Gymnastics Canada used a “point system” based on score on each apparatus to choose two female Olympians.
The Canadian Gymnastics Championships Finals tonight is the last chance to gain points.
Described colourfully as a “cut-throat” competition by an athlete on the male side, the yearlong battle between three of the women is more cut and dry at this point.
With Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs nearly five points ahead of Nansy Damianova and 14 ahead of Kristina Vaculik — according to the unofficial count in the new qualifying system Gymnastics Canada is using to select two women to represent them in the Beijing Games this summer — it would take a perfect performance from Vaculik today at the Olympic Oval, and some below-average efforts from the other two to propel her into an Olympic berth.
Even so, anything can happen, and although Hopfner-Hibbs does a great job hiding her nerves, she’s anything but calm.
“I’m not that calm. I’m trying to be calm,” said the Torontonian who claimed the all-around title at the 2008 Canadian gymnastics championships Thursday night.
“It’s a very stressful process. We’ve never had anything like this before.
“Hopefully next time we qualify a full team so we don’t have to go through this all over again.” …
Elyse
From a coaching perspective, the system used turned out to be a big mistake. Those wanting to contend needed to compete as much as possible, traveling frequently to World Cup meets in hopes of adding points.
In fact, they needed to stay in a state of “competition readiness” from January through until today. That’s not ideal for peaking at the Olympics.
It was totally unnecessary too. Better would have been selecting a training squad working together cooperatively. With a final decision made based on competition results and training performance. As is done in the USA. In Russia. In most countries.
Elyse and Aisha Gerber have both signed with UCLA for next season. Coach Chris Waller is here cheering on the two new recruits.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 