August, 2009, Nastia and USA Gymnastics announced a new competition be held on March 5, 2010 in conjunction with the 2010 American Cup. On podium!
The Nastia Liukin Cup.
At that time it was explained that the meet would be for Level 10 gymnasts. A high profile event for the best gymnasts below the Elite level.
Gymnasts would qualify from these meets, a series of invitationals known as the Nastia Liukin Cup Series:
CGA Parents Club Coaches Spectacular, Covington, Ky., Jan. 15-17
Flip Fest Invitational, Knoxville, Tenn., Jan. 15-18
Cereal City Classic, Kalamazoo, Mich., Jan. 22-24
Rock-n-Roll Classic, Broadview Heights, Ohio, Jan. 22-24
Parkettes Invitational, Allentown, Pa., Jan. 29-31
Wisconsin Dells Gymnastics Vacation Classic, Wisconsin Dells, Wis., Jan. 29-31
The Fiesta Bowl Classic, Chandler, Ariz., Feb. 5-7
IGI Chicago Style Meet, Chicago, Ill., Feb. 12-14
WOGA Classic, Frisco, Texas, Feb. 13-14
Buckeye Classic, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 19-21
Circle of Stars, Indianapolis, Ind., Feb. 19-21
Excalibur Cup, Virginia Beach, Va., Feb. 19-21
Pikes Peak Cup, Colorado Springs, Colo., Feb. 19-21
Presidential Classic, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Feb 19-21
The Long Beach Open, Long Beach, Calif., Feb. 26-28
I love the concept. And thank Nastia for helping promote all those gymnastics meets.
So what’s the confusion?
Selected from the first weekend in Covington, Ky were:
Lexie Preissman (Elite)
Amelia Hundley (Elite)
Those girls aren’t Level 10.
Leave a comment if you can explain what’s changed.
UPDATE: The page listing official qualifiers. Thanks sher.
(via Bekah on IG forum)
26 comments ↓
I believe Lexi and Amelia were competing in an “open” session which is what most of the girls attempting to qualify to the NL cup will be competing in. In US invitationals this is very common. If the NL cup simply lists only a required score for qualification, this national elites are likely to qualify.
I vaguely remember seeing something about not being allowed to be on a national team. (But that might have been for international competitors only)
It’s not uncommon for invitationals like this to be level 10/open (open meaning that elites can compete). An elite gymnast wouldn’t be able to drop back to L10 for L10 states or nationals and then go back to elite the same year, but can compete in meets like this.
The US elite system can be a bit convoluted. I always hear that there are 240 WAG elites in the US at any given time. I think most of these gymnasts may qualify elite through testing but never actually compete elite.
Preissman and Hundley both competed at USC and Visa Nationals. Maybe they dropped back. Personally, I think it’s kind of fishy that they are from CGA and got selected at CGAs meet.
Where is it posted that they were selected?
It is unfair to the real level ten’s If you have ever seen level ten then you know a lot of them will never be elite so it is VERY unfair to make it seem like this competition is fair
Unofficially, some names were announced here:
http://www.intlgymnast.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7453
First of all more than 2 athletes from each competition can be selected. And secondly if there aren’t any level 10s that are good enough to beat those girls that are eligible to compete in an Open division then they shouldn’t compete for the cup. When you enter a 10/Open division you know who you are up against and you know what you are competing for. The two that were selected from FlipFest are great athletes.
Lexi and Amelia have not “dropped back to Level 10″. They are competing elite in qualifiers and Lexi is on the National Team Training Squad (maybe Amelia as well). Usag has always allowed overlap such as letting HOPES athletes “take spots” from TOPS athletes. This is just another example. Sorry Nastia, so much for oppurtunity. It is up to the meet director to decide….
Amelia & Lexie are both on the elite training squad-neither are on Natl team. They qualified at their home meet- by winning 1st & 2nd place- which was the criteria set forth before the meet started. They were competing in the 10/open division.
Its not fishy at all, its the way the qualifications were set up. Each “quaifier” was allowed to set their own criteria for who qualified for the cup. These invitationals paid in to Nastias charity in order to be considered qualfiers to the Cup.
Everybody knows gymnastics scores can be massaged to get the desired result. So sorry but I still think it’s fishy.
http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/events/2010/nastialiukincup/index.php
This page has all the meets in a table. There is a spot for qualifiers. The CGA qualifiers are not listed but the ones from flip fest are. I thought there was a page on USAG that listed the qualifiers but maybe I’m getting that confused with what’s on IGforum.
am i the only one who thinks that its a little VAIN to have a meet name after you( regardless of titles won) before you officially retire????
Can anybody tell me why there is a Nastia Liukin Cup rather than a Mary Lou Retton Cup or Shannon Miller Cup? Nastia is neither the first American AA winner nor the most decorated American gymnast.
luvgym, it’s probably as simple as nobody having the idea for a meet series when Mary Lou and Shannon won their medals. They have the idea now and Nastia is the current Olympic Champion now. It makes perfect sense to put her name on the meets.
In any case, anybody can have a meet. If Shannon and Mary Lou want their own meet or series, they have the connections to make it happen.
shergymrag, I understand what you mean. But the point here is: people don’t necessarily deserve all the things that could happen to them. Nastia does NOT deserve the honor of having a competition named after her before Mary Lou (the first American AA winner) and Shannon Miller (the most decorate American gymnast).
I wish everyone would read up on this competition before they comment— its called the NL Cup because its a fundraising event for her charity-hence the name of the meet.
Thanks Wendy.
It’s clearly a great idea. A great series.
Sure it would be wonderful if we can have other athletes do something similar to promote gymnastics meets. If Nastia’s is as successful as it appears to be, perhaps USAG will do similar circuits promoted by other celebrity gymnasts.
I’d be keen to have Courtney Kupets, for example, promoting events like the old College Bound meet.
What do you mean, “the old College Bound meet”? Is USAIGC not having it anymore? I thought USAG did a college bound meet right when USAIGC started there but they dropped it almost right away. Was there another one before these two?
If it’s for her charity then it makes even more sense that they named it after her. Even if it wasn’t for charity, it’s not right to claim that Nastia doesn’t deserve the honor. Why doesn’t she? Lots of people have meets and you can name a meet anything you want.
I was using the College Bound meet as an example. …
But since you mentioned it, sher, I went to the website to confirm that is still DEAD.
Yes. It’s dead. Cancelled for 2009. And not resurrected for 2010.
http://www.usaigc.com/collegebound.cfm
Too bad.
I think you did post that on your site last year because I remember looking at the page, now that I see the link.
Wendy, I was under the impression that there were supposed to have one Junior Level 10 and one Senior Level 10 be selected to the Nastia Cup. The fact that CGA donated money to Nastia’s Charity to host this meet does not give them the right to choose therir own elite gymnasts to go to this meet. The top Level 10 Senior won Floor the Level 10 National Championships last year and took fourth AA buy .2 I am one of her coaches and she is the most deserving to be awarded for this. Looks like she will have to qualify at the Cereal City Classic in Mich.
Jacob, looks like your gymnasts qualified at the Cereal City Classic. Congratulations.
This type of series is great for building excitement leading up to the event. Well, I know I’m excited anyway. I don’t even know these girls. Can’t wait to see what happens.
http://www.nastialiukin.com/newsroom/?cat=30 take a look at this web site. it says its for the best level 10s and then quotes Nastia as saying “I wanted to make sure it wasn’t for the Elite athletes,” Nastia added of her original wishes for the competition that bears her name. “The Level 10 girls might not ever get the experience to compete on the podium, or may later in their career, so it’s so cool that they’re going to be able to start that early on
Thanks
shergymrag i think things work out for the best in the end!
The level 10s have competed at the Long Beach Open but their two qualifiers have not been announced yet. One more week until the NLC and Scam Cup.
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