too many Yurchenko 1/1s

September 2012 WAG NCAA finally decided to eliminate the required dangerous 2nd vault in Finals. To “lessen the possibility of injuries“.

That solves the biggest problem.

Thank you NCAA.

But Vault remains the stupidest NCAA apparatus.

It’s embarrassing to qualify 23 or 24 gymnasts to an 8 woman final. It gives the wrong impression to the general public that judges cannot discriminate between the best. 🙂

Miss Val:

“I really feel that with how our sport is judged, we need to keep encouraging interesting gymnastics. I’m not really a fan of the fact that – how many of the vaults were Yurchenko full today? That’s not fun.”

quoted in Examiner

denn333 compiled a list of options for NCAA to consider for 2014:

1) 6 judges in prelims (fewer ties to finals)

2) two vaults for all gymnasts in prelims

3) two vaults for 2-3 gymnasts per team in prelims

4) stricter execution scoring to spread out the scores

5) (optional) bonus for 2nd vaults

6) lowering difficulty values of vaults to encourage a few harder vaults (say, 93 FIG rules)

7) lowering difficulty values of vaults but ALSO awarding a bonus for an optional second vault — multiple ways to get to 10.0. (E.g., a DTY -or- a FTY + a piked front)

There are more ideas out there.

… One idea that has been discussed among the coaches is using lines on the mats to help the judges determine how straight the vaults are and the distance, while another proposal is to award the gymnasts for doing more difficult vaults by “giving them back” tenths of a point for steps and other minor miscues on challenging vaults.

“Nobody wants to devalue vaults, but something needs to happen to reward gymnasts for doing more difficult vaults,” Marsden said. …

Utah gymnastics: Coaches look for ways to separate top gymnasts’ scoring

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I hope they choose the simplest solution.

• devalue Yurchenko 1/1 to 9.9
• one vault only

That should do it. Even with only 4 judges at the major multi-team competitions.

Downside?

Increased risk of injury landing of all those NEW Yurchenko 1 1/2s.

Here’s the full video of Finals 2013, starting with Vault and Bars.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

First competitor Olivia Courtney ended up 3rd with 9.9167.

Second competitor Rheagan Courville tied for first with 9.9250.

… tough call.