thiago_simoes

Compared to the previous stages, this one was a lot more predictable. Individual finals were just okay, nothing spectacular. Group finals were pretty nice with good routines overall. Mexico scored above 17 two days in a row, which is HUGE for a non-European nation. The thing is: next year the group routines will change and all nations will basically have to start from zero. It's impossible to predict which nation will get medals at the major events, but Mexico is on the right track. Absolutely amazing routines, especially the one with balls and ropes.

The Portimão Challenge Cup is over and we got some nice results. Finland got three medals, Azerbaijan finally got a gold medal, and China had great performances. Mexico surprisingly finished fourth in the group all-around, and they qualified in third for both finals, but ultimately finished out of medal contention. Brazil finished fourth twice in the group finals, which is kind of bittersweet. And we finally qualified an individual gymnast for a final, and she also placed fourth. This only goes on to show how hard it is to win a medal, any medal, in any of the stages of the World Cup circuit. Respect for all of these gymnasts. Still, the level of the competition was pretty low overall, and I don't really think Portimão should even be considered for the World Cup circuit anymore. I mean, it's nice to have a stage where gymnasts from smaller nations get a chance to reach the finals, but then again this is a World Cup event, so the level must be high. Anyway, I could swear Berlin was the next stage (it was scheduled to take place in less than two weeks), but it looks like the it was axed and the next stage will be only in August. Ugh. It's understandable since we have one more Grand Prix stage in May, and the Europeans in June, but July will be an empty month and Berlin could have been a valid option.

Nice. TYC has a very nice commentator in rhythmic gymnastics. I mean, she knows what she is talking about. All the commentators in Brazil basically say "this was a beautiful performance" after literally every single performance, and that's it. How are they even paid? Morons.

Wait a minute... Wasn't gymnastics part of the European Championships thing? So we will have gymnastics events at the European Games and also European Championships? I don't really dislike the European Games, but if we have Games + Championships, I believe acrobatics, aerobics and trampoline should be axed. Artistic and rhythmic are all we need. I like the way they only allow one gymnast per nation to qualify for the finals. This gives hope for smaller nations to earn a medal, especially in rhythmic gymnastics, which is a sport that absolutely needs to have some variety among the medalists instead of RUS, UKR, BLR, BUL and ISR (and ITA in groups).

FIG is full of stupid and useless rules, so I really don't know how they are going to deal with this situation. In 2014 they decided to establish a minimum score in the all-around competition: if a gymnast did not reach the minimum score, he or she would not qualify. Then, half of the planet (I'm not joking) did not reach FIG's minimum criteria, so they had to say 'screw it' and drop the system altogether.

But the Namibian gymnasts only performed on vault, and qualification is done through the all-around competition. If one male gymnast does not perform on all six apparatus, FIG will not consider their performance for the all-around competition. I mean, they only performed on vault, so if they actually qualified, they did it in less than five seconds. Bizarre.

Only 9 nations? Well, I shouldn't be surprised, since FIG will only give 3 quotas to Africa. This is insane considering Europe gets 17 quotas.

So far, this is what we have in Gymnastics (1 quota for each nation): Acrobatics (qualifications are over, no places left): Argentina also got a quota for being the host nation Artistic (only Asia finished qualifications, 26 quotas left for Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania): Boys: Girls: Trampoline (only Africa and Europe finished qualifications, 6 quotas left for Americas, Asia and Oceania): Boys: Girls: Rhythmic (1 quota left for Oceania's qualification): Europe: Africa: Asia: Americas:

The thing is she used to be a lot vocal about getting a second gold medal at the Olympics. I can't forget her face and attitude when she turned to the camera after the last point was scored in the final match and kept saying "cala a boca" (shut up) instead of being humble and celebrating like a real champ.

I really dislike her personality. I will not miss her. At all.

I talked to a rhythmic gymnastics coach and she told me that there is no selection process for gymnasts because they will use the rankings from 2017. I don't know how this works, but apparently we will send teams in gymnastics, thankfully. By the way, after the World Cup stage in Guadalajara this weekend, Argentina can expect a few medals in rhythmic gymnastics. Fainberg even finished first among South American gymnasts on clubs. Great result for Argentina after abysmal performances since 2015. Nice to see Argentina rebuilding and getting strong again in this sport.

I will not get my hopes up because I'm always let down when I do this, but I'm surprised! Very nice results overall!

Nothing at all. 24 days to go and we are not even sure if Brazil is going to send teams in gymnastics. The scandals about sexual abuse and bullying will not help matters either. I will not be surprised if we don't send any gymnasts.

Performance-wise, I believe he reached the peak of his career in 2011, but I think he's simply not as naturally talented as Hypolito or Sasaki, for example. Now, I heard that one of the big names in our country verbally confronted a minor about his sexuality during a training session (he said things like "we only have faggots in this sport, I can't take it anymore"), to everyone's shock. But now I see that maybe the guy sees gay people as sick people thanks to that insane coach. Of course this is untrue, harmful and full or prejudice, but at least there seems to be an "explanation" for his declared homophobia. Nevertheless, this is sick and brutal. I can imagine how bad the victims feel, and how this situation is stressful for everyone. And for everybody to know this happened, including head coach Marcos Goto, and not doing anything about it, anything at all, just makes everything even more infuriating.

I'm shocked. If this turns out to be true, and it must be since there are many people accusing the coach, this guy is a monster. In short: former national team coach Fernando Lopes has been accused by 42 male gymnasts of sexually abusing, physically and morally insulting them when they were children (as young as 10 years old). The first report report was around 2001, and the last one was in 2016, when Lopes was formally removed from his position one month before the Olympic Games. According to reports from the gymnasts to the newspaper O Globo, Lopez touched the private areas of the boys, slept with them, broke into the bathroom while they showered, and even asked them to masturbate in front of him (one of the guys said Lopes masturbated him while he was sleeping). Investigations were formally started in 2016, but the process has been slow, so the newspaper decided to publicly disclose the whole story. This is infuriating and unacceptable. I hope the guy rots in jail.

Even with some minor (or even a couple major) mistakes, a four-points difference seems to be a lot. Either those judges were TOO harsh today (and too generous on day one), or they really don't know what they are doing.

Nice. Let's see what she can do at the World Challenge Cup series. Now, proof that these scores are completely wild and all over the place: Italy scored 22.100 on day 1, and now only 17.500. This is crazy. Shame on the judges.

My impressions about the World Cup series so far: 1) Estonia winning a medal was both a total shock and a MUCH needed breath of fresh air. After an uneventful series of competitions in 2017, it's nice to have a new nation shaking things up a little bit in 2018. 2) Italy has the best group routines this year. Russia and Bulgaria are close, but Italy has it all in both routines. Still, I'm disappointed. Belarus, Israel, Ukraine and Japan are somewhat unstable, and after two disastrous routines in Baku, Estonia is nothing but a distant dark horse. Also, I miss Bulgaria's gorgeous 5 hoops routine from last year. This year their routine is just meh. 3) Russia seems to be unsure about what to do with their individual gymnasts. Soldatova is the best individual gymnast this year so far, but we all know she is a headcase and she could snap any moment. Look at what happened to Selezneva today... She just lost it under pressure, and I'm afraid the same thing might happen to Soldatova. The European Championships are going to be exciting to watch, especially if Ashram hits her routines. Also, last year there was a rumor about Selezneva changing nationality, and she was supposed to compete for Luxembourg. After what she did today, I guess this might become true, after all. Viner will take a loooot of convincing before she lists Selezneva for another competition (if ever) again. 4) It seems to me that scoring is inconsistent at best. These are official FIG competitions. Judges must get it together before they release the scores.

Well, if Tashkent had biased scores, Baku is almost a complete mockery.

But these are only good for 2017-2018. In 2019 and 2020 we will have 5 balls and 4 clubs + 3 hoops.

What do you mean? We got a bronze medal and a gold medal (this last one in a para event) at the 2017 World Championships.

Yes! Dominici! I'm soooo excited to watch her! I hope she wins everything, given Brazil will (and should) send our B (or C) team, and none of the B girls come even remotely close to what Dominici can achieve. Brazil will probably still win the team event (in Argentina no one except Dominici is really good... Tarabini is the second best, but she's 10 yeas past her prime), but Dominici can still win everything else.

Is Brazil the first country to qualify athletes for the 2020 Olympics? I'm surprised!

Scoring is a problem in other stages as well. Guadalajara always gives out huge scores even for smaller nations. Also, hosting the event gives a huge advantage to some nations. Italy got zero gold medals in Sofia, but three gold medals in Pesaro. I'm not saying the group did not deserve the medals, but there is an undeniable boost in scores for the home nation.

I've seen a report in Italian media mentioning that some big names were missing (especially Japan, Italy and Bulgaria in the group competition), but you cannot seriously say this stage was awful. Yes, Estonia was lucky that Israel fumbled their ropes and balls routine during qualification, but overall what Estonia achieved is historic: 35 years of competition and Estonia is only the 26th nation to achieve a medal result at the World Cup series. And the finals were a mixed bag, but still mostly good. I mean, Estonia scored a very respectable 18.7 in the 5 hoops final and they still did not manage to make it to the podium. Some finals could have been better (clubs, ribbon and ropes/balls), but hoop final was insane (18.950 for a bronze medal? whaaaat???). I'm confident this will not be remembered as the worst stage this year. I expect a much lower level in Portimão and even Berlin.