Rio 2016: The Final Teams Are Chosen

The Rio Test Event team competition finishing over the weekend and what a competition it was! There was lots of excitement and heartbreak when the chalk finally settled. On the men's side, Germany was able to ward off evil pommel spirits (that landed them at the Test Event in the first place) to finish in gold medal position. They were followed by Ukraine who went from nearly 3rd in 2012 to nearly not in the Olympics in 2016. The team was able to rally led by a strong all around performance by Oleg Verniaiev. The Netherlands and France completed the list of teams that qualified a 5-member team to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The women's competition was full of drama. To the surprise of no one and to the elation of the home crowd, Brazil finished in first place. They were followed by Germany, Belgium, and France who will all get the chance to bring a team to the Olympics. The great surge in this group of finalists has to go to Team Belgium and Team Switzerland. Belgium just missed on qualifying a team to the Olympics in 2012 and now they come with strong all arounders and event final worthy athletes. To top it off, they were missing some members of their team due to injury or forced medical retirement. Switzerland, though they finished in 6th, also deserves praise for nearly making it. They were one of the teams that most people ignored and they surprised with their performance and how close they were to qualifying.

There was a lot of sadness in this final. Australia finished in 5th place with a 218.428, 2.441 points behind France and a team spot at the Olympics. This score was an improvement from their score at Pacific Rims but still wasn't enough to qualify a team. Romania finished in 7th place with a 216.569, which was actually less than their Glasgow 2015 qualifying score. One could argue the worlds team contained Larisa Iordache and Laura Jurca and the test event team had Catalina Ponor and Ana Maria Ocolisan but was missing Iordache and Jurca. Who knows if that would have made a difference or if it would have been enough to qualify. We could hypothesize forever.

Now comes the tricky part: Australia, Switzerland, Romania, and Korea can send 1 gymnast to the Olympics. For South Korea, 2 of their star gymnasts were injured and it's unclear if they'll be back in time for Rio. Switzerland will most likely send Giulia Steingruber. Australia and Romania are in tough situations. Romania will most likely choose between Larisa Iordache and Catalina Ponor - both with hopes of balance beam and floor exercise finals. Iordache has the benefit of an all around final and chance at the podium though we don't know the extent of her injury and when she can be back to full training. Australia will basically have a battle of former Olympians. In my opinion, it will be between Larrissa Miller (FX), Georgia-Rose Brown (AA), Emily Little (AA, potentially VT though they likely won't make event finals if not upgraded). AA athletes Kiara Munteanu and Emma Nedov also deserve a shout out for finishing first of the Australians at Pacific Rim and the Test Event, respectively. And these are just the athletes we've seen. Lauren Mitchell is recovering from ACL surgery and is back training. She's been well enough to attend recent national team camps. Olivia Vivian also seems to be training (though I'm honestly still not 100% sure). They actually have a ton of options for who to send to Rio.

Both teams will need to really look at their systems. Both have had star juniors that haven't quite made it at the senior ranks. For Australia, it seems mostly to be due to injury. For Romania, there is an injury component but also "lack of motivation" and former stars and European medalists being exiled to Romanian gymnastics Siberia. Romania is truly lacking in depth, as evidenced by 2 injuries, Iordache and Jurca, collapsing the entire team structure.

Then there are coaching issues. For Australia, I really can't decide how to feel about Peggy Liddick. The Australians have accomplished some great things during her reign, Lauren Mitchell's floor exercise gold, Larrissa Miller making floor event finals at 2014 worlds. But they've also declined to the point of not making the Olympics. We typically think of Romania but the Aussies are also a team that relies on their veterans. There's nothing wrong with relying on your veterans, it's just a problem when there isn't much depth to replace them.

The Romanian coaching situation is a disaster. If anyone wants to update me on why Nicolai Forminte left in 2010, I'd love to hear it. Maybe I wasn't totally attuned to what was going on but I remember thinking it was weird they fired him. Sorry, we have a 2008 team and floor exercise medal, some worlds and European medals, but you're done. Thank you! It just really didn't make sense. Now he's back coaching the juniors and they're showing promise. Belu and Bitang are basically having an on-again off-again relationship with their coaching role. Apparently the girls asked for them back but then were injured so they did not get to coach much. It bothers me most that they resigned just before the girls left for Rio. I thought this was weird. I didn't think it was because they had very little faith in the athletes they were trying to coach to the Olympics.

The biggest comment that has resonated with me about this whole Romanian situation was on rightful 2004 Olympic AA Champion Andreea Raducan's facebook. "...We could have the fate of Ukraine." She reminds us of the greats Lilia Podkopayeva and Viktoria Karpenko. A country that once had such pride and talent that is no longer on the gymnastics map. That really struck a chord. Will Romania be the next Ukraine or will there be changes made? There's a lot of finger pointing now but I hope that the RGF and the coaches come up with a plan to develop the program otherwise this disaster is only just beginning.

Women's Team Competition
Place	Team	Score
1	Brazil	226.477
2	Germany	223.977
3	Belgium	221.438
4	France	220.869
5	Australia	218.428
6	Switzerland	218.336
7	Romania	216.569
8	South Korea	203.828

Men's Team Competition
Place	Team	Score
1	Germany	350.609
2	Ukraine	350.160
3	Netherlands	347.444
4	France	346.583
5	Romania	344.148
6	Spain	342.725
7	Belgium	342.534
8	Canada	330.626

Pacific Rim 2016: Biles Makes Olympic Year Debut

The Pacific Rim Championships will take place this weekend in Everett, Washington, USA. Headlining this meet on the women's side is three time World All Around Champion Simone Biles who will make her debut in the Olympic year. She did not appear at earlier World Cup meets or at Jesolo to make sure this stellar gymnast peaks at the right time - the Olympic Games.

Biles said in an interview that she will unveil a new floor routine and also debut a new second vault - a Yurchenko half on, one and a half twist off named after Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei. Other than bars, the one gold medal that has evaded Biles has been on vault. Her execution is exemplary but difficulty has kept her away from the gold medal. Now, with this new vault, she is just as competitive as the previous gold medalists, if not more competitive given her exemplary execution.

BFF Maggie Nichols was named to the team but unfortunately was forced to withdraw due to a "minor knee injury." Ragan Smith was chosen to replace her. She will join Ashton Locklear, Aly Raisman, and Laurie Hernandez. The big surprise of the team was definitely Brenna Dowell. After what we were told was an exemplary training camp, Dowell had multiple errors on uneven bars, the main reason she was chosen for the team. Because of this, she did not compete at all in team finals. Dowell must have shown great promise to be chosen over Ragan Smith (initially) and Alyssa Baumann.

The format of Pacific Rim Championships is 6 athletes, 5 up on each event with 4 scores counting. In the Olympic Year, federations were allowed to bring teams of entire senior athletes. Australia will be bringing their Test Event team: Georgia-Rose Brown, Emily Little, Larrissa Miller, Rianna Mizzen (a new senior), Emma Nedov, and Emily Whitehead. Brown and Nedov to compete AA at test event with Little competing all but uneven bars. Presumably, the lineup should be similar for this meet.

Canada is also sending a senior team. They have replaced new seniors Rose-Kaying Woo and Meixi Semple with Worlds team member Audrey Rousseau and Worlds team alternate Madison Copiak. They are joining Shallon Olsen and Megan Roberts - 2 new seniors with lots to offer the Canadian team. Brittany Rogers, after just competing at NCAA Regionals for the University of Georgia, will compete elite routines at this meet. Kirsten Peterman also made the Canadian team, a surprise a bit like Dowell. Peterman had to beat out athletes like Sydney Townsend, Rousseau, and Copiak for the spot.

Other athletes to watch are the gymnasts from New Zealand who competed as junior gymnasts in the 2012 Pacific Rim Championships. This was shortly after an earthquake that destroyed their gym. Since then, the gym has been rebuilt, these juniors became seniors that have competed at the Commonwealth Games and Worlds. Courtney McGregor is currently the athlete chosen for the Test Event. She will be joined by Mackenzie Slee and Charlotte Sullivan.

Coverage information for Pacific Rim Championships can be found below. Times are Eastern (GMT-4.)
USA Gymnastics Youtube
Pac Rim Champs Website