Why not let Laurie do bars??

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

FlippinLilysMom

Proud Parent
Here's what I don't understand, why not just let Laurie compete on bars and let the scores decide who will make it to the AA?? Is there a reason why Marta pulled her from bars??
 
Weren't the other four up on bars? The maximum number of gymnasts to compete any event per country is four.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sce
Because it was only 4 up on bars. Kocian had to go up, as they've taken her for her bar scores and chance at an individual medal.

So you have 4 left who all have a chance at AA. You can only pick 3. For Laurie to compete bars you have to take Gabby or Ali out, then they will lose a shot at AA.

Marta picked the three to try AA. That's it really. Laurie has more of a shot at a beam/floor medal than Gabby or Ali, so maybe that factored in?
 
I did the math on this. Even with her lights out day Laurie would've needs nearly a 15.3 on bars. Based on podium training I don't know that she would've scored that. Even her hit routines at nationals capped at that. She might of been closer to Aly than Gabby, but I still think Aly takes #2.
 
This is one time when I really think it was about the numbers and who was hitting in practice. Clearly Aly was peaking. Gabby was also improving. Laurie was very good at bars but not quite as sharp as the other two. In another year she probably would have made AA but not on this team, this year, with this format.
 
After Gabby's performance on bars last night, I think it was clearly the right decision to put Gabby in on bars. After trials, I didn't think Gabby had a good chance to medal on bars, and I wanted to see Aly and Laurie go for the AA. But with Gabby's bars performance last night, and seeing Laurie's PT bars, I think having Gabby do AA was the right choice.

And if Gabby had her Amanar, the race between herand Aly would have been much tighter.
 
Laurie might have caught Gabby, but no way was she catching Aly. She did best Gabby on the three apparatus she competed and made beam finals, honestly I think that is pretty impressive.

The two AA system is very hard. I would prefer to have top 48 girls compete, regardless of number per country. I do want to see the best, and top 48 would still allow smaller countries to succeed and I would still see the best in the world.
 
The two AA system is very hard. I would prefer to have top 48 girls compete, regardless of number per country. I do want to see the best, and top 48 would still allow smaller countries to succeed and I would still see the best in the world.

Completely agree! It's so heartbreaking to watch Gabby get 3rd overall and not be able to go. Same with Jordyn Wieber in 2012. Because as you said, we're really not watching the BEST in the world compete against each other.

I will have to say, I was very impressed with Gabby's attitude last night. Especially after Aly beat her. I didn't see any visible tears rolling down her face, and she was still quick to congratulate Aly and the rest of her teammates. That's such a hard thing to go through.
 
Completely agree! It's so heartbreaking to watch Gabby get 3rd overall and not be able to go. Same with Jordyn Wieber in 2012. Because as you said, we're really not watching the BEST in the world compete against each other.

I will have to say, I was very impressed with Gabby's attitude last night. Especially after Aly beat her. I didn't see any visible tears rolling down her face, and she was still quick to congratulate Aly and the rest of her teammates. That's such a hard thing to go through.

I agree - Gabby was very gracious. She held it together out on the floor when faced w/ a very difficult situation, and then she was especially gracious/well spoken in her interview w/ NBC where they kept pressing her to get upset. I was very impressed w/ her professionalism and positive attitude about the whole thing.

I wonder if they tried to interview her mom like they did at trials ;).
 
The two AA system is very hard. I would prefer to have top 48 girls compete, regardless of number per country. I do want to see the best, and top 48 would still allow smaller countries to succeed and I would still see the best in the world.

Do they have this rule in any other sport? Like swimming? I'm pretty sure any number of athletes from one country can qualify for finals, but I could be wrong.
 
Do they have this rule in any other sport? Like swimming? I'm pretty sure any number of athletes from one country can qualify for finals, but I could be wrong.

For swimming, I think you can only send 2 athletes per country to prelims (per event, so 2 for medley, 2 for 200 free, etc., but they can overlap). So it's decided before the Olympics, rather then at them. Because if the team component and how qualification works for gymnastics, it's a different system and more apparent that athletes that are better don't get to compete.

The tie breaker for medals, though, I think is unique to gymnastics.
 
Here's what I don't understand, why not just let Laurie compete on bars and let the scores decide who will make it to the AA?? Is there a reason why Marta pulled her from bars??

Because they are only allowed to field 4 gymnasts per event, and the first round serves as the qualifier for everything: team, AA, and individual events. Competing Laurie on bars means that Kocian can't compete on her best event, thus can't qualify for the individual event medal competition. So no matter who you put up with Kocian on bars, you are still limited to 3 who would be eligible for all-around.
 
I agree - Gabby was very gracious. She held it together out on the floor when faced w/ a very difficult situation, and then she was especially gracious/well spoken in her interview w/ NBC where they kept pressing her to get upset. I was very impressed w/ her professionalism and positive attitude about the whole thing.

I wonder if they tried to interview her mom like they did at trials ;).

I guess we see what we want to see. I'll admit I'm not a Gabby fan/ I heard answers to questions that were not asked. And my gymnast daughter noticed her not saying "Go USA" when Aly grouped them together at the end. She clearly is a very talented gymnast but just doesn't seem to enjoy it like the other girls and does not seem to be a team player.

Laurie would have needed a 14.82 on bars to beat Gabby's 60.131 AA score. She had a 14.90 & 14.750 at trials.
 
I guess we see what we want to see. I'll admit I'm not a Gabby fan/ I heard answers to questions that were not asked. And my gymnast daughter noticed her not saying "Go USA" when Aly grouped them together at the end. She clearly is a very talented gymnast but just doesn't seem to enjoy it like the other girls and does not seem to be a team player.

Laurie would have needed a 14.82 on bars to beat Gabby's 60.131 AA score. She had a 14.90 & 14.750 at trials.
Yes, Laurie could have beaten Gabby in the AA to finish 3rd in qualifying and also NOT go to finals. Then Gabby would not be going to UB finals and the USA would have net one less medal possibility. What is the point in that?
 
Yes, Laurie could have beaten Gabby in the AA to finish 3rd in qualifying and also NOT go to finals. Then Gabby would not be going to UB finals and the USA would have net one less medal possibility. What is the point in that?


In the end this is the truth of it. It doesn't matter that Laurie was not put in for AA as the result would have been the same. Laurie has beam final, Gabby bars, they both have team finals.
 
Yes, Laurie could have beaten Gabby in the AA to finish 3rd in qualifying and also NOT go to finals. Then Gabby would not be going to UB finals and the USA would have net one less medal possibility. What is the point in that?

My point is I just don't care for Gabby and I would have liked for Laurie to have the chance to qualify AA. Laurie will likely still be around for Tokyo and would have likely been an AA silver medalist. Also Gabby hasn't won the bar medal yet, I hope she does but she was in 3rd by .083, so it's not a lock for a medal. Maybe Laurie scores higher on vault and floor if she has the confidence boost from being chosen to compete AA. Obviously, Martha knows what she is doing and doesn't need anyone's help. I'm sure other countries wish they had the problems of USA gymnastics.
 
My point is I just don't care for Gabby and I would have liked for Laurie to have the chance to qualify AA. Laurie will likely still be around for Tokyo and would have likely been an AA silver medalist. Also Gabby hasn't won the bar medal yet, I hope she does but she was in 3rd by .083, so it's not a lock for a medal. Maybe Laurie scores higher on vault and floor if she has the confidence boost from being chosen to compete AA. Obviously, Martha knows what she is doing and doesn't need anyone's help. I'm sure other countries wish they had the problems of USA gymnastics.
Wow, "My point is I just don't care for Gabby"- excellent point. Of course Gabby is not a "lock" for an UB medal. No one said that, I think anywhere, ever. But having two in the UB final gives the US a better chance than having just one. Martha chose the lineup that gave the US the maximum medals chances, that's the point. Martha doesn't choose a lineup based on who she "cares for".
 
FYI, I was not a huge Gabby fan in London. But watching and reading people pick apart her every move during her come back - "she wasn't smiling here", "she is not a team player cuz she didn't chant USA here" - has, frankly, pissed me off and pushed me towards wanting to cheer her on to balance the negative. Cheer her on or don't. But picking apart her every facial expression and word and move, just makes me shake my head.
 

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Gymnaverse :: Recent Activity

College Gym News

Back