Ono recommended a summing up on ShoNakamori.com:
… I never believed it when retired gymnasts told me that they had to stop training because their bodies just couldn’t handle the beating of training anymore. It takes a lot of physical stress to be able to prepare and compete at the highest level. As I was preparing for the US Championships, I finally started to understand this. From being an all-arounder, I had to cut floor and vault to just focus on 4 events because my knee just couldn’t keep up with the stress anymore. Sadly, it never fully recovered from the ACL tear a couple of years ago. …
… it’s easy to categorize success and failure based on whether you make it all the way to the Olympics or not. For every athlete who prevails on the highest stage, many thousands fall short. Sometimes the difference between them is not a matter of talent or effort. It’s a given that the best athletes train hard…we all want “it”. Sometimes it just depends on the vagaries of time and circumstance. …
That’s a great read. A great truth.
Sho is one of our most eloquent gymnasts. And a class guy all around.
There is a long, long list of wonderful athletes who will retire this summer. A sad reality of the Olympic quadrennial.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 