Rebecca Bross's injury complicates U.S. world team puzzle

The elimination of Rebecca Bross as one of the big guns for the U.S. in Tokyo opens up a brave new world of possibilities for the American team.

 

Bross is first and foremost a standout all-arounder, but bars was where she was potentially most helpful to the U.S. A healthy Bross -- heck, even a 2010 broken-footed Bross -- would have gone up second or third in team finals.

 

Without Bross, bars becomes much more of an issue for the Americans, who will likely look to a bars specialist who can do a few other events to replace her.

 

Little help on uneven bars can be expected from three of the women who have all but assured themselves of a spot on the World team in October. Alicia Sacramone doesn't train bars, and it's not the strong suit of McKayla Maroney or Aly Raisman. Wieber's routine, though serviceable, is not the best the U.S. can come up with. 

 

This could open the door for Bridget Sloan, who might be written off because she chose not to compete at the U.S. Championships but who did train in St. Paul and looked fit, even if she did little in the way of difficult skills during podium training. Sloan is difficult to analyze, given that she hasn't competed in a year. Is that enough to disqualify her from consideration? Before Bross's injury, it probably was. Now? Harder to say.

 

Although she hasn't competed since last year's World Championships, Sloan is currently ranked fourth in the world on bars. And she got that ranking after basically not competing bars since the 2009 World Championship, where she finished sixth on the event. As out of shape as she was at last year's Worlds, Sloan proved that she can still do bars when needed.

 

Legacy Elite's Anna Li is another possibility. Though her bar routine is innovative and original, one has to wonder if the small and large mistakes she made performing it at the CoverGirl Classic and U.S. Championships indicate that she is not yet consistent enough to show it on the world stage. Li also has a wonderful style on balance beam, though it seems unlikely that she would see time on the event in Tokyo.

 

The Tokyo six will likely carry three girls capable of landing Amanars in competition in Wieber, Maroney and Raisman. Although the previous two do the vault very well, the very danger of someone getting injured performing it (or anything else, for that matter) indicates that the fifth and sixth gymnasts should be capable of filling in on all events.

 

The best all-arounders who still have decent bars are Mackenzie Caquatto, Chellsie Memmel and Sloan, with Li and even possibly (though it seems very unlikely) Bridgette Caquatto or Gabrielle Douglas as four-event gymnasts who are especially strong on bars. 

 

Shawn Johnson would bring star power but not start values to this team. Ditto Sabrina Vega, who has wonderful presentation but no consistency on bars, thanks mostly to her troublesome pike Tkatchev. Johnson, who looks more and more like her old self with every meet she competes in, has pledged to try to be ready for floor by the time the World Championships rolls around.

 

Johnson has also proven more than Li or B. Caquatto that she can hit in pressure-filled situations. That might be reason enough to send Johnson with the team as part of a seven or eight gymnast "training squad" and scare participants from other countries by having her train with the U.S. team, announcing final selections at the last minute, as Martha Karolyi did in Rotterdam in 2010.

 

With Bross healthy, the team was fairly set: It would have been herself, Wieber, Maroney, Sacramone, Raisman and Li or Memmel or M. Caquatto to serve as the tablesetter on bars. Without Bross, it's a far more intricate puzzle. And the pieces may not be set in place until a few days into the training in Tokyo. 

 

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