The U.S. women's team teleconference call in review:
Martha Karolyi explained why she opted not to take Olympians Chellsie Memmel, Shawn Johnson and Bridget Sloan to Worlds: Sloan missed the U.S. Championships and isn't as prepared as Martha would like (she wasn't in 2010 either, but the Americans toted her along with somewhat mixed results).
Memmel's shoulder is still a problem and she wasn't able to perform everything she's capable of either, so that's a no go, although Martha noted that Memmel's shoulder was basically the only reason she didn't make the team.
As for Johnson, Martha praised her attitude and effort, but indicated that she didn't trust Johnson's knee at this point. She did go so far as to call Johnson "number eight," indicating that Johnson is nipping at everyone's heels, and will continue to do so.
Alicia Sacramone said she would stick to her "consistent vaults" in team prelims and team finals, where she will likely be first up for the U.S., ahead of Amanars from Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney. If Sacramone does make event finals, she may go for broke with her front layout double full. Sacramone also noted that her experience helps the team as she can help guide younger girls who have not been to Worlds before. This will be Sacramone's fifth World Championships.
Shawn Johnson took it bravely and said she wasn't at all disappointed to be left off the World team but that next year is her real goal. She added that she was not sure whether she would add floor to her repertoire at the Pan American Games, but did not rule it out, either. Her knee continues to hold up well, she added.
Anna Li noted that competing week in and week out in college has prepared her well for Worlds. She also has experience as a bars specialist, she said, having been limited to bars when injured her junior year.
Jordyn Wieber said that her focus was the team and she would worry about individual stuff after the team final.
McKayla Maroney, Sabrina Vega, Aly Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas all mentioned how thrilled and priveleged they are to make the team, and how excited they are to represent team USA. Douglas noted that doing a lot of numbers in the gym after Nationals helped her regain her confidence. Here's a transcript of the Q and A:
Q: Martha, tell us about selecting the world team.
Martha Karolyi: "We just finished the final selection for the World team last night and we are very happy with the outcome. It's not an easy process. We must all come together and make sure we have three very strong routines on each event because the team finals are such a competition that three gymnasts need to go up and hit and there is no room for error. The team is a very young team. We have a few veterans in our composition...Anna Li does't really have international experience but she has college and she's an excellent barworker for the USA. Most of the team members are very young ones. Aly Raisman, she performed on last year's World team and she has some experience....Shawn Johnson is number eight right now but she is ready to compete anytime. The team is ready and we are able to go out there and fight for a medal."
Q: Shawn, is this selection a disappointment for you?
Shawn Johnson: "This isn't a disappointment at all. I feel like I've made a lot of progress in the past year and I'm happy with where I am. I'm here for the team right now. I wasn't the best pick for the team but I'm here to help out if I'm needed...I think there's always room for improvement. I have a long way to go. I need to go home and fix where I need to be, and it's just about putting in the hours."
Q: McKayla, how exciting is it to make your first World team?
McKayla Maroney: "It's really surreal to be here. I was just thinking about that and I'm very happy and honored to be able to compete for team USA. I'm feeling so stoked and so happy."
Q: Martha, how much did uneven bars factor into who was chosen?
Martha Karolyi: "Yes totally bars for our country is one event where we are not quite as strong as we are on vault or balance beam or floor exercise. But our team has improved on SV and execution. Obviously our first injury [Rebecca Bross] hurt the team, but we have enough depth and we stepped up and had other girls who had the potential [come forward]...Anna Li is...she has a very impressive 6.6 or even potentially 6.7 start value which is already competitive. Jordyn has a good start value and good execution. Gabby Douglas has a start value of 6.3 and good technical work. The final decisions are not made who will be in the three up three count. We will have to see how everybody gets used to the equipment and the competition atmosphere."
Q: Alicia, coming in as World champion on vault and with a lot of experience, what is this team like for you?
Alicia Sacramone: "I'm really excited to be working with this team..hopefully I'll help them get through this competition without any glitches."
Q: Shawn, are you going to be competing all four events at the Pan American Games?
Shawn Johnson: "The events I'm competing right now are vault, beam and bars and the goal is just to go home and perfect those and get them as consistent as possible. As for floor, we're not sure yet but if it's ready, by all means."
Q: Martha, could you talk a bit about your expectations for Jordyn at this Worlds?
Martha Karolyi: "Well Jordyn is definitely an extremely strong gymnast. She has showed her potential since an early age...this is her first senior year already she has very significant results, winning the American Cup which is a senior competition. We do not talk about exact placement levels for specific competitions, but she is definitely ready to go out and fight for a place on the podium."
Q: Jordyn, what about you? How are you feeling going into this meet?
Jordyn Wieber: "I was really excited and honored to be named to the team. I'm ready to go out and represent USA as best I can. And to have John [Geddert] be named as head coach, i'm excited for the journey."
Q: What are your goals for Tokyo?
Jordyn Wieber: "Basically I just want to go in and compete the way I've been training, and be very consistent and aggressive up there, and whatever the outcome is, that will be great...I want to do what I can for the us team and after that I'll worry about individual placing...I'm definitely working on all the details of my routines, trying to perfect everything and working on the execution score a little bit."
Q: Martha, what ultimately kept the veteran Olympians off this team?
Martha Karolyi: "Oh, OK. all right. Well, all of the veterans are putting in a very nice effort and nice improvement. Bridget Sloan is not quite ready, as you know she did not participate in the U.S. Championships, she has great improvement but I don't think she has reached her full potential. The extra month will help her reach her full potential. Chellsie Memmel unfortunately, though she has the skills in her bar routine, she has some shoulder problems, and those problems prevented her from preparing to her full potential. Her not being selected is more because of the injury to her shoulder at the Visa Championships. Shawn made a very nice effort but...in her preparations she had to deal with her knee injury...her attitude is excellent...if anything happens, she should be a good asset. And next year she will be there....trying to make the Olympic team."
Q: What do you see as the challenges this team faces?
Martha Karolyi: "I always like the challenges and I think it's very nice to have a younger gymnastics team. We try for competitions to expose them to situations, whatever will be there at other championships and I have a good feeling about this team. It's a pleasure to work with them."
Q: Could you talk about McKayla Maroney's progress a little bit?
Martha: "McKayla really has skyrocketed from almost nowhere. She had a very good vault a year ago and pretty much that was it. She has a very good vault, probably the best 2.5 that anybody does in the whole world. She upgraded her events. Her floor routine is very nice. She really has the look. I think she has a good chance to make a good impression on the judges."
Q: McKayla, has vaulting always been this way for you?
McKayla Maroney: "Ever since I was little it has always been my best event...I've never really had any problems with it and it has always really been a fun event for me to do."
Q: Shawn, how's your knee holding up?
Shawn Johnson: "Actually my knee is doing really well. I've been trying to put in more and more numbers each month and it's holding up. I've been trying to do more and more numbers and it's been really good."
Q: Are you thinking at all that this is not what you came back to gymnastics for?
Shawn Johnson: "I didn't come back to gymnastics for any other reason than I missed it and I loved it and I didn't want to do it for anyone else."
Q: Alicia, we know you've been working on some upgrades on vault. How are those coming along?
Alicia Sacramone: "I definitely have been working on upgrades and right now we are going to be vaulting with my two consistent vaults for team and then in finals we'll see."
Q: Anna, coming from the college atmosphere, why did you choose to continue to do gymnastics?
Anna Li: "After college I took a few months off from gymnastics and realized I still loved the sport a lot and...I wanted to leave the sport with no regrets and that's brought me where I am today."
Q: Alicia, you're the one with the most experience on this team. How does that help you help everybody else?
Alicia Sacramone: "There's a lot of factors that play into a competition that the media doesn't really see behind the scenes with travel and time change. I can help Martha out and help with the girls behind the scenes. I can keep them calm and help them perform their best. A well known thing is the third day of training is pretty rough and you have to push through that no matter how tired you are...these girls are like my little sisters."
Q: Gabby, you didn't have the Nationals of your dreams. How did you pick yourself up and remain confident after that meet?
Gabrielle Douglas: "I was doing a lot of numbers in training in the gym and boosting my numbers and saying 'I'm going to hit and do that routine when it counts.'"
Q: Anna, do you think NCAA has helped you when preparing for this meet?
Anna Li: "I think the NCAA experience helps a lot with competitions. We were competing every single weekend. Every season there were about 20 competitions. My junior year I was injured and could just help out on bars so I have the experience of helping out on one event. I feel really confident."
Q: What was the biggest thing that you worked on going into the final selection camp?
Anna Li: "I was invited to the selection camp right after Nationals and I knew I needed to make my bars more consistent. I went home and trained more numbers and coming into this camp I felt more prepared."
Q: Aly, what are your thoughts about the selection process and how you did?
Alexandra Raisman: "At camp I felt really confident. I've been training really hard and the competition went well on both days. I'm just going to keep the same attitude in Japan and hopefully everything will go as well. I'm excited and honored to be on the team."
Q: Sabrina, what does it mean to you to make a World team in your first year as a senior?
Sabrina: "Being on this team is just amazing. Being selected to be on the world team with all these new girls, because we all have this tight bond together, and representing the USA is amazing and I'm really honored."
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