That’s a quote from Senor Nico on I.G. forum.
Why?
The first controversy of those Games.
In Artistic Gymnastics each nation can send one male, one female gymnast … but only one coach.
Do you send the coach of the male or female gymnast?
Dwight Normile on International Gymnast magazine:
… The inaugural Youth Olympics, to be held in Singapore in August, promised to showcase the best junior talent in the world, but the women’s gymnastics competition apparently will lack at least one big name. According to a USA Gymnastics representative, the U.S. will send only a male gymnast, who will be selected at a junior training camp later this month.
Jordyn Wieber, who is coached by John Geddert at Twistars USA in Michigan, was the likely candidate to represent the U.S. at the Youth Olympics, which requires female gymnasts to be born in 1995. (Male gymnasts must be born from 1993-94.)
Various factors contributed to USAG’s decision to decline, but the main issue was the limited amount of coaching credentials available to the U.S. gymnastics delegation.
In a cost-cutting measure, the U.S. was given three coaching credentials: one each for artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. That would mean only one coach could accompany the U.S. male and female gymnasts. The U.S. qualified one rhythmic gymnast and one male trampolinist.
“The coach thing … that was the final straw,” Geddert told IG.
Geddert says he was unable to get a variety of questions answered about the competition, such as whether or not special junior rules would be implemented in Singapore.
read more – I.G. forum – U.S. Will Not Send Wieber to Inaugural Youth Olympic Games
What’s the next YOG controversy?
There will be many.
UPDATE: This rule is in effect for all invited nations. I’m surprised the U.S.A. made this decision. Why not send another gymnast who’s coach is willing?
20 comments ↓
There is the advantage of being a “good” male gymnastics coach.
I don’t think I will ever see a female coach catching a male on high bar coming down from a release move.
Lady’s….sorry for that, but we still love you….
What does that have to do with the cost of tea in China?
And tell that to Kelli Hill (I’ve SEEN her catch (or at least break the fall) of one of her gymnasts.
p.s. It would be “Ladies”.
Yeah, but can Kelli Hill catch a male gymnast?
Has it been established whether it is a USOC rule or an IOC rule? Funny how you don’t hear other countries whining about it.
The Jr Rules have been in the normal CoP for a while. The info on YOG on the FIG site states that Jr Rules will be used. That document has been available on the FIG website for over a year.
Sorry to sound crabby but if other federations can get the info (most of whom don’t even have English as their first language) why can’t USAG? And why do we all have to immediately decide this competition SUCKS just because ONE country pulls out for whatever reason?
China, Japan, Russia and quite a few others seem to be taking it seriously.
Is this a decision of the YOG (a stipulation of the event) or is it that the USAG wants to cut costs this way? I’m afraid I didn’t understand…
In any case, the first page of IG says: In a cost-cutting measure, the U.S.O.C. allotted only three coaching credentials to USA Gymnastics, etc.
I’m hearing that all nations only get one coach between mens and womens. Its not just the US that is dealing with this.
I think the reason no other gymnasts from the US are willing is because this is right before their national championship. I also believe many of the good juniors are not age eligible for this.
“Yeah, but can Kelli Hill catch a male gymnast?”
I think the question is whether she can break a bad fall from a male gymnast because I don’t see male coaches catching male gymnasts on a regular basis either. Mostly, it seems they fall to the mat unimpeded by the coach unless they are going head first.
The only jrs on the junior national team who were born in 1995 are Vega and Wieber. It’s too bad the US can’t or won’t send a non-national team junior age girl.
I wonder if Jordyn’s coach is just making excuses. Any girl should be able to be coached on the floor by someone who is not her regular coach. Teams are only allowed to have two coaches on the floor at worlds and Olympics so that means most gymnasts have to survive at least the team meet being coached by someone else. So wouldn’t having to rely on another coach for this meet be good experience for JW?
I’ve seen many male gymnastics coaches (Kormann etc.) make spectacular saves. more often an issue with rings with the way someone peels off and body can be all awry. and they know when to go in when there is serious danger rather than the grotesque overspotting of female routines in competition (which should be banned).
Good luck, Kelli on catching Chris Brooks!
Maybe if we agitated we could get Jordyn and USAG to reconsider? I’m serious.
Surely there is some “Rick type” coach who can handle both boys and girls. Does Jordyns gym have both? She has a male coach, no? So he can handle catching even a big hoss junior like Orozco. Or someone from his gym. Or there must be someone like Liukin who could handle both tasks.
I would probably have the male travel unaccompanies and put the emphasis on the female being accompanied by her coach. Females are more the priority given television and all. And are closer to Oly competition (men often are not really strong enough untill 22+), but women are over the hill at 17. And boys will need to learn to go to meets sans a coach and do self training really anyhow. While girls may never need to really run their own programs.
But this event is not the Olympics. Geddert is very, very concerned with his athlete’s safety. The goal is the Olympics, lets not take any risks until then. Plus, at the Olympics these girls are very familiar with the coaches from being at camps all these years.
So send a female’s coach and a boy who isn’t scared to train without his coach. Or a female’s coach who can handle boys. Did you even read my post?
Wow. That’s some serious cost cutting. In the UK no gymnast is allowed to compete without a coach qualfied to the level of the athlete. While there are many coaches who coach both, I doubt there are many with High Performance Coach qualification in both disciplines. Does this not apply to other countries with required coach training programs? I believe canada and australia both require qualified coaches for competition (and podium training).
There is a “coaching certification” requirement in Canada.
At an international meet the coach must be NCCP Level 4. … The coaches of all our eligible athletes meet this certification. There’s no clear distinction between MAG and WAG, however, so that’s not a problem for us.
Well TCO I tend to skim your posts because you are too negative and nasty in what you write. If I was Jordyan’s coach I wouldn’t send her with anyone else to this meet! I can’t think of any gym in the US right now that is producing top boys and girls that are coached by the same people.
Is it really going to hurt Jordyn if she gets exactly HER COACH and the guy just spots some junior male as well? I’m putting the GIRL first.
Heck…even if you DON’T send a boy at ALL, it still makes more sense to send Jordyn and her coach. I guess unless Marta just doesn’t want to support that meet.
[...] USA had declined to send a female athlete, diminishing the WAG competition. Print [...]
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