… But are they are allowed to “cowboy” saltos on some skills. Leave a comment if you know the rules on that. (Perhaps we could get more specific on our gymnastics regulations.)

UPDATE: From Mike:

D 8.5.2 During the flight, the position of the dive shall be at all times aesthetically pleasing. Should any of the positions not be shown as described below, each judge shall deduct ½ to 2 points, according to his opinion.

Tuck (C)

D 8.5.7 In the tuck position the body shall be compact, bent at the knees and hips with the knees and feet together. The hands shall be on the lower legs and the toes pointed.

It’s not specifically “allowed”. But is used as judges evaluate from the side.

(… I moved the other photo to the comments)

IG editor Dwight Normile asks all the right questions.

Stoica confirms that he plans to run for F.I.G. President one day. (I’d vote for Slava Corn.)

Stoica also defends the current Men’s Code of Points, explaining that eventually coaches will invent shorter routines with fewer execution deductions. That’s not what’s been happening, so far.

There’s been a big increase in C, D and E parts. Gymnasts are trying to win by getting the highest start values.

Stoica agreed with Normile that the rules on Horizontal Bar are flawed. Changes will be seriously considered for after London.

Click through to the September 2010 issue of International Gymnast. It’s a great interview.

From A J at the superb THE ALL AROUND blog and Facebook page:

For women:

- F and G skills are credited as Es;
- C dismounts get full credit, B dismounts get .30; A dismounts are .0 (same in MAG)
- in vault Finals, 2 different vaults from the same family allowed
- No more than 2.5 in CR

Although Fs and Gs are capped at .50 difficulty value, there are no caps on the vault values.

IG’s coverage includes D scores if you want to do your own calculations – Komova Wins Two More Golds at Youth Olympics

… GymSymbol is a training program specifically designed for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics judges and coaches who want to improve their skills in using the standard FIG shorthand symbols. It uses a flash-card like interface to test your memory of all the symbols in the Code of Points. …

No more need to break open a hefty Table of Elements to find that elusive D acro skill on beam. Filter any apparatus and select an element to bring up its matching FIG symbol, description, number and difficulty value and the gymnast to first compete the skill in a qualifying FIG gymnastics competition. …

The SEARCH function interface is a bit confusing. But if you select “Gymnaste” and search for “Mohini” … you will find her skill:

This is a fantastic little program. WAG judges will find it useful, for sure.

Download it for FREE at GymSymbol.com

Available for Mac and Windows. In English, French, Russian, Spanish and Chinese (simplified).

Thanks to The European Gymnastics Institute for developing it!

DScore is a program, designed for Gymnastics coaches, athletes, and enthusiasts, that assists in the creation of Men’s Gymnastics routines and calculates start value.

Various rule sets are supported, including USA Gymnastics J.O. program levels 10, 9, and 8, the NCAA, and International Senior Elite (F.I.G.). DScore is available for Mac OS X and Windows, and also supports live updates to the Code of Points. …

Dscore is currently in Beta. Mike is still making updates and would appreciate feedback.

It works. Here’s my first routine analysis:

sample pommel routine - click for larger version

Here’s the resulting start value for F.I.G.:

Update: Oops. Seems I made a mistake in this example. Jeff says: 5 elements from group 4. Better replace that DSB with a 2/3 travel before the Sivado.

DScore is $14.99. But there’s a Free Trial available.

MLW Software – DScore

From Judge Judy of JustGymnastics.com by email. (I’m quoting just a few of the highlights. Confirm these changes in your region.)

JO rule changes and clarifications to come out of the annual May meetings effective as of August 1, 2010.

COMPULSORIES
- The “air-o-board,” a cross between a mini-tramp and a vaulting board, has been approved for use at Leve1-3 and Prep Optional. Tiny gymnasts formerly unable to get anything out of a stiff board will be able vault without that drawback.

OPTIONALS
Bars
- climbing onto the LB after a fall, then jump to HB is no longer considered a “bar change” fulfilling a Special Requirement. A listed value part element must be performed on the LB.

- Level 7 and 8 may do the “C” skills Back Stalder Circle and Back Pike Sole Circle to Handstand (also with 1/2 turn)in addition to the already permitted Clear Hip Circle to Handstand (also with 1/2 turn). No other “C” skills are permitted.

- Level 7 only may perform a counter swing without an extra swing penalty (0.30) prior to a front (salto forward) flyaway dismount.

- The maximum deduction for multiple extra swings after an element is 0.60, i.e., stop deducting after 2 extra swings per element. (Applies to all levels.)

Balance Beam
- Continuous but slow connections on all series receive the same deduction – Up to 0.20. (Exception remains unchanged: Backward acro series with at least 1 flight element does not receive Special Requirement [0.50] if performed “continuously but slowly.”)

Floor Exercise
- C+C dance elements may be the SAME element and receive +0.10 Bonus e.g., Popa + Popa = +0.10 Bonus

- Definition of dance passage Special Requirement has been expanded to allow any kind of turn on 1 or 2 feet to be performed between the 2 dance Value Parts, and it doesn’t matter if a jump used as the first element lands on 1 or 2 feet as long as the passage keeps moving.

- Balks on the final salto Special Requirement or falls with failure to initiate the salto receive an additional 0.30 deduction resembling the “no dismount” deduction on bars and beam.

- Coach on the FX mat deduction has been reduced to 0.50 (Levels 7-10).
(There is no deduction for Coach on the FX mat for Compulsories or PREP Opt.)

The winning Bar routines in L7 and L8 will be using more Stalder and, especially, toe-on, toe-off. It’s the easiest of the 3 allowed C-parts.

What would you like to change about the current Code of Points?

In my opinion judging in general has become too strict. Even small wobbles are heavily penalised and gymnasts are denied the chance to achieve high scores.

I agree.

… which team will win at the upcoming World Championships in Rotterdam? Why?

… Romania, Russia, the USA, China and Great Britain will fight for the first place in Rotterdam. The team who makes the least mistakes will win.

read the rest of Chris’ interview → Maria Gillich-Cosma: “Now or never!“

photo copyright Tom Theobald

In my copy of the code of points they misspell Shavahn Church‘s name. (Some might quibble that she should be listed as British since she competed internationally for England.)

Church Savannah (USA) Hstd on HB – Pike sole circle bwd counter pike reverse hecht over HB to hang

Click PLAY or watch the Church (2005) on YouTube.

Elise Ray has 3 skills named after her on Bars including this one:

Ray Elise (USA) Hstd on HB – Pike sole circle bwd counter straddle-reverse hecht over HB to hang

Click PLAY or watch the Ray (2000) on YouTube.

That brings us to the skill done recently by Tatiana Nabieva …

It’s at 6min 20sec on this YouTube clip from Japanese TV. Or you can jump directly to that skill here.

You could call it a layout Church … if you give it credit for layout. I do.

Hopefully Tatiana will get it named after her good self. Gymnastics immortality.

Yesterday’s Qualifier, held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, was the final qualifying event for the 2010 U.S. Championships that will be held August 10-14 in Hartford, CT.

Senior Division

Jesse Silverstein (USDGC) – 88.10 (96)
Alex Buscaglia (Stanford) – 86.30 (82)
Danell Leyva (Universal) – 87.70 (77)
Alexy Bilozertchev (USOTC) – 85.85 (74)
Andrew Elkind (USOTC) – 86.90 (70)
Kyson Bunthuwong (Golden Bear) – 86.30 (68)

read more on Stick It Media

Jesse Silverstein

Andy Thorton posted praise for the 19-year-old:

… The most notable point to me is the fact that he scored an impressive 54.7 in execution – an almost unheard of tally these days. That’s an average of just over a 9.1 in execution on all six events…and if you look a little closer, you’ll note that this is exactly why he won, since his total D-score was nearly three points lower than Leyva’s (and Leyva had a lower D-score on both pommel horse and p-bars than he normally does).

In today’s D-score dominated world, it’s really nice to see impeccable execution actually pay off the way the code is designed for it to …

read more – American Gymnast

… absent from the Qualifier but not already eligible for USAs: Injured Olympians Sasha Artemev (back) and Kevin Tan (forearm); former National Team member Sho Nakamori, on the mend from 2009 knee surgery; and two-time World team member Sean Golden, who tore his Achilles just days before last year’s USAs. All could still attempt to advance to USAs via petition. …

read more on Inside Gymnastics

Junior Division

Daniel Potemski (Cypress) – 82.50
Kevin Baker (Queen City) – 80.80 & Wyatt Aycock (Orlando Metro) -80.80
Alex Bubnov (Surgent’s Elite) – 80.80
Joe Peters (Parkettes) – 79.75
Cale Robinson (Premier) – 79.35
Michael Strathern (Bartlett’s) – 79.30

Nellie Kim is the current F.I.G. President of the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee.

Nadia’s greatest rival, back in the day, Nellie was the first international gymnast to compete Tsuk 1/1, gainer full off the end of Beam and aerial cartwheel to back tuck.

John Crumlish posted a terrific interview. She makes a lot of sense:

…

IG: What do you think can be done to make gymnastics not only less confusing for media, but more popular to the public, and as popular as it was when you were a gymnast?

NK: I think we are promoting a negative attitude against gymnastics ourselves. I don’t say the FIG, but people who are criticizing gymnastics. For example, how can we request our girls the same as in rhythmic gymnastics – choreography, dance, artistry and feminism on floor — if at the same time they have to do power tumbling in the routine? Because, without power tumbling, it becomes a rhythmic gymnastics routine.

Sometimes, instead of saying how good we are and looking for positive moments, we are saying something negative. We should talk more positively and about how strong our sport is. We should bring respect to ourselves, our gymnasts, coaches and judges, and not punish, punish, punish. In Russia there is an expression, “If you don’t like yourself, nobody else will.” You are the first one who has to respect and love yourself. …

read more – IG Online Interview: Nellie Kim (Belarus/FIG)

On the other hand …, she doesn’t sound like the kind of leader taking decisive action to correct our many problems.

It’s easier than ever before for you and I to criticize what you don’t like about gymnastics. And praise.

Keeping silent will not help the sport progress.

Click PLAY or watch her Tsukahara with 1/1 twist on YouTube.