City of Jesolo Trophy 2015

The Significance Of Pre-Olympic Year Jesolo

The Significance Of Pre-Olympic Year Jesolo

Mar 16, 2015 by Justine Kelly
The Significance Of Pre-Olympic Year Jesolo


Although considered one of the smaller international meets that USA Gymnastics participates in, the team that will travel to Italy in a few weeks is one to pay attention to. Given that it is a pre-Olympic year, Martha Karolyi will no doubt be watching the team closely to see how the girls perform on each event, and how they handle the pressure of international competition.

In 2011, every member of the later named “Fierce Five” were placed on the Jesolo team, and all five of them performed exceptionally well in competition, helping the US seniors and juniors to team gold medals. McKayla Maroney won the all-around gold, while Jordyn Wieber won silver and Aly Raisman took the bronze. Gabby Douglas came in 4th place. On individual events, Maroney, Wieber and Raisman went 1-2-3 again with McKayla securing the gold, Wieber the silver and Raisman the bronze. Wieber also took the bronze on uneven bars and the silver on beam. Raisman took gold on beam and floor, and Douglas won the bronze on the same events.

Kyla Ross was a junior at the time and won the all-around gold medal in the junior competition. She also took the silver medal on vault and uneven bars, and the gold medal on beam.

Each Jesolo team is made up of both juniors and seniors, with 14-16 girls total. Clearly not every gymnast will advance to the 5-member Olympic team the following year, plus there are a number of athletes working through injuries at the moment (Ashton Locklear, Maggie Nichols, Madison Kocian, Lexie Priessman, Nia Dennis, and Peyton Ernst, to name a few). Still, it’s very possible that this year’s Jesolo team will include several members of the future 2016 Olympic team. Let’s take a look at the nominative list released by USA Gymnastics and explore where each gymnast could potentially contribute on a future Olympic team, event by event.



As a reminder, the nominative lists are:

Juniors:
Norah Flatley, Chow's
Jazmyn Foberg, MG Elite
Lauren Hernandez, MG Elite
Olivia Trautman, Twin City Twisters
Victoria Nguyen, Chow's
Jordan Chiles, Naydenov

Seniors:
Alexandra Raisman, Brestyan's
Gabrielle Douglas, Buckeye
Mykayla Skinner, Desert Lights
Kyla Ross, Gym-Max
Simone Biles, World Champions Centre
Emily Schild, Everest
Alyssa Baumann, WOGA
Bailie Key, Texas Dreams
Madison Desch, GAGE

The All-Around

Unsurprisingly, Simone Biles is at the top of the pack as an all-around competitor, being a two-time World All-Around Champion and two-time National All-Around Champion. Kyla Ross has also proven to be a strong all-around competitor, having won the silver at Worlds in 2013 and bronze in 2014, as well as silver at Nationals in both 2013 and 2014. MyKayla Skinner continues to improve on all four events and is clearly training as an all-around competitor. Bailie Key, as a previous Junior National Champion, can also perform well on all four events. On the junior side, Jazmyn Foberg is the most promising all-around competitor, having won the 2014 Junior Nationals.

Vault

The USA’s highest scorers on vault at the moment are Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner. Martha Karolyi will want at least one more gymnast who can perform a high-scoring vault (an Amanar, essentially), if not two more, as the team had in 2012. Aly Raisman has been seen training her Amanar, and we know Kyla Ross has been capable of this vault in the past and has a clean enough Yurchenko double to add in another half twist. Another possibility is Bailie Key, potentially a strong all-around competitor and a historically high-scorer on vault and has been seen training the Amanar. Although none of the juniors are currently competing vaults at the level of some of the seniors, Olivia Trautman and Jazmyn Foberg are ones to watch, as they both scored close to 15.00 at Junior Nationals last year.

Uneven Bars

Kyla Ross is one of the US’s strongest bar workers, having won the National title in 2013 and the silver medal at 2013 World Championships. In addition to Kyla, many of the US’s top bar workers are injured at the moment - notably Ashton Locklear, Madison Kocian and Maggie Nichols. Given Gabby Douglas’s previous success on the event, she will certainly be one to watch. We also know that Maddie Desch has been working on some upgrades, as has Bailie Key - it's possible we may see these new skills and connections at Jesolo. Out of the juniors, Jazmyn Foberg is one of the most promising gymnasts on uneven bars. She has a relatively high difficulty level at 5.9 and also scored the highest at Junior Nationals last year. Laurie Hernandez has also performed well in the past - she placed second at the 2013 Junior Nationals.

Balance Beam

Simone Biles is obviously in the mix again, being the current reigning World Champion on beam. Kyla Ross is also one of the US’s strongest beam workers, having won the gold medal at Nationals last year and the silver medal at Worlds in 2013. Another strong senior is Alyssa Baumann, who has the potential to score just as high as Kyla. Aly Raisman, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist on this event, is also a possibility. Bailie Key also has the potential to score highly on beam, previously competing within the 6.3-6.5 D-score range. In the juniors division, Norah Flatley is recognized as one of the best beam workers and has the potential to achieve one of the highest levels of difficulty with her routine.

Floor Exercise

Once again, Simone Biles is an obvious choice for representing USA on floor, as is MyKayla Skinner, who almost always comes in second behind Simone. As a former Olympic gold medalist on this event, Aly Raisman cannot be ignored if she manages to get all of her skills back and perhaps includes some upgrades as well in her new routine. Bailie Key also performs well on floor and has a relatively high difficulty level on the event. She's won several gold medals on floor at international competitions in the past, including one at last year's meet at Jesolo. From the junior division, Martha will likely have her eye on Jazmyn Foberg, who has potential to improve and score highly. Laurie Hernandez is just returning from injury and it will be interesting to see how she performs. She certainly has one of the most memorable floor routines, and she's also one of the highest scorers in the junior division.

The only gymnast we haven't mentioned here, besides Jordan Chiles and Victoria Nguyen (who are not age-eligible for the 2016 Olympics), is Emily Schild. Emily last performed at the 2013 Junior Nationals, where she was unfortunately injured and did not receive top scores. If she is chosen to perform at Jesolo, it will be interesting to see how she fares on the international stage and where she can potentially contribute to Team USA.

Jesolo is just one of many upcoming competitions that Martha and the selection committee will be watching closely in the next year or so, but the fact that it's international and showcases both seniors and juniors makes it an exciting meet to watch. Gymnastike Gold subscribers will have access to exclusive videos during the competition, so be sure to tune in.

Let us know what you think in the comments section below - who are you most looking forward to seeing in Italy?

Related:
Gymnastike to Provide Exclusive Coverage of 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy
USA Nominative Roster for 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy