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re: Why is Haleigh Bryant not on the U.S. Olympic team?
Posted on 4/22/24 at 5:22 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Posted on 4/22/24 at 5:22 pm to iwyLSUiwy
quote:It's actually a fair comparison as far as level of difficulty goes, once you factor in the other variables.quote:
he difference between college gymnastics and Olympic is the difference between AA baseball and the Major Leagues.
Bad comparison. Not for the top collegiate gymnast.
I mean there are currently Olympic gymnasts competing in college. No major league players are dropping down to AA and not even being the best person on their team.
Some of the harder skills are easier to perform with a 15 yr old body than a 20 yr old body. Your point of balance can change depending on development. You lose your maximum potential flexibility at some point.
So, age-related changes, if a big leaguer wanted to keep playing baseball for the sake of it, and just couldn't see or catch up to MLB fastballs anymore, he could go down into AA level. At that point in his career he may not be the best on that team, either. That just happens in a much tighter age range in gymnastics, because baseball emphasizes different physical characteristics.
Since gymnastics isn't about the money to the extent baseball (or other huge spectator sports) is, someone continuing to compete just due to love of the sport is more common. We're not going to see MLB All-Stars hang around in the minors after their prime. It's maybe more similar to Senior Golf, where you could see former elites still playing well after they peaked and declined.
It's just that gymnastics is weird, because the age range is so low. We don't tend to think of college as "senior citizens", but that's what it is for most gymnasts.
Posted on 4/22/24 at 10:35 pm to Scoob
Thank You! To everyone who responded. I had no clue that college and "professional" aka elite gymnastics were different and that the amount of training and training regiment was different.
It makes sense now why Bryant isn't on the Olympic trial roster.
It makes sense now why Bryant isn't on the Olympic trial roster.
Posted on 4/23/24 at 12:27 pm to Scoob
quote:
It's actually a fair comparison as far as level of difficulty goes, once you factor in the other variables.
I'm not saying college gymnastics is as hard as the Olympics, I'm just saying you have Olympic gymnasts competing in college. You don't have the very best MLB players just choosing to play in AA baseball.
Training for college gymnastics and the Olympics is not ideal and very hard, but girls are doing it now.
Suni Lee, Leanne Wong, Jade Carey, and other potential members are/have competed in college and trained for the Olympics. I think Konnor McClain will be someone who ends up making an Olympic team while at LSU.
I'm not saying the ideal age for a gymnast is the age of a college senior, I'm just talking about the level of the top talent.
And it's not like the US gymnasts are the only gymnasts in the world. Aleah Finnegan is an Olympic gymnast and Haleigh Bryant is a much better gymnast all around than Aleah, that can't be argued. If Haleigh could have some other nationality eligibility she 100% is good enough to be in the Olympics. The US gymnastics team is just insanely good right now.
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