Nastia to compete 2 events only at Nationals.

Probably a good thing since she looked so bad at the Cover girl Classic. We all know US judges will ignore her form problems and bobbles but will Grandi let the Worlds judges do their job and score her properly? I doubt it but we will see

Here is the article,

Liukin makes decisions about AA

People also seem to think that Nastia is a lock for the World team in October but what if she doesn't look better at Nationals and the training camp? Will she still get a free pass or will Marta man up and sit her butt down?

There is no team event so her UB has no extra value to help the team. IMO if someone looks better Marta needs to send a message to Nastia and keep her home. She either needs to give a 100% effort or not bother. I see no point in sending her just for bars.

In the past Marta has had no problem doing just this. She sent Samantha Sheehan to an individual worlds and Sam came home with a medal. At one point she led the competition so she had a chance to win the World title but Sam was no Olympic AA champion. Does Marta have the guts to sit down the Olympic Champ when it is so obvious to the world that Nastia is not the same gymnast she was last year? At least not yet.

Lets take a look at Nastia's chances on her two "best events? First we have bars. On bars Beth Tweddle, He Kexin and any number of Chinese gymnasts could literally keep a hit Nastia off the medal podium. Beam is a lot less tricky. Nastia could win a medal by just showing up. Not because she is better then everyone else but because when she is on she is very clean. (minus the hand positions in her jumps and the less then great jumps most judge ignore anyway) It could be a splat/ sloppy fest ala the 2007 Worlds when everyone made mistakes and Nastia won by default.

The Chinese are inconsistent on the event. WHEN they hit they should win but will they hit? Australia has Lauren Mitchell with an alleged very high A start value (7.2) but she is generally pretty sloppy with the routine. Whoever wins beam will be whoever stays on the event. Nastia takes no risk what so ever in her beam routine but is that enough to put her on the team?

I guess we have to wait to see if Nastia is ready in two months but if she isn't I don't see Marta keeping her home.