Via IG I read this great article written by Dvora Meyers for Slate and recommend to everyone that is interested in the sport particularly in its current condition in the US.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2011/10/usa_gymnastics_injuries_the_united_states_women_keep_winning_gol.single.html
"Karolyi’s practices are tolerated because even if the gymnasts do not perform to potential, they still do well enough. In addition, her presence helps shape a narrative for NBC’s melodramatic coverage—the sexist “Martha is watching you” story. At these national competitions, Martha appears on TV as much as the athletes. Every time a female athlete finishes her routine, the NBC commentators immediately say something like, “She’s looking over to Martha Karolyi to see if she liked it,” as though the gymnast cannot assess how she has done without input from others. (Male gymnasts are not subject to the same sort of commentary.)"
One has got to love a person that gets it... I have talked in a previous post about my utter disgust for NBC commenting so I will not bore anyone with it again here, but I was very happy to see that someone else thinks, like I do, that this patriarchal, elitist, Cold War reminiscent attitude of USA gymnastics has to go. The all seeing eye complex Martha has, and is propagated by the morons at NBC, really bothers me.
Imagine my despair when I read in a blog during Worlds that Martha said she might not retire...
Don't get me wrong, she and Bela have helped shape USA gymnastics and have built a system that takes the team to the top, yet it is based on a philosophy that is ancient.
The Soviets had so much depth that beautiful gymnasts fell through the cracks. The US shares the depth yet its gymnasts now fall broken through the cracks. As a historian I can say something for sure, we can all benefit from looking at history: what has happened, as well as what we have been told has happened.
USA gymnastics has painted this portrait where the Karolyis have come to save their program, and used the medal count as their proof. Yet they have forgotten something... that this success period has been the exact one when the powerhouses of gymnastics: Russia and Romania, have fallen apart. When China was able to leave their inconsistency behind, they overtook the US without breaking a sweat.
Now things have changed, gymnastics is becoming a ever more competitive sport, and the Russians and Romanians are looking to come back big. The last 2 Olympics have shown that when the US needs their brightest stars at full speed to challenge, allowing them to break along the way will becomes unacceptable, and the gold unattainable. Martha needs to get a grip and realize that these girls are not expandable. This everyone is replaceable attitude is not doing the US any good.
I sometimes feel it is a power thing, she likes being in control, and particularly, she likes being right! We have heard numerous times how she did not want to put Mattie Larson up in the finals in the 2010 Worlds, but the coaches voted and they trusted her. You can almost hear the: but they were wrong and that is why they should not disagree with me implied there.
History has repeated itself numerous times: Memmel, Kupets, Kelley, Peznek, Worley, Memmel (yes again!), Sloan, Bross, Sacramone, Caquatto, Lee... The list goes on and on believe me... And yes part of the blame has to be put on the code, but vis a vis the code as it stands, USA gymnastics has to take responsibility for these gymnasts. We always talk about who is in contention for 2012 and anticipating who will be there, yet it is not about the best gymnasts, but about the ones that can make it through.
The worst about Martha Karolyi to me is not even this, but the fact that she refuses to go back, to see the mistakes: time and time again the US marches into a competition with 5, sometimes 4, girls ready to compete. The Beijing Olympics was like this, and again in Tokyo. Martha refuses to call the alternates, she refuses to go back. Many have been quick to blame Sacramone, but the truth is they had no one else. Even after she stumbled in prelims on floor, Martha had to use her, because she kept an injured Peznek, that honestly had nothing to contribute, because she would not go back on her decision and call for one of the alternates.
Although in Tokyo it worked, the 5 girls came out and gave a great performance, truth be told it was a performance in a stage where that was very little pressure. There was really no team that was even close to challenging them. The Russians looked defeated from the start, the Chinese were inconsistent right off the bat, and the Romanians were not really putting up a fight. In the London stage with the Russians, Chinese, (and hopefully) Romanians at their toes, a broken team is just not going to cut it. The US gymnasts have arrived at major competitions burnout, injured, and plainly overworked, and this will not stand under the pressure of a competitive Olympic floor.
I was happy about the decision (that Martha made sure to let everyone know was not hers, and she is worried about!) to pick the team at Trials, this will hopefully help us to have a more healthy, and unified team.
These girls spend so much time fighting each other for a spot, that honestly, is why the US is one of the less united teams on the floor. Working together, learning what helps your teammate, encourages her, relaxes her, helps her hit, is extremely important in gymnastics, and the US girls just don't have that. Many go on to college and marvel at the atmosphere, which would be possible if they had more time to coexist without being threatened by each other at every turn.
If the US cannot take the gold in London I believe she will be "asked" to step down, but if they do, we might be looking at more Karolyi than any of us bargained for...
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