This year in its 41st installment, the American Cup has been the gift (and drinking game) that keeps on giving. Long heralded as the “most prestigious international event on American soil,” the competition is, among other things, a glorified exhibition for the American women, as they dominate an unimposing international field with no chance to win and no reason to be there. Every year NBC is quick to point out that the Cup is a precursor to future gymnastics success: five Olympic all-around champions have won the competition the year of the Games (counting Gabby’s unofficial win in 2012). Though this is more a testament to USA’s dominance in the all-around than the event becoming a crystal ball, Scam has finally gained some legitimacy in recent years by joining the FIG circuit. The competition might still not have an even playing field; Lord knows the HBIC Martha Karolyi will never allow it. But in an Olympic year the American Cup is always highly anticipated, providing a restless gymternet its first big taste of the gymnastics season.
And what an exhibition it was. Forty years after Nadia won the inaugural American Cup, an attendance of 12,541 screaming tweens and an international field of 18 competitors gathered not at Madison Square Garden, as is customary in the Olympic year, but in the Big Apple’s ratchet cousin, Newark. For an international field starved of major competition since Worlds: it was an event of great exposure as it kicked off the Olympic gymnastics season in earnest.
It was months before the competition even arrived when Martha Karolyi had already thrown a huge curve ball: Simone Biles was not to compete at the American Cup in the Olympic year. The event has nearly always featured USA’s top girls and each of the four American Olympic AA Champions had won the Cup during the Olympic year. Meanwhile, Simone Biles enters the Olympic year as a heavier favorite to win the Olympic all-around than Mary Lou, Carly, Nastia, and Gabby combined. However, Biles, already slated for Jesolo and Pac Rim, was rested for this event, allowing a much-anticipated showdown between the reigning Olympic Champion Gabby Douglas and the current U.S. silver medalist Maggie Nichols.
Through it all, Gabby Douglas is still an enigma. During her career she has gone from a talented but raw junior, to a Ukranian headcase first-year senior, to Olympic Champion, to the unlikely Comeback Kid. Looking back on her 2011 season, where a beam routine without three falls or a balked dismount was an accomplishment, it is remarkable to consider her as a reigning Olympic Champion attempting to become the first back-to-back AA winner since Vera Caslavska in 1968. Though she is not favored to win nor even likely to dethrone Simone, just that the possibility is even being discussed is extraordinary.
Gabby has become almost Mustafina-esque in her approach to competition. In podium training she was flat and sluggish: her work unexciting on each event with nary an upgrade to show. However, in competition it was like she was a different gymnast. The DTY might be frustratingly off the level of perfection it was at Worlds, the pike down was there and one wonders whether the Amanar will come, but she stuck. Bars there was a slight missed connection to the new Khorkina transition, so slight the judges didn’t even notice (it is Scam, after all): http://mrusskie93.tumblr.com/post/140541531071/gabby-incorrect-d-score
Her beam she crushed like no routine she has done since London. I didn’t even know she could connect anything out of a front pike. The back full was one of the best ever. Even the dance elements were sort of there. The routine was certainly not without it flaws: her head is still buried in her knees on the dismount; the L-turn/switch ring connection isn’t happening and the ring position is always dodgy. Ever the Scam Cup, Tim and Nastia were bitching about her beam score, a score which might have been modest by American Cup standards but went unmatched by anyone other than the Almighty Simone at Worlds. There are still issues with this set and specifically with what the D-panel will consistently credit, but there was no denying her strength here.
On floor I have a bone to pick with the D-panel. Or several. Because Gabby, while showing us exactly the same shtick as last year: the exact passes and the unceasing LA-LA-LA-LA-LA vocals, has still not cleaned up her dance elements. The Goegan was over a 1/4 turn short. Her leg dropped down on the Memmel before her shoulders and hips were anywhere near the corner. And where her ring shape might be deficient on beam, it becomes an all-out abomination on floor: she simply meets none of the requirements of the position. Foot above or even at shoulder height? Forget it. Leg bent within 135 degrees, let alone 90? Nyet. And “an arch and head release?” Does having your eyes graze the boxes, not even the upper bowl (let alone the ceiling) count? Well, just ask these judges.
Now officially winning the American Cup four years after her exhibition victory lap at Madison Square Garden, Gabby is considered by many circles a lock for her second Olympic team. She is strangely dispensable on paper, her start values are hardly gargantuan and even her bars don’t have the pull they used to, with beam now being USA’s weakest event. However, when Gabby is such an established commodity and often a clutch big meet competitor,why would you risk someone else?
The situation is similar to 2012, she should make the team and will compete bars in TF. In theory she could compete any of the other events in TF or none at all. Another all-around medal is possible, with a performance like Saturday, but just as importantly a comparable effort in prelims is needed to attain the second spot in AA finals. A defense of her title will require a Herculean effort against Simone, but even a consecutive all-around medal would make her the first back-to-back all-around medalist since Amanar, hardly a feat to sneeze at.
Especially when competing against Gabby, Maggie Nichols was the ultimate underdog. Lacking in major international hardware and just a year ago an unlikely AA contender for the U.S., Maggie was the victim of senseless decision-making in the 2015 Worlds selection process. After winning a bronze at Classics, silver at Nationals, and silver in AA at the final camp, she was relegated to three events in Glasgow prelims, all so Brenna Dowell could put up an 11 on bars in what was one of the biggest meltdowns in USAG history. With Raisman and Douglas faltering in prelims, Nichols would have only needed a 13 on bars to make the all-around, where she had every capability of winning silver. Rumors would come out of the competition that Martha was pressured by USAG to have a Simone vs. Gabby/Aly AA final: frankly the only explanation which could reasonably account for this mess.
Luckily, Maggie’s big break was to come all of two days later. In an unprecedented move, Martha gave Maggie an all-around assignment in team finals at Worlds after denying her AA in prelims. Under a great deal of pressure, she was fantastic: posting a 59.232 which was under a tenth of Gabby’s silver medal winning score in all-around finals. A World floor bronze would prove a consolation prize, with an American Cup assignment another step toward becoming a leading contender for Rio.
Nichols perhaps more than any competitor in the country reminds me of Memmel: she is an absolute rock. So much so that the skills she has taken out of her routines–the Barani on beam, the full-in, the Amanar–were never error-prone in competition. It was of particular surprise when in Newark, Nichols’s Amanar went MIA; rather she showed a sluggish, form-heavy DTY. But n spite of the weaker vault, her conditioning since Worlds had not suffered: bars were solid, beam possibly her best executed set, and floor was the highest score of the competition besides Gabby’s bars.
If there was a major positive for Maggie at this event, it was beam. Beam isn’t necessarily her Achilles Heel, but it was hammered at Worlds: in team finals her set was the only American routine to mark below a 14. The gymternet might have groaned at her routine construction featuring not one, but two, tuckstand turns; but a 14.8+ was huge. So huge that Al’s indefinite idiocy couldn’t handle it: to him a 14.8 meant she was deducted harshly. Her routine, strong with minimal adjustments, still had room for improvement: the Barani and full-in have yet to make their way back. Not only does an improved beam set help Maggie’s case for the team, it helps establish herself as one of the country’s top AAers with only three AA spots available for qualifications.
As for Maggie’s likelihood for the team? Her stock is up, though she is by no means irreplaceable. In spite of her strength on floor and improvement on beam, her Amanar could still be the do-or-die skill for the team. Whether she didn’t compete one here shouldn’t be too worrisome: there is no need to risk a blown ACL in March (just ask Mustafina). Last year, her Amanar was reliable and sometimes even an excellent vault: particularly day two of Nationals. While she was still standing it up, the vault had degraded by Worlds, with Russian-esque post flight and E-scores hovering in the 9.1-9.3 range. Certainly she has a TF spot on floor in the bag (if she goes), and her bars can always come in handy if Martha avoids using Simone again (though the team can do much better). The question as to which events Maggie will compete in prelims do have serious impact on the remaining spots on the team, as having Simone, Gabby, and Maggie cover the vault lineup opens up more room for bars and beam specialists for the last two spots.
If nothing else (and definitely nothing else) this event for the international competitors is great exposure. Where else other than a Worlds or Olympics, can these gymnasts compete in front of a 12,000+ strong crowd with a field that includes the reigning Olympic Champion? But if NBC had its way, the girls would mount the beam with a sign reading “NOTHING TO SEE HERE! CUT TO COMMERCIAL!” That is, if they’re not chacked by NBC already, fora commercial break, or worse, another of Andrea Joyce’s insufferable interviews. The American Cup is also a rare event in that it is winner takes all: the sole hardware for the event is literally the Cup itself. There are no silver and bronze medals for the first and second runner up, though prize money is available.
Ellie Black has become the defacto leader of the Canadian team leading up to Rio, but even top ten finishes in the AA at the last two Worlds have not lived up to her full potential. A triple gold medal win (AA,BB,FX) at the 2015 Pan Ams remains her best competitive performance to date: an AA medal wasn’t out of the question in Glasgow but a perfect performance was needed and a beam fall failed that. The Canadian team is already qualified to Rio and Black, in her second competition of the year (after Elite Canada), was solid if unremarkable in Newark. It was a relief she stayed on beam after only 1/4 hit routines at Worlds and continued struggles at Elite Canada. Beam will be her best (and likely her only) outside chance at individual hardware in Rio given the piss-poor quality of the last two beam finals.
The same cannot be said for Amy Tinkler, who unlike Black, is not a leader nor even a lock on a much stronger and deeper British team than anyone would have envisioned possible. An opportunity for a top 3 finish was missed with a fall on floor: Tinkler was 1.2 shy of Black and conceivably could have gotten ahead with a routine in the 14’s as she proved at Worlds. Though it wasn’t such a disappointing result in hindsight, as Tinkler hasn’t exactly been Black’s equal in the AA internationally. Out of her four apparatus, her beam was a welcome surprise: a rare three layout series (the first under the new COP, I believe) and a back with a full, but all for a 14.2. Certainly a 14.2 is a score which GB will eat up on its weakest event, though her routine is an awful lot of risk to get there. Bars she will be a non-entity: her routine has more leg separations than Nastia has pink leos. As for vault, there has been some discussion of an Amanar, which would certainly set her apart in an already deep pool of British gymnasts with upcoming seniors like Catherine Lyons as additions to the mix.
As for the remaining competitors: Carlotta Ferlito might be more defined by her blackface comments at 2013 Worlds than anything in her actual gymnastics, but she was, dare I say, pleasant here? Her bars bordered on the atrocious and her dismount was nowhere close, but her beam and floor had nice moments and were unsurprisingly ranked third best of the event. Her Burlesque FX was shockingly on the music at times, and in the Burlesque face-off between her and Mai Murakami, there wasn’t a question as to the winner. As for Rio, Ferlito is now more vital than ever in helping qualifying her Italian team to TFs, as they have accomplished at every Worlds and Olympics since 2011. Individually a beam final is certainly possible though a medal unlikely.
Mai Murakami’s erratic international record which just last year spanned from a 10th place finish at Japanese Nationals to a 6th place finish at Worlds meant no one knew what to expect from her in Newark. Alas, Murakami didn’t look fully ready here, suffering a fall on her acro series on beam and showing a general lethargy on all the apparatus. Murakami will certainly need to be regain peak form within the next couple of months, knowing the Japanese Olympic teams are picked the earliest of any country. At her best, her strength on the power events–historically Japan’s weaknesses–will make her impossible to ignore.
Tabea Alt was the baby of the competition: first year senior and winner of the junior German title last year. Perhaps more than anyone else she benefited from the experience of this event, particularly heading into the Test Event next month where the Germans will be on the bubble for qualifying a full Olympic team. A particular highlight for this Olessia Dudnik fan was Alt’s aerial-layout-layout series on beam, absolutely nailed, but sadly marred by a subsequent fall on a switch ring. Her bars which have some shades of her compatriot Sophie Scheder also have potential: the dismount was rough here but she already has the ability for a routine that will score in the mid 14’s. Should the Germans have a full team in Rio, she certainly appears a promising upstart for their team.
Tisha Volleman was, alas, a poor man’s excuse for everything we have come to expect from the Dutch gymnasts: beautiful line, posture, elegance, and artistry. During her samba floor she at least appeared to be having fun, but aesthetically the routine was marred with unseemly attitude turns and hops with absolutely no turn-out. Especially after the Dutch team was such a breath of fresh air at Worlds, the dancer in me was appalled. She had no acro series on beam; her bars were rudimentary but hit. Overall, she would seem a highly expendable member of last year’s World team, particularly with the Netherlands’ goal to qualify to team finals again in Rio.
Last, and sadly least: Lorrane Oliveira. The less said, the better, but her potential is quite considerable which makes her disastrous efforts in this competition, so disastrous she finished behind Volleman, even more shocking. Her vault was her lone solid event of the day, and perhaps underscored relative to the Americans. On bars she took that Jaeger so far out it looked like she was attempting a dismount; on beam her switch leap fall was less salvageable than any of Komova’s. And two falls on floor? Surely the snow must have bothered her like her compatriot De Souza. What, they expecting Jersey Shore in March?
As for the MAG, well, Sam Mikulak headcased again (*shocker*). Notably he’s coming back from a partial Achilles tear, but even when healthy he has suffered numerous falls at inopportune occasions. With Sam as a three-time National champ, he’s practically impossible to leave off the Olympic team given his talents. But it’s like rolling the dice, you put him up everywhere in TF expecting at least one fall but having no clue where it will come. So much for one mishap at American Cup, he had three, and on two events (PH/HB) which wouldn’t excuse his recent injury. He is likely to improve on this as the year progresses, but now is the time for the three-time Champ to get some international hardware, which to date is only a team medal at Worlds.
Ryohei Kato, an all-around silver medalist in 2013 but often overshadowed on a deep Japanese team, pulled the slow and steady route to victory here after a fall from Donnell Whittenburg handed Kato the title. Kato is not that knock your socks off gymnast with the impeccable line or even particularly impressive gymnastics, but his solidity across all six events and great basics (as with all the Japanese gymnasts) certainly made him a worthy victor here.
Whittenburg’s opportunity to win in Newark was harder than it seemed: even with a big cushion, he was finishing on his weakest event with a major title on the line not fully knowing how much to risk. He should be proud of his efforts, in spite of 2nd place, as the men’s event isn’t like the women’s where a U.S. gymnast pulls out a win every single year. His floor looked cleaned up with an impressive Arabian double front 1/2 dismount, and he also showcased a nice Dragulescu vault as well as strong rings and P-bars.
However, the highlight of the MAG was unquestionably Wei Sun of China. Or, simply, Banana Pants I’m just going to put this out there: ever since 2008 I’ve been majorly anti-China. Both MAG and WAG. Maybe it’s the age falsification. But more likely than not it’s the lack of any kind of strong aesthetics on this team, because I whimpered every time Zhang Chenlong and Zou Kai won high bar titles as well aas Deng Linlin managing World and Olympic beam titles. And while the Chinese women always take themselves out of the running for the gold, the Chinese men have been consistently victorious up until a harsh third place last year. I wasn’t exactly sad that the Chinese men had fallen in Glasgow–I was only sad they even held on for a medal. But if Wei Sun is in Rio: I may change my thoughts. His line is the line I remember from the Chinese greats. Immaculate extension, toepoint, legs that extend to tomorrow with gorgeous posture. That Tsuk triple was so elongated and his P-bars up until the dismount exquisite. And those banana pants? Well, when you have line like that, all the sweeter.
Gymn and Skate Talk 