Luke Wiwatowski (AU) Hates Team Gymnastics
This is an
important read because while many of us are aware of the general
dissatisfaction most fans feel about the 2020 Olympic reduction to team sizes, gymnasts themselves were limited to "Twitter-raging" on the subject. Wiwatowski, from Australia, took time in forming his opinion and offers justification for his views. The 2020 rule
changes will redefine our sport, as stronger countries will be able to
send more athletes to the Olympics than weaker ones. No one is unhappy with the
new qualification procedure for specialists; most of the negative attention has
focused on the dwindling official team size. Here's Luke's post:
Some reminders
on where others stand on the issue:
"The team
competition is the quintessential competition. For a Tier 1 sport with massive
Olympic viewership, they should be arguing for more spots in general, not
slicing them from the top. It's just baffling, even understanding that a
country can qualify 2 non-team specialists. Do these girls get to rotate with
their fellow National Team members of the team in training, or are they
isolated? Are they allowed one coach each in addition to the team's coaches?
Taking a look at
the 2012 beam qualifications, 39/83 girls scored less than 13 on beam, 24/79 on
bars and 19/60 scored less than 52 in the AA, which is all made worse by
Olympic score inflation. We do not need to open qualifications any wider than
they already are. Allow bigger teams for specialists in the team
setting."
-Catherine,
Beautiful Gymnastics Blog
"I think
having the opportunity to qualify two individuals to the Olympics is awesome
because it still allows up to six girls to compete for a given nation. If a
gymnast is truly one of the best vaulters in the world and can contend for a
medal- she should be able to earn herself an individual spot no problem. I
don't agree that reducing the team size to four members is hurting an event
specialists chances. This new rule is promoting all-around athletes without
eliminating event specialists. I see it as more opportunities for
everyone!"
-Triple Twist
Gym Blog
"But the
rule doesn’t take effect now. There are five years until Tokyo 2020, which
means five years for programs to adjust their training plans and to strategize
how to best take advantage of the situation in order to maximize medal
potential. And programs will adjust. For the U.S. it’s as simple as sending
four all-arounders and two vault specialists. Blammo. The girls currently
training with the hopes of making it in 2020 are currently only in the 10-13
age range. They’re not specialists yet. 90% of them aren’t even elite yet.
Programs have more than enough time to recognize potential all-arounders vs
potential specialists so they can plan accordingly when it comes time to send
gymnasts to World Cup qualifiers."
-The Gymternet
"Now that
teams are down to four, every girl must be an AAer because NO COUNTRY is going
to risk bringing one 3 event specialist no matter how amazing she is, because if
even one AAer gets injured you have to count a 0 if your specialist can't
perform on that apparatus. So this new 4 member team leaves no room for a coach
to maneuver which means ZERO strategizing on who to put on the team, which was
the fun part for us fans- guessing which girls would peak at the right time and
have the events that contributed best to the team! Taking specialists out of
the TF is disrespectful to their enormous contribution in boosting team scores
and has made the TF boring. Now we know that the top 4 AA scores in each nation
go to the Olympics no matter that specialists could deliver higher scores on
their best events than most AAer's."
-commenter on
Beautiful Gymnastics Blog
As for my
personal opinion, I wonder if any country, other than USA, can produce the
multitude of 59+ AAers needed to win team gold in 2020 and beyond. Time will
tell. Have a good day, readers!
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