A Summary of the Current State of French Gymnastics
A) The federation is trying to force centralization by strong arming gymnasts to move to central gyms to train leaving their homes and home clubs. They've done this before disastrously a little over a decade ago and one of the institutions they want people to move to had a serial sexual assault history the investigation of which was dropped because of the age of the suspect a few years ago.
Two prominent gymnasts, Carolann Heduit and Kaylia Nemour have refused. Heduit is a national champion and one of their most consistent (if not the most consistant) French international of the last few years. Nemour was their most promising new senior. I say was because after she needed surgery and was cleared to return to training by her own doctor (after what appears to be a reasonable period of time) the French federation doctor refused to clear her without even examining her. She says it was part of an attempt to blackmail her into moving gyms. She switched to Algeria and the French federation opposed her move making her road to the Olympics for Algeria extremely difficult. Heduit has given interviews about how she and her family are essentially being harassed by officials from the French federation including weekly phone calls (including at Tokyo) pressuring her to change gyms. In retaliation her coaches are being investigated for abuse but there are no public accusations or gymnasts who have accused them as such to my knowledge. Heduit's funding has been cut off (and restored only after media attention) and she talks about having been told that her French national championship doesn't matter because the judges overscored her.
B) Meanwhile Melanie de Jesus dos Santos has--basically without explanation--been given leave to train in Texas at World Champion Center. Some people erroneously believe that this is so that she can be closer to her home the French Department of Martinique in the Caribbean. This is a misunderstanding of travel times. While Texas is geographically closer to Martinique there are no direct flights and so it would be faster for her to go from France to Martinique then from Texas. One would think the fact that her coaches in Texas being French would be why but when MDJDS went to France to compete in a world challenge cup her coaches weren't allowed to stay with her and the French National team staff decided to change some of her bars release techniques in the 10 days before competition. To say she did not perform well is an understatement.
C) The French federation also canceled (or postponed? Maybe it will happen this spring) one of the major tournaments in the country Gym Massilia in 2022 with very little warning to the members involved apparently because of an investigation into one of the organizers. Gym Massilia is a meet that goes back decades and was a fixture of the French and international gym season. I believe the French prosecutors are involved in this investigation so I tend to give it more credence then the one into Heduit/Nemour's coaches but given that they used abuse investigations to strong arm gymnasts who knows. Either way it was very disruptive to almost every elite gymnast in the country to cancel on that kind of short notice.
D) Meanwhile on the men's side the federation hired a coach who had been fired by USAG for drunkenly groping the wife of an athlete in a bar at US Championships to be the head coach of their MAG team. He lasted a year and a half and was recently fired by the French after more alcohol related incidents. In a recent article one of the athletes is quoted as saying that he constantly smelled of alcohol.
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2022 Worlds WAG Qualification Results
WAG TEAM FINAL QUALIFICATION
USA 167.263
GBR 164.595
BRA 163.563
ITA 162.798
JPN 162.564
CHN 162.064
FRA 161.428
CAN 159.661
NED 159.396
AUS 156.095
BEL 156.063
GER 155.664
KOR 153.363
HUN 152.296
MEX 150.962
FIN 149.930
ESP 149.162
SWE 147.529
AUT 147.164
ARG 146.696
TPE 144.562
EGY 144.097
UKR 142.729
WAG AA FINAL QUALIFICATION
1 Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 57.332
2 Shilese Jones (USA) 55.766
3 Jade Carey (USA) 55.132
4 Martina Maggio (ITA) 54.800
5 Jessica Gadirova (GBR) 54.599
6 Ou Yushan (CHN) 54.466
7 Alice D'Amato (ITA) 54.366
8 Miyata Shoko (JPN) 54.166
9 Naomi Visser (NED) 54.165
10 Flavia Saraiva (BRA) 54.133
11 Elsabeth Black (CAN) 54.131
Jordan Chiles (USA) 53.998
12 Melanie de Jesus dos Santos (FRA) 53.865
13 Alice Kinsella (GBR) 53.798
Ondine Achampong (GBR) 53.598
14 Georgia Godwin (AUS) 52.866
15 Tang Xijing (CHN) 52.865
16 Carolann Heduit (FRA) 52.698
17 Yamada Chiharu (JPN) 52.465
18 Lisa Vaelen (BEL) 52.432
19 Tisha Volleman (NED) 52.333
Aline Friess (FRA) 52.265
20 Ana Barbosu (ROU) 52.233
21 Laura Casabuena (ESP) 52.032
22 Lee Yunseo (KOR) 51.833
Manila Esposito (ITA) 51.798
Eythora Thorsdottir (NED) 51.765
23 Romi Brown (AUS) 51.731
24 Maisa Kuusikko (FIN) 51.231
R1 Maellyse Brassart (BEL) 50.699
R2 Karina Schoenmaier (GER) 50.633
R3 Natalia Escalera (MEX) 50.365
R4 Anna Lena Koenig (GER) 49.999
WAG VT FINAL QUALIFICATION
1 Jade Carey (USA) 14.483
2 Jordan Chiles (USA) 14.316
3 Coline Devillard (FRA) 14.299
4 Yeo Seojeong (KOR) 14.249
5 Jessica Gadirova (GBR) 14.200
6 Elsabeth Black (CAN) 13.749
7 Miyata Shoko (JPN) 13.666
8 Lisa Vaelen (BEL) 13.499
Leanne Wong (USA) 13.433
R1 Lihie Raz (ISR) 13.416
R2 Aline Friess (FRA) 13.283
R3 Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 13.266
WAG UB FINAL QUALIFICATION
1 Luo Rui (CHN) 14.900
2 Nina Derwael (BEL) 14.700
3 Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 14.666
4 Wei Xiaoyuan (CHN) 14.600
5 Shilese Jones (USA) 14.566
6 Sanna Veerman (NED) 14.533
7 Naomi Visser (NED) 14.400
8 Elisabeth Seitz (GER) 14.400
R1 Melanie de Jesus dos Santos (FRA) 14.400
R2 Alice D'Amato (ITA) 14.400
Tang Xijing (CHN) 14.333
R3 Martina Maggio (ITA) 14.200
WAG BB FINAL QUALIFICATION
1 Ou Yushan (CHN) 13.900
2 Skye Blakely (USA) 13.733
3 Miyata Shoko (JPN) 13.700
4 Marine Boyer (FRA) 13.666
5 Watanabe Hazuki (JPN) 13.600
6 Kovacs Zsofia (HUN) 13.533
Sakaguchi Ayaka (JPN) 13.466
7 Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 13.400
8 Elsabeth Black (CAN) 13.266
R1 Shilese Jones (USA) 13.200
Jade Carey (USA) 13.133
R2 Alice Kinsella (GBR) 13.066
R3 Ting Hua-Tien (TPE) 13.000
WAG FX FINAL QUALIFICATION
1 Flavia Saraiva (BRA) 14.200
2 Rebeca Andrade (BRA) 14.200
3 Jessica Gadirova (GBR) 14.100
4 Jordan Chiles (USA) 14.100
5 Jade Carey (USA) 14.066
Shilese Jones (USA) 13.800
6 Naomi Visser (NED) 13.666
7 Jennifer Gadirova (GBR) 13.600
8 Alice D'Amato (ITA) 13.600
R1 Miyata Shoko (JPN) 13.600
Skye Blakely (USA) 13.600
R2 Martina Maggio (ITA) 13.500
Julia Soares (BRA) 13.466
Manila Esposito (ITA) 13.466
R3 Ou Yushan (CHN) 13.400
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