The Thunderbird solo made his gate, unfortunately he had the wrong altimeter setting, fortunately he had a good bang seat.
There is a big difference between entry parameters and gates during aerobatics to a base height (be that agl or a nominated height). Entry parameters are what you planned and aim for and they should, in a rehearsed routine, always be the same. A gate is a MUST achieve and the manoeuvre can be adjusted to make the gate. If you don't make ALL of the gate parameters you need to fly the escape manoeuvre. The gate in a looping type of manoeuvre (which includes the 1/4 clover) is a height AND speed. You can hit the height but if you are faster than planned at that gate the height required to pull through will be much greater depending on the ac you are flying and how much excess performance you have.