Uncle Tim:
… for those of you looking for a “return to artistry” in the Code, well, that’s darn near impossible on the women’s side because the term “artistry” was largely absent from the first versions of the Code of Points. …
Queen Elizabeth has a new post on artistry.
Unfortunately she does not arrive at any answers for FIG WTC.
The post includes a series of photo comparisons of Russian and American gymnasts. It was absolutely true that China & Russia have been far more artistic than the American gymnasts. Historically.
That’s changing, however.
In 2013 the Longines award for elegance went to an American gymnast. Legitimately.
Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney were two of the most artistic competitors at Worlds.
American gymnastics is getting more artistic. The gap closing.
Artistry hardly matters, unfortunately. E panels in 2013 do not much differentiate between most artistic and least. I don’t believe FIG will find a way to correct that. Artistry is too subjective to be consistently scored.
Read the post for yourself — Rewriting Russian Gymnastics – The State of the Art – Gymnastics in 2013
related – Gummi argues that Kyla is clean and precise, but not necessarily “artistic”.
He also notes that gymnasts from top nations are not much deducted for “poor artistry”, while those from the rest of the world are deducted heavily.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 