Part 1 of 2.
Here is the NBC broadcast of the announcement of the 2004 US Olympic team that went to Athens. This is like the most stressful thing to watch, ever…and it took place four years ago. Ugh.
Officially, this is how USA Gymnastics picks their women’s gymnastics team: The top twelve qualifiers from the Olympic year’s Nationals, plus injured petitioners, go to Olympic Trials. In times past, the top seven scorers at the Trials, plus one or two alternates were selected to be on the team.
Of course this didn’t happen in 2004. Martha Karolyi (affectionately known to me as the Gymnastics Mob Boss) and company brought around twelve (?) girls to a “selection camp” where they did the actual selecting. The new scoring system, with the “3-up, 3-count of Death”, required event specialists; if Trials alone determined the team, the team would be full of all-around gymnasts—specialists wouldn’t have a chance.
2004 Olympic Team and What They Ended Up Doing in Athens Qualifications:
Courtney Kupets—AA
Courtney McCool—AA
Carly Patterson—AA
Terin Humphrey—UB, BB, FX
Mohini Bhardwaj—AA
Annia Hatch—VT
Now here comes the gossip.
Despite bringing twelve (?) girls to the selection camp, it’s said that Martha K. already had an idea of who she wanted on the team; taking twelve girls was just a nicety.
Says my source, The Source That Will Go Unnamed:
I can GUARANTEE firsthand that judges are essentially told what to score. While exact numbers are not told, they know who to score higher and [whose] deductions to overlook, etc.
(Emphasis mine)
The source claims that the scores that the girls received at Trials and at camp reflected Martha’s decisions. For instance, Carly’s somewhat ridiculous VT/BB scores at Nationals, and Tasha’s surprisingly low score on a clean UB routine at camp are presented as evidence of “tampering”.
There are also claims that Martha uses a computer to crunch the numbers (I find this easy to believe; she always seems to be sitting in front of one) and found that if the team was to have a shot at gold, they needed two vault specialists, leaving only four spots for AA gymnasts and/or BB/FX/UB specialists. (As far as I know, the only vault specialists going in were Annia, Mo, and Liz Tricase. Poor Liz didn’t have much of a shot, I don’t think.)
The Courtneys got two of the guaranteed slots at Trials, and no one doubted that Carly would be in. That left one spot for anyone who wasn’t a vault specialist; basically, it likely boiled down to Terin, Tabitha Yim (4th at Trials), and Allyse Ishino (5th at Trials). Tabitha tore her Achilles tendon and never made it to camp. Allyse was probably taken out of the running because (it seemed) her difficulty and international experience wasn’t up to par with Terin’s.
Says The Source-That-Must-Not-Be-Named (hereafter referred to as The Source):
Terin was most definatley (sic) considered a lock for the 04 Games. They both knew the 2 Courtneys had some type of injury, although they would never (at least publicly) admit how big, and they knew they needed a solid AA girl to lean on. Terin definately (sic) filled the role of reliable and consistent and [Terin's] bars medal was as big a surprise to anyone involved.
(Emphasis mine)
The reason why this is striking is because Terin ended up 7th at Trials, as I recall…then again, it was only because of that nasty last vault that she messed up on; everything else was fine. Tabitha and Allyse were ahead of her at the end of Trials, and yet, according to The Source, Terin would have been on the team anyway, come hell or high water, because in Martha’s mind she was a lock.
Someone else remarked:
As for Terin being a lock, I wondered how Tabitha Yim affected that standing since she did finish 4th at trials. I remember a lot of fans felt that Terin’s bubble status had a lot to do with Tabitha’s bubble status as well and there was some sighs of relief when Tabitha got injured.
The question is, if Tabitha had not torn her Achilles tendon before selection camp, would Martha have changed her decision to take Terin, and taken Tabitha instead? I don’t know…but it seems it was Terin’s “destiny” to go to Athens, as Martha favored her and Tabitha was (it pains me to say it) “conveniently” injured. DRAMA!
Anyway, with the three C’s and Terin in four berths, and only three girls going for the two vault specialist berths…I think Mo and Annia had those locked up. (Poor Liz.) But none of the girls knew that Martha was thinking “OMG I need two vault specialists”, so the team announcement, barring the three C’s, was just as much of a surprise to them as it was to the general public. Martha sure could keep a secret.
You will notice that The Source says that the Courtneys were injured before they ever reached Athens (supposedly sometime between Trials and selection camp). Supposing that the Courtneys’ injuries were known about, Chellsie Memmel’s status on the team was affected as well. (Chellsie was BB/UB alternate.)
Unfortunately, it was deemed that a bar/beam girl would not be needed as they had those events covered (so they thought) and it was between an AA position and a vaulter at that point. At that point, Terin had been healthy and consistent and got the AA spot and they decided (Marta and crew) that a second vault specialist was more necessary then a second AA.
Here is how close the poor girl was to making the team….as I have wrote (sic) about before, Marta and crew knew of Courtneys (sic) injuries and realized she may not be able to compete. From the time they started training up until the actual Games, the lineup actually changed on almost a daily basis. One practice Chellsie was told she was in only to come back the next practice to find she was back out. Up until right before the Team was named, Chellsie was told she was in
The source implies that Courtney K.’s “pulled hamstring” (it was actually a hip fracture) was already bothering her at this point, even before the actual Games. Now I find this much harder to believe, because
1) I can’t believe Martha is so stupid as to let anyone, even someone as tough as Courtney, perform with injuries that could jeopardize the team, and
2) if it were really bothering Courtney at that time, I don’t see how she qualified to the individual AA with flying colors. I tend to think that it happened, or at most was severely aggravated, in team finals, when Mo had to step in for BB; but not to the point where they had to call in Chellsie.
(Apparently, Courtney McCool had a severe wrist problem that she downplayed as a sprain, so that no one knew about it…)
Anyway, as much as I admire Chellsie, I don’t think she would have been needed if the coaches and Martha had only given more thought to the whole process. The only thing Chellsie would have remotely been needed for was BB in team finals, after Courtney K. pulled out. They could have relented and put Courtney M. in, but Mo did admirably. Courtney K.’s injury was not of concern before BB in team finals anyway, and for all the yapping about Mo being a vault specialist, she served the team as an AA. Mo also could’ve done beautifully for the team on UB instead of having a fumbling Carly do it. Hmph.
However, if all this is true about Chellsie’s status being in question, I think that Martha and whoever else was in charge of the team should be smacked HARD for screwing around with poor Chellsie’s mind.
In the end, if this is all true, then it seems that the girls really “chosen” during the whole Trials + camp process were the Courtneys, Mo, Annia, and the alternates; Carly and Terin, based on their résumés, were “locks” and would have been on the team anyway.
COMING SOON: Part 2: What About Beijing?
