US specialist can get a spot that way. Why does it matter if it was Jade or someone else? This way would have been more fair to all, ensuring an equal chance for those who wanted to try for it and had to compete against their teammates.

          But the whole specialist system was screwed up by the FIG in the first place anyway. Any Olympic qualifying system that forces the sport’s top competitors (in a very fragile sport where anything can happen to you any year)- forces them to choose between attending a World Championships they might never get to go to again, and the future possibility they MIGHT win a World Cup spot to go to the Olympics- is a screwed up system, and diminishes the quality of both the World Championships and the Olympics.

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  35. Interesting they didn’t go by rank order last World Championships when Mykayla was 4th in World Team trials. She was skipped over her for 2 other athletes who placed below her. While that selection made sense according to highest team score, you have to be consistent because Grace does not make up any highest team score here. Either it’s rank AA or it’s highest team score, but be consistent and tell the athletes beforehand. Whenever Myk ranks highest in AA selection, it’s all about highest team score. When she’s part of highest team score, suddenly it’s integrity and rank AA. This is not fair to any of the athletes, all of whom were superb.

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  36. Honestly have to say that Mykayla deserved the team spot…. Gawd I wish Riley had hit bars tonight

    What would have been ideal
    Team
    Biles, Lee, Chiles, and Skinner

    Nom Spots
    Carey, McCusker

    Alternates
    McCallum, Wong, Malabuyo

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  41. plot twist: if skinner edged out mccallum, and riley still fell, what would’ve happened? My prediction: skinner would get the 4th spot and grace would get the +1 spot….lol…

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  42. I don’t think they followed any particular approach. I think they decided a while ago who they wanted on the team and barring some kind of injury or real mess up by those people, that was what was going to happen. If Myk had beaten Grace in AA there would have been some other justification for choosing her over Myk. After all Myk did beat Grace by quite a bit in the events they would be competing. It’s a new regime but the process is the same…. we choose who we like. And while the US has such a deep, strong team it will continue to be that way because they will continue to win.

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    • Exactly, Tom is just like Marta but with terrible media stills. He picks the team he wants to pick. I think Grace was going to be on that Olympic Team no matter what happened.

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  43. I think we might be overanalyzing this a bit. Tom wanted to make it easy and transparent to those who mainly follow gymnastics during an olympic cycle. He was always going to take the top 4 at trials for the team. This way, he could avoid anyone’s comments like, “That’s not fair! So and so scored better at trials why didn’t you take her?” or “Why are you taking a specialist? What if a person gets injured?”

    To be honest, the way he chose the team was the simplest and most straight forward way with the fewest amount of arguments to be had. Even if he did state they would go with the highest scoring team, USA is still the front runner by a large margin. At this point, it doesn’t matter what the highest scoring team could be.

    For those saying he wanted to screw MyKayla over, he didn’t. If he wanted to do that, she would have been named alternate. She wasn’t. She was named as the +1, which is a spot she rightly deserved.

    To put Riley in as the +1 would not have made any sense. She fell and has an injury. It sucks, but that’s fact. There would have been an outrage had she, or anyone else for that matter other that MyKayla, been chosen for the +1 spot it would have been a slap in the face to Skinner. I’m not even a fan of MyKayla Skinner by any means, but feel she earned that spot by coming in 5th.

    Even though, by a medals standpoint, one may wonder, “Why take MyKayla when you have Jade and Simone?” It still makes sense for transparency’s sake. Let them duke it out because that bars medal and beam medal from Riley and Kara were, quite frankly, a bit of a long shot. Both had finals potential, neither had extremely strong podium potential compared to Skinner, Carey and Biles on vault.

    Everyone who came afterwards as alternates makes complete sense.

    By all means, we can argue this ad nauseam, but it’s how I would have picked it had I been in Tom’s shoes in this era. It’s what’s most fair based on trials.

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    • the problem with what did has 100% to do with what he has been saying to the media. If he had said straight out he was taking the top 4 at trials, we would not be having this conversation. He didn’t instead, he talked about medal potential, proscore, and the highest-scoring team.

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      • Agreed, Tom should have the ball to just owe it up to all the decisions instead of dancing around any uncomfortable points and BS.

        In the end, this is kinda really the best ending given what did happen.

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        • Exactly. The thing is, you can logically justify a number of different team makeups with different reasons after the fact. Fairness is letting the athletes know beforehand how you’re going to select. Courage is having the fortitude to say what you’re going to do and then do it when the moment comes (not withhold a straight procedure just in case the results turn out different than you wanted).

          Funny thing is, I think Tom sincerely wants to be fair, and I do like that about his intentions. But I think he’s missed the mark about what fairness is. Transparency and consistency from the beginning, not at the end.

          I also found it interesting he said Myayla adding a few tenths shouldn’t change the integrity of the process. Well Mykayla was just a few tenths out of being 4th but contributed the most points. Why should the few tenths that kept her from 4th matter if the few tenths she contributed to the team total don’t matter?

          I also really wonder if the judges would have been any more careful, if they’d known it was rank AA- knowing a couple tenths overscoring one gymnast or underscoring another could truly decide who went and who didn’t.

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    • I agree with you 100% had Leanne or Riley been consistent both days at their peak or Kara been getting those elusive 15+ she got in previous competitions maybe but in the end, none of them were consistent enough to show they made any sense beyond being strong alternates in the AA. I also feel like mykayla is a great choice because didn’t Tom say in the end he wanted the +1 to be a possible team alternate should something happen and if there’s time they can sub in an alternate for that spot if necessary. Mykayla can fill a few roles easily in this respect and she performs really well under pressure. In the end I’m with you that anyone else would have had to blow everyone away at trials and the only one who had that chance was Leanne had she performed like she did day 2 on both days, or Riley but the. Again would Riley have meddled anyways? Doubtful. . Im all for this team and excited and hope everyone can just move on and get excited for the Olympics now haha

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    • If the decision was really made to make it look fair to those who only watch Olympic gymnasts then he absolutely vacated his job responsibilities. It is not his job to make a lay-person think it’s fair. Technically it’s not even his job to make it fair per se. It’s his job to put together the highest scoring team and bring home the most medals possible for the US. This scenario doesn’t do that as much as putting Myk on the team itself and choosing a specialist for beam or bars (bars preferably) for the individual spot would have.

      I’m not sure I agree that Myk getting passed over for the team and given the individual slot was a direct slam to her. Maybe, maybe not. I think if he wanted to slam Myk he would have made her an alternate. But I do think it could be seen as a bit of a finger to Jade. It doesn’t sound like Jade’s decision to go the World Cup route or to treat Nationals and the Trials like practice meets was met with great pleasure by the USAG. So they are now insuring she will be given a significant challenge to make the event finals which would have been a near certainty without Myk in Tokyo.

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    • I feel like Lauren has also mentioned (I can’t find a post so possibly in a comment on a relevant previous post?) that it’s not “Tom loves picking the top four all-arounders!” but rather that the whole structure is pushing him to do it this way because of everything that happened last quad with choices being made based on factors other than potential (like the moneymakers pushing for Gabby to be on the team for marketing reasons), so now they’re overcompensating a bit to try to establish that they’re not doing that anymore; hopefully they can start to find a middle ground next quad. The top-four method also makes more sense given that with the four-person team you have everyone doing AA in qualifications; I can see the logic of wanting a stronger all-arounder in order to have better fallback scores on all events in case one of the top three has a fluke bad day in qualifications.

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  45. If he’d said straight out he was taking top four at trials then they don’t invite so many and can’t have some big ratings televised on nbc. Trials should be more straight forward.

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  46. Personally I think jade may be the one going home empty handed. McKayla may beat her. We shall see I suppose. Maybe jade can medal in floor.

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    • Jade told the press that she will debut her triple double layout on floor in Tokyo! If it looks anything like it did in podium training at Nationals, that aint a good idea! She could do it in qualifications and not even qualify and get 2 countried out like in 2019. Or she could do her normal in qualifications and if she qualifies and then goes for broke in finals, and debut it. Thats a risk as well. Who knows.

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    • No doubt. but I tend to find by the time we get to Olympic team/all-around and event finals, Olympics is like the highest scoring international meet of the quad

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  48. How are the individual spots going to work? They are allowed to compete 4 events but does USAG get to decide which events they are allowed to compete or do they get to decide themselves? Can Jade or Myk be told – you many only compete vault or only floor etc?

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    • No, they can compete on any event they choose. Just have to qualify for them. That’s probably the one and only benefit of being off the team.

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      • Everyone on the team can compete all 4 events too, though. Everyone gets to do AA in prelims, team members and specialists (if they want). That is the only thing that thrills me about the FIG’s dumb specialist process and the awful small 4 member teams. Finally, for the first time in over 2 decades, there will be no biased selection of who gets to do AA and who gets left out. I love that everyone, even the 6th worst US AAer there, will have a chance to try and qualify for AA finals. And the two that hit best will go by how they competed.

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        • I totally agree with you it’s the only silver lining of all this and I can’t decide who I’d love to see compete in AA finals but I hope they all do well in qualifications

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    • Knowing carey and skinner aa this being their only planned olympic appearance, i m pretty sure they will both do AA in qualification to maximize their experience even if their traiing wont be emphasizing ub and bb.

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      • Yeah I watched Skinners press and she said she will compete AA in qualifications. So I say good for her. She will get that Olympic experience dammit! 🙂

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