I’ve been in a post-Olympics haze since returning from Tokyo, and while I still have a lot I’d like to analyze from Tokyo, I figured what better way to take a break than with a brand-new Olympic qualifications system?
At an FIG meeting in Doha, federations came up with an updated system that uses bits and pieces of things that worked in the 2020 quad, but that also takes some issues into consideration.
Qualifying as a Team
The FIG previously decided that countries qualifying full teams will once again be able to send teams of five instead of four, and they also made the decision to drop the additional individual spots for countries with full teams. A country that qualifies a full team will have a full team of five, no more, no less, which I’m sure will be a welcome change for federations that struggled with how to best build teams when you don’t yet know who may or may not be eligible to contribute.
Like last quad, the top three teams at the mid-quad world championships – 2022 – will qualify to the Olympic Games, while the next nine qualify the year before the Games, in 2023.
Qualifying as an All-Arounder
With teams no longer bringing individual qualifiers, the need for the all-around world cups as a qualifier is moot, but the other routes for all-around competitors are still open, with most able to earn spots at 2023 World Championships, while the rest will get in via continental championships.
The most crucial difference is that the teams that finish 13th through 15th at 2023 worlds will be able to qualify their top two individual competitors, instead of just one, taking up a total of six spots. The remaining spots – seven for MAG, 13 for WAG – will be awarded one-per-NOC, also based on qualifications at worlds in 2023, for a total of 13 MAG and 19 WAG all-arounders.
Another change is that only one gymnast per continent will be able to qualify via continental championships in 2024. Last quad, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa each qualified two, while Australia just had the one. A total of five men and women will qualify this way, instead of 11 last quad.
Qualifying as a Specialist
Specialists will be able to qualify through both worlds in 2023 and through the apparatus world cup series held in 2022 and 2023, with Cottbus, Baku, Doha, and Cairo – taking over for Melbourne – acting as hosts. The series ending in 2023 means all qualifiers will know more than a year in advance of the Games starting, instead of like this quad, where the series was supposed to finish in 2020 just a few months prior to Tokyo (and with the Doha postponement in the aftermath of COVID-19, qualifiers knew only a few weeks before traveling).
At world championships, up to three specialists per event were eligible to qualify to the Olympics last quad, but in the 2024 quad, it decreases to just one per event, so six MAG and four WAG. It won’t affect the women at all – only one specialist qualified to the Olympics at worlds in 2019 – but it could make a big difference for the men, especially on events with lots of specialist depth, like rings, where two of the finals competitors in Tokyo were qualifiers from worlds.
However, the world cup series will allow for two qualifiers per event, instead of just one, for a total of 12 MAG and eight WAG, meaning specialists will be more likely to attempt to qualify through that process prior to using world championships as a last-ditch effort.
One thing that can get sticky here is if a gymnast qualifies at the conclusion of the world cup series in the spring of 2023 and then their team goes on to qualify at world championships later in the year. The apparatus qualifier’s spot would be reallocated to the reserve in this case.
Host Country & Tripartite
The host country and tripartite spots haven’t changed. Should France not qualify teams or individuals in either MAG or WAG, they will be given a host country spot, though this almost certainly won’t be an issue for either, in which case this spot goes back into the all-around pool at worlds in 2023.
The tripartite spot, meanwhile, will go to gymnasts from eligible NOCs, aka those with fewer than eight athletes in individual sports or disciplines at the last two editions of the Olympic Games. Typically, the FIG will nominate the highest-ranked athlete from an eligible country at the previous world championships who didn’t qualify outright.
How Would This System Have Worked in the 2020 Quad?
I don’t think this system is as confusing as last quad’s. For one, we’ve already experienced watching a super complicated qualification process unravel, and on top of that, we did it in a pandemic, which created even more confusion as multiple rules changed along the way. But it’s still a lot to take in, so using the results from world championships, the world cup series, and continental championships in the 2020 quad, I put together the lists of who would have qualified had this system been in place.
Mid-Quad World Championships
The top three NOCs qualify a full five-member team based on their finish in the team final at world championships in November 2022.
| MAG | WAG |
| China | United States |
| Russia | Russia |
| Japan | China |
| Total: 15 | Total: 15 |
Based on results from world championships in 2018.
Apparatus World Cup Series
A total of 12 MAG and eight WAG athletes will qualify nominative spots based on their ranking at the conclusion of the eight-meet series in March 2023.
| MAG | WAG |
| FX: Artem Dologpyat (Israel) | VT: Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan) |
| FX: Carlos Yulo (Philippines) | VT: Teja Belak (Slovenia) |
| PH: Saeedreza Keikha (Iran) | UB: Rebeca Andrade (Brazil) |
| PH: Nariman Kurbanov (Kazakhstan) | UB: Jonna Adlerteg (Sweden) |
| SR: Eleftherios Petrounias (Greece) | BB: Diana Varinska (Ukraine) |
| SR: Ali Zahran (Egypt) | BB: Emma Nedov (Australia) |
| VT: Loris Frasca (France) | FX: Marta Pihan-Kulesza (Poland) |
| VT: Jorge Vega (Guatemala) | FX: Ana Derek (Croatia) |
| PB: Ferhat Arican (Turkey) | |
| PB: Dinh Phuong Thanh (Vietnam) | |
| HB: Epke Zonderland (Netherlands) | |
| HB: Tin Srbic (Croatia) | |
| Total: 12 | Total: 8 |
Based on the FIG’s rankings at the conclusion of the 2018-2020 world cup series. The above scenario assumes there is a one-per-NOC limitation as there was in the 2020 quad.
Pre-Olympic World Championships | Teams
The top nine NOCs qualify a full five-member team based on their finish in team qualifications at world championships in October 2023.
| MAG | WAG |
| Ukraine | France |
| Great Britain | Canada |
| Switzerland | Netherlands |
| United States | Great Britain |
| Taiwan | Italy |
| South Korea | Germany |
| Brazil | Belgium |
| Spain | Japan |
| Germany | Spain |
| Total: 45 | Total: 45 |
Based on results from world championships in 2019.
Pre-Olympic World Championships | Individual All-Arounders
A total of 13 men and 19 women will qualify nominative spots based on their finish in all-around qualifications at world championships in October 2023.
Two gymnasts per NOC will qualify from teams that finished 13th, 14th, and 15th in qualifications for a total of six MAG and six WAG athletes, and all others are one per NOC for a total of seven MAG and 13 WAG.
| MAG | WAG |
| Ludovico Edalli (Italy) | Georgia Godwin (Australia) |
| Niccolo Mozzato (Italy) | Georgia-Rose Brown (Australia) |
| Antoine Borello (France) | Flavia Saraiva (Brazil) |
| Julien Saleur (France) | Thais Fidelis (Brazil) |
| Ahmet Önder (Turkey) | Anastasiia Bachynska (Ukraine) |
| Yunus Gündogdu (Turkey) | Angelina Radivilova (Ukraine) |
| Manrique Larduet (Cuba) | Giulia Steingruber (Switzerland) |
| Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) | Lee Yun-seo (South Korea) |
| Robert Tvorogal (Lithuania) | Zsofia Kovacs (Hungary) |
| Alexander Shatilov (Israel) | Martina Dominici (Argentina) |
| Artur Davtyan (Armenia) | Alexa Moreno (Mexico) |
| David Huddleston (Bulgaria) | Danusia Francis (Jamaica) |
| Bart Deurloo (Netherlands) | Kim Su Jong (North Korea) |
| Aneta Holasova (Czech Republic) | |
| Marcia Vidiaux (Cuba) | |
| Maria Holbura (Romania) | |
| Elisa Hämmerle (Austria) | |
| Anastasiya Alistratava (Belarus) | |
| Farah Ann Abdul Hadi (Malaysia) | |
| Total: 13 | Total: 19 |
Based on results from world championships in 2019.
Pre-Olympic World Championships | Individual Event Specialists
A total of six men and four women will qualify nominative berths based on their finish in apparatus finals at world championships in October 2023. If there are no eligible athletes for an apparatus, the spot will be reallocated to the all-around field.
| MAG | WAG |
| FX: Daniel Corral (Mexico)* | VT: Yeo Seo-jeong (South Korea) |
| PH: Rhys McClenaghan (Ireland) | UB: Mandy Mohamed (Egypt)* |
| SR: Ibrahim Colak (Turkey) | BB: Nazli Savranbasi (Turkey)* |
| VT: Marian Dragulescu (Romania) | FX: Barbora Mokosova (Slovakia)* |
| PB: Rene Cournoyer (Canada)* | |
| HB: Tyson Bull (Australia) | |
| Total: 6 | Total: 4 |
*Reallocated to all-around field due to no eligible competitors in the apparatus final
Based on results from world championships in 2019.
Continental Championships
A total of five men and five women (one per continent) will qualify nominative berths based on their finish in all-around qualifications at the continental championships series in 2024.
| MAG | WAG | |
| African Championships | Omar Mohamed (Egypt) | Zeina Ibrahim (Egypt) |
| Asian Championships | Le Thanh Tung (Vietnam) | Ting Hua-Tien (Taiwan) |
| European Championships | Adem Asil (Turkey) | Larisa Iordache (Romania) |
| Oceania Championships | Mikhail Koudinov (New Zealand) | Emily Whitehead (Australia) |
| Pan-American Championships | Javier Sandoval (Colombia) | Luciana Alvarado (Costa Rica) |
| Total: 5 | Total: 5 |
Based on results from continental championships in 2021, with the exception of Asian Championships, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, I selected the top Asian qualifiers based on all-around qualifications world championships in 2019, coinciding with the rule change in the 2020 quad.
Host Country & Tripartite Invitations
The host country is guaranteed one spot if not qualified through other criteria, and one nominative tripartite commission invitation spot is available to an athlete meeting eligibility criteria.
| MAG | WAG | |
| Host Country | Rasuljon Abdurakhimov (Uzbekistan) | Filipa Martins (Portugal) |
| Tripartite | Matvei Petrov (Albania) | Milka Gehani (Sri Lanka) |
| Total: 2 | Total: 2 |
Since the host country qualified for both MAG and WAG, this berth was reallocated to the next highest-ranked all-around athlete based on qualifications at world championships in 2019.
Tripartite nomination was based on NOCs meeting eligibility criteria at world championships in 2019.
Takeaways
Here are the key points that popped into my head as I was working through this case study.
- A number of lower-ranked all-arounders in both MAG and WAG would not have qualified to the Olympic Games, with the cutoffs going from 51st for MAG and 94th in WAG based on the 2020 system to 46th in MAG and 65th in WAG based on the 2024 system.
- This means Oksana Chusovitina would not have qualified to her eighth and final Olympic Games via worlds, though she would have already qualified as a specialist on vault at the world cup series, so we can breathe a sigh of relief. Given that NOCs that qualify two teams are no longer eligible to take these spots, I’d imagine Chusovitina and other top specialists will focus on qualifying this way first, and then world championships will become a secondary goal should the world cups not work out.
- Looking at the men makes this even more evident, as many top specialists – Artem Dolgopyat, Carlos Yulo, Loris Frasca, Ferhat Arican, and Tin Srbic – would have qualified through the world cup series, giving them an earlier finish to their qualification journey. What’s not yet clear is whether these athletes could then go on and help their teams qualify at worlds later in the year. If they can’t, I can see NOCs holding back on sending top team contributors to the world cup series if team qualification is a goal.
- I love seeing so many world cup regulars who happen to be specialists qualify via the apparatus series. I think this is why the apparatus world cup qualifier should exist, for those who are consistently winning medals internationally but who don’t compete as well in the all-around.
- That said, on some events we had to dig really deep into the rankings to find gymnasts from eligible NOCs, as most of the top-ranked gymnasts on several events were those who had already qualified teams or would go on to qualify teams at world championships.
- There are a number of gymnasts who would qualify through the apparatus series concluding in spring of the pre-Olympic year, but would later have to give up these spots once their NOCs would go on to qualify full teams at world championships later in the year. Vanessa Ferrari, for example, would have won the floor spot, but then Italy would go on to qualify a team, and Ferrari’s spot would have been reallocated, leaving her in a position where she’d have to make Italy’s team in her own right – which ultimately happened anyway in real life, but obviously this could make things dicey for athletes who are top medal contenders but who would not fit into a team puzzle.
- In the same vein, no individuals who went on to medal at the 2020 Olympic Games would have been left out of Tokyo under this system, though in addition to Ferrari being a question mark, China could have missed out on beam gold and the U.S. on floor gold had these NOCs not added individual competitors Guan Chenchen and Jade Carey to their teams. In MAG, the same goes for Rayderley Zapata winning silver on floor, Liu Yang winning gold on rings, and Shin Jea-hwan winning gold on vault.
- Opening up two-per-NOC qualifying for the teams ranked 13th through 15th meant several talented all-arounders who missed out on Tokyo would have made it had this been the case last quad.
- Australia would have qualified four WAG spots! Starting with Emma Nedov winning a berth on beam at the world cup series, the team then would have taken two all-around spots at world championships (assuming they had Georgia-Rose Brown in the all-around during qualifications over Nedov to ensure that they’d have two eligible all-arounders competing, as Nedov would have already qualified individually), and then a continental spot.
- The Turkish men would have qualified five spots, one more than they managed this quad. Ferhat Arican would have earned a spot via the world cup series, two men would get in through the all-around at worlds, Ibrahim Colak would take the rings spot at worlds, and Adem Asil then gets the continental championships spot.
- Not much changed in terms of continental championships, though with Rebeca Andrade of Brazil previously qualifying at the world cup series, she would no longer be eligible to qualify at Pan Ams, meaning Luciana Alvarado takes over as the top qualifier for the continent.
- For the men, neither the U.S. nor Brazil would have been eligible to qualify at Pan Ams having already qualified full teams to the Games, so Jossimar Calvo – who sadly missed qualifying this quad – would have made it instead.
Anything else you noticed that you want to bring up? Give it a mention in the comments!
Article by Lauren Hopkins