thiago_simoes

Surprising (and some confusing) results so far in the women's competition. Ukraine had a couple of great routines which received low scores, while Belgium had average to mediocre routines and received very generous scores. The US girls in second was also kind of surprising. Not because they deserved to be first -- they definitely did not, since the Russians were fantastic. But the surprising part is Russia finally hitting their routines. It will be a very interesting battle from 2021 on when Biles retires. As I wrote before in another thread, without Biles the US is not unbeatable, at all.

There's a big difference between men's and women's artistic gymnastics when it comes to the age that the gymnasts reach their peaks. Junior male gymnasts (16-17 years old) are still far from their peak form, since men usually peak around their early to middle twenties. Junior female gymnasts (14-15 years old) are very close to the peak form (16-18 years old) and some of the junior girls are better than the senior women. That being said, the level in men's competition was good. Japan is way ahead of the rest of the field as a team, but we could see some very surprising individual results, especially with the South Korean boy on floor and Kovtun on pommel horse (even though he fell, apparently) and parallel bars. But don't watch this event expecting to see the next Olympic champion in men's gymnastics. This is not going to happen. Maybe in 2024, but certainly not 2020 (unless we're talking about Japan's men's team). I expect the women's competition to be much closer to the level we see in senior events. Given the results at the European Games (especially women's floor) I believe the junior worlds will be a lot better.

Very surprising bronze medal for Italy in the team competition! Congratulations!

Great! For once, I'll not be ranting alone in the AG thread!

Cuba has chosen their Pan Am team. MAG: Randy Leru, Rafael Rosendi, Alejandro De la Cruz, Ariam Vergara, Huber Godoy WAG: Marcia Videaux, Yesenia Ferrera, Mari Adny Morffi, Caridad Rodriguez, Vaneza leliebre I never heard about any of the guys, except for Leru who should win at least one medal (horizontal bar). Videaux is strong on vault, and in the absence of Rebeca Andrade and Alexa Moreno, she is a nice fit for a medal on vault (though not gold this time). Ferrera is the one that surprised me. She is very strong and can spoil the plans for individual medals for Brazil and Canada (and Mexico, probably, especially Nicolle Castro).

Yes! Finally a major medal for Luba Golovina!

Boring. Only 20 years after Turin. Anyway, I don't care about Winter Olympics anyway, and this is not going to change my mind either, so...

In a good day, Canada could probably beat this team, especially if the US girls have a bad day on beam like the 2011 team had. Of course the US girls are the favorite for the gold medal, but in all honesty they are not out of this world when Biles is not part of the equation. Edit: I believe Flávia Saraiva could win floor. It will not be easy, but it would not be impossible either.

Very boring results in rhythmic gymnastics. Just when I thought we were going to have a little more diversity, the old powerhouses swept the medals. The only "surprise" here was Ashram finally hitting her routines. Two gold medals is a fantastic result, especially after a very disappoint performance at the European Championships. I know this is only the second edition of the European Games and it's too soon to tell, but I still can't see how gymnasts can benefit from this event. We've had a very crowded year with lots of events in rhythmic gymnastics (5 world cup stages, 6 grand prix stages, the European Championships), so this event feels completely unnecessary. Why create and event with only 12 gymnasts and let only 6 of them compete in the finals? This makes no sense.

Both Asian and South American championships took place this weekend. First, about the Asian Championships: the level was a little lower than I expected. I don't understand why Oksana Chusovitina, Yeo Seo-jeong and Yang Hak-seong took part at the Korea Cup four days ago and skipped the Asian Championships. Some of the Chinese gymnasts did well, especially on men's and women's vault, and I was pleasantly surprised with Ahmad Abu-Al-Soud from Jordan winning vault pommel horse with a great score (14.9) that would probably place him among the finalists at the World Championships. It was also nice to see some guys throwing big difficulty (such as Aprizal on vault and Karimi on floor), and Keikha from Iran was solid. All the rest, though, was pretty average. Now, the South American Championships. On the women's side, Argentina had a very interesting team on paper, but when it comes to the real competition, they couldn't quite live up to their potential. Don't get me wrong: they earned four gold medals, including a team medal, and this is great, but they are capable of scoring a lot more. The results might have been enough for gold medals on this level, but they need to acquire more consistency. Dominici and Magistrati have a lot of potential, but both had many, many, many falls. The only really good event was vault (with a surprising bronze medal for Bolivia, totally deserved). On the men's side, Brazil dominated most of the events, but there's a lot of room for improvement until the Pan Ams. Very nice results for Peru and Uruguay, and I'm glad Fuenmayor from Venezuela is still alive and kicking. Colombia also had some great moments (Lugo on rings, Calvo on parallel bars and Sandoval on high bar) with lots of difficulty but the execution was not quite as good, so they had to walk away without a gold medal, unfortunately. Edit: The guy from Jordan won pommel horse, not vault.

Yes, I wonder how on earth something like that happened in the first place. Either way, even though the Mexican federation was the one to blame for sheer incompetence, I believe the gymnasts should not have been punished. They should have been able to keep the medal, then an extra set of bronze medals should be awarded to Canada. This way, no one would lose. I feel bad for the Mexican gymnasts who had to return their medals because of such a ridiculous problem caused by the federation itself.

You guys need to bombard the Mexican federation with messages on Facebook, Twitter, e-mails... This more than a simple misunderstanding: this is negligence. I've contacted the Mexican federation a number of times, and also PAGU (whose president is also from Mexico) and I've had a terrible experience. They have very bad PR and no transparency whatsoever. When I asked PAGU on Facebook to act more professional, they blocked my account. LOL. Such amateurs.

It doesn't make sense to not add her to the team. No one else has a realistic chance of an individual medal, and a team medal is very, very unlikely, with or without her. Has the team been decided? This is probably some Japanese level of dumbness when it comes to selecting teams.

Good news for Mexico: Moreno is back in action. She should easily get a medal on vault at the Pan Ams. Source: Here.

Oh, and I forgot to add: Mexico's biggest loss is not really Moreno, but instead Frida Esparza. Had she been healthy, she could help Mexico fight for the bronze medal with Brazil. If things stay like they are today, it will be Canada vs USA for the team gold medal, Brazil with a comfortable lead for the bronze medal, and all of the other teams fighting for sports 4-8. Mexico should place fourth, but I believe Argentina will be the biggest surprise at the Pan Ams and it will be very interesting to see where they will land.

I believe there is a big difference in quality between women's teams and men's teams. Women's teams: USA (even with a B team), Canada and Brazil (even without Rebeca Andrade) are among the 10 best teams in the world. Men's teams: USA has inexperienced gymnasts and none of them should even be selected for the World Championships. Brazil relies too much on gymnasts who are clearly out of shape (like Nory and Barreto), and Caio Souza is still injured, so I don't expect miracles for the Pan Am Games. Canada has a solid team but nothing really special. Maybe Brazil will finish among the top 10 at the World Championships, but I doubt it. 11th or 12th is a more realistic scenario, especially since our best all-arounders are doing terrible. There's no comparison to the women's event, really.

All of the teams are terrible. It's anyone's game.

Gold for the US Virgin Islands at the 2019 World Powerlifting Championships. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_championships_medalists_in_powerlifting_(women)

And a very good chance for both Fabian de Luna and Federico Molinari to challenge for an individual medal on rings. The US will send a very inexperienced team, and Canada doesn't seem to have anyone particularly strong on rings. Zanetti should not have problems to win gold (and I'm not exactly happy about that, since you guys know I never root for him), but silver and bronze will be very interesting.

With Rebeca Andrade out, things are completely different now, especially for Canada. This team is 99% sure to get at least a silver medal. Depending on who gets picked for the US team, I'd say there's a slim chance for gold. Also, in individual events, I expect Olssen and Black to challenge for gold medals, and Padurariu as well especially on beam. Very strong team. Not only the Pan Ams should be very successful with this team, but Olympic qualification is a breeze now.

Why not?

Yes, but as far as I know, religious temples are still allowed not to accept LGBT practitioners. Somewhat disappointing.

There was an American competing for Bangladesh in gymnastics at the 2012 Olympics. I remember he scored 15.000 in the parallel bars, and this must have been enough for a top 15 finish. EDIT: I was wrong. He scored 14.766 and placed 27th. Still huge considering he finished 134th on this apparatus at the 2011 World Championships.

When the men's team plays at the World Cup, classes are suspended in most schools. Not that the women's team is playing, I've not heard about schools suspending classes. By the way: what an awesome play leading to the second goal!

Rebeca Andrade will miss Pan Ams and the World Championships. She suffered a knee sprain and will need to undergo surgery. She will return to competition after eight months. I have no words to describe how devastated I am.