I have always felt Marta was not really in Kyla Ross’s corner. This theory of mine started back her days as a junior where Kyla would hit, hit and hit and Marta would do everything she could to make sure Katelyn Ohashi won JR Nationals even when she fell all over the place. If Kyla made a mistake she would be killed by the judges and Katelyn from Saint gym of Woga would be judged on a whole different level.
Then came 2012. Kyla the girl with the potential to kick ass in the AA was all of a sudden not upgrading floor and being forced to compete only her DTY.
Then there is Tim Daggett on NBC (Marta’s mouth piece) always finding a reason to nit pick Kyla as if they were finding an excuse for her not making the Olympic team in spite of the fact she would again be hit, hitting, hitting the events the US needed her on. For some reason every little tiny bobble would lead to a Tim rant on why Kyla would not be making the Olympic team. Until that magic day where Queen Nastia could not be counted on due to her fall, falling, falling on her ass and then Kyla all of a sudden had the best routine of her life.
Now we are in 2013 and once again Kyla is the subject of something questionable. Mckayla Maroney might be doing the AA said Marta after Nationals. Then Mckayla went to camp and she fell, fell and fell (literally) 3 times. She went to training and again fell, fell fell but Marta deemed this “good enough” to be given the AA spot. That isn’t as if of a Conspiracy Theory for me as much as Kyla the silver medalist at Nationals competing the Olympic rotation of vault, bars, beam and floor in the 1st sub division while Mckayla is given the prime spot in the last subdivision where scores generally go up. I don’t know about you but I want to know why “not enough endurance” Kyla Ross is stuck in the first sub division competing floor last while Mckayla is starting on her best events and competing beam last.
To me this looks like Marta has displaced Kyla in favor of Mckayla. Just a tiny conspiracy theory to hold you over until Tuesday:)
Judges for Worlds. Now we know who to blame when this goes badly. The US judge is Russian. Fabulous.
Stole this from Triple Twists twitter.I think I am going to be sick on Wednesday. I would be sick Tuesday but Wednesday give me a 5 day weekend:)
Kyla will be competing in qualifications on Tuesday from 8-10am ET. Simone will be on Wednesday from 7:30-9:30 & Mckayla will be at 10-12pm.
— TripleTwist (@TripleTwistGym) September 30, 2013
SSTW. AKA Shannon saves the world I actually get the impression she is genuine in her want to save the world but it doesn’t make it less annoying.lol
This was kind of cool. Well maybe not for Tiger fans.
This I have to watch later. I hate the Mets but I have always loved Mike Piazza.
Gymtruthteller's Blog 
September 30, 2013 at 12:46 AM |
You are creative:-) and maybe spot on up until Olympics.
Then I think Marta is not holding Kyla back at all. I think Marta is really tired of K holding herself back(?) and probably as well the coaches that see it as ok/needed. Mckyla does the opposite, giving it all she has, even she is not picture perfect. Its easier to get inspired by that, and see future opportunities. But it is 4am over here and I should have been to bed …
September 30, 2013 at 1:03 AM |
Go to bed.lol and IMO Marta kept Kyla down forcing her to not upgrade floor so she wouldn’t be fighting for the AA spot she wanted Gabby to have. I have always thought this and no one has ever explained why Kyla never even attempted floor upgrades in 2012.
September 30, 2013 at 5:04 PM |
Exactly. Kyla was beating Aly in the AA internationally and Marta could not, WOULD NOT have that. Then she has Kyla downgrade floor and meanwhile Aly upgrades hers. Kyla loses the amanar and Aly keeps her (messy) one. Marta did not want Kyla to break her team up (which included Nastia at the time) and she especially did not want Kyla to be an AA threat. She completely and totally held her back and the coaches and Kyla went along with it.
I remember too when Kyla was competing at senior events and Tim/Elfie were bashing her and saying she’s not as consistent/strong as she needs to be (huh? She’s hitting her event. Did we not just see Gabby flail all over the place trying to connect her front layout to back layout?) and that Kyla needs to ‘step it up if she wants to be on that Team.’
It was so obvious, from day 1. If Nastia had hit that last bar routine the FF would have been totally different.
September 30, 2013 at 12:47 AM |
hopefully in the bed …
September 30, 2013 at 12:49 AM |
I was also thinking that Ross might be edged out with this new AA situation, despite the fact that she’s the superior AA gymnast. I don’t know if the decision for her to downgrade has anything to do with keeping her injury free, but I’ve also never had the impression that Marta is behind her. Maybe she just doesn’t have that star quality that Marta loves. (I say this as a Ross fan. She’s an awesome kid, but she doesn’t quite capture the audience the way Maroney does.)
If I had to bet, I’d say Biles has the best shot of the Americans to win the AA. But who knows? My gut feeling is that Maroney, even if she makes AA finals, won’t make the podium.
September 30, 2013 at 1:04 AM |
Simone is not perfect she has some form issues but she is at least likable. If she wins I will be fine with that.
September 30, 2013 at 1:27 AM
Wasn’t Marta ready to screw Kyla in favor of Nastia immediately? That was the impression I always had, anyway, even if it had cost USA the team gold.
I hope Simone and Kyla make AA finals tomorrow. I love Mac, but unless she pulls out a miracle I really want either Kyla or Simone fighting for that podium spot.
September 30, 2013 at 1:30 AM
Nastia was promised a spot if she hit yes.
September 30, 2013 at 4:48 PM
I have trouble seeing McKayla being able to make it on the podium if she does manage to edge past Kyla, both because I dont trust her consistency and I just think her bars and beam are quite poor even when she does hit. (I never understood the like running on beam into her skills that she does.) On bars, yes she points her toes and keeps her legs much better together than say Aly but she bends her arms a lot and always has some major break. She has NEVER broken a 14 out of the US.
Lots of people were debating the fact that Aly did okay as an AAer so Mac should be able to as well. The difference to me if that Aly has one excellent event (floor), one very good event (beam), one good even (vault) (even if her Amanar could suck sometimes anytime you’re scores eclipse the 15 mark youre doing pretty well) and then one piss poor event (bars).
McKayla has one excellent event (vault), one very good (although still not always consistent) event floor and two piss poor events.
If Aly had done any of the other 3 beam and floor routines she did in London during AA finals she would be the bronze medalist, no matter what Aliya did.
If everyone, including McKayla hits, I think McKayla is left off the podium.
September 30, 2013 at 12:58 AM |
I tend to agree with you on most of this.
My gut feeling was that Marta was fearing a meltdown by Simone, and thought McKayla was her best insurance against Mustafina (in terms of d-score, as Kyla would need a major mistake and to be perfect to win), but even then that makes no sense… the best insurance was to just have let Kyla upgrade in the first place. Either way, I think it’s a flawed strategy.
My other thing is, I think Marta doesn’t like the idea of Kyla as an AA gymnast. And her refusal to let Kyla upgrade floor or have her Amanar (last year) goes back to this. Last year, she had to take Kyla below Nastia (another UB/BB specialist). Say both of them hit, but Kyla was an AA gymnast.. the choice would be obvious – you take the gymnast who can do all four events. However, if you have two UB/BB specialists, and say Nastia and Kyla both hit, she would have an easier time taking Nastia and getting away with it… this is why I think she encouraged Kyla to basically become a two event gymnast.
As for now, I don’t know why Marta continuously is doing this, But I definitely think you’re onto something or another.
September 30, 2013 at 1:08 AM |
OOOOOOO. You are better at Conspiracy Theories than I am:) That angle works ( keeping Kyla an UB/BB specialist to take Nastia. Brilliant)
September 30, 2013 at 5:32 AM |
i thought kyla wasnt competing the amanar due to her rapid growth spurt rather than being told to downgrade. her DTY isn’t perfect either but still a lovely vault that shouldnt hold her back too much provided she EVENTUALLY upgrades.
September 30, 2013 at 9:12 PM
The growth spurt happened this year not last year. Yes she grew but not like this year. Kyla was competing the Amanar and was then told to do the DTY. She would have done the Amanar if Marta had not made her stop. This year is different. She grew too much
September 30, 2013 at 10:05 PM
Her Amanar last year was bad though. Landing in the judges laps potential bad.
September 30, 2013 at 1:48 AM |
Mckayla Maroney is not an all rounder. Perhaps for any other country she could be. But with the US having obvious depth she is not an AAer nor will ever be. And I hate to be a bitch but I hope she implodes on beam and UB. So Martha and the world can see that she should be a FX/Vault specialist and an excellent one at that.
I don’t know what Martha is thinking but she is crazy. Imagine if Maroney upgraded her Mustafina to a Cheng which is very possible or even does a TTY. And on floor does a Double Layout, Double Arabian (or even a Podkopayeva) and a 3.5 twist. How good would that be.
Imagine a US World Champion Team with three amanars, three killer floor routines. Kyla’s bars and three solid (not spectacular) beam routines. Like in London it’ll demolish the other countries.
September 30, 2013 at 1:51 AM |
I won’t blame Mckayla for Marta’s game playing and wish her to fall on bars and beam but I don’t want her in the AA over Kyla and Simone who IMO earned the spots.
The games Marta plays kills me.
September 30, 2013 at 3:54 AM
“I don’t want her in the AA over Kyla and Simone who IMO earned the spots.”
Isn’t this determined on the day? I despise and oppose the two-per-country rule, but the one redeeming factor is that it finally takes the decision out of the hands of behind-the-scenes selection committees and gives each gymnast a shot at outscoring her teammates. Seems to me that whichever two hit (best) in quals will have earned their spots.
I’m so torn I don’t even know whom to root for. I love Simone’s, Mac’s, and Kyla’s gymnastics all in different ways and they’ve all worked so hard to get here. No matter what happens I’m going to be sad for the one who doesn’t get into AA … and will hate and abhor the two per country rule all the more.
September 30, 2013 at 9:17 PM
In order to get to Worlds you have to earn your spot. Mckayla not doing AA at Classics or Nationals and going to camp and bombing is not earning her spot on those events at worlds. Regrdless of HER getting into the AA or not everyone goes through a process and to force Kyla, Simone and even Brenna to do AA while letting Mckayla only compete two events was unfair to all the girls.
If Mckayla had a history or being an AA gymnast and was injured I would have no issue with this situation. Even if it was Nastia but this is not the case.
September 30, 2013 at 5:35 AM
there’s no way mckayla will get into the AA final.. but maybe it’ll light a fire under her to train up bars/beam better for next year. brenna earned her spot on this team, but given how the situation has played out, i’d still like to see mckayla do well. i suppose sje has potentially more longevity in the sport than brenna so she may as well make the most of transforming herself into an AA gymnast starting yesterday. the quals are good experience for 2014.
September 30, 2013 at 1:55 PM
Flippateer, ditto that regarding “… earned the spots” It counts when it counts. (It ain’t over till the fat lady sings:-)
September 30, 2013 at 5:11 PM
The judges are so biased it’s not like the “day of” will give everyone an even footing, not at all. We all saw how Jordyn was totally jobbed on beam in London quals, followed by Gabby who had equal mistakes and got one of the highest scores on the apparatus (to basically give her cushion going into floor). Then Gabby crash lands on floor and runs off the matt and Jordyn steps out of bounds – even if Jordyn had been perfect on floor, the beam judges ensured she would not make the AA final. That’s how this works. It’s never fair – don’t expect judges to be fair. I don’t. Would not surprise me in the least if they deduct Kyla by a lot and McKayla makes the AA final over her.
September 30, 2013 at 5:45 PM
@ Sanity: re: London quals, the score was a 0.5 D-score gap btwn Jo and Gabby. Do you think Jo’s beam connections should’ve been credited?
September 30, 2013 at 5:52 PM
One of her connections should have been – both were not (I’m thinking of the front layout to full twisting back to back handspring segment). It was actually the cleanest segment she’d done from any of them I’d seen her do at nationals or at trials.
They also deducted Jordyn for other things – she did have a balance check but just one that I remember. Basically, what they could deduct they totally did. They took everything they could from her score.
All of Gabby’s connections were credited and that was a total joke.Gabby also had multiple balance checks and her score was outrageously high, with minor deductions and almost no reference to missing connections that were so obviously missed. It was so blatant the judges were giving her insurance going to the last rotation that she would make AA over Jordyn. If Aly had been trailing Jordyn and Gabby in 3rd no way would they have done that. Aly surprised everyone and they for sure did not want Gabby missing out on finals.
Go back and also watch Catalina Ponor’s balance beam routine in Quals and tell me how she made it to beam finals. That’s another one that I keep scratching my head about. I won’t even go into her floor Quals routine.
If you think the judges aren’t biased in this sport you are delusional (no offense – don’t mean to point out you in particular Flippateer but just anyone in general that thinks these things are judged fairly should have another think coming).
September 30, 2013 at 8:59 PM
Ponor also missed an entire tumbling run and still got into finals on floor. That was another joke
October 1, 2013 at 12:11 AM
Haven’t seen Gabby’s beam recently enough to comment on that, but Ponor was gifted into the beam and floor finals. I love her, but I’m pissed that Bulimar didn’t get to compete in either final – she was taken out for Larisa in the beam final, and was not allowed to compete floor in quals out of fear that she’d make it over Izbasa, Ponor, or Larisa.
October 1, 2013 at 12:22 AM
I was really annoyed about that no Diana in prelims but in team finals. What bull shit that was
September 30, 2013 at 1:52 PM |
gingercrush, I don’t see Mckyla as a lesser all arounder than Raisman, and look where it took her. just my opinion;-)
September 30, 2013 at 9:10 PM
Mckayla is a lesser AAer in the sense Aly hit when she needed to and Mckayla did not. Aly does not get enough credit for what she did. Her form sucks we all know that but every time someone said she couldn’t do something she did it.
I remember what Aly’s beam looked like 3 years before than 2 years and then 1 year and then at the Olympics and no one can say that child did not improve. She worked her ass off to get her splits and leaps to the complete degree and even her presentation got better. She is a better AA gymnast IMO because she did it when she had to even if Mckayla medals at this worlds in the AA she is going to have to hit the AA at every competition from now on if she expects to compete as an AAer. Marta is not going to tell her its okay to skip bars and beam at Nationals next year if she wants to compete AA at worlds.
I am thinking Marta never planned on letting Brenna compete which is why Ebee was not brought for bars. If there ever was going to be a gymnast that competed bars and beam at this event they would have brought one. Brenna is a Vault and floor specialist who happened to have average start values on bars and beam.
September 30, 2013 at 9:40 PM
I agree with you. And Mckyla must work her … off (as well the bent knees), but I think she have the drive within her. I am excited to see that she is trying to go for AA. If she does stay healthy, I think she can get far. It will be interesting to see how her mental game is, when she is doing AA. Maybe London got her what she needed to up her consistency level.
( to any native speaking, how do I write this sentence correctly: If she does stay healthy, I think she can get far).
September 30, 2013 at 2:27 AM |
I don’t think mckayla will make AA. Mckayla / Brenna were always in the subdivision 4 spot. I think Kyla getting an extra day of competition rest over Simone is huge and her coaches may have opted to go subdivision one for that reason. Her coaches may feel she does better on Olympic order. I don’t think Mckayla makes AA finals without the bars and beam of her life. I’m not that worried about Kyla or Simone honestly. Most people think Aliya will be crowned empress wag supreme artistic gymnast. I hope Simone doesn’t melt down, but her track record so far isn’t great. I wish we had Ohashi and Lexie healthy. McKayla did mention in a keek that Kyla was getting her ankle taped.
September 30, 2013 at 2:36 AM |
With that ridiculous D-Score on Beam (isn’t it like a 7.5 at full potential?), she could have like fallen and still medaled. Insane.
September 30, 2013 at 2:40 AM |
No way Kyla wanted to end on floor. Or be in the 1st sub division where the scores are always low. Not with her start values.
September 30, 2013 at 5:36 AM |
aliya looked SO FLAT in podium training. that poor girl is carrying the whole of russia at this point, i think as tough as the girl is the pressure cant be easy.
September 30, 2013 at 5:13 PM
She’s probably saving her energy for the time where it matters. She knows when to turn things on and when to just go through the motions.
September 30, 2013 at 5:28 PM
I’m not sure how much of her PT performance is still being under the weather vs. bending under pressure vs. being generally unhappy. After watching her at 2010 Worlds, I hadn’t pegged her as one to cave under high pressure. So I was assuming that her PTs could be explained either by being sick or … all of the drama and angst that’s gone on with the Russian team this year. That team has a whole ‘nother layer of pressure to contend with based on the politicking and maneuvering behind the scenes – and if nothing else, Aliya lost her personal coach as a result.
September 30, 2013 at 3:32 AM |
Maybe Marta is possibly trying to use this Worlds as a reason to steer both Kyla and McKayla away from the AA holding Kyla back and McKayla not being ready so that she can try to say they didn’t work out as AAers and try to push them into specialist roles that complement each other to make way for Ohashi or who ever else is her new favorite in the AA later in the quad
September 30, 2013 at 5:39 AM |
she could do that without making them do AA though. she finds excuses before they even try to compete (aka brenna, chellsie etc..)
im wondering if kyla’s coaches are more than willing to play marta’s game just so they can to keep kyla’s foot in the door in elite until she’s off to college. perhaps they aren’t overly fussed with upgrades and pushing her knowing she wont need it for NCAA and this way marta is placated.
September 30, 2013 at 5:04 PM |
The other thing is that if McKayla really wants to make it to Rio, with all these other true AA gymnasts throwing 2 vaults, she’s got to show that she’s more than a one trick pony. McKayla might throw the “best amanar in the world” but with the exception of her tf finals vault there hasn’t been much seperation score wise between teh other American 2.5s. We’ve already seen Simone working on a Cheng and a TTY and Simone IS a legit AAer. Lexie too can throw 2 pretty decent vaults that would contend for major podiums plus she can play pretty decent leadoff on bars and has a good floor. Price was working on a 2nd vault as well before she was injured and has fab bars.
I honestly dont know if Kyla could handle more difficulty on floor is my only reply against the upgrades there. We saw that just adding a whip to one of her middle passes resulted in a crashed final pass at classics. Plus im glad she ditched the amanar, it was out of control all of last year.
September 30, 2013 at 5:25 PM
Agree with all of this. I do think we will see upgrades on floor from Kyla next year, but it was clearly not happening this year per Classics. As for the Amanar, I really thought she lost it due to her growth spurt rather than due to any internal (US) manipulation of who was allowed to perform what (but I don’t have any insider contacts so I defer to those who may know about behind-the-scenes stuff going on.)
I think I have more confidence than many of the folks posting here that Mac can become a legitimate AAer. Not that it will necessarily happen at this Worlds, but I could see her picking up steam in 2014-15. I’m so happy with the amount or progress she’s made since recovering from surgery, and I think with a few more months to work on consistency and execution, she’ll be a force to contend with. That said, Simone is also upping her game, as you say – and right now she is definitely the gymnast with more potential across the four events. Can’t wait to watch it all unfold over the next couple of years.
September 30, 2013 at 5:45 PM
I feel like Simone, as much as I like her, is peaking too early. That’s just my take. I have a bad feeling she won’t make it to Rio so now’s the time for her to shine. She’s bound to have a major growth spurt at some point too – that’s kind of obvious.
I feel like McKayla has better potential to be an AA’er and can be better than Aly. I’ve seen her potential on beam and her form on bars will improve eventually. We all know floor and vault are awesome – and she’s a much better presenter on floor than Aly ever was. In fact, of all the FF I felt Maroney and Gabby had the most potential to still achieve great things in the sport and grow to become better gymnasts, so I’m all for seeing how Maroney fares now that she’s back (and I’m glad she’s back).
As for what Marta did to Brenna, I am not surprised at all. I didn’t think she was ever in Brenna’s corner and hopefully Brenna’s expectations were managed to expect this. Probably wishful thinking on my part. Anyone that young is going to want this, and at that age you’re still naive into thinking all it takes is hard work and dedication and you’re in like Flynn. Wrong. Sweetheart, here’s your life’s first really tough lesson: sometimes, no matter what you do it won’t turn out your way no matter how hard you try. Relationships and politics always trump hard work and dedication. Personality and looks also are more important than production and hard work. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way myself, being passed up for promotions not because of productivity and performance but because I’m not a flirt nor do I make suggestive advances at the CEO.
Oh well, at least when I die I’ll know I had integrity.
Sorry for my rant.
September 30, 2013 at 9:01 PM
Lasy year Kyla all of sudden had issues with the Amanar and it wasn’t height issues. This year she has grown 3-5 inches but last year it was all Marta
September 30, 2013 at 6:39 AM |
I wonder if Kyla and Simone are put 1st and 2nd because this is the qualifications and she is trying to have them perform first so that they can rest for the finals. That would make the most sense putting McKayla last…the girls need to qualify, so have clean routines and get through and be rested for the finals….what do you think? (…does seem a bit too straightforward for the liking of Marta) 🙂
September 30, 2013 at 9:14 PM |
Kyla doesn’t need the rest and neither does Simone. Hell Mckayla doesn’t need the rest either.
September 30, 2013 at 5:49 PM |
One other thought about Mac going in the 5th subdivision, she’s going to know exactly what she needs to overtake both Simone and Kyla. While this could be good, its also puts a ton of pressure on her. The girl is twitter/internet savvy, she knows people are talking shit and she’s aware and desperately wants to prove herself as an AA threat. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
I think it helped last year that Aly was genuinely oblivious to how the AA picture was shaping up. Also she got to end on her best two events rather then Mac who starts fast and then has to survive.
September 30, 2013 at 5:57 PM |
I have to wonder if Marta is, for some reason, also trying to emphasize all-arounders right now? Like, maybe she wants people who can fill in on more than one event, so pulling Brenna and sticking in McKayla is a way to get that idea out there. Just spitballing here.
September 30, 2013 at 6:02 PM |
Brenna is an All Arounder, so not sure why substituting one for the other would put out that message. If anything the message is nothing is guaranteed, even after the fact, and to never be certain of your placement. Obviously Marta wants these girls to continually fight against each other for assignments, and this is the way she wants to run her operation. It’s shocking they are even friends at the end of the day since she basically makes them all compete against each other. The ultimate frenemies.
September 30, 2013 at 6:12 PM
Good point, I hadn’t thought of that. Ugh, what a beeotch.
September 30, 2013 at 10:32 PM
Obviously they are competitors first but I truly hope they have the insight that all the crap comes from Marta, not each other.
September 30, 2013 at 7:05 PM |
So Moors might do the laid out double double and have it named after her (probably not new news to anyone). I was surprised to see that she went back to her old floor routine from London, as opposed to the one she used at SCAM Cup last year. I looooved this routine, glad she is using it again!!!
http://www.gymnastike.org/coverage/251079-2013-World-Championships/video/721187-Canada-Victoria-Moors-amazing-laid-out-double-double
September 30, 2013 at 7:08 PM |
Bent legs and bent at waist so not really laid out but oh well what do I know.
September 30, 2013 at 8:03 PM
Agree – you can really see the lack of layout in the slo-mo: http://www.gymnastike.org/coverage/251079-2013-World-Championships/video/721216-Victoria-Moors-Laid-Out-Double-Double-in-Slow-Motion
Otherwise, I agree with Dee that it’s a great routine.
September 30, 2013 at 8:57 PM
What you said is exactky right and in no way shape or form should she get credit for that being a layout. She is also sloppy and short on her triple twist.
September 30, 2013 at 8:52 PM |
Inside Gym with comments from Marta and Kyla on a possible return from Gabby, here: http://www.insidegymnastics.com/content/show/2013-world-championships.aspx?articleid=1776&zoneid=100
September 30, 2013 at 9:35 PM |
Aliyas knee is messed up. I hope they pull her out of AA. Valentina wins for most gymnasts broken