Category: Olympics

U.S. gymnasts competing Olympics for other nations

You probably recall the disaster that was Nellie Kim, President of the FIG Women’s Technical Committee, pushing for American Kylie Dickson to compete for Belarus in Rio.

It was one of Nellie Kim’s many ethical disasters.

But I’d argue that — more often than not — having a gymnast from a bigger nation represent a smaller nation DOES help Gymnastics there. For example, I fully expect WAG to boom over the next couple of Olympic cycles in Philippines.

Should these athletes have qualified to Paris?

  1. Phillipines – Aleah Finnegan
  2. Phillipines – Emma Malabuyo
  3. Phillipines – Levi Jung-Ruivivar
  4. Colombia – Luisa Blanco
  5. Haiti – Lynnzee Brown
  6. Syria – Lais Naijjar (MAG)
  7. Bulgaria – Kevin Penev

Read a thoughtful article by Caroline Price in Forbes:

Americans In Paris: Nationality Changes Shaping Olympic Gymnastics

2024 Olympics Paris

British Olympic Teams

 Max Whitlock OBE, Joe Fraser, Jake Jarman, Harry Hepworth and Luke Whitehouse.

Reserves James Hall, Courtney Tulloch.

Alice Kinsella, Becky Downie MBE, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Ruby Evans and Abigail Martin.

Reserves Ruby Stacey, Charlotte Booth and Corey Walkes.

And your Team GB Paris 2024 gymnasts are…


Nagorny sanctioned by USA

The gymnast most active in supporting Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is Nikita Nagorny.

He’s top of the list to be sanctioned.

Support Lynnzee Brown’s Olympic Journey

Former NCAA great Lynnzee Brown was delighted and surprised to be selected to represent Haiti at the Paris Olympics.

NOW she is trying to find a way to pay for that representation. Unsurprisingly, Haiti has no discretionary funds for Olympians right now.

Check out her GoFundMe.

Aurélie Tran, Ellie Black to Paris

Top 2 in the AA from Canadian National Championships will be nominated to the Olympic team.

The rest of the team is yet to be determined.

Ellie Black 110.066
Aurélie Tran 108.131
Ava Stewart 106.781
Rose Woo 104.332
Sydney Turner 104.198
Gabrielle Black 103.431
Emma Spence 103.099
Frédérique Scarbossa 102.898
Laurie Denommée 101.432
Audrey Rousseau 101.048

Ellie Black collected her 7th Sr. women’s national all-around title.

Age-28, she’s still one of the best in the world heading into her 4th Olympics

Isabella Brett NOT approved for Olympics

As we feared …

New Zealand was not SMART enough to confirm Isabella to the Olympics after she earned the Olympic berth through Continental qualification.

Obviously to ME … the benefits of a smaller nation having one more Olympian far outweighs the downside of Isabella not finishing high in the rankings.

Félix Dolci 2024 Canadian Champ

Félix Dolci is your 2024 All-Around Champion.

René Cournoyer takes home silver, William Émard bronze.

Gymnastics Canada

Félix and René now selected for Paris. Rest of the team yet to be named.

Results look for William, Sam Zakutney in 4th. And Zach Clay in 7th who has a BIG Pommel Horse number.

Ellie Black leads Canadian Nationals

Day 1

Shallon Olsen leads Vault.

Full results.

Olympic team selection is competitive.

IF you ASSuME that Ellie and Aurélie will go for the AA, there are many different combinations that could results in the highest potential team score.

Félix Dolci interview

Felix Dolci played it safe on day 1 of Canadian Nationals. He’ll consider adding difficulty heading into Paris.

He’s happy to have stayed on Pommels. Being consistent. And staying healthy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Canadian Men’s National – day 1

  1. Félix Dolci 84.516
  2. René Cournoyer 82.932
  3. William Emard 80.848
  4. Sam Zakutney 80.348
  5. Ioannis Chronopoulos 79.949
  6. Zach Clay 79.283

Of the specialists:

  • Jayson Rampersad 3rd on Pommels 13.033
  • Benjamin Astorga 3rd on Pommels 13.033

Full results.

We ASSuME that Félix, René, and William are locks for Paris.

Strategy will be to put together the MAXIMUM possible scoring team for Paris. Along with an alternate who could fill in on any apparatus.