Artistic Gymnastics

[Daisy]

Just now, Makai said:

I don’t think anyone truly hates him. I think most find him to be a somewhat boring gymnast that NBC has been overhyping because it fit the “good old boy overcoming the odds” narrative they wanted to put forth. The other four members of the team are far more interesting than Brody. 

 

Ah i see. I totally get that. 

[twoods]

Eh, it’s not his fault that NBC hyped him- not worth hating him for no good reason. So happy that he brushed off the mistakes for qualifying and nailed all his routines. Congrats on the bronze!

[yowsah1]

What are the medal chances for the US men in AA and apparatus finals? (I am presuming they have better shots in apparatus than AA).

[Is Everyone Gone]

Yeah Brody doesn't seem like someone I'd personally be friends with, but idg the hate either. Seems like an okay dude and am happy that after that really awful qualifications day he was able to come back for a strong performance today.

[Chaser]

If I hated all the athletes NBC hyped, my sports viewing would be very depressing. 

[Is Everyone Gone]

7 minutes ago, yowsah1 said:

What are the medal chances for the US men in AA and apparatus finals? (I am presuming they have better shots in apparatus than AA).

Basically Clark Kent has a shot in PH. The others have to count on huge mistakes by the top gymnasts to have a chance at the AA final. The US difficulty level just not there.

[Chaser]

Random thought inspired by the men, I wish Jordan could show off all her tattoos. 

[Notabug]

8 minutes ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

Basically Clark Kent has a shot in PH. The others have to count on huge mistakes by the top gymnasts to have a chance at the AA final. The US difficulty level just not there.

Yep, a couple of 'em could sneak in for a bronze maybe, if others screw up majorly and the US is absolutely perfect, but it is not likely that any could win the gold except for Nederoscik on pommel who would need to up his game to win it.  He has, however, won it before (not the Olympics) and is quite capable of winning the gold.

Edited July 29 by Notabug

[Makai]

It’s so cute how happy the US team is with their medals. Brody went over and hugged every member of the Chinese and Japanese team. I really wish NBC would focus more on letting the gymnasts natural personality come out then creating a “story”. 

3 minutes ago, yowsah1 said:

What are the medal chances for the US men in AA and apparatus finals? (I am presuming they have better shots in apparatus than AA).

Stephen is the only one who made an apparatus finals and he has a very good shot at gold. He was tied for the highest score in qualification. 

[kittykat]

BRONZE!!! I am so damn happy for these guys. Absolutely crushed it.  Stephen was phenomenal on pommel horse.  It's been awesome to see the US take the apparatus that used to kill them and turn it into one of their strengths.

Awesome comeback by Japan.  Not gonna lie after seeing all of China's falls I think US should grabbed silver but I know it's because of the damn start values.  Still what a spectacular day for the US.  

[Chaser]

If Stephen gets Gold on Pommel, his teammates should drape a Superman cape on him. 

[ProudMary]

Again, I'm older, and while I used to follow gymnastics year-round in the '70s and '80s, I am now pretty much an Olympics-only watcher. Accordingly, while I am familiar with the US women as all but one have previous Olympics experience, the US men were virtually unknown to me until this past Saturday. Please forgive this question if it's common, but have people commented on just how much Brody looks like a young Michael Fassbender? It's a pretty incredible resemblance!

[Makai]

I was just looked at the results and Fred’s high bar score was the highest of team finals and the third highest of the competition so far. He’s also the reigning World AA bronze medalist so a medal there isn’t out of reach. 

Edited July 29 by Makai

[Chaser]

Frederick would need help to get on the podium. He would need to hit everything and have the others make mistakes. 

[Harry24]

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

I can't believe the coverage was SO. centered on the US men winning the bronze. I was screaming at my screen, "Who took the gold?"

I'm very proud of the US team, but HUGE props to Japan!

ME TOO!  LITERALLY SCREAMING.

I suspect having two broadcasting gymnastics newbies at the helm didn’t help matters: Rich Lerner - probably hasn’t broadcast gymnastics before, and the commentary guy, who was on the 2008 bronze-medal winning US team, but seemed VERY green on the broadcasting front.  He seems likable, but it’s like he would forget he has to do more than gasp to inform the audience; he actually has to talk.  

Then of course the director was in charge of keeping the camera focused on the US team, so they’re at fault too.  I mean, it’s not like nothing was at stake, just one of the most unexpected, dramatic comebacks in the history of the event.

[Is Everyone Gone]

45 minutes ago, kittykat said:

Awesome comeback by Japan.  Not gonna lie after seeing all of China's falls I think US should grabbed silver but I know it's because of the damn start values.  Still what a spectacular day for the US.  

US needs to up their start values. As it stands, the US has to be 18/18 to even have a chance at a medal, whereas China and Japan will always have a bigger cushion bc their routines generally have higher start values.

[Makai]

8 minutes ago, Chaser said:

Frederick would need help to get on the podium. He would need to hit everything and have the others make mistakes. 

Yes which is why I only said it isn’t out of reach. He’s definitely not anywhere near a favorite but is a realistic contender for the bronze if the top athletes struggle. With the way today went I’m not counting on anything happening the way I expecting going into the competition. 

[CeeBeeGee]

1 hour ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

but idg the hate either

Brody is a nutter. Do a really deep dive on him.

[yowsah1]

52 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

Again, I'm older, and while I used to follow gymnastics year-round in the '70s and '80s, I am now pretty much an Olympics-only watcher. Accordingly, while I am familiar with the US women as all but one have previous Olympics experience, the US men were virtually unknown to me until this past Saturday. Please forgive this question if it's common, but have people commented on just how much Brody looks like a young Michael Fassbender? It's a pretty incredible resemblance!

I thought he looked like a young Kevin Bacon.

[Makai]

8 minutes ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Brody is a nutter. Do a really deep dive on him.

I remember reading something about this during trials but couldn’t remember the details. 

[Salacious Kitty]

20 minutes ago, Makai said:

I remember reading something about this during trials but couldn’t remember the details. 

He went on a now deleted Twitter rampage a few years ago. He revealed who he was. 

[Chaser]

With the next Olympics in LA, I really hope they start increasing their difficulty to really be Gold medal contenders. 

[Is Everyone Gone]

12 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

He went on a now deleted Twitter rampage a few years ago. He revealed who he was. 

He's not the only one on the team like that, fwiw. 

[Salacious Kitty]

1 minute ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

He's not the only one on the team like that, fwiw. 

Certainly the most public, though. I've hated him ever since (and this goes back to when he was at Stanford).

[Makai]

4 minutes ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

He's not the only one on the team like that, fwiw. 

Asher? 

[Is Everyone Gone]

7 minutes ago, Makai said:

Asher? 

Yes Asher is definitely very right-leaning. A lot of gymnasts are. Very conservative culture in general. I know Shannon Miller and Carly Patterson are.

[Girl in a Cardigan]

Congrats to the US Men! I was crying at work for sure, but so excited that they were able to hit 18/18 in team finals when it really mattered! As the Gymtern.net said, Brody was Jordan Wiebering 😂 Also USA Gym's new Twitter cover photo is EVERYTHING.

Not a huge fan of Brody either (I have found my people) mostly because of how Tim Daggett and the NBC crew slobber over him during the broadcast. Yes, he's good, but up and comers like Frederick Richard and Khoi Young are also good and yet we don't get the same treatment about them. Richard was leading Brody most of the way through Team Trials and then WON team trials and yet it was all about Brody and his exploded leg (which sure, it's great he came back, but COME ON).

Ready for the US Women to be just as fired up tomorrow! Feel for Hezley being left off the Team Final roster, but this feels right:

VT ▶️ Chiles, Carey, Biles

UB ▶️ Chiles, Biles, Lee

BB ▶️ Chiles, Lee, Biles

FX ▶️ Lee, Chiles, Biles

[Is Everyone Gone]

The great Kenzo Shirai has posted congratulations to the Japanese team. I don't think Americans get just how much pressure is on the Japanese and Chinese men. Silver is NOT acceptable. Very harsh expectations.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-BYcE9Tn4T/?img_index=1

[absnow54]

2 hours ago, Harry24 said:

ME TOO!  LITERALLY SCREAMING.

I suspect having two broadcasting gymnastics newbies at the helm didn’t help matters: Rich Lerner - probably hasn’t broadcast gymnastics before, and the commentary guy, who was on the 2008 bronze-medal winning US team, but seemed VERY green on the broadcasting front.  He seems likable, but it’s like he would forget he has to do more than gasp to inform the audience; he actually has to talk.  

Then of course the director was in charge of keeping the camera focused on the US team, so they’re at fault too.  I mean, it’s not like nothing was at stake, just one of the most unexpected, dramatic comebacks in the history of the event.

To be fair, they aired the final Japanese and Chinese athletes on bar, but it took FOREVER for that last score to post. The announcers could have built the tension on what score was needed to decide gold, but I think everyone was just swept up in the excitement of the US actually delivering.

What was insane was the announcers were talking about the Chinese athlete who fell twice on bar as it was happening, but they refused to cut away from Steve Whatshisface measuring the spacing between his pommel setup. China was blowing the gold medal in realtime and that’s what was shown?

[Chaser]

Gymnastics has to be a nightmare to cover. Multiple events going on at one time. The audience reacting to everything they see and we can’t. Only so much broadcasting time allowed.  

[Girl in a Cardigan]

For those who have access, I really recommend the individual apparatus streams on NBCOlympics.com. It was really lovely to watch the US men without commentators or anything else and be able to switch to another event when they were done competing (like vault) or when I read that something else happened (you can hear the gasps usually). I usually have the world feed going because the US feed is just SO much, but the individual event streams (you need a cable login or Peacock account) are just so soothing for those who don't want constant yammering (plus you can hear the silly little things the boys are saying LOL).

[kittykat]

Yeah there's only so much they have access to live.  I watched the feed where they aired Stevens performance and you can hear the audience going "AWWW!" In the background.  After the routine, they cut to poor Su Weide.

[KittenPokerCheater]

Surprised that the USA men pulled a bronze and happy for them. Wish I had gotten to see the medal ceremony- sounds like they were a hoot.    

[Daisy]

1 hour ago, Chaser said:

Gymnastics has to be a nightmare to cover. Multiple events going on at one time. The audience reacting to everything they see and we can’t. Only so much broadcasting time allowed.  

it really feels thought they've slacked off on this for years once the USA became REALLY dominant. because Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney (for the most part) and I'd even say Greece they were pretty constant at showing more than USA and then. "the 3 athletes we decide we like today" but starting from Beijing and and 10000 percent London it has been World, who? 

[Is Everyone Gone]

10 minutes ago, Daisy said:

it really feels thought they've slacked off on this for years once the USA became REALLY dominant. because Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney (for the most part) and I'd even say Greece they were pretty constant at showing more than USA and then. "the 3 athletes we decide we like today" but starting from Beijing and and 10000 percent London it has been World, who? 

This is kind of delicate but I feel like it started in Beijing real bad because of the age controversy among the Chinese gymnasts. From then on I started noticing a narrative of "Russia and Chinese bad!" in NBC's coverage. I have to say that while gym enthusiasts want coverage of world gymnasts, the "average" viewer seems to only want coverage of American gymnasts.

[Souris]

NBC isn’t even showing all the U.S. men’s routines tonight! 

Edited July 30 by Souris

[Daisy]

3 minutes ago, Is Everyone Gone said:

This is kind of delicate but I feel like it started in Beijing real bad because of the age controversy among the Chinese gymnasts. From then on I started noticing a narrative of "Russia and Chinese bad!" in NBC's coverage. I have to say that while gym enthusiasts want coverage of world gymnasts, the "average" viewer seems to only want coverage of American gymnasts.

Yeah that makes a lot of sense.  on everything you have to say.  which i mean. i sort of maybe get it. i always get geeked out when i see Canada and them doing well/not well - but as this is legit the world. i know for me (and again i've been watching Judo and Rugby all day i know squat in either sport see my commentary for more LOL) - I love seeing athletes from countries that aren't like the "typical" ones ya know? I think in a way NBC needs to be like okay we know you wanna know about HOME people but we have to show you THE WORLD. 

[Makai]

2 hours ago, Girl in a Cardigan said:

For those who have access, I really recommend the individual apparatus streams on NBCOlympics.com. It was really lovely to watch the US men without commentators or anything else and be able to switch to another event when they were done competing (like vault) or when I read that something else happened (you can hear the gasps usually). I usually have the world feed going because the US feed is just SO much, but the individual event streams (you need a cable login or Peacock account) are just so soothing for those who don't want constant yammering (plus you can hear the silly little things the boys are saying LOL).

I watch the same way. I really like the commentators on the world feed and the apparatus feeds have been really good. 

Peacock is also offered multi-view for the women’s team final. 

[GeminiDancer]

4 hours ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Brody is a nutter. Do a really deep dive on him.

He'd be the type where, if he wasn't in such a high profile position, you'd wonder where he was on Jan 6th.

Then again, Klete Keller was there...

[yowsah1]

1 hour ago, Daisy said:

it really feels thought they've slacked off on this for years once the USA became REALLY dominant. because Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney (for the most part) and I'd even say Greece they were pretty constant at showing more than USA and then. "the 3 athletes we decide we like today" but starting from Beijing and and 10000 percent London it has been World, who? 

I wouldn't put Barcelona on the list.  Vitaly Scherbo made gymnastics history there - 6 GOLD MEDALS! - and NBC never bothered to show it.

[Bastet]

7 hours ago, ProudMary said:

I can't believe the coverage was SO. centered on the US men winning the bronze. I was screaming at my screen, "Who took the gold?"

I don't know who any of the athletes are as I don't follow the sport, but reading there was an upset I watched a replay via Peacock of the world feed and FF to the final round.  It ended with the Chinese gymnast who fell off the bar twice, then a U.S. gymnast on the horse (I think; he was in there somewhere), then the final Japanese gymnast on the bar who did a great routine, then the final Chinese gymnast on the bar who also did a great routine but probably not enough to bring China back to gold since he didn't nail the landing. 

They showed the U.S. team in a group holding the flag and noted they'd secured the bronze, which was a long time coming, but the big thing is whether Japan knocked off China.  So back to going back and forth between both teams as they awaited the score for the final Chinese gymnast, which took a while to come.

Much better coverage, it sounds like, which does not surprise me.  That world feed is how I've watched most things (which is not a lot; there are a shit ton of events!), and whenever I watch something via NBC, USA, etc. I am annoyed.  Not just the hyper-focus on the U.S. team, but how bombastic the announcers are; the folks on the world feed interject emotion when appropriate - the really felt for the gymnast who fell twice, quite possibly (at the time) costing his team the gold they were expected by all to win - but the rest of the time they're just explaining what's happening.

[Chaser]

I just noticed the lack of celebrities at the men’s team final. The power of Simone. 

[twoods]

I missed the men’s’ first three events this morning so instead of watching the night coverage that was making me stabby I tried the Peacock individual event coverage. So many commercials, but it was nice to see Italy’s routines (nice eye candy too). The guys really came on strong from the start with rings and then the vault. Their excitement was contagious.

I was annoyed with an article that came on my feed on how the “self proclaimed nerd saved the US.” Yes, he did amazing on the pommel horse but the other four guys nailed all their routines and did more than one event, and they won by over 2 points. The casual reader would assume that it’s only because of him that they medaled. Just put a bad taste in my mouth.

[Conotocarious]

8 hours ago, Minneapple said:

Am I...am I imagining things? Are the US men actually going to medal in the all-around?

Team final, not all-around. 

[Chaser]

13 minutes ago, twoods said:

I missed the men’s’ first three events this morning so instead of watching the night coverage that was making me stabby I tried the Peacock individual event coverage. So many commercials, but it was nice to see Italy’s routines (nice eye candy too). The guys really came on strong from the start with rings and then the vault. Their excitement was contagious.

I was annoyed with an article that came on my feed on how the “self proclaimed nerd saved the US.” Yes, he did amazing on the pommel horse but the other four guys nailed all their routines and did more than one event, and they won by over 2 points. The casual reader would assume that it’s only because of him that they medaled. Just put a bad taste in my mouth.

Reminds me of the narrative around Kerry Strung’s hit vault to win Team Gold in 1996. She didn’t need a stick, the Team had done enough. 

[Minneapple]

22 minutes ago, Chaser said:

I just noticed the lack of celebrities at the men’s team final. The power of Simone. 

The commentators in the men’s final talked about how the US men have been overshadowed by the women and it’s like “well yeah, the women manage to win these things occasionally.”

 

2 hours ago, Daisy said:

it really feels thought they've slacked off on this for years once the USA became REALLY dominant. because Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney (for the most part) and I'd even say Greece they were pretty constant at showing more than USA and then. "the 3 athletes we decide we like today" but starting from Beijing and and 10000 percent London it has been World, who? 

Yeah, and the other thing is that I think NBC really tries to create a “narrative” for each event or sport. (They do it with swimming too, the whole Australia vs. the US “rivalry.”) But there haven’t really been very many international gymnasts of note in the last several years to make a story out of. No one is as interesting as, say, Svetlana Khorkina or Aliya Mustafina. The most interesting storylines have come from within the US team itself so that’s what they have focused on. 

[Is Everyone Gone]

I don't mind of coverage has an American slant, as long as the commentators are respectful of the non-American competition. I feel like this year, they have been respectful. It has not always been the case. It was really horrible in Beijing, and I'm still salty over that "Aliya is a diva" narrative, as there was literally zero evidence Aliya was a diva. It was actually the opposite: she was often cheering loudly for her competitors, even when her teammates sat and sulked. 

[kittykat]

We all realize in primetime coverage you can't show everything.  But all routines from the three medal winners, a decent portion of 4th and 5th place plus one or two excellent routines from the bottom groups would be nice.

I watched Peacock but even I couldn't always follow the narrative.  They showed a decent amount of GB and China but hardly any Japan until high bar and then it was like "oh yeah,these guys are in contention for gold."

My memory is not perfect but I remember as far back as Athens and we definitely got all of Romania and Russia's routines plus choice routines from China and the others in the women's competition.

They just need to edit better.  While a score is calculated, show another athlete.  During rotation changes they can be btw here's some performances we couldn't cover at the time but here they are now.

[NUguy514]

I've learned my lesson from past Olympics regarding the men's team final and NBC's hideousness and instead watched the replay of the world feed (I think) on Peacock, and it was great because I actually got to see most of the Chinese and Japanese gymnasts' routines, as well as plenty from the other countries.

Malone's outside-the-gym awfulness has been alluded to already, and so has the fact that he's not the only one, just the most visible and the most extreme.

Asher Hong's incessant bellowing after a good routine is also really grating.  Like, I get it as a motivation technique, but it's macho posturing and feels so fake (especially since he sounds like his testicles haven't dropped).

Still, congrats to the American men for not fucking it up for once.  They definitely deserved that bronze.

The battle between Japan and China, though, was AMAZING to watch!  I was sure China was going to win handily going into high bar, even though Japan is much better on the event.  However, when I saw the Su was second, I thought, "Hmm, maybe not."  His routine was just bruuuuuuuutal to watch, and I felt so bad for him.  Hashimoto came through when he absolutely had to, and Zhang did all he possibly could.  The sportsmanship and camaraderie between the two teams was also so heartening to watch.  I am thrilled for Japan as I prefer their style, but I feel awful for China.  Both teams were outstanding on the whole, and it was probably the most dramatic men's team final I've ever seen.

[Is Everyone Gone]

17 minutes ago, NUguy514 said:

The battle between Japan and China, though, was AMAZING to watch!  I was sure China was going to win handily going into high bar, even though Japan is much better on the event.  However, when I saw the Su was second, I thought, "Hmm, maybe not."  His routine was just bruuuuuuuutal to watch, and I felt so bad for him.  Hashimoto came through when he absolutely had to, and Zhang did all he possibly could.  The sportsmanship and camaraderie between the two teams was also so heartening to watch.  I am thrilled for Japan as I prefer their style, but I feel awful for China.  Both teams were outstanding on the whole, and it was probably the most dramatic men's team final I've ever seen.

It's not over by a longshot too! It's going to be intense for the AA final. The two top Chinese men are expected to contend with the two top Japanese men. There will be tears.