Pauline Schäfer

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Nobody except Pauline Schäfer dares or wants to do “the Schäfer” on beam. This is understandable, as the amount of training required to learn the element and be able to perform it safely is enormous, and it is disproportionate to the low pay of the judges. Once Schäfer herself retires, the skill will be history. When will the FIG ever realize that? When will it finally find imitators so that the FIG realizes that it is on the wrong track?

I think the FIG knows what they’re doing, but they just don’t seem to prioritize innovation or creativity? I don’t want to straight up say that they hate innovation or creativity, but the code is literally so cookie cutter right now, every routine ends up looking exactly the same and we’re losing so many interesting pieces of the sport because of it, which is also something that can definitely happen with the Schäfer once she retires. I honestly don’t think we’ll see many others attempt it without an increase in the difficulty value, but we’ve seen this before with other elements being capped unfairly, and the women’s technical committee just doesn’t seem to care that the way they structure the code is limiting athletes to rote and practically compulsory routines. Elements like the Schäfer need to be worth the risk, but they just aren’t and it’s a bummer to see the sport go in this direction after earlier decades where innovation was celebrated.

At which competitions did Gina Gogean perform a full twist on beam and a full-twisting dismount?

I believe she first did the tuck full in her acro series in 1994 and then the full-in beam dismount at world championships in 1995 in terms of major international competitions…obviously she became known for downgrading pretty significantly for most of her career, which was a little controversial as her “easy” routines won golds over much more difficult and aesthetic sets, but she was definitely once trying to push the envelope!

I always thought Ekaterina Lobaznyuk was the first to compete a standing arabian but Viktoria Karpenko was doing it in 1997? Was anyone else doing it before? Who was the first to do this on beam?

I remember reading once that Karpenko first started competing the arabian on beam as early as 1995, though I don’t think any video exists of her doing the skill either then or in 1997. However, there IS a video of U.S. junior Lindsay Wing performing an arabian on beam in 1997, so regardless, Lobaznyuk was not the first.

In the 2008 Olympics for Team USA, Samantha Peszek had an ankle injury and could only compete on her “worst event,” the uneven bars. Why didn’t they instead take Jana Bieger or Ivana Hong as they were meant to replace injured athletes?

Marta Karolyi would constantly talk about how she didn’t want to take away the Olympics from any athletes who earned their spots, even if they were injured, so she generally refused to sub in alternates even when she probably should have, like in Beijing, where the team had two injured athletes and ended up extremely limited. I do remember there apparently being an issue with the U.S. alternates being stuck in Japan and unable to cross into China, so that was kind of the excuse as to why Peszek wasn’t replaced, but while I do think they should have figured out a way to bring in an alternate, I truly don’t believe it would have affected the lineups for the final so the issue is kind of moot.

With the apparatus world cup series coming soon with Olympic qualification at stake, will the ranking points be reattributed only to athletes still eligible for qualification, like in 2020? Some apparatuses might have to go a long way down the standings to award points this way.

Yes, I believe the FIG will redistribute points. I’m pretty sure they did that for the world cup series qualifier for world championships this quad, as the rankings I put together without points redistribution ended up different from the FIG’s official rankings, so I think we’ll see the same situation for Olympic qualification. Honestly though, I don’t think they’ll be digging too far down the rankings to find athletes, considering it’s only two per event. Eight per event for worlds was a bit ridiculous, especially in WAG where athletes ranked in the 40s with average scores of 10-11 earned “specialist” spots, but since there were a good number of gymnasts who missed worlds and thus Olympic qualification this year due to injury, I think we’ll see some tough competition on most of the apparatuses in terms of earning Olympic berths.

Just for fun. It’s the intergalactic championships. What five current gymnasts would you pick to represent Earth? Plus two alternates.

I’m gonna play it fair and only pick one athlete from each continent to make it more fun. I’d take Simone Biles from North America, Rebeca Andrade from South America, Manila Esposito from Europe, Qiu Qiyuan from Asia, and Georgia Godwin from Australia. For alternates, let’s bring Africa into the mix and take Kaylia Nemour, and then for the second alternate, I think I’ll go into Eastern Europe, with Sabrina Voinea getting the spot.

What exactly happened to Joscelyn Roberson at worlds, and could that affect her chance of being on the Olympic team? Any updates on how she’s doing now?

She was injured while warming up on vault right before the team final, which kept her from being able to compete with the team, but I don’t think the injury was super serious and as long as she’s able to come back strong, I think she’ll still be in the mix. She already started tumbling again a few weeks ago, including double layouts, so it seems like things are going well! Can’t wait to see how she looks at Winter Cup.

I recently heard the European governing body will not admit Russian or Belarusian gymnasts at next year’s European championships. Is this true?

Yes, even though the FIG has been willing to allow for Russia and Belarus to have ways to qualify to Paris, the UEG has been very much against it and will not allow either country to compete at Euros. These programs may still have a shot through the world cup series, assuming the host countries for each world cup allows them in (not sure if that decision would come down to the local organizers or the FIG, since the world cups are FIG-sponsored competitions), so it might not be fully over for them, and they’d (Russia more specifically than Belarus) be able to potentially snag a couple of spots via the world cups whereas Euros just has the one all-around spot.

I know that two gymnasts per apparatus are Olympic-eligible based on the world cups. Will they be limited to competing only on the apparatus through which they qualify, or are they able of competing all four events?

Gymnasts who qualify via the world cups are eligible to compete on all four events, just like in Tokyo.

Laura Casabuena has a bars dismount where she does a double back tucked from a handstand at a complete standstill. Is this considered a different dismount from a double back after a giant? If they’re the same, why would she choose to dismount this way with zero momentum?

She only does a single back tuck from handstand, not a double, and it’s considered a different dismount from a single back tuck out of a giant. A single back tuck out of a giant is an A element, a double back tuck out of a giant is a B, and Casabuena’s single back tuck out of handstand is a C, so she’s getting more difficulty credit for her dismount than a gymnast who does two back flips with the momentum that comes from giants.

I know it’s illegal to even ask this, but does Simone Biles ever get artistry deductions on floor? Her dance is a bit wooden IMO, with more posing than actual dancing.

I think artistry and choreo/dance are somewhat different in terms of the code’s requirements, and while I don’t consider Biles one of the best dancers, I do think she performs well, and that her choreo generally does fit stylistically with her music and the story she’s trying to portray. She may receive some artistry deductions, but I don’t think she’s a worst-case scenario, and probably is in fact on the stronger end of the spectrum.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins