Gymnastics

[cesstar]

10 minutes ago, Dr.OO7 said:

I hope they can get it together for Tuesday. Luckily, we're only a point behind.

Scores don't carry over and are reset to zero for the final so all the qualified teams will start again from scratch.

I think the US are still favourites for gold, I would be very surprised to see them have the same level of mistakes again. I am curious who will go up for the US for each event - will they keep Jordan on Uneven Bars and Beam or just put her in the floor/vault line-up? 

[Peace 47]

4 hours ago, LexieLily said:

There's not a thread for general Olympics questions but I thought the age minimum for the Olympics was that you had to be thirteen. (Which I think is way too young, but that's neither here nor there.) So what's up with Hend Zaza, a twelve year old from Syria in table tennis/ping pong?

This article says that there is no overall minimum age for the Olympics set by the IOC and that it depends on each sport’s governing federation to set the rules for their sport (like Gymnastics having a 16 years minimum age).  Some sporting federations have no age minimum at all.

[Lady Whistleup]

Wow what a nailbiter! Awesome floor set from Nikita!

[absnow54]

9 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

Simone looked a bit over it. Even in the interview with Andrea Joyce where they showed her family she seemed tired more than anything else.

I wonder if she's just over NBC coverage. During trials they followed her around in extreme closeup after she had a bad beam routine, and then last night they blamed the US team being second to Russia on her, even though she still finished on top for the all around. I'd be annoyed having to talk to them too.

[Chaser]

They didn’t show Jordan’s mishaps on the Bars or Beam and I’m not sure they even talked about it. Instead it was all Simone’s bad night. 

[nickp1991]

USA Men did a great job with tough competition! 

[Jenniferbug]

Does anyone know if the replays of the women's gymnastics qualifying on the NBC Sports app would show the whole team? We watched in prime time last night, and I don't think we saw Grace at all. 

[Lady Whistleup]

Great interview with Oksana Chusovitna.

Quote

Q: What can potentially affect your decision? Perhaps, you can still come back?

A: Friends, I’m 46 years old. Nothing can be changed already.

Q: Would you have wanted to see full stands today?

A: Yes, very much. I’ll have to skip the 2024 Games in Paris and go to Los Angeles – 2028 so that everyone would applaud me there. [laughs]

Love her.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Lady Whistleup

[Jeddah]

I was hoping that even when they were out of medal contention maybe the US men could end on a high note with a solid floor routine from Sam.  Sigh.

[ShellsandCheese]

Happy for Nikita and team, and as others have pointed out, the four person team in Men’s Gymnastics is just so silly and unfair. I can’t believe that Russia’s only Team Gold was 25 years ago in Atlanta - I could have swore they had at least one other one before today. And I definitely preferred the Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) designation at the 18 games over the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) moniker this time around. 

[selkie]

Each global sporting federation sets its own age criteria for World Championships and Olympic qualification. Pool swimming has no age minimum and there's always a talented 14 year old or three floating around (hi Summer McIntosh!) while water polo, which is run by the same organization, is an 18 minimum for athlete safety reasons- it's a full contact sport and there are age minimums in diving (I want to say 14 or 15) because of the concerns over whether diving from a 10 meter tower is good for physical development of preteens. 

[Lady Whistleup]

17 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

Happy for Nikita and team, and as others have pointed out, the four person team in Men’s Gymnastics is just so silly and unfair. I can’t believe that Russia’s only Team Gold was 25 years ago in Atlanta - I could have swore they had at least one other one before today. And I definitely preferred the Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) designation at the 18 games over the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) moniker this time around. 

It was just so unfair that Artur and his non-existent Achilles had to do all 6 today. At least it was worth it -- can you imagine doing all 6 events on a non-existent Achilles and not even medaling?

This Russian team is actually likable so I was happy they won. Shocked at the Chinese meltdown on their best event -- PB. 

[DawnDavenport]

1 hour ago, Lady Whistleup said:

It was just so unfair that Artur and his non-existent Achilles had to do all 6 today. At least it was worth it -- can you imagine doing all 6 events on a non-existent Achilles and not even medaling?

This Russian team is actually likable so I was happy they won. Shocked at the Chinese meltdown on their best event -- PB. 

I'm not at all shocked China had a meltdown. It really should be understood that they are going to melt down on at least 1 event, possibly 2. It happened in '96, '04, '12, and '16 as well.

#TearsOfBronze!

Edited July 26, 2021 by DawnDavenport

[galaxygirl76]

2 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

This article says that there is no overall minimum age for the Olympics set by the IOC and that it depends on each sport’s governing federation to set the rules for their sport (like Gymnastics having a 16 years minimum age).  Some sporting federations have no age minimum at all.

Yeah, the gold and silver in women's skateboarding went to two 13 year olds. Which is crazy to me. 

[legaleagle53]

So since the Americans didn't even medal, what are the odds that we'll see almost no gymnastics coverage tonight in primetime outside of a few of their routines?

[Lady Whistleup]

7 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

So since the Americans didn't even medal, what are the odds that we'll see almost no gymnastics coverage tonight in primetime outside of a few of their routines?

Ugh.

Lowkey mens gymnastics is actually the better sport too. It's almost like a decathlon with the 6 events that all require such different skill sets. It also mercilessly exposes any weaknesses you might have either as a gymnast or as a team -- hence, why team USA often looks good in national competitions but falls apart in the international competition. They're not consistent enough.

[SnideAsides]

41 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

Happy for Nikita and team, and as others have pointed out, the four person team in Men’s Gymnastics is just so silly and unfair. I can’t believe that Russia’s only Team Gold was 25 years ago in Atlanta - I could have swore they had at least one other one before today. And I definitely preferred the Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) designation at the 18 games over the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) moniker this time around. 

It's tricksy wording - in addition to Russia winning in 1996, the Soviet Union won the event in 1952, 1956, 1980, and 1988, and the Unified Team won in 1992.

Although by that logic every medal Russian athletes win at these Olympics is a first.

[PepSinger]

LOL of course the US men didn’t medal. Sigh.

[emma675]

20 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

So since the Americans didn't even medal, what are the odds that we'll see almost no gymnastics coverage tonight in primetime outside of a few of their routines?

I'll bet they show a little of it, to say they've showed it since it's in the descriptions on the NBC local channels tonight. But I'll bet it's very brief since the US didn't medal. They didn't even show all of the US ladies last night since they "only" came in second in qualifying. 

[KittenPokerCheater]

Wow.  What an amazing team final.  I loved how teams put the medals on each other.  Best PR move EVER.  And it made my cold heart warm.

I saw an NBC fluff piece on Yul Mauder (spelling?).  It ended with Yul in tears talking about his family- I love that he loves his family, but what it is with the NBC fluff pieces always having someone in tears?  the US men were out-classed, but I truly hope that they   Will become more competitive in the next quad.  Certainly they had the heart.

Now I’m anxious for the US women.  I hope they can pull it off.  The ROC seem out for blood.

Aren’t the Chinese women famous for bars?  Or is it beam?

[galaxygirl76]

1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

So since the Americans didn't even medal, what are the odds that we'll see almost no gymnastics coverage tonight in primetime outside of a few of their routines?

I'm betting it will air after the local news break at the earliest, past midnight if there's no other live sports with US participation.

 

It's sad because men's gymnastics is great.

My husband mentioned that he rather see the whole competition too while watching the women's event. I think they only showed two Russians besides the US gymnasts so it must have come as a shock for those watching it for the first time without spoilers that the ladies were in second place. It ruins the event by showing only a few athletes, it's so much more fun to watch everyone and follow all the action.

Edited July 26, 2021 by galaxygirl76

[BitterApple]

20 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

I'm betting it will air after the local news break at the earliest, past midnight if there's no other live sports with US participation.

 

It's sad because men's gymnastics is great.

My husband mentioned that he rather see the whole competition too while watching the women's event. I think they only showed two Russians besides the US gymnasts so it must have come as a shock for those watching it for the first time without spoilers that the ladies were in second place. It ruins the event by showing only a few athletes, it's so much more fun to watch everyone and follow all the action.

My mother and I were just saying that last night. When the network only shows snippets, you don't get a feel for the entire event and where we stand in comparison to the competition. The coverage was much more balanced back in the day. I understand the focus will lean towards U.S. athletes, but why not scale down the endless puff pieces and friends/family reactions and show the damn competition? That's what most people want to see. 

[Jillibean]

To chime in on the coverage--without proper coverage, it's very easy to look at the standings and say "Oh those American men, what a disappointment. They didn't medal AGAIN."

Putting aside any prior knowledge I had going in, it became very quickly clear to me that even if the American men went up and nailed every routine they were still going to need some major mistakes from the top three teams in order to medal. The level of difficulty just isn't there for them as compared to the top teams, and on events like rings and PH the other teams are scoring about a point higher than they can on almost every routine. So to give them grief about not medaling isn't that different to me than giving a women's team like France grief about not medaling. No one ever really thought they would to begin with, unless something really went wrong for someone else. 

But overall, I think they acquitted themselves really well. Brody, Yul, and Shane should be incredibly proud of how they performed. Sam...is Sam, and the team should know better than to expect he'll be anyone else. Shoulda coulda woulda says they should have let Brody do floor instead, just to finish clean, but then again I NEVER would have put him as the anchor on PH and he did okay for him there, so what do I know? So weird that Sam waited to have his major meltdown until it was basically all but assured that they didn't have a medal chance anyway. The way his mind works is fascinating. 

But yeah, so impressed with the other three. Regardless of Brody's politics, he's a breath of fresh air in terms of consistency. 

It was crazy to me that they omitted both Jordan's issues and Grace in general in last night's primetime coverage. Grace did an excellent job for the team in qualifying, despite her blip on beam. I sort of wondered if they all just feel bad for Jordan given everything and decided to try to sweep it under the rug for her.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Jillibean

[emma675]

For me, it's just the fact that the US men have finished 5th for the last three (or maybe four?) Olympics. It's like they haven't improved on that stage in so long. They just don't seem to have the skill set or level of support that the other countries do and it shows, sadly. 

[kittykat]

Sigh US although it was expected.  Was hoping Great Britain would sneak in for bronze but there was a decent gap between China and them so it was unlikely.

I'm unusually happy for the Russians winning.  Didn't realize it was their first team gold since 96.

[Raachel2008]

11 hours ago, Daisy said:

 

well again a lot of sports have the "Participation trophy" ranking/limitation too. You do have to grow the sport (and some countries have their funding completely tied in by either making the Olympics or placing well). It's one thing to say "Well do better," but you can't do better if you don't make the Olympics or you finished out of the top 24 because the three best countries in the world can allow their entire team to be in the AA/Finals.  (and then again, I think you can miss out on "Olympic Moments" where you simply get a chance - then have the performance/meet of your life and win a medal or something. 

Going back to 3 wouldn't be bad (and no, no one complained when it was 3 Romanians, or in the past the Russian grip on the podium) and I do think the talent is varied enough that it wouldn't be a sweep all the time (and special if it were). 

This, so much. 

The Karoliyis are horrible horrible human beings and they should be banned from the sport forever. They should never ever be allowed near young woman in any capacity whatsoever. While we have some idea of how they ruined some of these girls' bodies, we'll never fully understand the impact they had on their mental health. They are socipaths and criminals in my book.

Men: The Russians were genuinely happy. They were pretty solid too. I think here they should go back to six or at least five people. It is too much.

Women: I loved the Russians, they were a delight to watch. Rebecca Andrade was amazing, I hope she does medal, and I also want Valentina Ferrari to go back home with a medal. I'm sure Simone will perform better tomorrow, but I was kind of surprised by her mistakes (specially on the vault) because I thought she had more control on her strenght by now. 

Is there someone where were we can watch the complete trials and the complete men's competition from this morning? 

 

[BlackberryJam]

Brody Malone can fuck right off and I’m thrilled that he didn’t medal and hope he’s a pile of fail in the upcoming competitions. His Olympics can’t be be over soon enough. So sorry for the rest of the US Men’s Team being stuck with such a complete nifkin. 

I was hoping that GB was going to sneak in there as well for the bronze. The coverage of this Olympics has been difficult and spotty. There are too many platforms at too many price points without really one central way to watch everything. I have YouTubeTV. So I was trying to watch something taped while also watching stuff on the NBC Sports app live and I couldn’t switch back and forth. Ugh.

I suspect we will get 30-40 minutes of coverage of the entire men’s team event. 

[Lady Whistleup]

1 hour ago, KittenPokerCheater said:

Now I’m anxious for the US women.  I hope they can pull it off.  The ROC seem out for blood.

Aren’t the Chinese women famous for bars?  Or is it beam?

Chinese are famous for bars and beam. They suck on vault and FX.

 

[kittykat]

The Chinese men do the same thing with Rings and P bars, while consistently whiffing it on H bar and FX.  It's been a long running complaint that their overinflated start values cover up for sloppy gymnastics.

41 minutes ago, Raachel2008 said:

Men: The Russians were genuinely happy. They were pretty solid too. I think here they should go back to six or at least five people. It is too much.

Agree.  Four maybe five is understandable on the women's side but a horrible decision for the men.  Should be at least a six person team.

[BlackberryJam]

5 minutes ago, kittykat said:

The Chinese men do the same thing with Rings and P bars, while consistently whiffing it on H bar and FX.  It's been a long running complaint that their overinflated start values cover up for sloppy gymnastics.

Agree.  Four maybe five is understandable on the women's side but a horrible decision for the men.  Should be at least a six person team.

It seems to me that Bruno Grandi hated the popularity of Olympic gymnastics and wanted to gut it as much as possible. 

[Chaser]

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sam be consistent. I was honestly surprised he was still competing. 

Brody is a very talented 21 year kid. I hope he does some learning and growing.

[Dots And Stripes]

3 hours ago, emma675 said:

I'll bet they show a little of it, to say they've showed it since it's in the descriptions on the NBC local channels tonight. But I'll bet it's very brief since the US didn't medal. They didn't even show all of the US ladies last night since they "only" came in second in qualifying. 

I don't think that's why they didn't show all of the US women. It's a lot to show, plus they have to show some of the competition (ROC, China). Two routines Grace hit were left out, so I don't think it was about hiding the US for underperforming. 

It was silly to show Jade's bars and beam because they decided they wanted suspense for who would be in the All-Around. I would have preferred showing Jordan and Grace to give a better picture of what happened with the team, but I get why they did it. NBC is looking towards event finals where Jade will be a factor and Jordan and Grace will not.

[ShellsandCheese]

3 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

It's tricksy wording - in addition to Russia winning in 1996, the Soviet Union won the event in 1952, 1956, 1980, and 1988, and the Unified Team won in 1992.

Although by that logic every medal Russian athletes win at these Olympics is a first.

I know. I was not counting USSR or the Unified Team. I meant Russia as an individual country, I could have sworn they won team gold in between Atlanta and now. 

Although I don't understand your second sentence, why would every medal Russian athletes win at these Olympics be a first when Russia has been competing as Russia since the 1994 Winter Games.......

[ShellsandCheese]

1 hour ago, Lady Whistleup said:

Chinese are famous for bars and beam. They suck on vault and FX.

 

Yep. And I would argue that the Russians are now usually better than them on bars. In fact, whatever happened to the Chinese in women's gymnastics? Everyone was expecting them to dominate and they've really been underwhelming. 

Also for those asking, I've been watching the Gymnastics replays via the NBC app. And they generally show just about everything. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by ShellsandCheese

[DawnDavenport]

14 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

Yep. And I would argue that the Russians are now usually better than them on bars. In fact, whatever happened to Chinese in women's gymnastics? Everyone was expecting them to dominate and they've really been underwhelming. 

Because they probably can't train and send 12 y.o's to the Olympics without getting caught like they used to be able to.

 Aside from '08 on their home turf, they've always been somewhat streaky and inconsistent. They bring home an occasional event final medal here and there but that's about it. The fall of the Romanian team allowed them to creep in and grab a team bronze once in awhile.

I think the code changes after '08 also made it harder for them to rack up points on bars and beam like they used to. They've even been out-innovated by Russia and other countries on bars in the last few years so really beam is all they have left. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by DawnDavenport

[ferjy]

18 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

Also for those asking, I've been watching the Gymnastics replays via the NBC app. And they generally show just about everything. 

The CBC app does the same for any Canadians wanting access. Just go to the "Schedule" option and there are replay buttons (or Live buttons if the events are still happening) for every event.

 

[Cherpumple]

I just watched the medal ceremony for the men's team event and it was very sweet. Loved seeing the Chinese men holding hands and swinging their arms happily like excited little kids, and having Nagornyy and Dalaloyan put the medals around each other's necks. I was also expecting to hear the Olympic hymn as the ROC anthem, but was pleasantly surprised to hear Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 instead. Nice choice!

[BlackberryJam]

6 minutes ago, Cherpumple said:

I just watched the medal ceremony for the men's team event and it was very sweet. Loved seeing the Chinese men holding hands and swinging their arms happily like excited little kids, and having Nagornyy and Dalaloyan put the medals around each other's necks. I was also expecting to hear the Olympic hymn as the ROC anthem, but was pleasantly surprised to hear Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 instead. Nice choice!

I've not been able to see any medal ceremonies, but hopefully can find that one on youtube!

[Cherpumple]

I watched it on the NBC sports app on my tv- it was at the end of the "full coverage" broadcast.

[Daisy]

is it just me, or the people on the streaming sites... just better than the television guys. like they are more technical, they tend to support all the countries and it's just a better vibe.  (and it's usually nothing against the teevee people just... I learn more mostly from the people on the streaming )

[Lady Whistleup]

2 minutes ago, Daisy said:

is it just me, or the people on the streaming sites... just better than the television guys. like they are more technical, they tend to support all the countries and it's just a better vibe.  (and it's usually nothing against the teevee people just... I learn more mostly from the people on the streaming )

No they are better. But they're probably geared towards a different audience. Someone watching an internet stream is probably a hardcore fan who knows the technical stuff. The primetime broadcast is geared for the "once every 4 years" people. 

[Daisy]

Just now, Lady Whistleup said:

No they are better. But they're probably geared towards a different audience. Someone watching an internet stream is probably a hardcore fan who knows the technical stuff. The primetime broadcast is geared for the "once every 4 years" people. 

yeah i mean for me. I am lucky this year that i have both NBC/CBC on a television stream but i almost always have to watch the streaming (during the summer to watch the events they don't show.... like Horsies :( )  i just find it a bit more balanced (like you get the Once Every 4 Year treatment but you also learn stuff. it's cool). but i'm glad it's not just me :)

anyhoo back to watching the men's competition :)

 

[choclatechip45]

I really don't like John Roethlisberger so I have not enjoyed the online coverage. He always screamed douche bag to me. 

[ferjy]

30 minutes ago, Cherpumple said:

I was also expecting to hear the Olympic hymn as the ROC anthem, but was pleasantly surprised to hear Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 instead. Nice choice!

I read that they are going to use that piece for all the ROC golds.

 

[Cherpumple]

I'm definitely a more casual fan (only watch the big meets every year and don't have a personal background in the sport), but I think it's a mix. I like John and Bridget on the streaming (although John's score predictions are pretty inaccurate so far), but the Australian commentators I heard on other streaming stuff (don't know their names) have been very open about not being experts on a lot of technical details and specific rules and thus they give somewhat uneven commentary (but they are the most complimentary towards the athletes). But I also usually like Tim, Nastia, and Terry's main commentary on NBC. I'm pretty easy to please. As long as I have a good idea about why one routine is better than another I'm happy.

[Daisy]

1 minute ago, ferjy said:

I read that they are going to use that piece for all the ROC golds.

 

It's kind of sad they can't hear their own anthem. they didn't cheat :(

[ferjy]

3 minutes ago, Daisy said:

yeah i mean for me. I am lucky this year that i have both NBC/CBC on a television stream but i almost always have to watch the streaming (during the summer to watch the events they don't show.... like Horsies :( )  i just find it a bit more balanced (like you get the Once Every 4 Year treatment but you also learn stuff. it's cool). but i'm glad it's not just me :)

anyhoo back to watching the men's competition :)

 

What streaming sites do you use, if you don't mind my asking? For the Olympics, I've only used the CBC site or app, and it's just a duplicate of the TV content. I wouldn't mind viewing some of the streaming sites.

 

 

[Cherpumple]

3 minutes ago, Daisy said:

It's kind of sad they can't hear their own anthem. they didn't cheat :(

Yeah, that's why I'm glad it's a nationally significant/famous piece of music rather than a generic Olympic one. Under the circumstances it seems like a decent compromise.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Cherpumple

[DawnDavenport]

3 hours ago, emma675 said:

For me, it's just the fact that the US men have finished 5th for the last three (or maybe four?) Olympics. It's like they haven't improved on that stage in so long. They just don't seem to have the skill set or level of support that the other countries do and it shows, sadly. 

What's sad is that they won silver in '04, bronze in '08, and were considered contenders for the gold in '12 and a medal in '16. They just have had  major consistency issues. They qualified well in both '12 and '16 but fell apart in the team finals.

The demise of men's programs across the NCAA isn't going to help since most of the US men come from college programs whereas other programs like in Russia, China, and Japan are strictly all gymnastics all the time.

[Dots And Stripes]

2 minutes ago, DawnDavenport said:

What's sad is that they won silver in '04, bronze in '08, and were considered contenders for the gold in '12 and a medal in '16. They just have had  major consistency issues. They qualified well in both '12 and '16 but fell apart in the team finals.

Wasn't part of this in '12 and '16 about Sam? I remember the narrative being that he was dominant in US competitions but inconsistent internationally.