We’ve spent two quadrennials in fear of catastrophic injury on WAG Vault – Handspring double front.
This new vault is significantly more dangerous. 😦
Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter. Igor Radivilov, 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist.
Category: judging
End of the Perfect 10 – a review
by site editor Rick McCharles
This book was written for the general public. They like it.
But as a coach I still enjoyed it. To revisit the history of the Code was a good catch-up in advance of Rio.
Dvora provides balanced perspective on the pros and cons of eliminating the iconic perfect 10. She interviews many of the important players on the world scene including Hardy Fink, the primary architect of the current Code. Hardy’s not happy with how his original proposal was changed over the years. But feels eventually it will work as intended.
New to me was the revelation that Bela Karolyi did not discover Nadia on the playground. Another part of the great Karolyi myth.
By the end of Perfect 10 I redoubled my conviction that giving up the perfect 10 was a HUGE mistake. We’ve never been much good in marketing the sport. A great salesman like Steve Jobs would conclude that the perfect 10 was our greatest and most valuable asset.
The NCAA women’s program got it right. It’s more important to fund gymnasts through University and keep coaches employed than to exactly rank the very best of the best perfectly.
That said, FIG will never go back to the perfect 10.
But I’d love to see them add something like a “Ranking Score” on top of the current system.
Each quadrennial, on each apparatus, a 10 would be set in advance.
For example on WAG Floor it might be 17.0. If Simone scored 16.5 her Ranking Score would be 16.5 / 17.0 = 9.70.
YES it might be possible to exceed the perfect 10 under this scheme. Fans would love to see a 10.100. 🙂
I bought the audio version. The audio book reader – Elise Arsenault – is poor. Not professional enough to check the correct pronunciation of names in a nonfiction work. She calls Marta Karolyi “Martha“, for example. 😦
related reviews:
• Slate – A Perfect 16.223
• Meghan O’Rourke – Why Extreme Gymnastics Will Dominate the Rio Olympics
• FloGymnastics – Q&A with Dvora Meyers
Trinity training the “Phillips”
I mean the Biles.
Click PLAY or watch Trinity on Instagram.
Click PLAY or watch London Phillips on YouTube. (2005)
London never competed it at a major FIG Championships so it was not named after her.
(via papaliukin)
Oya Power Tumbling – triple pike
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
See how these animations (more VIDEOS) are constructed. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41hRexRQbSE
I’m interested in converting REAL Gymnastics routines to Oya animations. Then having software “score” the routine.
Nadia’s 1st Olympic perfect 10
Exactly 40 years since she performed the first ‘Perfect 10’, Laureus Academy Member Nadia Comaneci has reflected on her historic Olympic success and looked ahead to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Hop? What hop? 🙂
As a young man I declined the chance to attend those Games. In retrospect, a BIG mistake.
(via papaliukin)
explaining Olympic Trampoline
top execution scores at U.S. Olympic trials
FloGymnastics posted a summary.
If you like that graphic, check coach lu told me to be consistent to see more of the American gymnasts. toepointqueen created those.
Lieke Wevers – Floor
I congratulation Lieke on putting together an international routine with only 2 tumbling passes. It shows that FIG rules do not force every competitor into doing near compulsory sets on Floor. 🙂
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
choosing the American Olympic team
Day 1 was an excellent competition. Fast and exciting. The USA has incredible gymnasts right now.
Here are the results.
One scenario is to take the top 3 AA. Even though Laurie was overscored day 1, I’d still call her top 3 AA. Especially for her Bars / Beam.
Simone Biles 61.850
Laurie Hernandez 60.850
Aly Raisman 59.950
In that scenario you need choose who could help in the 3-up, 3-count team final. Here are the top 3 on each apparatus from day 1.
VAULT top 3
Simone
McKayla
Aly
BARS top 3
Ashton & Madison
Gabby
BEAM top 3
Laurie
Simone
Ragan
FLOOR top 3
Simone
Aly
Laurie
Despite Gabby’s poor meet day 1 – and the surprise that Christian would coach her on the floor instead of Kittia – she’s still got a good shot. You could argue to have Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian #4 and #5.
Marta famously likes consistency, however. She wants athletes who can hit routines over and over in training. Every day. Gymnasts like Aly Raisman.
At least 2 of the alternates should be strong AA competitors who could step in on any apparatus in case of injury / illness to someone on the team. They’ll train at a Gym in Rio until the very last minute.
judges reprimanded
Judges Valeria Lakerbai and Rodrigo Alberto Lagos Ahumada reprimanded.
Two Artistic Gymnastics judges receive a warning by FIG Disciplinary Commission
Too few FIG judges are called to account, in my opinion. We need more accountability, scrutiny and transparency in Artistic judging. Most other judges sports do a better job.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 