[akiddoc]

The idea of getting other countries involved is good. The way they did it is not so good. There are countries that are not ranked high enough to get a team in but they have individuals who could not go to the Olympics without another pathway to the games. For example, the top rings guy in the world was not going to be able to compete until he earned his way in the other day:

https://greekreporter.com/2021/06/25/ele...world-cup/

I'm not sure whether the #2 guy Zanetti from Brazil has a way in.

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By the way, no one in the USA is close to this guy. The score was probably a touch high, but I would give it a 15.3. He had a couple of wobbles that would have cost him more with Olympic level judging. 

He did have surgery a couple years ago. Without the Covid delay he would not be going toTokyo.

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This article explains it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ol...story.html

In short, the governing body's then-President, Bruno Grandi, pushed for the smaller rosters as a way to do two things: (1) give smaller countries a chance to compete against bigger, deeper countries; and (2) reduce the influence of event specialists on the overall team outcome. His theory was that with smaller rosters, gymnasts would be incentivized to be proficient on each apparatus, so you couldn't have a roster with three solid all-around gymnasts and then fill out the roster with specialists for each apparatus. 

Grandi has since retired, and the sport will go back to five-gymnast teams for the 2024 Olympics. 

In a weird quirk, the US women's gymnastics team will send six gymnasts to Tokyo, but only four will compete as part of the team event--two gymnasts will compete in the individual events only. (The US earned one individual spot for the women, and Jade Carey earned another spot based on her own performance.) That complicated process for getting extra spots is part of why gymnastics is scrapping the model and moving back to a simpler 5-person team.

Carey earned her spot competing in the International World Cup Series over a two year span. Not a cheap way to go. Had to travel around the world going to those meets.

[akiddoc]

The idea of getting other countries involved is good. The way they did it is not so good. There are countries that are not ranked high enough to get a team in but they have individuals who could not go to the Olympics without another pathway to the games. For example, the top rings guy in the world was not going to be able to compete until he earned his way in the other day:

https://greekreporter.com/2021/06/25/ele...world-cup/

I'm not sure whether the #2 guy Zanetti from Brazil has a way in.

---

By the way, no one in the USA is close to this guy. The score was probably a touch high, but I would give it a 15.3. He had a couple of wobbles that would have cost him more with Olympic level judging. 

He did have surgery a couple years ago. Without the Covid delay he would not be going toTokyo.

---

This article explains it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ol...story.html

In short, the governing body's then-President, Bruno Grandi, pushed for the smaller rosters as a way to do two things: (1) give smaller countries a chance to compete against bigger, deeper countries; and (2) reduce the influence of event specialists on the overall team outcome. His theory was that with smaller rosters, gymnasts would be incentivized to be proficient on each apparatus, so you couldn't have a roster with three solid all-around gymnasts and then fill out the roster with specialists for each apparatus. 

Grandi has since retired, and the sport will go back to five-gymnast teams for the 2024 Olympics. 

In a weird quirk, the US women's gymnastics team will send six gymnasts to Tokyo, but only four will compete as part of the team event--two gymnasts will compete in the individual events only. (The US earned one individual spot for the women, and Jade Carey earned another spot based on her own performance.) That complicated process for getting extra spots is part of why gymnastics is scrapping the model and moving back to a simpler 5-person team.

Carey earned her spot competing in the International World Cup Series over a two year span. Not a cheap way to go. Had to travel around the world going to those meets.