McKayla Maroney » McKayla Maroney and Martha Karolyi before the 2011 World Championships

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Uploaded by Anne From Gymnastike | September 26, 2011

McKayla Maroney is a first year senior elite and was selected to the 2011 USA World Championships team. Maroney is known for her amazing ability to stick her 2.5 twisting yurchenko vault with ease, but over the past year she has developed into a very valuable all around gymnast for Team USA. At the Jesolo, Italy meet early this summer, Maroney won the all around, defeating US teammate Jordyn Wieber, and took 2nd all around at the 2011 Visa Championships behind Wieber. If things go as planned in Tokyo, Maroney should battle Alexandra Raisman for the second US spot in the 2011 World All Around finals.

USA National team coordinator Martha Karolyi talks about McKayla Maroney's strengths and Maroney talks about being selected to her first World team.

Speakers: Martha Karolyi, McKayla Maroney

Categories: Press Conference, world championships, tokyo 2011, elite, team usa

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16 comments

Catie 2 years ago

Nope, didn't say that. Once again, I just said it was obnoxious that you put so much effort into the nitty gritty of what I said which completely overshot the point of what I wrote. & again, you didn't prove anything that I said wrong. But I'm not wasting anymore breath on proving myself once again.

So. Bloody. Annoying. Goodbye.

Anonymous Coward 2 years ago

"I still didn't say anything wrong other than knock knees vs. knobby knees. I'll echo what was said, there was no point to your smartassness because it had nothing to do with the point of what I said, which was that body type affects how gymnastics looks. Period. "

I guess you're under the impression that only your main point is up for discussion. That's not how it works. Any part of anything you say invites comment which may either be in agreement or disagreement. If you say something wrong, you invite correction. If being corrected or disagreed with bothers you, you should probably stick with just the main point of your post and don't try to use examples unless you're absolutely sure that your examples are correct.

Catie 2 years ago

I still didn't say anything wrong other than knock knees vs. knobby knees. I'll echo what was said, there was no point to your smartassness because it had nothing to do with the point of what I said, which was that body type affects how gymnastics looks. Period. I'm done with this though.

Anonymous Coward 2 years ago

"your technical arguments served no purpose other than being obnoxious."

Just for the record, I don't agree that I wrote anything technical. Not that there's anything wrong with being technical. What is and what is not obnoxious is a matter of opinion. My post served the purpose of giving correct information. People may get annoyed when they are corrected but they can either go around saying things that aren't right or someone can give them a heads up.

trista 2 years ago

obnoxious is not a name, it's an adjective. smartass IS a "name", yes, but I will agree that it was fitting.

obnoxious is what happens when you create these technical arguments that have nothing to do with the general point of what someone is saying. you have not disproven anything that was said, the whole point was to explain that, unfortunately, body type does play a role in how well gymnastics is received by judges, in that people with better "gymnastics bodies" have an easier time getting less form/artistry deductions.
your technical arguments served no purpose other than being obnoxious.

Anonymous Coward 2 years ago

"whoever this anonymous coward is is really obnoxious with all these stupid technical arguments. "

Personally, I prefer technical arguments over name calling, but that's just me.

trista 2 years ago

whoever this anonymous coward is is really obnoxious with all these stupid technical arguments. bross' legs always either look slightly apart or slightly bent. regardless of what you want to call it, they're ugly (sorry to be blunt, she is a great gymnast), and so she has to work much harder to make her gymnastics look clean than most others who have this "artistic look" that martha is talking about. same thing with shawn, and it is true that shawn occasionally is not given credit for splits that she hits (since you like all of his technical , it's because her legs are short and muscular and if you look right at where her crotch is- very technical term for you- there is a large bulk of muscle there that she would have to oversplit to hit a 180 in that region). not an excuse for her not hitting her splits, but again it still makes it so that someone like nastia, mckayla, jordyn, anyone with the right body type, doesn't have to try as hard to show the obvious right positions

Anonymous Coward 2 years ago

"OK whatever, I used the wrong term, I still meant the same thing, sorry I didn't specify the EXACT knee alignment issue with each person, smart ass. You still know what I meant, & it still made her gymnastics look sloppy at times."

I knew you meant to say that Terin and Bross have the same knee problem and that Bross' legs look bent when they are straight. Well, sorry but they don't have the same knee problem. And sorry but Bross' knees only look bent when they are straight from angles where everybody's legs look bent when they are straight. I don't think one needs to specify the exact knee alignment issues in order to get these basic facts correct. Just look at a picture of Bross. It's obvious that's she perfectly capable of showing straight legs.
"Shawn has a harder time showing her splits because of her body type. "
No, it's because she hasn't trained her splits properly. Shawn used to train 25 hours a week. She was working hard but something had to give and one of those somethings was proper flexibility training. She has said she would go home and sit in splits in front of the tv. That was a waste of her time and it's too bad her coach didn't let her know. You can't train a good split jump by working on passive flexibility.
Coaches mainly focus on the tumbling and tricks. Good coaches have all kinds of different drills and specific conditioning for all the different skills but at the same time they'll try to use a one size fits all approach to training flexibility and dance elements. It doesn't work and that's why you see gymnasts of all different body types who have flexibility problems.

Catie 2 years ago

OK whatever, I used the wrong term, I still meant the same thing, sorry I didn't specify the EXACT knee alignment issue with each person, smart ass. You still know what I meant, & it still made her gymnastics look sloppy at times.

Shawn has a harder time showing her splits because of her body type. & there were times where perhaps she didn't look like she was hitting a full split but if you watch a playback she actually did. & ALSO because of her body type, her dance just isn't as pretty as someone like Nastia. Once again, it was well doented at the beginning of Beijing that she was getting deducted harsher on her dance than she had done before.

Anonymous Coward 2 years ago

What Terin describes as knobby knees is not the same thing as knock knees. People with knock knees have knees that angle in which makes it appear that their lower leg splays out. They can not touch their feet together when their legs are completely straight. Terin's problem is visible from the side but not the front and Bross' problem is visible from the front but not the side.

Not being able to hit splits has nothing to do with body type. Gymnasts of all different body types can or can't do splits. It's not a body type issue. Poor flexibility is a coded deduction so it's not like the judges were just taking off random points just because they didn't like something about Shawn.

Catie 2 years ago

Terin Humphrey admitted openly to having knobby knees & not liking it. Look at any video of her especially on bars & her legs always looked slightly bent even though they weren't, but like I said she did a good job of hiding it on other events.

& Shawn got lower scores earlier on in Beijing because the judges weren't receiving her artistically as well (& she wasn't hitting her splits as easily because of her body type)- it was well doented. She did great in the event finals cause she really focused on that.

Anonymous Coward 2 years ago

Terin Humphrey wasn't knock-kneed.

Shawn won silver on floor, beating Nastia, and gold on beam, also beating Nastia. I wouldn't say the judges had some problem with her body type.

Catie 2 years ago

ApolytonGP unfortunately I think it's a bit of both. While I totally agree with you, I will have to concede that there are certain body types that naturally look better than others. I think perfect examples are Rebecca Bross & Terin Humphrey, who are both knock-kneed, which at times makes it perhaps look like they are bent, & when they are bent it's even more amplified. & then you look at Courtney McCool, who had very large feet for her stature (she's a size 9!), & so her beautiful toe point is even more obvious. Unfortunately it's cases like these where those who have "longer lines" & etc have an easier time of looking clean, & then vice versa for those who don't.

As an aside, part of why gymnastics is such a great spectator sport is because it's very eye-catching & beautiful, & so people are naturally going to be drawn to gymnasts who are cleaner & have better natural lines.
Unfortunately another perfect example was Shawn vs. Nastia at the '08 Olympics, during much of which Shawn wasn't received as well by the judges on beam & floor because of her more compact/less extended body type. It's hard because, you're right, judging should be solely based on the code, but some gymnasts do just look better than others due to no fault of their own. It's like art.

ApolytonGP 2 years ago

Is the "artistic look that FIG is demanding" an appearance of the gymnast body or is it some aspect (what?) of their execution of skills? I am VERY DOWN on judging that is not per code. Our sport has a BAD HISTORY of outright cheating in scoring.