2020 Olympic Games | Women’s All-Around Final Live Blog

/ July 29, 2021

Welcome to the live blog for the women’s all-around final at the 2020 Olympic Games, held in Tokyo, Japan!

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10:01 pm. All-Around Standings

1. Sunisa Lee USA 57.433
2. Rebeca Andrade BRA 57.298
3. Angelina Melnikova RUS 57.199
4. Vladislava Urazova RUS 56.966
5. Murakami Mai JPN 56.032
6. Nina Derwael BEL 55.965
7. Tang Xijing CHN 54.498
8. Jade Carey USA 54.199

9:57 pm. Jade Carey USA FX: Moors to start. Front through to double double, hop back, heels may have been OOB. Stuck the full-twisting double layout. Full-in, hop back, step OOB.

Lieke Wevers NED BB: Missed a lot of this but she had a huge stumble, I think it was on the side aerial bhs.

9:56 pm. Sunisa Lee ends up 0.135 ahead of Rebeca Andrade and will become the Olympic champion!!!!!

9:52 pm. Rebeca Andrade BRA FX: Front layout full through to full-in, big hop back out-of-bounds. Full-twisting double layout, piked down but stuck. Memmel to stag jump was so nice. Double layout, stuck on her toes! Stepped back OOB on the double pike. 13.666

Jutta Verkest BEL BB: Hit routine, 1.5 with a hop at the end.

9:50 pm. Carolann Heduit FRA UB: Tkachev to Pak, van Leeuwen, step forward on the double front dismount. 13.566

9:48 pm. Sunisa Lee USA FX: Hop back on the double double. Double layout, legs apart in the air but another solid landing! Triple wolf turn, good. Had nice leaps earlier too, I always forget to talk about leaps. 1.5 to front full with a tiny hop, clean in the air. Fantastic! 13.700, that will put her in the lead!

Elisabeth Seitz GER UB: Hit routine! She did some great work in there. 14.500!

Martina Maggio ITA BB: I missed a lot of this but everything I saw was hit. 13.066

9:44 pm. Angelina Melnikova RUS FX: Full-twisting double layout, leg form issues, but a good landing. Double L to double pirouette, double layout, tiniest leg separation, hop. Front full, bends her legs and hops. Hop back on the double pike…little things in there but she got through it! 13.966

Alice D’Amato ITA UB: Saw her catch her Downie to Pak, clean! Some piked hips in giants. Crashed her double front half dismount.

9:42 pm. Tang Xijing CHN VT: Got the DTY today! Not bad actually. Good finish for her. 14.233

Lee Yunseo KOR BB: Piked down on her candle mount. Had a really weird fall, missed a foot and sat on the beam. Hit a side somi and side aerial. Good flight series. 2.5 dismount with a hop. 11.266

9:41 pm. Vladislava Urazova RUS FX: Lovely Memmel at the beginning, piked full-in, legs apart and two steps back. Clean and solid 2.5 to front tuck. Split leap to tour jeté half. Gorgeous triple wolf turn. Double tuck, very clean. Clean double full with a stick, I think, at the end. Fabulous! 13.400

Roxana Popa ESP UB: Blind change to piked Jaeger. Hit everything after that up to her Maloney, just didn’t have the reach for it and fell. Tried it a second time and did the same thing. UGH. Full-twisting double layout, mostly clean with a hop back. 12.100

Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos FRA VT: Good DTY, just some body shape in the air. 14.366

9:40 pm. Jessica Gadirova GBR VT: Huge clean and floaty DTY, good landing. 14.566

9:39 pm. Giulia Steingruber SUI BB: Hit everything at the beginning, had a really strong leap to side somi series, full turn, gainer layout dismount I think. Hit routine! 12.400

Lu Yufei CHN VT: I think I saw a tsuk full, landed very close to the table. 13.500

9:38 pm. Brooklyn Moors CAN UB: Maloney to Pak, toe full a little late, van Leeuwen, got her release, hit the dismount. Good! 13.000

9:36 pm. Nina Derwael BEL FX: Double tuck, little hop. 1.5 to front full, clean. Switch ring to split leap at the end was very nice. A beautiful day from her! 13.433

Zsofia Kovacs HUN VT: DTY, looked good from here! 14.500

9:34 pm. Kim Bui GER BB: Hit her layout mount and bhs loso, step back out of it. Side aerial, little check, hit her jump series, full turn, switch leap to switch half, slow connection, hit the dismount! 12.600

Murakami Mai JPN UB: I caught it from the Maloney to Gienger, blind change to piked Jaeger, bail to toe shoot, hop on the dismount! She had a fantastic day. 13.733

Jennifer Gadirova GBR VT: DTY looked a bit wild, hopped maybe off the side of the mat? Couldn’t tell from here. 14.400

9:32 pm. Inquiry for Rebeca Andrade moved her score up 0.1 to a 13.666, she’s now ahead of Urazova but behind Lee.

9:31 pm. Rotation 3 Standings

1. Sunisa Lee USA 43.733
2. Vladislava Urazova RUS 43.566
3. Rebeca Andrade BRA 43.532
4. Angelina Melnikova RUS 43.233
5. Nina Derwael BEL 42.532
6. Murakami Mai JPN 42.299
7. Giulia Steingruber SUI 40.966
8. Kim Bui GER 40.398

9:29 pm. Took FOREVER for Rebeca Andrade’s score to come in and it was MUCH lower than I expected…

9:23 pm. Rebeca Andrade BRA BB: Switch leap mount, switch half, little adjustment, super solid on the bhs loso, front aerial to a jump, great, she is SO on. She is WINNING this title. Transverse split jump half. Switch ring, side aerial to split jump to back handspring, switch leap to split leap, full turn, step back on the double pike. 13.566

9:21 pm. Jutta Verkest BEL UB: I missed this. 12.466

9:18 pm. Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos FRA FX: Full-twisting double layout, piked down and a big step forward. Hit the second pass. Front layout through to double tuck, really short. Double pike with a hop back. 13.333

Sunisa Lee USA BB: Struggle to get a wolf turn in place but fights through. Switch ring, misses connection to the leap out of it. Good on the switch to switch half to split ring jump. sSide aerial loso loso looked WAY off line but she somehow gets it! Double full clean and stuck! 13.833

9:17 pm. Martina Maggio ITA UB: Wasn’t typing but she hit the beginning, bail to toe full to toe shoot, a little rushed in the pirouette, double pike with a good landing. 12.466

9:15 pm. Jessica Gadirova GBR FX: Double double, leg form and a step I think. Hit the second pass. Front layout full through to double tuck with a hop back.

Lee Yunseo KOR UB: I missed the beginning, ugh, I missed the whole thing apparently, just saw the stalder full to full-in at the end which was lovely. 14.300!

9:13 pm. Angelina Melnikova RUS BB: Switch leap mount, wobbles through it, bhs loso, tiniest hip check, front aerial to split jump to straddle jump, great straddle. Kochetkova, moved a little slowly in it but nice overall, clean on the wolf turn, side somi, good! Hit a jump near the end, stag ring maybe? Hard to see from here. Double pike dismount, looked almost stuck! 13.700

9:12 pm. Giulia Steingruber SUI UB: Van Leeuwen, toe full to Gienger, Pak, Maloney to clear hip half, blind change, slight body shape deduction, double front, cowboyed with a hop forward. 12.800

Lu Yufei CHN FX: Quad turn, hit the first pass, 2.5 to front pike after that, little steps forward. Clean stuck double full. Switch leap to switch ring I think. Step back on the double tuck. 12.833

9:11 pm. Elisabeth Seitz GER VT: DTY, not bad! Maybe a little short with some leg form. 14.200!

9:09 pm. Alice D’Amato ITA VT: DTY, a little iffy with her form, but good landing. 14.300

Vladislava Urazova RUS BB: Layout stepout mount, good, bhs bhs loso solid! Switch leap to full Y turn, amazing. Front aerial to split jump to Onodi, obsessed. PERFECT triple wolf turn. Perfect double as well. Side aerial, little hip adjustment, 2.5 with a hop to the side. Just fantastic. 14.200

9:08 pm. Zsofia Kovacs HUN FX: Hit the double layout and full-in to start, strong! Switch to tour jeté half. Big steps out of the front layout full. Double tuck with a small hop back. 12.600

Roxana Popa ESP VT: Great DTY! Landing was fab. 14.600

9:06 pm. Nina Derwael BEL BB: Layout stepout mount, leg comes up but she saves it. Hit the flight series, switch to split ring leap too. Front aerial, missed connection to the side somi. Triple wolf turn. Gainer full dismount with a hop. 13.366

Brooklyn Moors CAN VT: Handspring front full, I think a step or hop on the landing if memory serves. 14.300

Kim Bui GER UB: Piked Jaeger, Pak was clean, Maloney to Bhardwaj, some leg separation there, van Leeuwen, toe full to Gienger, double pike dismount with a hop back. Good! 13.766

9:03 pm. Murakami Mai JPN VT: DTY, stuck! She’s in it to WIN IT. She wants ON that podium. 14.533

Lieke Wevers NED UB: Maloney to bail to toe full, really clean, to toe shoot, a little close maybe. Blind change to front giant to front layout, clean landing. 13.366

Jennifer Gadirova GBR FX: Hit the first pass, full-twisting double layout I believe, then a solid double layout. Switch ring to tour jeté, supposed to be a full but maybe a little short. Front layout through to double tuck, stuck! 13.800.

9:00 pm. Tang Xijing CHN FX: Full-in, stuck it COLD! That was awesome. Triple full to punch front, not bad. Good 2.5 to front pike. Good routine. 12.966

Jade Carey USA BB: Full turn, little check. Front aerial to split jump to straddle jump, a little slow in the first connection. Bhs loso loso, legs are wild on the second flip and she falls. Switch to switch half, split leap to side aerial, check at the hips. Switch side. Hit a transverse jump. Double tuck, cowboyed with a hop back. 11.533

Carolann Heduit FRA VT: Solid DTY. 14.400

8:53 pm. Rotation 2 Standings

1. Rebeca Andrade BRA 29.966
2. Sunisa Lee USA 29.900
3. Angelina Melnikova RUS 29.533
4. Vladislava Urazova RUS 29.366
5. Nina Derwael BEL 29.166
6. Jade Carey USA 28.700
7. Giulia Steingruber SUI 28.166
8. Murakami Mai JPN 27.766

8:50 pm. Jessica Gadirova GBR BB: Full turn, front aerial to  split jump to straddle jump, covered up a big wobble after the front aerial, off on her bhs loso loso. Switch to switch half, little check, to back tuck. Side aerial. Double pike with a lunge back. 12.033

8:48 pm. Sunisa Lee USA UB: Nabieva to Bhardwaj to Maloney to Gienger, had some leg form issues throughout but solid, blind change to piked Jaeger to Pak to van Leeuwen, legs separated a bit, blind full, full-in stuck! 15.300

8:47 pm. Alice D’Amato ITA FX: Big triple full! Double pike with a hop back. Big front double full, hop forward. Switch ring at the end. Great routine! 12.966

8:45 pm. Lu Yufei CHN BB: Had a big wobble and stepped forward out of her switch ring, had another big wobble elsewhere. I didn’t see a lot of this while watching Melnikova on the other side of the arena so my head was turned, no falls, though, had a nice mixed series at the end. 13.133

Angelina Melnikova RUS UB: Inbar full, ankles apart, to Maloney to Pak to van Leeuwen, inbar half to piked Jaeger, it sounds like the Americans are cheering for her! THEY ARE! Hit the dismount. 14.900

You can hear Simone Biles cheering wildly for her in the background! I love that so much.

8:42 pm. Roxana Popa ESP FX: God I love this routine so much, wobbled on the double layout, double tuck with a hop. I assume out of a front something or other and I just missed it. Switch ring to tour jeté half. Hop forward on the full-in, I think a double pike to finish. 13.133

Vladislava Urazova RUS UB: Inbar full (or toe full, I couldn’t tell from here) to Maloney to Pak to van Leeuwen, inbar half (I think) to piked Jaeger, came REALLY close to the bar with her feet on that, blind half to toe full, hit the dismount, full-in with a little adjustment. 14.866

8:40 pm. Zsofia Kovacs HUN BB: Hit her mount then a switch half to Korbut. Side aerial to split jump to wolf jump, split leap to front aerial, tiny check, solid layout series, legs apart in the air, full turn, off on the side somi, looks so upset, this was shaping up to be one of the best beam routines I’ve seen from her. Dobule tuck with a step back. 12.100

8:39 pm. Brooklyn Moors CAN FX: Podkopayeva and 2.5 to front full both strong. Gorgeous and precise on her leaps. Rudi to split jump, beautiful. 13.566

Martina Maggio ITA VT: Yurchenko 1.5 with a step forward, pretty big air! 14.033

8:38 pm. Jennifer Gadirova GBR BB: Hit the beginning, I started typing at the bhs loso loso, solid. Front aerial, check, doesn’t connect to straddle jump to split jump half. Hit the dismount. 12.933

Nina Derwael BEL UB: Nabieva, Downie, Derwael-Fenton to Ezhova to Maloney to Pak to van Leeuwen, some foot form and her ankles come apart once or twice. Good! 15.266

8:37 pm. Lee Yunseo KOR VT: FTY, a little piked down, not a ton of distance. 13.400

8:35 pm. Jade Carey USA UB: Church, blind change to Ezhova, caught something to a Bhardwaj, probably a Maloney, then a van Leeuwen, hit the rest, I think a blind full to full-in dismount, stuck it! The full-in is SO CLEAN. 13.500

Simone looked PIIIIIIIIIIISSED while clapping for this. 😦

Edit – I typed this really quickly when they showed her face on the screen in the arena, which they did about a million times because they were really desperate for her reaction shots. Simone looked like she was enjoying herself and was cheering everyone on for the majority of the competition, but this seemed notable to me because I thought of how upset she must feel to not get to be out there competing. I wasn’t insinuating that she was mad at Jade or anything. For the majority of the competition, no one was cheering louder than Simone, but they just happened to show her during a moment where she looked upset, and I felt gutted for her because knowing the kind of athlete she is, I thought about how hard it must be for her to sit back and watch instead of being out there herself. That’s just my conjecture, obviously, but wanted to clarify that it was one out of a million reactions that they showed and I only shared it because I felt bad for her not being able to compete.

Murakami Mai JPN FX: Great double double to start and hit the second pass, small hop on the 2.5 to front full. Hit the rest, great routine! 14.000

Giulia Steingruber SUI VT: Huge rudi, legs are a little messy, big hop back. 14.833

8:32 pm. Tang Xijing CHN BB: Layout stepout mount, beautiful. Perfect on the roundoff layout into a split jump. Slips on her switch ring. Split ring jump I think (from this angle) to Korbut. Everything was SO precise until that fall, UGH. Switch to split ring leap to back handspring, slow in the last connection. Hit a jump series at the end, clean stuck double full. Perfection, then there’s the fall. 13.066

Kim Bui GER VT: FTY, low, small hop back. 13.466

8:30 pm. Carolann Heduit FRA FX: Tucked full-in, small hop. Arabian double front, good landing, and she stuck the double tuck. Double pike, the tiniest bit short. Great routine though. 13.033

Lieke Wevers NED VT: FTY, SO close to the table, mostly clean. 13.266

Rebeca Andrade BRA UB: Maloney to stalder full to piked Tkachev to Pak to van Leeuwen, fab! Blind change to piked Jaeger, very clean, toe full, to full-in stuck! Fantastic. 14.666

8:29 pm. Jutta Verkest BEL VT: Clean FTY, not a ton of distance, hop back. 13.400

8:27 pm. Elisabeth Seitz GER FX: Hit her first pass, arabian double front I think. 1.5 through to double tuck, good. Double pike to finish, good routine! 12.433

Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos FRA BB: Massive wobble on her punch front mount unfortunately. Punch front with a break at the hips. Solid bhs layout. Switch to wolf jump, random wobble just turning sideways, LORD, transverse jump, switch half, front aerial slow into a jump before the back handspring, small adjustment, I think a switch ring, full turn, both good, two big steps back on the double tuck. 12.166

8:21 pm. Rotation 1 Standings

1. Rebeca Andrade BRA 15.300
2. Jade Carey USA 15.200
3. Angelina Melnikova RUS 14.633
4. Sunisa Lee USA 14.600
5. Vladislava Urazova RUS 14.500
6. Tang Xijing CHN 14.233
— Zsofia Kovacs HUN 14.233
8. Nina Derwael BEL 13.900

Brooklyn Moors’ inquiry was rejected.

8:20 pm. Brooklyn Moors submitted an inquiry on beam.

8:16 pm. Roxana Popa ESP BB: Front aerial to split jump, very nice. Bhs layout, or pike, small step back, check. Switch to wolf jump. Side aerial with her leg up but fights it. Wobbled on something. Another wobble on the transverse split jump. Hit the double pike dismount with a step forward. 11.700

Lu Yufei CHN UB: Tkachev to Gienger, fall. LORD. Back on for her front pierouette series, her legs come apart on both of the pirouettes, to piked Jaeger to Pak, van Leeuwen is mostly clean, clean and stuck full-in. 13.333

8:14 pm. Lee Yunseo KOR FX: Small hop on the piked full-in and then a little short on the triple full, step to control it. Some leg form in the triple. 1.5 to front full. Nice leaps. Hit the last pass. 12.666

8:13 pm. Zsofia Kovacs HUN UB: Inbar full to Chow half, nice, inbar half to big piked Jaeger, I think a Ricna, then a Downie to Pak, van Leeuwen, she’s killing this, full-in with a hop. Yes! 14.233

8:12 pm. Right now Rebeca Andrade has a one-tenth lead ahead of Jade Carey and no one in the bars rotation will outdo that. Angelina Melnikova third, back by about six tenths, but obviously this will change wildly when we get this group to bars!

8:10 pm. Giulia Steingruber SUI FX: Tour jeté full, full-twisting double layout, hop back. Stuck double layout! Double tuck. Step back on the double pike. Must have done a front through to the double tuck. 13.333

Brooklyn Moors CAN BB: Punch front mount, slight check. Leg came up on the front handspring front tuck series. Leap to front aerial to split jump, nice. Lovely full turn. Performs to the judges after, her face is like “I dare you to give me less than a 9.5 for this.” Switch half, bobble. Rudi dismount with a step back. 12.433

Jennifer Gadirova GBR UB: Hit the beginning, I started typing at van Leeuwen, arched over and legs fell apart in her blind full, has to regroup and start her swing over, blind change to piked Jaeger very low. Hit the dismount with a small hop. 12.400

8:08 pm. Angelina Melnikova RUS VT: DTY, good block, legs are twisted at the knees in the air but mostly straight, tiny hop back on the landing. 14.633

8:07 pm. Murakami Mai JPN BB: Punch at the beginning hit, nailed the flight series. Front aerial to jump series clean. Triple wolf turn, nice. Hit the rest, good dismount! 13.766

Kim Bui GER FX: Beautiful double layout. Hop back on the double tuck. Double pike good. I think I missed her third pass. 13.166

Tang Xijing CHN UB: I jumped in late as usual, caught her Pak and van Leeuwen, front pirouette series to piked Jaeger, small hop on the double layout. Nice routine! 14.233

8:05 pm. Vladislava Urazova RUS VT: DTY, weird late twisting as always and messy in the air (starts out piked, ankles crossed) but excellent landing! 14.500

8:04 pm. Carolann Heduit FRA BB: Side aerial loso with a big break at the hips but nice fight, stays on. Hit leap series. Hit the dismount, double full I think. 12.566

Nina Derwael BEL VT: Really nice Yurchenko 1.5, tiny hop to the side. Some bent knees in the air. 13.900

8:02 pm. Lieke Wevers NED FX: Quad turn I think at the beginning, double tuck with a hop back, hit the second pass as well, lovely dance throughout. Crashed her last pass to her knees, looked like a double full I think? 12.066

Jade Carey USA VT: Cheng, huge, got a bit more distance than Rebeca’s but not the height. Combine them! Some leg separaiton on pre-flight but mostly clean otherwise, hop back. 15.200

8:01 pm. Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos FRA UB: Caught the first release (Nabieva I think if my memory serves) to a Pak, Maloney to Bhardwaj, a little crooked but mostly clean, nice on the van Leeuwen, inbar half to front giant full, almost in handstand, some body shape deductions, full-twisting double layout with a step back. 13.833

8:00 pm. Jutta Verkest BEL FX: Clean double pike and double tuck. Clean front layout full at the end. 12.633

Elisabeth Seitz GER BB: Hit the very beginning, I wasn’t paying close attention, everything else hit, front full dismount. 12.933

7:59 pm. Rebeca Andrade BRA VT: Cheng, GORGEOUS, college stick, steps out of it after holding for a second. Amazing! Right on the line on the landing. 15.300

7:58 pm. Jessica Gadirova UB: Piked Jaeger, Derwael-Fenton to a messy Ezhova, Maloney to Pak, legs apart, misses connection to the va Leeuwen, has to take an extra swing, blind full, full-in with a hop. 13.666

7:57 pm. Sunisa Lee USA VT: DTY, one of her stronger landings! Nice height and position, basically stuck from the looks of it. Very strong. Leg form is pretty great! 14.600

7:55 pm. Martina Maggio ITA FX: Hit her first pass, second is a front through to double full, no more layout! Hope that means her knee is better. Double pike with a hop. Hop back on the double tuck as well. 13.000

Alice D’Amato ITA BB: Off on her flight series. Switch to split leap to a jump, wobble, got the double wolf turn around, good transverse jump, triple full, short, steps back. 11.633

7:54 pm. Touch warm-up going well so far, I just saw a good DTY from Rebeca Andrade, so I assume she’s doing that, though I hope she does the Cheng? Maybe she warmed both up just to get a feel.

7:53 pm. Actually the Russian leos are a little deeper than Nastia pink. But I love it.

7:48 pm. The athletes have just marched out!

Russians have busted out the Nastia pink.

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94 thoughts on “2020 Olympic Games | Women’s All-Around Final Live Blog”

    • She can do no wrong according to the judges. I’m half certain she could do a yurchenko layout and get a 14…

      Speaking of, it kills me how they will just lower vault values every quad, just because (yurch 1.5s are worth the same as front layout halves), but there is no minimum fx tumbling standard. Baffles me how a doubme tuck and 1.5 to full twist is acceptable at this level.

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  4. Very funny, @Lauren your liveblog is coming in sooner than the video; there’s some like several minute delay there. I’m in the past or you’re in the future. 😉

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  6. I wonder if Jade after beam will go for her triple on floor to get in named. Nothing to lose now. If its lookin better than it did, she should go for it,

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  7. Ninas leo on my tv on beam from the distance I am from the telly looks like a giant sharks mouth took a chunk of her torso out. lol

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  8. Idk if it was in training or an actual comp, but I remember a vid of Moors doing the pod, a double front, 2.5 into whatever, and a front 2 twist into whatever. Maybe it was just too much physically, but boy would it up her intl fx chances.

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    • Suni Lee’s start value is like half a point higher; Andrade did get a slightly higher execution score (maybe should’ve been higher, though).

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      • Rebeca did have a .2 better E score than Suni. Rewatching from a different feed, Rebeca had more tiny tight checks than I remembered, and most of her split leaps look low. Not her rings. Those are great. But her regular split leaps/jumps are just below 180. My guess is she got hit for that, as well as the healthy step on the dismount, whereas Suni stuck hers.
        I agree Rebeca’s vault score should have been higher. But I can also see her floor score could have been lower. She had .4 in automatic deductions and only scored exactly .4 lower than qualifying, even though she also had additional landing E deductions.
        Very much a Miller-Gutsu situation. They were basically equally as good as eachother all-around. There were places where you could argue each should have received a little less or a little more.
        Rewatching Rebeca’s bars from a different feed was a treat though. She has more pop and amplitude on her connections than anyone. It’s beautiful. Her shap-half isn’t just good, it blocks off the bar, almost with a pause. The definition of virtuosity.
        Really like them both. Can definitely see why Rebeca could be argued to have won. But I do see her beam errors, and her routine doesn’t look quite as good on rewatch.
        Overall, I think Rebeca is slightly the stronger 4-event gymnast, but she did give away .5 in neutral deductions.

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  13. I guess this is the ‘put ur health first’ Olympics. I’m not mad at all. But very surprised Suni didn’t do her 4th pass.

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    • So true. Sunisa Lee is going to be a very popular olympic champion. There is just something about her. And a lot of people probably love that AA podium, whatever the order they had wished.

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    • If I couldn’t have my Riley girl up there, Sunisa as AA champ and the pre-eminent American at these Games is everything I could’ve hoped for. She was brilliant, and her floor and bars especially were a pleasure to watch.

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  20. Sunisa overscored without any shame on UB, BB and FX.

    Andrade underscored without any shame on BB. Still pissed she missed gold by a fraction of a foot even with Sunisa blatantly overscoring. The silver lining is that this will hopefully keep her hungry for gold in Paris 2024 and keep her going strongly this quad to become the ATG she deserves to be.

    Vlada got screwed so much it’s not even funny.

    The true podium should be 1. Vlada 2. Andrade 3. Melnikova

    What is going between Simone and Sunisa by the way? There is definitely something between them and I think Simone is regretting bitterly having pulled out.

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    • Simone looks fine. I was kind of hoping Vlada would medal, but she needed better on vault and floor to pull it off. I actually think Vlada should’ve won bronze, I don’t see how they got Melnikova scoring better than Urazova on bars and it’s been like that all week. Sunisa belonged on the podium, though I will say that I think Rebeca should’ve been placed above her, Rebeca did not get what she deserved on beam.

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    • Oh, I think Simone would have loved competing as usual. She did the right thing leaving the competition, but I think she’s not happy, so she might be happy for Sunisa but a little sad about herself… I would feel this way I think

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      • That’s exactly how I saw it…in a few of the clips they showed of her in the arena she looked really upset and then in others she was enjoying herself, screaming for Angelina on bars, etc. I’m sure she’s thrilled for her teammate but also so upset about how things played out for her after five long years of trying to get to Tokyo.

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        • Exactly. And frankly expecting it to be any other way would be absurd. Of course she’s upset about it. But I have seen a lot of cheering from her. You can be upset and happy for others at the same time.

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        • Totally agree! She seemed beyond thrilled for Suni, and also cheered Jade on constantly…there’s no animosity or anything there, so I feel bad that people read my comment and took it a way that it was not meant. It’s just that all of the other moments she and the team were shown weren’t really memorable because they mostly spent it cheering, but this one moment where she just looked so bummed while clapping got to me as like, something notable that could potentially be related to having to sit out the meet. And even THAT is just my conjecture, but I guess I thought it was worth noting in that moment.

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    • Ahh, an angry Russian. Melnikova (who I like) totally overscored. Yes I agree that Vlada got screwed. Sunit deserved this fair and square.

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    • Completely impressed how Suni was able to keep it all together given what went on earlier this week…. (Nothing against what happened to Biles).

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  22. Thought Rebeca should have won the AA title, but am still very happy for Sunisa especially considering what she had to go through to get to this moment. Angelina Melnikova getting an individual Olympic medal is of course a plus, and it’s been a delight to see how much she’s changed as a competitor and performer from Rio to now. Also I broke out into a smile every time I heard Simone cheering for non-USA gymnasts, the camaraderie among all the competitors is one of my favorite things about modern day gymnastics.

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  23. Congratulations to Sunisa. So happy for her. I wish people would stop saying she only won because Simone pulled out. It really minimizes her accomplishment. She did go higher than Simone day 2 of trials so it was always a possibility. We can argue all day long about whether she and others were under or over scored but at the end of the day she was out there competing and Simone was not. To say it wouldn’t have happened “but for…” does her a disservice.

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  24. All Rebecca had to do was say in bounds. They had her gold on a tray.

    Then she pulls a Daiane dos Santos and goes OOB twice after having survived beam.

    Still she should be thankful they gave her silver because if they felt like giving her 4th with those landings they could have.

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  25. Rebeca did a fantastic job today – first ever WAG Olympic medal for Brazil! Gutted she didn’t get the gold (though congrats to Suni who thoroughly deserved it) I hope she’s able to stick around and compete in Paris – I’d love to see more of her! I’m thrilled for Melnikova getting her all around medal, too – when talking about the Russians there’s been loads of hype around the “new up-and-comers” in the team in a way that I feel does a huge disservice to how well she’s performed over the last few years. And of course huge congrats to Suni – she was unflappable today, I’m so happy for her and her family.

    Also, I wish people would stop talking about Simone in a final where all Simone did was sit in the room and cheer people on. Her facial expressions could mean literally anything – she’s wearing a goddamn mask, and has been receiving enough shit the last few days – she might’ve just been notified of another mean comment on insta or whatever and frowned in response. Leave her alone and focus on the athletes on the floor who did an incredible job today. It’s not lost on me that this article included a comment about Simone’s facial expression but explicitly says “didn’t watch this person’s performance” multiple times.

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    • +1000 and it’s so easy to mis-/over-interpret expressions, tone of voice, etc. – AND THE WHY BEHIND IT. Enough with the B.S. mind-reading, people. (Not the person I’m replying to.)

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    • They showed Simone’s face on the big screen in the arena multiple times throughout – it’s hard to miss, especially when there are no events going on or when they all finish at once and the screen cuts from a routine to a reaction shot. I happened to see Simone’s face on the big screen a bunch of times, and mentioned that she looked pissed not as like, she was mad about the routine or whatever, but because she looked upset that she wasn’t out there. I also mentioned that she was cheering for Angelina on bars and gave Suni a standing ovation at the end, all of which was shown on the screen.

      I absolutely was NOT scanning for Simone’s face instead of watching routines as you seem to be implying. My eyes were darting back and forth between the beam side of the arena and the bars side of the arena for two straight hours – trust me, I had no time to look for Simone’s reactions, and in fact, she was in a part of the arena I couldn’t even see from my seat. But obviously the OBS wants a million reactions from her, and these were all over the big screen instead of 90% of the routines that were going on, so any time I looked up at the screen to get a score, there she was. It’s not that deep.

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      • And by the way, I missed roughly 4 routines out of the 96 that were competed, while sitting up at the top of a giant arena with four events going on at a time, thank you very much. 🙂

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      • It’s so frustrating that they focused on her on the screen so much . . . like “oh she’s having a tough time, THIS will sure help.” Not.

        Thanks for the stellar reporting and live-blogging, @Lauren! 😀

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        • Thank you! And yeah, I couldn’t see bars too well so I liked when they had bars up on the screen, but there were a few times when they cut from a bars routine to show Simone! I was like, okay, can we leave her alone? It would have made sense to see her and the other U.S. women after the Americans finished routines I guess, but to constantly have the cameras on her catching every moment is so annoying.

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      • Thank you for the context, it’s really helpful in understanding why it was written this way!

        My concern is, you clearly read these comments and it’s hard to miss how cruel people are being, jumping on any detail about Simone to criticise. You could have not talked about her in a report on a meet that she wasn’t participating in. It’s contributing to this idea that all gymnastics comps are the Simone show, which puts the spotlight on her in a way that’s really unfair and invites further unfounded criticism. You could’ve chosen to leave Simone out of this, but didn’t. I think coverage of gymnastics is going to have to reckon with this over-focus on Simone issue for a while, but imo, no need to comment on her in a meet report where she wasn’t taking part, especially when the cruelty in the comment section has been hard to miss.

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        • I don’t read the comments that often, and have barely read them during the Olympics…the sheer volume that came in during the WAG team final was so overwhelming, I still haven’t read any of those yet (and I’m afraid to!). Usually people aren’t cruel about anyone when I do read my comments, and when I do come across comments that bully or trash athletes, I mark them as spam in the hopes that wordpress will block the IP. Though I guess the Olympics must bring something out in people to make them have garbage opinions so I guess it’s worse now than usual.

          I would never write anything knowing that it would set people up to send hate to any athlete, and I try to choose my words very carefully, but in this case I just typed up her reaction quickly without fully explaining myself while watching two other routines simultaneously and completely forgot that I added it until I read the comments a few minutes ago, 3 hours after the meet ended. I’ve since edited the blog comment to include context. I saw that I also mentioned her cheering for Angelina because I thought it was great that she was being supportive of an athlete from another country. Both of those mentions were just quick like, oh, this just happened, let me add it so I don’t forget, not to get a reaction out of anyone. I thought it was important to mention (for my own reasons I guess) that she looked bummed in that one moment, probably because it was different from the other times where they showed her looking perfectly happy. It’s hard for me to contextualize or clarify this when I’m doing a live blog, especially because I forget about it seconds later as it’s so wildly busy, but I almost always write notes about stuff happening in the arena beyond the competition because I go back to the live blogs later on for recaps and it helps me remember what I want to include.

          At trials, for example, I wrote about Simone crying after beam, and being in the arena without any TV commentary, I didn’t even know WHY she was crying, though I added it in the blog as a reminder for myself to go back and check, because it seemed significant. I guess that could have been taken many different ways as well if people try to make something out of potentially nothing, but with that as well, it was a notable moment and I wanted to include it when talking about her performance overall, so I added it. I do this a lot, but realize that it can be difficult to provide full context when I’m just typing quickly and then moving on to the next routines! I’ll try to be more careful to explain myself, especially when talking about a reaction that could be misconstrued.

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      • Firstly, thanks for keeping this blog running and for all you do! I know it’s probably a very hard line to walk, and I definitely understand how live-blogged posts are off the cuff and it’s easy to lose context there.

        But I do agree with some things first commenter said here and I am only replying because I think there is a point here that you’re maybe not considering that’s worth bringing up. Based on what Simone has said about the pressure she feels I think it’s a nice time for us all to reflect on how we choose to talk about her — and I think you’re in a position where that’s really critical as a gymnastics blogger. None of us can control what the cameras show, but we can control how we discuss it and what we speculate on. The comment in the post about Simone felt uncomfortable to me to read, and it was really disheartening to see in this comment section that it’s been picked up by a LOT of commenters, and is fuelling speculation that there’s an issue between Simone & Suni or is being used to guess or mind read Simone’s mental state. You yourself have speculated several times about what her looking disappointed might mean. The reality is we don’t know, and it’s kind of not our business. It’s unfair that her face was being blasted at a time like this when she just came to watch and support her teammates and other athletes, but that’s not something you have any control over.

        But you do have control over reporting it and how you do so. You can ignore it, you can point out how putting a camera on Simone when she isn’t even competing might be adding to the media pressure she feels, or you can shut down speculation about her mental state in the comments.

        I appreciate this is a new and really hard line to walk and I generally love your coverage and all you work. But it’s also not lost on me that you left several long and (understandably!) defensive replies to this criticism, without I think engaging in the heart of what the original commenter was trying to get at. While I don’t want to come off like I’m blaming you because I do love your blog and I generally really like your coverage (this included!) I think a lot of the things Simone has said and the conversation she is starting have made me think really carefully about how I talk about her and other athletes and I hope it’s something you are also thinking about right now as we try to stand with her and support her. It’s only the beginning of what will be a much larger conversation but I just wanted to add my 2 cents as I felt like this point was not being addressed.

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        • I fully agree with everything you say – my defense is just an explanation of how I work when I live blog, and I’ve said that I’m going to be more careful in the future. There’s no other explanation aside from the fact that I simply didn’t think ahead about how that comment about Simone could be potentially misconstrued. I always try to think very carefully about how I phrase things knowing how the gymternet tends to respond (e.g. seeing Jade’s facial expressions when Tom was talking to her and literally diagnosing her with autism…), but in this case it just got past me and I didn’t think through the consequences, but I should have, especially with everything Simone has been going through – of course it would have been important to better explain myself there and I should have foreseen that people would jump to conclusions.

          I’m going to make sure any future commentary I have about athlete reactions is better contextualized should I choose to include something I think is important or interesting. I just wanted to explain that my intent behind it was nothing more than “oh Simone’s reaction to this is interesting,” not an invitation for others to attack her. I did not even consider that would be a thing, but going back and thinking about it, I see that obviously people are going to take it the wrong way and I need to do better to think about how I phrase things – or if I should include them at all! – in my coverage. I completely agree with you and hear you and understand your point.

          I also realized in all of this that it’s super different for me to see a gymnast’s reaction to her performance on floor and write “she looks upset” than it is to see the reaction of another athlete in the stands watching. Speculation is always part of sports commentary – it has to be, since we can’t get the athletes’ actual feelings and thoughts until sometimes hours or days after it happens. I watch a lot of baseball, for example, and you always hear speculation about like, this pitcher looks tired, this outfielder looks pissed because he missed an easy out, etc. Gymnastics speculation is no different, but I always try to be sure to say “she LOOKS upset” instead of “she IS upset” so that it’s clear it’s just my perception, not the athlete’s actual mood. But again, this should only apply to the athletes competing, not another athlete watching, who could look upset for literally any reason that has nothing to do with the meet.

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  26. Can anyone who understands the new NCAA rules explain to me what this means for options Sunisa has if she still does college? I think she’ll be a media darling, but I really want to see her at Auburn!

    I’m OBSESSED with this gold and silver duo! Suni is such a star who does some really interesting gymnastics in an era where originality isn’t as highly valued as it should be, and I love seeing her rocking this Olympics after she had a rough 2019 world championships in the wake of her father’s accident. We’ve watched Andrade have gorgeous gymnastics but get taken out with ill-timed injuries and shaky performances in finals, and she finally put it together when the chips were down on the biggest stage. Seriously my dream outcome!

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  27. Re: Simone’s facial expressions. This is a LONG competition. No one is smiling for the entire duration. Simone has plenty on her mind. This has been a horrible week for her, and I’m sure sitting on the sidelines on a night she hoped to secure a second AA Olympic gold is devastating. Lapsing into a few facial expressions of sadness, disappointment, frustration, etc. does not mean she is being an unsupportive teammate. It means she is hurting like a normal human being and cannot plaster a smile on her face for two-plus hours straight. Let’s not make drama.

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      • Thank you, that’s exactly what I meant! The arena showed lots of shots of her looking exciting and cheering everyone on and then a few of her looking bummed. I just happened to note that she looked upset because it seemed like she must have been so mad to not be out there. That’s just me guessing, but knowing the kind of athlete she is, I’m sure despite sitting out for her best interests, there’s a part of her that is dying to compete.

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        • We’ve seen “Simone pissed at herself” expressions before, like after a routine where she didn’t like how she performed. 😉

          This reminds me that after a routine today, IIRC, it kinda looked like the gymnast (not sure, but methinks Giulia Steingruber?) rolled her eyes at herself, which made me chuckle.

          Everyone’s got reaction faces. One of my favorites was in qualifications, I think, when Suni Lee had this expression as she caught the high bar after one of those complicated transitions from the low bar (I’m a gymnastics idiot, sorry) and her expression looked like “OMG WUT” – obviously I don’t know what was in her head, it was just a kinda funny expression. She was awesome BTW, and very cool as a cucumber.

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    • I am a bit speechless … is it an information you read or heard from “my best friend’s boyfriend works with the cousin of someone who knows very well Bile’s uncle ?”
      First case : any source ?

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      • I can only find forums discussing it, but I don’t generally read them. I am not sure of the sites and that’s all that returned for my search other than the 2016 breach of her medical records. I will try to delete my original comment.

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  28. I think USAG again owe a HUGE debt to the incredible gymnasts they have. It reminded me of 2017 how Morgi stepped up to take that gold when Ragan was sidelined at last min and absent Simone.
    No one owes USAG ANYTHING! But USAG owes a HUGE HUGE DEBT to all US gymnasts!
    The gap with the rest of the world has definitely narrowed. Anyone wishing for close competition will be in for a treat the next quad.

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  31. Ok, I’m going to be the first to admit that I was wrong in my reaction of Simone Biles on Tuesday. While I initially was extremely disappointed in Simone bailing on her teammates and was definitely in the “she should have sucked it up camp, she’s supposed to be the GOAT,” I do very much respect her pulling out of AA finals and cheering on her teammates.

    I originally did not understand the “twisties” argument, but now that I do, I am glad she made the call to keep herself safe. I can only imagine how devastating it could have been not knowing where you are in the air and perhaps permanently injuring or even killing yourself.

    As for her facial reactions, they seem completely normal. Happy and excited for cheering on your teammates, frustrated and wanting to be out on the floor yourself. The amount of emotions running through her mind was probably it’s own kind of marathon. I do not begrudge her those feelings.

    Beyond happy for all who made the podium. It was well deserved and could not be happier that Brazil won an olympic medal in WAG! Great to see Suni win gold and Melnikova on the podium!

    Any update on event finals?

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    • I actually think that strategically, her decision to withdraw from TF was actually a great decision in retrospect. If she really were going to produce 3 more routines with scores like that of the vt, then the US will definitely be off the medal podium. So really that was the best decision even if its a hard one.
      Hearing that simone balked the amanar also in warm up is actually a very serious thing. Because that is not normal at all. I supposed they couldve decided to not let her vaulted at all? but even then, it would still not be enough to make up the deficit.
      I really dont think simone is making or faking anything. no one in their right mind would not want to defend their AA or get their team to a gold. I think a lot of that smiling right now is hiding a very pained and disappointed simone that hopefully everyone on that team is being able to help out with her health.

      Enough with simone, We should celebrate Lee!!!! stan the new queen in succession!

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      • Yes, not only did she balk it in warmups, but she also had a bad training that morning. People told me she could do a DLO on floor but not a full-in, which is pretty bad, but apparently Tom said she felt better in the pre-competition warmup so they weren’t worried. I guess getting back out onto the podium rattled her and brought it back…it sucks either way but it was the right decision to pull her out if she couldn’t even get through a full-in. I guess they could have had her do beam and downgrade her dismount, but not really worth having to throw adjustments at her when she was mentally in that state.

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        • https://instagram.com/stories/simonebiles/2628949662137903375?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&utm_medium=copy_link

          The latest update is that simone still has the twisties which has transfered now to all 4 events!
          I suppose the Y double pike is one of the elements with the least amount of twists? She might be able to do that. But that by itself is no good for VT EF….
          There are just not so many choices for her that doesn’t involve a non twisting element. She also hasn’t trained a lot of non twisting things like the patterson dismount from beam. There are only so much adjustment you can do at this point.

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        • I feel like throwing a Yurchenko double pike, even though it doesn’t twist in the air, would still be absolutely terrifying in the state she’s in and I hope she won’t go for it in that case. But if she’s doing it into the pit and feels safe enough to move it up to the mat, maybe. I still think no. I’d honestly be scared for her life. I was thinking for beam, downgrading to a double back, no twist, but even there I feel like she’d have too much power since she’s used to so much more, so even that would be a massive adjustment for her and not super safe.

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    • As long as we’re posting our L’s here:
      I maintain that the original comments we got from Simone and USAG (especially USAG, who really should have some PR competence at this point) were not great. But the communications have gotten much better and more helpful in the following days, really helping emphasize the biomechanical element at play. And I get why Simone’s initial comments would be scattered, and shouldn’t have been so hot off the block.

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  32. In 2017 I was following your posts about the World Championships in Montreal. Three gymnasts tore their achilles tendons that meet. They were Rebeca Andrade, Vanessa Ferrari and Larissa Iordache. They are back for this olympics and in finals or are already medal winners after prolonged recoveries. I’m just so happy for them. Congratulations to Rebeca for her silver medal. It’s unbelievable after all she has been through.

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  34. I am so happy for Suni for winning the AA gold – asian represent! Also, to see Rebeca and Angelina on the podium after going through so much adversity in their own ways these past couple of years, was beautiful to see!

    I just have to say though in regards to Rebeca – this girl is on fire in these Olympics and I have a feeling she’ll increase her medal haul in the vt and fx finals.

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    • REBECA FOR OLYMPIC FLOOR CHAMP THANK U AND GOODNIGHT

      Also, I just LOVE the fact that she is one giant “F U” to the notion that you can only be artistic if you’re a balletic waif.

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  35. I wonder what’s going to happen to Liang Chow. China’s only medal hopefuls now seem to be Fan Yilin and Guan Chenchen, it seems. China’s results have been shockingly bad thus far, you would think there would be a change.

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    • This quad they have looked really good going into major meets but then completely bomb them. Like, watching the routines at nationals, even though their scores were crazy there, they still looked a lot better! I still think they should have taken Qi Qi over one of the all-arounders, just so they could have someone who could vault and do floor…that’s where it seemed like this team was struggling the most. Everyone was like “Tang has a DTY, it’s fine!” but like…she didn’t “have” a DTY. She threw one under pressure and hoped to hit. I do think they were low-balled on beam but I also think they weren’t as sharp there as they were at national meets, so…clearly whatever they’re doing now still isn’t working.

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      • Clearly how did they select OY if it was nor for her FX ? Qi Qi should have been their very obvious choice (not ours because we could’nt guess how OY was going. She had been on some rare occasions very good on 3 events and we relied on these). What a mess this chinese team.

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        • It seemed like they were hoping OYS would be recovered in time but like…forcing a gymnast who can’t do floor to throw a DTY in a team final is just the most questionable decision ever? Qi Qi was ready to go and proved it. I could see a team where it was two all-arounders, plus OYS for UB/BB and QQ for VT/FX, but if they wanted to take ZJ, LYF, and TXJ, they should have excluded OYS.

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