USAs '09: The Disabled List

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As USAs get underway in Dallas, Inside gives you gymnastics’ version of the D.L.

In gymnastics, like all other sports, there are always a few athletes sidelined due to injury. As we get set for the U.S. National Championships in Dallas, August 12-15, Inside Gymnastics puts together our own gymnastics D.L.

The official Championships Start List for men, which is already outdated, was released last month; a women’s list has not yet been posted, though a list of all qualified competitors, in all USA Gymnastics disciplines, was released last week.

While almost every Elite gymnast deals with various aches, pains and nagging injuries atsome time, we’re focusing here on the hurts that could keep key athletes out of competition, or restrict them to certain events.

The senior women’s field, so far, is down to just 21 gymnasts, with a maximum of 17 (possibly less) of those athletes planning to compete all four events. To put those numbers in perspective, the top 10 all-arounders—well more than half the field—will automatically make the 2009 U.S. National Team. Eight additional selected spots are available for the women’s team, with four scheduled to be determined based on Championships results.

In contrast, 43 men are on tap to take part in the first day of senior competition. For Friday’s finals, the men’s field will be cut down, using the “20 Point System*,” to the top 42 athletes from both juniors and seniors. (There are 43 juniors on the official Start List.) After both days, the top 10 in the points standings, as tallied by the somewhat different “National Team Points System*,” will earn automatic National Team positions. Five additional funded positions will be selected for men following USAs.

*Men’s point systems in brief … “20 Point System” awards points to the top 20 athletes on each apparatus: 20 for 1^st place, 1 for 20^th. The “National Team Points System” awards points to the top 10 on each event, and in the all-around, for each day of competition. First place gets 11 points, second 10, third 9, fourth 7 and so on down to 1 point for tenth. (There is no eight-point position.)

Out of competition due to injury…

SENIOR WOMEN

Chelsea Davis

Last year it was Davis’ knee that kept her from competing to the end of the Trials process. This time around it’s her back. The injury, which is “doing much better,” according to Davis’ coach, Kim Zmeskal-Burdette, will keep her out of USAs, but not out of gymnastics.“She’s so excited to get back, and see what she can do,” Zmeskal-Burdette told Inside in July of Davis’ back problem, which may or may not ever fully heal. “She’s so young, so we’re taking it slow and playing it safe, just giving her time to heal, but she’s very dedicated. She wants to do this and she was just looking beautiful before this happened, which makes it even more of a shame.”

As for Davis, she’s counting down the days until she’s able to return to full training. “Only ten days and 30 minutes left to heal!” she posted @ChelseaD2011 on July 31.

Mattie Larson

A breakout star in her first year as a senior last season, Larson broke her leg at the final Trials and wasn’t able to contend for a Beijing slot. Now, Inside’s current cover girl is dealing with a double ankle sprain sustained on July 2, which will nix her Dallas debut. Even though she won’t compete in Texas, Larson and gym-mate Sam Shapiro (see below) will be on hand, training, in an effort to keep themselves in the mix for Worlds slots. (Both Larson and Shapiro hope to petition to the World Selection Camp.)

“Mattie is doing much, much better,” an upbeat coach Galina Marinova told Inside late last week. “Actually I’m surprised, for just one month out, how much she is doing. Both her ankles were so big, swollen, unbelievable.”

Larson’s injury was so severe that, for a time, she was in a wheelchair, then on crutches, but neither kept her out of the gym. “Now she’s doing bars, half routines, and some beam, mostly dance-throughs,” Marinova said. “[She’s] not ready for competition, exactly, but [she’ll] be at every training session, fighting for a spot on the National Team and for a petition to World Selection Camp. I hope, maybe, by Selection, and more definitely by October, if she’s invited to the second camp, that she’ll be doing floor too. She’s doing some TumblTrak now, so we’ll try our best. We’re fighting to the end!

“Being on the cover really inspired her,” Marinova added of Larson’s readers’ choice appearance on Inside’s latest issue. “It was really great for her to see how much people like and admire her gymnastics. It boosted her up during a low time.”