They have watched thousands of moves like this from close, it's probably an instinct they get as soon as the trick starts, they know of it's good or not and they probably cannot explain why they know
I'm a gymnastics coach. In the moment, I may not consciously think, "Oh, dear. Her left hand shifted late. She's going to be off balance. I should put my arm out in case I need to catch her." But it's my job to know what went wrong so we can prevent it from happening again, so I definitely know why I had to intervene within seconds of doing so.
It also helps that I've been with her while she learned the skill and every component of it, so I know where she is prone to making mistakes, and I know the key parts of the skill to watch extra closely. It's harder when you have to spot someone who learned the skill elsewhere. I'm on high alert while spotting those kids, because if something goes wrong, it could happen anywhere.
I've coached gymnastics for about a decade. For most of that time I've worked with optional level gymnasts on bars. I've spotted a lot of release moves (mostly moving from the high to low bar) and typically on these skills the failure comes from releasing the bar too early or too late. A lot of the skill is timing the release. When it happens I instantly know "early" or "late" and I'm stepping in to spot accordingly.
The only thing I can sort of compare it to is when playing basketball, when someone takes a shot, you watch it and you know it's not going in. Watch enough shots and you're going to be able to anticipate how the ball is going to bounce off of the rim when it hits, pretty often.
That's not a perfect comparison because the ball bouncing is far less predictable than most gymnasts failing a release move and I will say it's all happening so much faster than that. I know if it's early or late and I know how they're most likely to fail, but I can't verbalize it that fast. It's instantaneous. When a kid misses one of these skills after we've moved on from the moment my coaching notes are generally asking the kid if they know what they did wrong. When a kid can tell me "I let go early/late" it shows me they can feel the skill, they understand their body positions and timing, they just need to make it consistent.
Just like how baseball players claim to be able to see the rotation of the ball being pitched at them 90+ mph. Honestly didnt believe its possible to see, watch, comprehend, and make decisions about something all in a fraction of a second.. but if you pay attention you might find you yourself are nearly as proficient in something at your own job or hobby that you do all the time!
The routine isn't made up on the fly. They've done exactly this sequence of tricks dozens or hundreds of times by now. He knows it because he's been there doing that with her that much.
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u/endymzeph 5h ago
I have seen multiple videos along with their coach. I am just impressed on how the coaches knew when to save a gymnast during stunts like this