#sanjose2016

Tim: It's pretty fun to make your second Olympic team.

USA 2016 Rio Olympic Team Vintage Print Series

Full set of the US Olympic Team prints in the lovely fluro colors that Tumblr have adapted. Also check them out on @leotardproject instagram. 

I don’t have too much to say about Simone, Aly, and Laurie other than congratulations! While all three had their bumps and bobbles over the last couple of days, they all performed really well and have more than earned their spots on this team. I don’t think there’s any controversy over any of their selection, and I’m thrilled for all of them!

I’m also thrilled for Madison Kocian and simultaneously gutted for Ashton. They both wanted this, and they both fought hard for it. In the end, though, Ashton just couldn’t show enough of a scoring increase over Madison when Madison can compete all four events if necessary, and Ashton can only compete two.

Gabby’s inclusion on the team is by far the most controversial aspect, and for good reason. In the four days of competition between P&Gs and Trials, she didn’t have a single good day. She had a major coaching change hours before Trials began. She went on record Friday night stating she didn’t have the same drive. These are…not good things for an aspiring Olympian.

Marta has gone on record that the reason deliberations took so long was the decision between Ashton and Gabby, and it’s fairly obvious that in a team of Simone/Aly/Laurie/Madison the only spot left is a bars spot. As of Trials, Ashton was scoring about .6 better on bars than Gabby, but again Gabby can do all four events. More than that, she can also potentially vault instead of Laurie. Yes, Laurie beat Gabby on vault, but not by anything substantial, and vault isn’t one of Laurie’s better events. Additionally, if Laurie vaults in TF, she’ll be doing all around there, something that we know Marta and the selection committee want to avoid. Ashton cannot vault—in prelims or finals. Add to this Gabby’s international reputation, her habit of peaking at the last second, and the fact the team will effectively be in isolation for the next month (limiting distractions and bad influences), and I can understand the decision. It still seems like Gabby is being held to a different standard than the rest of the girls in the competition, and it is very frustrating.

Just because I understand it doesn’t mean I like it, but I understand it. I’m still terribly upset for Ashton. I also don’t think it’s at all fair to tear into Gabby for this result—she wasn’t part of the selection committee, she didn’t steal Ashton’s fault. The selection committee chose to award her that spot—if you’re going to be mad at anyone, get mad at them. However, as unlikely as I know it is, I hope Gabby is benched from bars in quals and just does it in TF. As much as I dislike Aly’s bars, I strongly feel she, Simone, and Laurie have earned the right to try for the all-around final. And you just cannot sit out the co-reigning world champion and highest scoring bar worker. I don’t think it’s likely this would happen, however. I know Marta will put up the team she thinks will score the best in every stage of the competition, and I cannot fault her for that.

Onto the alternates. Locklear’s position as an alternate was certain. She will be substituted in if anything happens to Gabby or Madison. I don’t think there was ever any question about this.

This leaves us with three main alternate contenders (sorry, Meals): Nichols, Skinner, and Smith. Nichols and Skinner are both VT/FX workers in Marta’s eyes (Nichols in considerably better on bars and usually on beam, but she’s been lacking in consistency there this year). Smith is a BB/FX worker with an okay bars and vault.

The VT/FX worker is needed if Simone or Aly gets hurt. They’re providing the 1-2 spots on both of those events. They’re also valuable beamers, but both Gabby and Madison can step in with respectable beam scores if necessary, and neither woman will be used on bars in TF. And the simple fact is, Skinner outperformed Nichols on vault and beam and was only .05 behind her on floor this weekend. I’m absolutely devastated for Maggie. I desperately wanted the main team to be Simone-Aly-Laurie-Maggie-Maddie. But again, I understand. Still devastated.

That leaves the question of Maggie or Ragan for the last alternate spot. This is the alternate for Laurie—big contributions are bars and beam, with useable floor and vault. Of these, vault is the least important (a vault line up of Simone-Aly-Gabby is just fine) and beam is the most important. Ragan considerably outscored Maggie on beam, was only .05 behind her on bars. There was less than .5 difference between them on floor across two days, whereas Ragan outscored Maggie on beam by over two points across both days. The math makes sense. Ragan got the nod.

So, I understand exactly where everything came from. The only decision that really doesn’t sit well for me is Gabby in over Ashton, but I’ve also been vocal that an athlete who only trains two events is a huge risk for the team, and I have to stand by that as well. So I’m really just going to focus on how happy I am for Simone, Aly, Laurie (how long until she goes pro?), and Madison, and hope that the faith put in Gabby pans out.

A couple of other notes about the coverage: I was not impressed, NBC. I know you don’t care, but I wasn’t impressed. I actually like the whiteboard of team compositions, but I don’t understand why you weren’t considering Laurie for beam until the very end—it’s her best event. The routine to commercial ratio was beyond ridiculous. The fact you didn’t even show Hundley, Gowey, Desiderio, Dowell, and Schild was inexcusable—you could have shown at least one routine from each, instead of watching other gymnasts cheer for them or interviewing Gabby’s mom! Beyond that, the fact you went so far as to mention them as also-rans but flat-out said you wouldn’t bother showing them was beyond rude. Also, there was really no good reason for the tape-delayed showings in mountain and (I’m assuming) pacific time zones. Al and Andrea need to go. And for goodness sake, shoving cameras into people’s faces so you can be as close to them as possible when they start crying is beyond horrible. The handling of Trials was crass, crude, unprofessional, and overtly commercial from beginning to end. I’m almost not looking forward to the Olympics because of the unpleasantness of dealing with NBC’s coverage.