You Requested, The Gymternet Answered

Miyata Shoko

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What occurred to the fifth member of the Japanese WAG group on the Olympics? Why was she faraway from the group, and why wasn’t she changed with an alternate?

Japan is actually strict with its legal guidelines as they associated to underaged consuming and smoking, and apparently, Miyata Shoko – who was 19 over the summer time, only a month shy of the authorized age – was caught doing each within the lead-up to the video games by certainly one of her teammates who then reported her. Along with being unlawful for Miyata, smoking and consuming whereas “on the job” for the Japanese group violated the code of conduct, so Miyata was compelled to withdraw from the Olympic group.

The group did have an alternate – Sugihara Aiko – and although the coaches wished her to step in so that they’d have a full squad on the ground as an alternative of simply 4 athletes, they weren’t allowed to as a result of Miyata wasn’t withdrawing as a result of an damage or different medical causes. A really unlucky scenario for any athlete, however particularly for Miyata after her extremely profitable quad, in addition to for your complete group, which undoubtedly would have been within the medal hunt with Miyata within the combine.

Recently I’ve seen that you just’ve posted meet outcomes with factors like (+0.1) – are these bonus factors? Is that this now the brand new normal for scoring?

Sure, every time I add tenths in parenthesis with a plus signal I imply to say there are bonus factors included within the whole rating – so a 13 with a +0.1 in parenthesis is definitely a 12.9. This isn’t an FIG normal, however many nationwide applications have began utilizing bonus methods as incentives, typically to encourage extra issue, typically to encourage execution, so I attempt to embrace all bonuses after I share outcomes to make it clear that the scores you’re seeing aren’t fully correct when it comes to what the athlete would obtain internationally. 

For essentially the most half the bonuses are minor, however some applications – France with its espoir-level athletes, for instance – reward a number of factors in bonus, so clearly it’s an enormous distinction whenever you see a 13-year-old with a 60 AA that’s actually presupposed to be a 51 AA or one thing. After I replace athletes’ profiles or the high scores database, I additionally use solely the actual scores and never the scores with bonus so once more what you’re seeing is an correct illustration. Some nationwide applications don’t specify when a rating contains bonus, so it’s not excellent, however in these circumstances it’s typically actually apparent when bonus is used (e.g. a junior with a 6.5 D on flooring two weeks after getting a 4.0 D internationally) so I’ll simply make an observation on the outcomes and don’t embrace them in any high scores lists.

Concerning the 2000 all-around remaining, if they’d performed what everybody thought they need to have performed – stopped the competitors and had a do-over on a special day – would which have additionally had an influence on Andreea Raducan’s scenario? May which have modified your complete trajectory of Romanian gymnastics within the twenty first century?

It undoubtedly might have modified the course for Raducan, since she examined constructive for pseudoephedrine solely on the day of the all-around competitors which is the one medal she had stripped – she was allowed to maintain each her vault and group medals as a result of she didn’t have any points with doping on both of these days, so had the all-around competitors been postponed as a result of vault points, it’s completely attainable she wouldn’t have examined constructive right here.

I don’t assume it will have modified the trajectory of Romanian gymnastics, although – I believe the standard of their gymnastics began to alter with the introduction of the open-ended issue, as their coaches and athletes merely weren’t capable of sustain with different nations that found out the way to work the brand new code for his or her benefit. This was a difficulty for a lot of high applications within the early 2000s, the place we noticed groups like Spain, Australia, and Ukraine in group finals, however then with the open-ended code, they began to fall again as they couldn’t sustain with different rising nations that realized the way to thrive below this new code, like Nice Britain, Italy, and Canada. Romania was capable of depend on some high expertise to maintain them going a bit longer – like Catalina Ponor and Sandra Izbasa – and there have been the occasional newcomers who’ve been tremendous proficient and capable of work with greater ranges of issue, however I believe for essentially the most half their decline was extra as a result of their teaching and the lack to progress proficient younger athletes from extra junior-level expertise to the extent that grew to become essential to compete properly in opposition to different senior athletes. It’s clearly one thing they’ve been engaged on, however in comparison with nations like america and Russia, they nonetheless don’t have something I’d take into account to be depth on the highest stage. They’re once more counting on a number of actually sturdy particular person athletes versus studying the way to prepare athletes to transition efficiently from proficient juniors to high-level seniors, and I don’t assume Raducan conserving her all-around title would have had any influence on this.

What do you consider the Paris 2024 ladies’s flooring remaining drama? My unpopular opinion is that Jordan Chiles’ inquiry ought to by no means have been accepted and that Sabrina Voinea didn’t step out-of-bounds. I believe it ought to have been Voinea in third, Ana Barbosu in fourth, and Jordan Chiles in fifth.

Not such an unpopular opinion I suppose, as a result of that is word-for-word what my opinion has been for the reason that very first day! Had Voinea not been given a penalty for completely no cause, she would have been the clear and rightful winner of the bronze medal regardless of the whole lot that was occurring between Barbosu and Chiles. It’s wild that the judges made such an egregious mistake, and in addition unlucky that Voinea’s coach/mom didn’t assume to submit an inquiry for the penalty till lengthy after the very fact.

I believe it’s unlucky that line judges typically make such apparent errors at ANY level in any competitors, however for it to occur repeatedly within the flooring remaining on the Olympic Video games is completely inexcusable and makes me assume there ought to be computerized evaluate of all OOB penalties in main worldwide finals going ahead. In a sport the place a lot is subjective and exhausting to guage in actual time – like Chiles’ leap, which was not credited at first – I generally is a bit extra forgiving, and there are all the time going to be questionable expertise that might go both means relying on who’s reviewing. That’s the character of subjective sports activities and we’ve to dwell with it. However on this case, Voinea being docked a tenth for no cause is completely not one thing that ought to have occurred at this stage and it’s infuriating that this one “little” mistake triggered a lot drama and heartache that in the end affected three athletes.

In your opinion, is the beginning worth for the Yurchenko double pike in WAG appropriate? There’s nothing to match it to, so I’m wondering how the FIG got here up with the issue worth.

It’s exhausting to say what’s “appropriate” when there’s little supply of comparability, and on this case, even the FIG had some points developing with the “proper” worth, as they’d initially got here up with 6.2 and it was solely after Biles and her coaches submitted a petition to alter it to a 6.4 that it landed at its present worth. 

I believe a method of it’s seeing the worth of a Yurchenko vault with no salto in comparison with a Yurchenko vault with one salto, after which figuring out what then is smart for a Yurchenko vault with two saltos. Equally, the ladies’s technical committee can look to how these vaults differ within the MAG code, which isn’t fairly the identical when it comes to how totally different vaults are valued in relation to one another, nevertheless it can provide some steering, particularly when it comes to single-salto vault in comparison with a double-salto vault. I additionally assume the technical committee can have a look at the values of different equally tough vaults – the Produnova, the unique Biles vault – and reasoning how tough the Biles II was relative to those. I’m certain there are many discussions that revolve round all of those strategies and that the last word resolution is made as soon as everyone seems to be in settlement on what makes essentially the most sense, however I believe additionally they open it as much as petition as a result of I’m certain there are all the time going to be folks – particularly the athlete who introduces the talent – who disagree.

McKayla Maroney mentioned she educated the Yurchenko double again within the tucked place. What would that be price when it comes to begin worth? 

I consider that the tuck can be a 6.2 primarily based on one thing I learn in 2023 after Biles and her coaches petitioned for the 6.4 for the piked model? I don’t assume there ought to be a full 4 tenths of distinction between a tucked place and a piked place, so I can’t think about the technical committee going as little as a 6.0, but in addition don’t assume the 2 positions can be rated the identical, so a 6.2 is a stable center floor in my guide.

Had McKayla Maroney competed the Yurchenko double tuck, would that imply she wouldn’t have been capable of compete her well-known Amanar in vault finals?

Sure, since each vaults are in the identical vault household – a Yurchenko entry with no twist – it means Maroney would have been capable of do both one or the opposite in vault {qualifications} or finals. After all, she might’ve performed the Yurchenko double tuck in prelims alongside together with her ‘Mustafina’ second vault, after which swapped to the Amanar with the ‘Mustafina’ for the finals! And I’d think about they’d even have her do the Amanar and never the riskier double tuck within the group remaining as properly.

Why doesn’t Stephen Nedoroscik strap his glasses on like Morgan Hurd used to? I do know he’s capable of compete with out them nevertheless it looks like that was virtually a final resort. Why wouldn’t a strap be an choice?

Perhaps it’s only a choice? I’ve tried the glasses strap for ballet/theater (my glasses have flown from my face mid-pirouette on MANY events) nevertheless it merely irritated me and I didn’t just like the look, so I as an alternative don’t put on them for courses or performances, and it’s not preferrred, nevertheless it works for me and I don’t want them for these actions. He did put on his fortunate goggles for years for good luck, so I suppose the strap wouldn’t have bothered him, however I actually really feel like if I used to be sporting my glasses to do one thing tremendous athletic, even with the strap I’d be nervous about them slipping or falling off or one thing in order that could possibly be the explanation!

In London, Jordyn Wieber certified fourth within the all-around, in Rio, Gabby Douglas certified in third, and in Paris, Jordan Chiles certified in fourth. Isn’t the two-per-country rule simply foolish at this level? An athlete qualifying third or fourth might simply win a medal.

Yeah, I’ve by no means been a fan of the two-per-country rule, particularly as a result of the FIG’s reasoning is that it opens up extra alternatives for “smaller applications” however the athletes who make it right into a remaining when a higher-level athlete is kicked out for being third-best on their group virtually ALWAYS find yourself being athletes from bigger, well-established applications who merely made plenty of errors in prelims and couldn’t qualify in their very own proper. I did the maths in 2012 and the one format that enables for each high expertise and higher alternatives is three-per-country in a 36-person remaining. 

Regardless of my emotions right here, I do discover it humorous that the U.S. fought hardest for the two-per-country rule within the wake of Romanian dominance in 2000, and now could be the nation complaining essentially the most about dropping alternatives as a result of this rule. The entitlement!

Why don’t they make the ground bigger to accommodate the issue of the present routines? It appears out-of-bounds penalties occur increasingly often.

I suppose it’s simply a type of set-in-stone issues that isn’t but a precedence to alter? Like, there have been professional security issues with redesigning the vault and the widening of the uneven bars got here with the invention of massive launch expertise for the ladies, however whereas there have been advances within the talent stage on flooring that are as a result of athletes bringing extra energy into their tumbling, none of it has been ‘modern’ in the identical means I suppose? Sure, there are steps out-of-bounds that end result from these greater expertise, however not all the time, and never in ways in which create large points if the FIG does not improve the scale of the ground, so I’d once more simply guess that it’s not a precedence. And provided that the technical committees for each MAG and WAG are usually a bit extra conservative with how they undervalue loads of greater expertise utilizing security as their reasoning, they’d most likely combat in opposition to making the ground bigger to restrict the variety of athletes who go for greater tumbling runs.

Why did Marta Pihan-Kulesza try a quintuple pirouette if it’s price the identical as a quadruple pirouette?

There are a number of expertise that athletes are inclined to go for regardless of there being an issue cap or limits that may make the talent the identical worth as a better talent, however I believe athletes like exhibiting off their expertise and talent and regardless that it doesn’t profit them when it comes to their rating, it’s nonetheless price performing as a result of it makes their routine that rather more enjoyable and thrilling to observe. If I might do a quintuple pirouette properly, I’d do it even when it was the identical worth as a single pirouette, simply because it’s superior. I believe loads of smaller program gymnasts who won’t essentially have the issue to medal typically carry one thing ‘additional’ into their routines – particularly on flooring – as a result of they wish to present that they will nonetheless stand out as high athletes even when their scores won’t recommend it.

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Article by Lauren Hopkins