2004 v. 2008

Without going back to re-watch the Nationals, Trials & Olympics for each of these years, I initially thought that the 2008 team was the better team. And don't get me wrong, hindsight is 20/20. That being said, I'm starting to think that the 2004 team might have been better. I am still undecided on that fact, but I will say that in 2004 I think the field was deeper and we left many talented gymnasts at home.

Hindsight is 20/20
No one knew McCool would flake out in prelims like she did in 2004. That being said, I think she may have been worthy of a second shot in the team finals, particularly on beam and floor, where Bhardwaj was used instead. We knew Bhardwaj was likely to hit but she lacked the potential to bring in a high score, which we really needed, esp. after uneven bars, where we failed to get the most out of an event that was our strength, and Romania's weakness.

Additionally, as I re-watched Nationals, I had forgotten how strong and clean Tricase was. I think you could have made a case for her to join the team. The only question is, who would you replace her with? Yim and Ishino were also looking pretty strong. I think the problem with that team was that no one counted on McCool not delivering. When you remove her from our lineup on beam and floor, we instantly get weaker. This wasn't helped by the fact that Kupets also was pulled from beam. I am just wondering if there was any possible way for us to have won and if so, what that way would have been. Were the Romanians unbeatable, or did we miss an opportunity here?

ROM 114.283
USA 113.584
Difference = .699

My second thought is that I initially thought that the 2008 team was the strongest U.S. team ever assembled. On paper that is.
Nastia: Do we need to list her qualifications?; needed for UB & BB
Shawn: Current world champ in AA & FX; US National Champ & Olympic Trials Champ; could be used on any event
Chellsie: 2003 UB World Champ; 2005 World Champ AA; looked in good shape from comeback to injury; could be used on any event
Alicia: Numerous World medals on V & FX; needed for V & FX
Samantha: member of '07 world team; needed for V & FX
Bridget: seems like a consistent team player; we needed her for V & UB

Now, my question is, when we knew Chellsie was injured, should we have pulled her out and replaced her with someone like Worley? Is it really fair to Worley that we didn't do this? And what about the rest fo the members of the team? We may have had a better shot at a medal with a healthy athlete to replace Memmel. And what about Peszek? Again, was this fair?

Of course, what we weren't counting on was those two getting injured, but in addition, Sacramone missing on FX. A beam mistake, ok, that's not unheard of.
For beam, Johnson & Liukin went up. Who else could have gone up?

Sloan
Sacramone

Peszek -- out
Memmel -- out

Yea, I guess given the two choices, Sacramone was the one to go with, but still, we have 6 team members for a reason, so that we can pick and choose who we want to go with. This isn't much of a choice, is it?

I'm just sayin'...not much we can do now, but does anyone have any thoughts?

CHN 188.900
USA 186.525
Difference = 2.375

Was China unbeatable or did we drop the ball?