"Rebecca Bross's DTY remains totally scary. She should not throw that in the meet. She should do an FTY, or, if that is too much a sign of weakness, withdraw from vault. For her own good." -- From the quick hits for senior women's warmups on day one
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Rebecca Bross might have dislocated her kneecap, but it is Valeri Liukin's reputation that will take a hit.
Liukin's decision to let Bross vault a double-twisting Yurchenko -- and rest assured, had he told her to vault a full twist, or a Yurchenko layout, or to scratch completely, she would have complied -- was the wrong one, as events have shown. It has cost Bross the opportunity to compete at this fall's World Championships, and given her yet another hurdle to overcome before next year's long, drawn-out Olympic team selection process.
There were plenty of warning signs that Bross was more capable of injuring herself doing the double-twisting Yurchenko at these championships than she was of performing it well. During podium training, warmups and one touch preparations, Bross's vault looked exactly as it did in front of the TV cameras Saturday night. She never had the rotation to put it to her feet.
What she did have in training was Liukin, who more often than not gave her a push as she came off the horse for added block or grabbed her wrist in the air and yanked her around for the needed extra quarter turn, probably hoping that the adrenaline of competition would compensate in the meet. During day one, it did.
Liukin is an excellent coach. He guided his daughter Nastia to the Olympic all-around gold medal three years ago this month. He helped make Bross who she is. He scored a great victory this afternoon when Katelyn Ohashi captured her first U.S. Junior title with four dazzling, near-perfect routines. But he was wrong to let Bross do that vault.
This injury was not a fluke. It was preventable. But nothing was done to prevent it. And therein lies the rub.
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