On the American Gymnast blog, Andrew Thornton linked to videos of some of the gymnasts who qualified for the Nastia Liukin Cup this coming weekend.
… an AMAZING beam combination that is one of the most difficult ever done: … front aerial to a back handspring full …
Click PLAY or watch Kimberly on YouTube.
Andrew does have some questions about who can qualify for this competition, however. For example, Kimberley:
… I didn’t realize that gymnasts 18 and over could compete in this competition. Kimberly Jacob won her “Level 10” session at the Circle of Stars Meet in Indiana, but she has competed as a senior gymnast since 2007. In fact she competed in the SENIOR US Nationals in 2008 and 2009, placing 17th and 12th, respectively. She is 18 and will be competing for Alabama this fall. I thought the Nastia Liukin Cup was for “up-and-coming” Level 10 gymnasts? I did look at the rules at the Circle of Stars Meet, and it said that the winners of the Level 10 sessions, regardless of age, would qualify for the Nastia Liukin Cup. …
They should somehow change the selection criteria for the second annual to truly bring in up-and-coming Level 10s. Kimberly’s career, for example, is already fixed. She doesn’t need this additional experience.
12 comments ↓
I don’t feel anyone should judge who “deserves” this experience. If the gymnast qualifies according to the criteria set by the invitational, then they qualified! I think that the diverse age & experience of all the competitors is going to make this competition interesting.
I think any gymnast, regardless of what they are doing next year, will benefit from this experience. Does thorton want to interview all the gymnasts and weed out any that are thinking of quitting after this year??
USAG is already too selective in their up and coming elite programs. You have to be under eleven for HOPES and TOPs. Jr. is limited to girls 15 and under. I think the US elite program could benefit from having some of the older girls think about trying elite. Some were on the elite track when they were younger but dropped out. There’s no reason to not see if some of them might change their mind when they get older.
I think older gymnasts who are consistent and solid make a good base for a team. The US would be doing itself a favor to let these girls know there are opportunities for them in elite.
Her flip flop, full was nice. She clearly doesn’t connect it to the aerial though.
That was a nice combo. Needs to be connected more to the aerial. But her bhs full was lovely!
Yes, the acro series with the AFWO is not connected and she seems to drop the left arm on both fwd skills…!
FYI I think her last name is “JACOBS”
Competitive gymnastics, at least in the US, is ridiculously ageist already (Don’t believe me? Try taking a team of latecomers to the sport to a meet. I cannot BELIEVE how mean adults can be to and about children).
Kicking girls out of the elite option because of their age, determining their worthiness to compete at a high level, who is that helping? I don’t need to pad MY ego in that way, I’ve seen remarkable ‘old’ gymnasts (it breaks my brain, incidentally, to think of 18 as even approaching old) be extremely solid leaders and competitors, and it’s not doing them any favors as people or athletes to be all “ok, you’re done now, grandma”.
For all the complaining certain individuals do about alleged age cheating from certain countries, this ageism is mightily hypocritical.
I was just about to say that wasn’t connected but several people beat me to it
We should be encouraging the college girls to do real routines and be in the mix for Olys (instead of a stickit competition, that is too close to cheerleading).
Good on her for entering.
She isn’t expecting the aerial to be “connected” for value, is she?
None of the forward to backwards connections should be credited (ever, for any of the athletes).
Wondering what is the name of Kimberly Jacob floor music used in the Nastia supergirl cup. Are you able to help me find this?
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