And how will they hold up headed into 202ONE?
It's no secret that the 2020 Olympic Games' postponement threw a significant wrench into women's gymnastics, maybe more so than any other sport. Athletes in this sport tend to peak between the ages of 16-20, leaving many gymnasts at their prime for only one Summer Olympics. Of course, some gymnasts continue their training and compete more than once, but a gymnast plans her training course years in advance to make sure she is at her prime for her ideal Olympic cycle. Postponing that date an entire calendar year is not an easy adjustment. Throw into the mix that a new year of gymnasts is now age-eligible for 202ONE (I'll keep my opinions on that matter to myself... for now), and it is a whole new ball game.
Today I will take a look back at 2019 and the few competitions that were not canceled in 2020 and discuss which members of the National Team were likely to appear in Tokyo in 2020. To do this, I compiled a list of the top 6 gymnasts from each major meet in those two years. This left me with a list of 9 girls who were vying for 4 spots. Please note that I did not consider Jade Carey for a team spot for the sake of this article. With her earning an Olympic berth as an individual, that is where I left her.
The nine gymnasts leading the pack heading into Toyko 2020 were Simone Biles (duh), Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum, Kara Eaker, Morgan Hurd, Leanne Wong, Riley McCusker, Jordan Chiles, and MyKayla Skinner. I studied all of their scores from the US Classic, US Championships, and World Trials, plus scores from those gymnasts who competed at Worlds, the American Cup, International Gymnix, and/or the Pan Ams. I found their highest scores on each event, combining them to give each girl what would, in theory, be their best all around total.
Should Team USA be comprised of the top 4 all-arounders, that would include Simone Biles, Riley McCusker, Sunisa Lee, and Grace McCallum. I won't lie, that team doesn't make me mad. It is pretty well balanced. That would leave us with the top 3 gymnasts on both bars and floor, plus two of the top three on vault and beam. In event finals, we would also have Jade, who is nearly as strong as Simone on vault, not to mention her power on floor. Would having Jade as a member of the team help? In some ways, yes, but she would be taking the place of someone whose strength on opposite events would be dearly missed. In 2020, Jade's bars would not have beat Riley or Suni, an event that we cannot rely on Simone to dominate on her own. With so few athletes making up each team at this Olympic games, I believe more than ever that having four all-around gymnasts is very important.
If we add to the mix the ability to take an additional individual, a specialist could be considered. We have bars and floor covered, add in Jade on vault and we are solid there, so it is my opinion that bringing a strong beamer would be a good strategy. At this point, we are not talking about who would help Team USA bring home gold. That would be up to Simone, Riley, Suni, and Grace. For this section, we are solely discussing how the United States could bring home the most medals. Having Kara Eaker compete in beam finals, as the Women's National Team's highest score in 2019-2020, would make the most sense. It also happens that Kara held the 5th spot for all-around totals, meaning that this opportunity was well earned. In keeping with that trajectory, that would make Leanne and Morgan alternates.
How much of this changes heading into 202ONE? All of it. Minus Simone. Simone is going to Tokyo, period. Unless Tokyo decides to go to Simone. I believe she has that power. ANYWAY, it is no secret that 2019 was not a stellar year for World All-Around Gold Medalist Morgan Hurd. Is she still capable of those higher scores? Absolutely. Same with Jordan Chiles. Jordan switched gyms and now has new coaches, and judging by some of the upgrade videos she has shared on social media, she's in a better place now as well. MyKayla Skinner was still working on her return to elite in 2019 and was pacing herself to peak come summer of 2020, so her scores also reflect lower than her abilities. She is known for her big tricks and difficulty. Will this be enough to make the team for an event where artistry is every bit as important? I don't know the answer to that. I do know that she is capable of a high DOD on beam, and I feel that's where she could land in Tokyo, taking the individual spot from Kara Eaker.
All of that madness doesn't even include Leanne Wong, who no one should count-out. Shilese Jones and Aleah Finnegan have also looked strong in training, both of whom were pretty much counted out for 2020 due to bad timing with injuries. Add in Konnor McClain and Kayla DiCello who either aged up or had just made their senior debut before COVID19 shut down the world, plus the return of Olympic veterans Laurie Hernandez and Chellsie Memmel (#CHELLYEAH), and that's where my head explodes.
I don't know that the USA has ever seen this depth from the Women's National Team. It is pretty much pure insanity. And of course, this comes when the Olympic team is the smallest it has ever been in history, and we have Simone, so in reality, 15 girls are competing for 3 spots, and at different times, they have all been worthy of them.
I have added below all of the scores I compiled for the events used in this article for your viewing pleasure. The scores highlighted in gold denote that gymnast's personal best on that particular event.
Sidenote: Gymnastics is not a science. It is a sport of opinion, and some competitions have historically shown to score higher than others, meaning that gymnasts who competed at those events might have an advantage in this system. This article was just to establish statistics and debate what those numbers could decide.
Коментарі