Gymnasts Who Overcame a Dangerous Exhibiting on the Junior World Championships – An Outdated Faculty Gymnastics Weblog

In 2019 the worldwide governing physique for gymnastics (FIG) tried what had by no means been completed earlier than. That being, to carry a serious occasion on the junior stage in girls’s gymnastics that actually replicated the scale, scope, and scale of a serious senior-level occasion. The competitors in query was the 2019 Junior World Championships and whereas the competitors was a powerful success, destiny had different plans.

The success of the 2019 Junior World Championships was offset by the Covid-19 Pandemic. The subsequent itineration of the newly created Junior World Championships was slated for 2021, solely to be fully cancelled. Leaving a 4-year hiatus earlier than the competitors will likely be held once more in 2023. Regardless of the troublesome circumstances the next yr would deliver, the 2019 Junior World Championships did go away a long-lasting legacy.

That being, all of the gymnasts who achieved main success on the 2019 Junior World Championships went on to attain success on the senior stage. Of the seven gymnasts who gained medals within the particular person occasions on the 2019 World Championships, six of them turned Olympians. All seven gymnasts achieved some type of success on the senior stage. 5 of them are Olympians, one other is a gold medalist on the World Championships, and the final has an All-Round medal.

Whereas the very first Junior World Championships proved that this fledgling competitors may precisely predict the “stars of tomorrow,” the 2019 World Championships proved one thing else. The 2019 World Championships proved there can be some “hidden gems” within the decrease a part of the standings.

There have been 4 totally different gymnasts who would have main success at both the 2021 Olympics or 2022 World Championships, however fared fairly poorly on the 2019 World Championships. It’s laborious to not sugarcoat it, 4 gymnasts who acquired fully trounced on the 2019 World Championships went on to fully surpass the opposition and have a few of the most profitable senior careers of their respective era.

Guan Chenchen

Guan Chenchen had the next outcomes through the {qualifications} stage on the 2019 Junior World Championships:

Her common placement was fifteenth and sarcastically Chenchen had her worst displaying on the steadiness beam. Throughout beam {qualifications} Chenchen recorded a fall on beam and a gentle steadiness examine, netting her a rating of 12.333 factors. This occurring whereas her two teammates Ou Yushan and Wei Xiaoyuan had been the one gymnasts to attain 14.000+ factors throughout beam {qualifications} and took the #1 and #2 qualifying positions.

However two years later on the 2021 Olympics issues can be totally different. Wei Xiaoyuan didn’t make the beginning Olympic lineup whereas Ou Yushan didn’t advance past the {qualifications} stage in any of the person occasions. This left Guan Chenchen as the one member of the Chinese language delegation from the 2019 Junior World Championships to truly advance past the {qualifications} spherical on the 2021 Olympics.

Chenchen didn’t simply advance, she led steadiness beam {qualifications} through the Olympics and achieved the very best rating throughout Occasion Finals. Within the course of leaving little doubt as to who was one of the best beam employee on the 2021 Olympics.

Shoko Miyata

Shoko Miyata had the next outcomes through the {qualifications} stage on the 2019 Junior World Championships:

Shoko Miyata achieved a mean placement of thirty first within the standings. Whereas she achieved average success on vault, this specific occasion solely had half as many opponents as bars, beam, and flooring. Shoko Miyata garnered little consideration on the 2019 Junior World Championships and would stay in obscurity as her profession progressed.

However following the 2021 Olympics and 2021 World Championships Japanese gymnastics skilled a mass retirement. Japan witnessed the departure of some ma skilled veterans, that by the point of the 2022 World Championships they had been pressured to subject an “all rookie” workforce. In a extremely uncommon transfer, the Japanese beginning lineup on the 2022 World Championships featured a workforce of gymnasts with no prior expertise in senior stage competitors on the World Championships and/or Olympics.

For a workforce crammed with missed gymnasts who had beforehand flown underneath the radar, the Japanese girls shocked everybody by almost profitable a bronze medal within the workforce competitors. Your entire Japanese workforce stole the present, after which Shoko Miyata doubled down by carrying her momentum into the person occasions.

Miyata turned solely the sixth Japanese gymnast to ever end eighth or higher within the All-Round. However the actual success got here when Shoko Miyata certified to Occasion Finals on 3 of 4 occasions, the primary Japanese girl to ever accomplish that. On the 2022 World Championships Rebeca Andrade of Brazil was essentially the most versatile gymnast, however statistically Shoko Miyata was the 2nd most versatile gymnast owing to her placement within the top-eight on 4 of 5 particular person occasions. Most importantly, the bronze medal she gained on steadiness beam on the 2022 World Championships.

Hazuki Watanabe

Hazuki Watanabe had the next outcomes through the {qualifications} stage on the 2019 Junior World Championships:

Like her teammate Shoko Miyata, Hazuki Watanabe was a veteran of the 2019 Junior World Championships who led Japan to an thrilling efficiency throughout Crew Finals on the 2022 World Championships the place the “all rookie” Japanese lineup almost gained a bronze medal. Hazuki Watanabe additionally achieved breakout success at this competitors, whereas Miyata had the flexibility, Hazuki had one of the best single occasion.

Hazuki gained the gold medal on beam on the 2022 World Championships. The irony of beam {qualifications} on the 2019 Junior World Championships is that it featured two future gold medalists, solely they positioned twenty first and thirty first within the 2019 standings. In each instances (Hazuki Watanabe and Guan Chenchen), they had been the bottom rating gymnasts from their respective nation on that equipment. But inside just a few years’ time, they’d be the perfect on this planet on beam.

Japanese gymnasts Hazuki Watanabe and Shoko Miyata positioned twenty first and 62nd on beam on the 2019 Junior World Championships. On the 2022 World Championships the identical two gymnasts shared a podium with a gold and bronze medal end on steadiness beam.

Jessica Gadirova

Jessica Gadirova had the next outcomes through the {qualifications} stage on the 2019 Junior World Championships:

Jessica’s common placement was thirty eighth within the standings. Like Shoko Miyata, Jessica Gadirova didn’t have the outcomes to make her stand out on the 2019 Junior World Championships. The one motive Jessica Gadirova wasn’t left in full obscurity through the 2019 Junior World Championships was due to her an identical twin sister.

Jennifer Gadirova completed within the top-eight on 4 of 5 particular person occasions. Amongst Jennifer’s wins was a silver medal on vault. Whereas Jennifer Gadirova had the stronger outcomes as a junior, upon the duo’s arrival on the senior stage it was as soon as once more Jennifer who was the primary sibling to attain success. Jennifer Gadirova appeared on the American Cup in 2020 whereas Jessica Gadirova didn’t. It could be one of many final main competitions held in any sport earlier than the Covid-19 Pandemic triggered a world-wide sports activities hiatus.

On the time it appeared that there have been two Gadirova sisters, however Jennifer Gadirova was clearly the higher prospect. This induced followers to take a somber tone in the direction of Jessica Gadirova because it was felt she was being outshone by her personal sister, and would possibly by no means obtain the identical fanfare as her twin.

However when sports activities returned in 2021, the connection between Jessica Gadirova and Jennifer Gadirova fully reverse itself. Now it’s Jessica who’s presently the extra dominant member of the Gadirova duo. On the 2021 Tokyo Olympics Jennifer completed thirteenth within the All-Round and seventh throughout Flooring Finals. However her twin sister Jessica completed tenth and sixth in these identical two occasions.

Jessica additionally achieved resounding success on the European Championships profitable 5 complete medals together with a bronze within the All-Round and two gold medals on flooring. Then on the 2022 World Championships Jessica Gadirova gained a bronze within the All-Round and a gold medal on flooring. Regardless of being a comparatively younger gymnast, Jessica Gadirova is already one of the vital profitable gymnasts within the historical past of British girls’s gymnastics. Within the aftermath of her success on the 2022 World Championships, Jessica Gadirova has been granted critical recognition from the British press.

The 2019 Junior World Championships with out query established a pattern that those that place in the direction of the highest of the standings will go on to turn out to be profitable gymnasts in senior competitors. However this identical competitors additionally proved unequivocally that there will likely be “hidden gems” elsewhere in standings.

That simply because a gymnast had “solely” a mean placement within the standings on the Junior World Championships, doesn’t imply she gained’t in the future rise to the highest.