The women’s competition at the U.S. Olympic Trials wrapped up in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, with the selection committee ultimately opting to take the top five all-arounders based on the two-day ranking, staying committed to the “transparency” and “fairness” that has guided team selection all quad.
The event’s two automatic qualifiers based on their first- and second-place finishes, 2016 Olympic champion Simone Biles and 2019 world champion Sunisa Lee, were joined by the third- and fourth-best athletes, Jordan Chiles, who last represented the United States at the Pacific Rim Championships in 2018, and Grace McCallum, a member of the gold medal-winning 2018 and 2019 world championships teams.
MyKayla Skinner, who was in fourth place following the first night of competition, missed out on maintaining that spot by just three tenths, but with her fifth-place finish, she was rewarded with the individual berth, which the U.S. earned by finishing in the top three in qualifications at world championships. The 2014 world silver medalist on vault and an alternate for the 2016 Olympic Games, Skinner plans on competing all four events at qualifications in Tokyo, with vault her most likely final.
But she’ll have big competition getting into that final both from Biles and from Jade Carey, the 2017 and 2019 world silver medalist on the event. Carey, who competed in the all-around on night one of trials but stuck to bars and beam to give her ankle a rest on night two, earned her nominative berth to the Olympic Games via the apparatus world cups, which concluded over the weekend, but she was celebrated with the newly-named members of Team USA at trials.
The alternates also earned their spots based on rank order, with those finishing sixth through ninth in the all-around – Kayla DiCello, Kara Eaker, Leanne Wong, and Emma Malabuyo – all accepting reserve spots. These athletes will train with the team in Japan, but must return home 24 hours prior to the competition beginning.
Most notably missing out on an Olympics berth was Riley McCusker, who was hoping to earn a spot for her work on the uneven bars. While she was being seriously considered after her performance on night one, a fall on night two kept her from factoring into the final decision.
The U.S. men’s team was named on Saturday, with Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Sam Mikulak, and Shane Wiskus named to the team, while Alec Yoder was awarded the individual berth. Brandon Briones, Allan Bower, Akash Modi, Cameron Bock, and Alex Diab are the reserves.
Article by Lauren Hopkins
The Gymternet 
I’m really having a hard time with Mykayla not being on the team… tryna understand the rationale behind the selections. They would have blown the world away with just their vault and floor rotations alone
😔
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There was no rationale. Tommy Boy is still re-living his disappointment from 1996 and it has shown in every Worlds and Olympic team he has selected. The top finishers at Trials make the team, the next few are named alternates. No strategy, no thought, just something a 6th grader could have done as part of his math homework.
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that’s way too much credit. lol.. you only need to look at a number and know enough to know which number is higher than another number. The excel program had already done the math. 😉
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except for 2019 worlds when Mykayla placed 4th and was put as an alternate even though both Grace and Kara placed below her.
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Good point. He named the top 6 to the training squad but didn’t settle on who would compete and who would be the alternate until later.
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I understand why they chose Grace. She’s kinda like Kyla Ross in 2012–she won’t make an event final, but she’s solid on all 4 events, can go out and do the job, she has the body type, lines, and form that international judges like, and she can fill in on any event if someone gets hurt.
I don’t understand the choice of MyKayla for the individual spot. She will be competing against Simone and Jade for a spot in the floor and vault finals and is likely to be 2 per countried out. If we’re looking for a realistic chance at an individual medal, a beam (Kara) or bars (Riley) specialist makes more sense. I think if Riley had not fallen on night 2 she have been in, or at least been named an alternate.
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I think all 6 gymnasts are competing for a spot in floor finals, and I honestly would prefer Grace, Jordan, or Suni over McKayla or auto-artistry deduction Carey. Let’s not forget that Suni is defending silver worlds medalist.
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There wasn’t a “choice” or any thought beyond taking top AA haha. Per usual, no thought was really put into this 🙃
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If it had been Marta, she’d be looking at how the US can bring home the most hardware. So she would have went for a Riley or Kara who would qualify for event finals.
Tom, on the other hand, is way more concerned with perceived “transparency” and “fairness” so he just took the top 5.
Could we meet somewhere in the middle, please?
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Candace- if it had been Martha I bet she would have overlooked Skinner again even on the top scoring team. I don’t think that would have been fair but I think she would have taken Riley. So I agree. There has to be a middle ground. Because both are wrong.
I just feel bad people are talking like Grace doesn’t deserve it and hope dumb non-gymternet media are gonna make it a thing. I can actually even picture NBC with Tim and Nastia commenting on it during olympics coverage.
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*edit. Hope they ARENT gonna make it a thing
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Why is everyone assuming that my Kayla will be 2 per country’d out on vault? Maybe it will be jade that doesn’t make it.
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It is complete open season. Jade is still not fully recovered. Basically, Skinner and Carey will have to truly earn their medals in tokyo.
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If Jade still isn’t fully recovered, I think sending Mykayla as an individual anyway makes perfect sense. What Jade will look like in August is unknown. Mykayla’s great vaulting right now is known.
(And honestly, even assuming Jade is at her usual in Todyo, is there anyone who is more likely to medal than even a Mykayla who has to compete against two teammates in QF?)
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Waiting for lauren’s deep dive article on the WAG team…lol… the team was “selected” and “named” alright….lol
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Hahahahahahaha IT’S COMING I need to mentally recover
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Neeeeeeeeedddd this deep dive ASAP! Haha
But really, take your time, you know we will be here to digest it whenever it’s up!
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Do you mean the alternates actually get to train in the same gym with the competing team, or they are still in a separate gym and not allowed into the Village?
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I believe they will all train together until the team goes to the village, while the alternates will stay at whatever gym they’re using outside of the village.
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But isn’t the point of having so many alternates that they can exchange them in case of an Covid infection within the team? In that case it would (unfortunately) make more sense to seperate them?
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Yes, but you can only separate the team out so much before the morale gets a big hit! There is also a huge logistic issue anytime you do separate training sessions.
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That’s not good considering the little clip I just saw on yahoo stating that Wong isn’t vaccinated. Her parents, both scientists, “haven’t decided if it’s best” for her yet. And Missouri has a great many unvaccinated folks. Sheesh. I know they’re tested a great deal but why risk it? I hope the team is all vaccinated.
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Omg. We have to remember that being vaccinated doesn’t prevent us from GETTING the virus, it prevents our bodies from reacting TO the virus. So we can all still test positive even though we’re vaccinated.
They’ll be doing daily Covid testing. So if a gymnast pops a positive, she’s out. What if this happens to Simone? Wong should be out.
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GOOD GRIEF. Bad scientists, I guess. Ridiculous. USAG should require it to be on the team/go to Tokyo, TBH.
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Leanne is 17. Multiple countries have policies not to vaccinate kids under 18 unless they have preexisting conditions, including Norway and the UK.
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Not sure why wong’s parents want to take a chance at that. Here’s the article regarding her not yet vax at that time . Article was written on 6/28 : https://www.thedailybeast.com/leanne-wong-alternate-for-team-usa-gymnastics-may-head-to-tokyo-without-a-covid-vaccine
I know she is alternate, but why takes any chance of being a possible F0? How horrible that would be if she somehow got infected and then gives the scare to the rest of the team? Even though the rest are vax, i have a feeling that they would probably still have to possibly isolate to make sure they are not mildly sick or asymp carrier, esp when we talking also about all these variants…
People should be a little bit less selfish when it comes to dealing with stopping a pandemic!!
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I’m so happy MyKayla Skinner is going to the Olympics! I’ve been watching her YouTube videos, so I’ve gotten kind of emotionally invested in her journey. I do wish just a little bit that she had gotten to be on the team, though, instead of getting the +1 spot.
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It was very heartbreaking her saying: “I am so sad…… Last meet!” after finishing her vt. She thought she was gonna be alternate again. She was very shocked to be named to +1. Short of being on the team, which i’ve kinda thought that the only way she could’ve made that was by beating grace outright for it, this could not have been a better ending for it!
I saw Riley’s instagram post afterward: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQq_WbvAdNd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link. It was definitely heartbreaking also. I am glad she made that move to Carey gym. If only somehow she couldve been there much sooner, how much better her well being could’ve been.
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Thanks for the link; so sad she fell and didn’t make it! ;-(
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Why didn’t Grace lose more points on her first tumble on day 2? She landed outside the floor area, shouldn’t that have been a 0.5 deduction not 0.3?
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No, it counts as two feet out which is 0.3. Talking of OOB, one of MyKayla’s out of bounds was completely overlooked…
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Lauren, you mentioned in the first paragraph that the selection committee stayed committed to transparency and fairness that has guided them all quad. Why then in 2019 was Skinner not selected for the team when she finished 4th in the worlds trials?
I see the argument for selecting Grace but in 2019 they over looked Skinner (the higher all a rounder) as Grace was part of the higher scoring team. Now they over look Skinner (the higher scoring team) and take Grace the higher all a rounder. How is this being committed to fairness and transparency?
FYI -I love your blog and appreciate all you do for us gym nerds!
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Tom had explained that they went with the straight top six AA from the selection camp but were waiting until it got closer to worlds to determine the final team. That was at least clear going into it so it was still “transparent” but yeah, it seems whatever the rule is, Skinner loses out, hahaha…in 2016 they went with highest scoring team when Skinner would have been included in ranked order, same in 2019, and then this year she’s on the highest team and doesn’t get it. Wish they’d make it clear and consistent but at least she’s going in some capacity, even though it’s a weird one.
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I am a skinner fan, but i do have to admit that grace has that X factor of being more balanced, which i think helped her out a lot in this quad where you have to really be an AA. So I do think that there might have always been a small bias toward grace. I am not saying it’s not completely unjustifiable either but i think that’s what it is.
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That’s what I have a problem with. The rule changes and Skinner loses out. I’m not questioning why Grace but the rules for selecting need to stay consistent. All these gymnasts are amazing.
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I think the problem is the US simply doesn’t have enough consistent bars or beam specialists that can break into the high 14s to become medal threats on those events beyond Biles and Lee.
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Point of fact, though. They didn’t go with the highest scoring team in 2016. This is a commonly cited misconception. The highest scoring team had Locklear. The 2nd highest scoring team was basically a tie between Douglas and Skinner, except Skinner placed 4th AA and had no falls.
HIghest scoring teams based on best event score at 2016 Trials:
1. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Locklear: 185.80
2t. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Skinner: 185.30
2t. Biles Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Douglas: 185.30
Highest scoring teams based on average event score at 2016 Trials:
1. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Locklear: 183.825
2. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Douglas: 183.275
3. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Skinner: 183.200
Highest scoring teams based on best event score at 2016 Nationals:
1. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Locklear: 186.40
2. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Skinner: 186.10
3. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Douglas: 185.80
Highest scoring teams based on best event score at 2016 Nationals:
1. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Locklear: 185.50
2. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Skinner: 185.075
3. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Douglas: 184.775
Number of events athletes placed in the top 3 at Trials:
1. Douglas, Skinner, Locklear (1 each)
Number of events athletes placed in the top 3 at Nationals:
1. Skinner- 2 events
2. Locklear-1 event
3. Douglas-0 events
Highest AA day-total out of all 4 days of Nationals and Trials.
1. Skinner: 59.45
2. Douglas: 58.90
3. Locklear: N/A
None of the above is to discount Douglas’ fantastic comeback, amazing gymnastics or stellar Olympic performance. It is to show that there was no way Skinner was making that 2016 Olympic team.
Going purely by scores earned, Skinner contributed more to the team than Douglas, and those contributions show up consistently, not just on one freak day, but over 4 days of competition.
Douglas beat Skinner in the AA at Nationals(4th) but Douglas’ highest event placement at Nationals was 5th (on floor, behind Skinner), and Douglas placed 6th on bars there, the event she was supposedly taken for the team for. Normally anyone who placed 4th at Nationals performing the way Douglas did would make people say she’s a good alternate. And that was her better AA competition.
Based on Nationals scores, a 4-person team of Biles, Raisman, Hernandez and Kocian scores a full 0.0 points higher when you include Douglas’ scores. Skinner’s Nationals scores, on the other hand, despite being lower AA, contribute top 3 on 2 events, vault and floor, the 2 events you would take her for.
Then at trials, Skinner not only placed 4th AA at Trials but also hit her event and beat Douglas on 3 out of 4 total events. And that one event, Douglas outscored her one, bars? The amount Douglas added to the team at Trials on bars is basically the same amount Skinner added to the team on vault. There was no value added by taking a better bars scorer over a better vault scorer, and that vault scorer placed higher on beam and floor (in terms of injury/fill-in potential).
Even if you discount Locklear because she’s a specialist, the highest scoring teams of Skinner and Douglas at Trials are either exactly the same or separated by .075 in a competition where both placed top 3 on 1 event and Skinner went 8 for 8 and Douglas had 2 falls.
So Lauren, I know you’re an accurate person, and you say you’re very much a “performing when it counts” person, so it wouldn’t hurt if you correct this misperception. They chose neither the highest scoring team, nor rank AA in 2016. They chose Douglas.
And again, this is not meant to be an anti-Douglas explanation. Douglas is beautiful.
This is about Skinner and it’s to point out that by the actual scores, over 4 days, Skinner outperformed Douglas logically and consistently. This is different than 2021 when Grace doesn’t add more to the team but did place higher AA. Douglas neither added more to the team, nor placed higher AA. People really forget the scores the gymnasts actually received at Nationals and Trials. Scores were meaningless in determining that team.
And Skinner didn’t just show up 1 day at Trials. Her scores contributed to the (non-Locklear) team total since Day 1 of Nationals, while Douglas’ scores didn’t. And I think making that more clear might help people understand why “performance-counts” people were upset about Skinner and Locklear, and why Skinner and Locklear were upset at the time. It was not anti-Douglas.
Anyway, long post, but point of fact made: it didn’t matter if Skinner was part of the highest scoring team or high in rank AA in 2016. She was not making that team.
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Typo above. The second configuration of National’s highest scoring team rankings was supposed to read:
Highest scoring teams based on average event score at 2016 Nationals:
1. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Locklear: 185.50
2. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Skinner: 185.075
3. Biles, Raisman, Hernandez, Kocian, Douglas: 184.775
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THANK YOU!!
I was on team Skinner in 2016, but I fully recognized that Douglas was also justifiable. But what drove me up a wall was everyone who defended the chosen team going on about how it was the only reasonable choice.
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Bennie, totally with you… days later I’m still puzzling and feeling a lack of fairness over this, so I feel comforted others are too. As you and Lauren both said, all roads seem to lead to Skinner missing out. At least she gets to compete, and massive respect to her performances, drive and fierce competitiveness – absolute wow.
Massive respect and thanks Lauren for all you do to report brilliantly (and genuinely fairly…) and support us in the comments section haha. Can’t wait for your next blog! Thank you!
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Thank you so much! I’ve been trying to keep up with comments but just really bad at it right now haha…but yes, agree that at least Skinner will get the chance to be an Olympian, even if the spot she got isn’t ideal. Can’t complain about that! A month ago I didn’t even see her finishing top 8 AA so her turnaround, just like in 2016, was outstanding and I’m sure she will be on fire in Tokyo.
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You’re so right, and she seems thrilled.
How you manage to reply to *any* comments with everything else you do is beyond me – appreciate the reply 🙂
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If there is anything else that is consistent also about skinner, it’s that she is definitely a gamer….lol….The girl has proven this time again and again with all kind of odds.
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I’m just dying to know what Riley was told, and her coach about her chances? Because I still feel if she would have hit night 2, she still wouldnt have gotten a spot as the individual. Which makes one wonder what she was told her chances were?
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Tom was really “helped” when riley unfortunately failed because he then had an excuse. It was possible that given that skinner did have a workable AA program and scoring 5th AA overall while riley didn’t right now that he could’ve just gone with the AA score totally and not naming riley.
Had riley not fail, the decision would have been harder to make. I actually believe that given what they have done so far, riley chance was significantly decreased to start with because of how they have “selected” everyone and everything based on AA rank so far. So yes, it is possible that even if riley didn’t fail, her chance were a lot lower than everyone else to start with.
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The comments are interesting – did anyone consider the possibility that Tom’s job is an incredibly difficult one, hampered by the great depth of the USA, as well as the constant and loud negativity of the media, the gymternet and every disgruntled athlete, parent and coach ? I am not saying that he is not biased, it certainly looks like Skinner gets overlooked a lot and McCallum always seems to get overscored on home soil, but the process could not possibly please everyone. He appears to prioritise transparency ? He is seen as indecisive and weak. He relies on a team to make tough decisions ? Why isn’t he making the decision alone, doesn’t he know how? I do think that his managerial skills are a vast improvement over the previous team, if the words of the gymnasts themselves are to be heard (and they are!). He seems to be prioritising the girls’ mental health as well as their physical prepared-ness for competition. Let’s give him a few more years to find his feet before going on an all-out war against him, and perhaps have a touch more respect for him and his colleagues.
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I am with a lot of what you say. There’s a lot I like about Tom. I agree there’s always going to be people upset with who is selected and one thing I did like Tom say was that he wanted the “athletes to select themselves.” Which, really, is how it should be. I always thought it should be an impartial, score-based system, where athletes, depending on their performance, select themselves by their performances. So I think Tom’s THINKING is in the complete right place.
People complain Tom could be replaced by an excel sheet and I actually think that’s a GREAT thing. I would love for the Nat Team Coordinator (or whatever the title is) to be the person who guides, encourages, and advises the team, and makes competition lineups, but for the selections NOT to be determined by the coordinator, or any other person, but by scores ( you know, like in track & field and swimming where the person who actually goes the fastest gets the spot, not because someone picked them).
So I think Tom’s thinking is on the right track. The problem is, he’s only halfway there right now. The athletes (i.e. their performance scores in competition) SHOULD determine teams and spots. The one thing Tom needs to do and hasn’t done yet, is set out a predetermined, and fully communicated to the athletes, process by which their performance scores will determine the spots. He needs to mandate something clear.
Either “it’s top 4 AA Trials, or top 4 AA Trials/Nationals, or it’s highest scoring team Trials, or it’s highest scoring team Trials/Nationals. Or even, it’s highest average score over Classics/Nationals/Trials/Training Camp.” Whatever it is, he needs to devise a performance determining factor that is fair and then let everyone know ahead of time.
I do think Tom’s heart is in the right place, which gives me encouragement, and I don’t want an all-out war against him. But there is also…the “give him a few more years” I agree with that in theory, but the women who lost out on not having a clear process in 2019 or this year, they don’t get to go redo their lives after Tom gets a few more years. So a lot of me is actually in favor of Tom, but I do get the complaints, because most of these athletes don’t get a few more years at their peak and deserved to have a clear system now. So I understand the complaints in the moment, even though I really don’t hate Tom.
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Yep, I think we and everyone here is complaining because of the inconsistent msg about the criteria being ever changing. I agreed about the “letting the athletes select themselves” even if that sometimes does not lead to the most optimal team. Sometimes you have to decide on which is the better route. And for what usag had been through, a fair clearly predetermined “letting the athletes select themselves” is probably the best right now for them. But you need to have clear predetermined communicated criteria
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No matter what choices were made, it was going to be controversial. I just hope people don’t take it out on the gymnasts. They’re all deserving and the problem is the US program is so deep that there are tons of deserving gymnasts who don’t get a spot. There’s always going to be people disappointed.
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Agreed, no matter who goes, they can all be easily justified, and pretty much everyone left behind is also worthy of competing at the Olympic level! What’s annoying is no clear process for selecting the team in advance (Tom telling Kara Eaker she needs to do the AA but telling Riley McCusker she only had to do bars, and then not seriously considering Riley because she wasn’t doing AA, saying he was taking the top-scoring team based on two days of trials and then taking ranked instead…) so I wish that this was clear in advance so athletes know exactly what they need to succeed and make the team. It’s unfair to them that they’re all told different things. If he had said straight out “you must place top five AA to make this team, end of story” then I think people would be more understanding with what ultimately happened.
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I have to think that the selection committee did look at top scoring teams when factoring different scenarios. For example, what if an athlete gets injured and we need someone to replace her on bars or beam? My assumption, and please correct me if I am wrong, is that Grace would score higher than MyKayla on both events, thereby giving the team a higher score. I haven’t crunched those numbers so I cannot be sure.
The only way MyKayla gives a higher score than Grace is if MyKayla is doing vault. Granted, her vault will bring in a big number, but that’s only if everything goes according to plan. We all know that in gymnastics it hardly ever does.
So when Tom says he’s going with the team that will bring in the highest score vs. can bring in the highest score, it makes sense that they went with Grace and not MyKayla. Again, Grace gives more of a cushion in terms of injury and a shaken line up than MyKayla does. MyKayla earned her +1 spot and was not robbed of anything.
For those that will say that Leanne or another gymnast would bring in a higher score than Grace, can we please just agree that Leanne is not consistent enough? Beautiful and extremely talented gymnast, but needs to work on her mental game.
No matter how this cookie crumbled, people were going to be upset. Right now it’s the people who love MyKayla who are upset. Had MyKayla made the team, the people who love Grace would be upset. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation.
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Consistency when though? Grace fell at ’18 worlds and ’19 worlds, completely bombed nationals ’21, which supposedly the team would be based on in additionto trials.
Grace said, “My body doesn’t hurt for the first time in a very long time” the day before Nationals. But, anyway. I guess they’ll put her up on VT instead of Suni, since Grace scored less than all of them on everything else in Nationals and Trials.
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Agree about Leanne’s consistency, but I actually did the numbers on Grace and Skinner and based on trials scores, if you take Mykayla over Grace, Mykayla adds about half a point on vault. Upside, right?
But let’s say someone gets injured. Who do you need to fill in better on all 4 events? Grace or Mykayla? Based on actual scores at trials….(this is using their average event scores)…
If you use Grace, you gain .5 on bars, but you then lose the .5 on vault by not having Myk. So even stevens there. Then you gain .068 on beam with Grace and you gain .2 on floor with Grace.
So this is based on actual average scores. Grace as a “fill-in alternate” adds about .268 to the team total over Mykayla if the event one of them needed to fill in for a last-minute injured teammate. Considering Mykayla adds almost a guaranteed .500 just being on the team vs. the chance an entire team member gets injured too late to be replaced with an alternate, Grace really only adds .268 more than Mykayla in that situation. So, while I maintain Grace is great athlete and Olympic worthy team member, I’m not sure the “Grace best AA replacement” status really holds up against Skinner not being a team member. You don’t lose that much by having Skinner do the other 3 events. You’re guaranteed to have her nail vault.
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Totally off topic but shout out to Gymternet for not posting those shirtless MAG US photos on her twitter or website. I have zero problem with shirtless men but this is so unprofessional of USAG to use as a team photo, and to be honest, some of those guys do not look comfortable.
I really can’t believe some of the comments I’m reading defending those photos, saying it’s for promotion and that since the guys’ team isn’t as accomplished they need exposure to drum up interest. I cannot imagine what kind of explanation that would be if they tried to drum up interest in the women’s team by showing “sexy” photos, rather than athletes in their uniforms (all of whom, male and female, are attractive fully clothed anyway).
Please everyone remember that male abuse does happen, and is often harder for men to come forward because people think it doesn’t. And I really don’t think all those guys look comfortable. It bothers me to see a couple of the expressions.
If Danell Leyva or any other male (or female) athlete wants, by their own unprompted choice, to take off their shirt in a workout or exhibition or their own posted feed, that’s totally different. But professional athlete photos announcing the team? It’s really been bothering me in a way I’m not even sure I know the words for, and I”m not an easily triggered person. I was really surprised Gymcastic twitter keeps showing that photo, and also kind of disappointed in them because I thought, for all they seem to stand against in their other posts, they wouldn’t. There are so many other great shots of our MAG team, you know, doing gymnastics, or posing in their gymnastics uniforms.
So anyway, thanks, Lauren, big thanks- for not using those photos. If there’s any chance you can convince your gym-media colleagues to Not use those as well, that would be really nice.
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Lauren, do you think Jordan will bring her second vault to the Olympics?
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I think because we didn’t see it at trials, it would be hard to see her unveiling something really difficult at the Olympic Games but also since it’s a second vault and won’t affect her AA score or the team score, I don’t see why she wouldn’t try? If she’s doing it well enough in training, she should go for it!
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What do you think about Grace saying she is going to upgrade vault, beam, and bars for the Olympics?
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We ll believe grace and chiles upgrade when we see it
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I’ve tried to come up with a more strategic explanation for putting Grace on the team and MyKayla in the non-nominative individual spot other than favoritism or bias. Personally, I think I would have gone with MyKayla for the shock and awe effect of the US rolling up a big lead after vault (as in London and Rio) in the team final.
OTOH, if you give MyKayla the team spot, who do you pick for the other individual spot? Even with the apparently “lopsidedness” of having two individual competitors with the same two strong events, who was both strong and consistent across both Nationals and Trials in either bars or beam?
On a lighter historical note, assuming that both Jade and MyKayla compete AA as individuals in Tokyo, won’t this be the first time since 1992 that the US has had 6 women doing the AA in prelims? Here’s hoping that as in 1992, they all would have made the cut except for the per-country limit. (At least
Jade and MyKayla will have the opportunity to show that they really are world-class all-arounders as well as specialists in an international field.)
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Yes that’s what I’m most excited about this olympics is everyone can compete the AA in qualifications and May the best two make it in. It’s honestly the only silver lining to this whole process and what I’m looking most forward to is seeing the battle for the AA in all countries but especially the US
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Yes that’s what I’m most excited about this olympics is everyone can compete the AA in qualifications and May the best two make it in. It’s honestly the only silver lining to this whole process and what I’m looking most forward to is seeing the battle for the AA in all countries but especially the US
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“Skinner plans on competing all four events at qualifications in Tokyo, with vault her most likely final.”
Dumb question, but I guess I’m not familiar with how individual spots work. So by sending an individual specialist gymnast, can they qualify to any event minus the AA? Is that right? I thought by putting Mykayla in an individual spot, for vault, meant she can only participate in vault qualifications in Tokyo.
What is the point of an individual spot if that’s the case? Especially with the two per country rule. Why not just have a six person team?
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The individual spot (Skinner and Carey) just can’t compete in the team event but they can try to qualify for the AA or any individual event final.
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I am genuinely THRILLED for Myk, but she should have been on the team and Riley should’ve had the individual spot.
That said, I genuinely hope that Riley takes a breather for a couple of years in NCAA, beats the crap out of literally everyone, then comes back to elite (with Brian Carey as her coach, obvs) and makes it to Paris.
Hey, I’ve gotta have SOMETHING to hold on to amongst this shitshow.
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Here’s the report from the selection committee: https://usagym.org/PDFs/Pressbox/Selection%20Procedures/w_21olympic_selectionreport.pdf
Lauren, we are still waiting for your deep dive …lol 🙂
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the report also noted that mccallum is somehow able to contribute to 2 events in TF vs only 1 for skinner. If that is the case, then even if skinner was able to get 4th place, does that imply she might still be left out of the team? lol…
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