Category: judging

male gymnasts with tattoos

A history by zhoxxyy.

15 YEARS AGO, THERE WERE NO GYMNASTS WITH TATTOOS COMPETING. WHAT DO YOU THINK CAUSED A SHIFT IN THE PERCEPTION OF TATTOS IN THE 2010s?

Bart Deurloo (NED) 

If I remember correctly, Marcel Nguyen was the first to compete with very visible tattoos. I was second and right after me, it was Casimir. We were the first ones to roll up our sleeves (so to speak) at a major competition.

… After Marcel secured a silver medal at the Olympics, many athletes started thinking “if he can achieve Olympic success with his arm adorned in ink, it must be permissible.” This prompted a substantial shift within the sport. Kind of proud to be one of the first gymnasts who played a role in such a major shift in the sport.

Taboos & Tattoos in Men’s Gymnastics

Four elite gymnasts talk about tattoos in men’s gymnastics: challenging old taboos and reshaping perceptions of athletes in the sport.

Marcel Nguyen (GER) at the 2012 Olympic Games in London – Source NBC

video analysis slowly, SLOWLY replacing judges

Obviously, video and analysis by computer is better than humans at calling balls and strikes in Baseball.

Video analysis is better than a human line judge in Tennis.

And I’d argue that FIG Trampoline competitions are more fair for the electronic analysis used supplementing human judges.

BUT progress has been too slow.

There might always be a role for human judges in Artistic sports.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (April 2004)

NEW – NCAA Judges Evaluation System

This season, for the first time, judges are being evaluated on their scores compared with a panel reviewing routines.

I ASSuME the judges over-scoring routines Florida v Georgia, Jan. 24th, 2025 will be evaluated severely.

For 2025 there may be no consequences for being off target score. But hopefully that happens sooner rather than later. Some are deliberately giving impossible scores because there is so little accountability.

To learn more, listen to an interesting interview with panelists on the All Things Gymnastics Podcast.

In your favourite Podcast player, search for:

“Scoreboard: Introducing NCAA Gymnastics’ New Judges Evaluation System“

Men’s NCAA top scores week 2

We all start to understand a GOOD SCORE under the new FIG rules ➙ 8 skills counting rather than 10.

Neutral Deductions – 2025 NCAA Week 2 Recap

Week 2 Top NCAA ScoresNote: Stanford Competed twice in week two. Some of these scores are from Cal Benefit Cup and some are from RMO.

— Kensley Behel (@kensleybehel.com) 2025-01-20T17:16:55.161Z

NBA’s Vision Tracking System

Professional Basketball is WAY ahead of the Fujitsu Judging Support System used by FIG.

Why so slow, Fujitsu?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

evaluating Ezhova

I’m hopeful judges will get more discriminating in the next quadrennial.

This very cool skill should finish square on regrasp. And show sufficient height.

nobody wants SCALES on Floor

I can’t believe this new special requirement will be in place very long.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

planned changes to H Bar code

Heron on Floor

Performed at the 2024 FIG Apparatus World Cup in Cairo (EGY) by Hillary Heron (PAN)

Element description: Double salto backward in the tuck position with one and a half twists (540 degrees).

Element value: F (0.6)

Name awarded: The Heron

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.