Thoughts on the U.S. Olympic Team

Chellsie, while not of the pretty gymnastics, will provide the security that one cannot necessarily count on with Nastia or even Shawn (while consistent, was one of the two who fell in TFs at Worlds).

Bridget, yay! She's really taken herself from being the alternate of the group to making herself worthy of the team spot. Good on her!

I am so stoked to see Corrie as alternate! She was not expecting to get as far as even Trials, so you know she was probably happier than the named team members themselves when she was named as alternate. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get an Amanar from her, but I hope we'll see more of her next quad and I'm sure she'll bring it out then. Better to stay safe than to bring out all the guns for a small chance.

Shayla, what rotten luck that was. But she was already so broken that she was a liability in the first place. Better to have happened then than at prelims or TFs when it's too late to bring in an alternate. Here's to hoping she can keep her chin up and heal properly and rock NCAA.

Mattie developed a stress fracture, taking her out of the running. I wonder if TPTB will take a good hard look and continue to think that having Nationals, Trials, and the selection camp so crunched together (and very close to the O-Games, mind you) is a good idea. The girls don't know when is a good time to peak; they have to look good for TPTB so they can be picked for the team, but not show up for the Games exhausted and past form.

Jana, also another tragedy. If she had hit her UB sets, she probably would have been on the team, no problem. Instead, she fell on the same skill both days and everybody, including herself, lost confidence.

Ivana got lucky with alternate status. For a while, people were thinking that she would be left off the team altogether. Frankly, I think that since A.) the Fong-Hong relationship isn't exactly working out, B.) she doesn't want to continue with her family being split apart (father is in CA and mother and siblings in Missouri with her), and C.) she already has such good technique and basics that she should make one more gym hop and give AOGC a try. I think she'd be happier being back with her family. And since she's expressed an interest in Stanford, well, it's there in CA as well.