It’s almost the same as a request by IG Magazine’s Dwight Normile of the FIG Women’s Technical Committee:
E-scores in the 9.0s again.
A good rule of thumb: “If it doesn’t detract from the artistry, it shouldn’t draw a deduction.” Personally, it doesn’t bother me if a pirouette is completed more than 10 degrees past vertical, as long as it doesn’t interrupt the flow of the routine. A better evaluation tool might be to reward gymnasts who happen to finish a pirouette at vertical. But don’t deduct. (That goes for the men, too.)
come back Kathy on the IG Forum posted the highest Execution scores from the last World Championships in London:
9.175 USA Kayla Williams – Vault
8.900 CHN He Kexin – Bars
9.100 USA Rebecca Bross – Beam
8.750 AUS Lauren Mitchell – Floor
This would be no problem, if those same judges were willing to give 3.0s and 4.0s for the worst routines. To create a fair “range” of scores.
They don’t. The scores are “boxed”. There’s a huge incentive for judges not to throw a score too high, nor too low. They try to punch in a “safe” score, not necessarily the most accurate one.
The MAG judges are more confident to throw a score they know will be out-of-range. Canadian judge Chris Grabowecky was the last to award a “perfect 10” in a FIG competition (old code). On Pommel Horse. After discussion with the panel, his score was not changed.
What WAG judge would have the guts to do that?
Women’s judges are far more guilty, too, of taking deductions on skills that all coaches would agree are well done. Double layout on Bars jumps to mind. Many WAG judges deduct for “insufficient height” if it’s not done as high as a full twisting double tuck.
That’s simply wrong. Ask any trampoline coach how high double layout should be relative to a tucked fliffus.
Most WAG judges never trained double layout off Bars. Some don’t understand the biomechanics. WAG judges are getting better, but I still feel they are not nearly as technically up-to-date as the MAG judges.
They are more trained, but less competent.
Why aren’t there more judging blogs to discuss judging issues?
Someone should be launching GymnasticsJudging.com. (I own that domain name. Contact me if you want to go for it.)
Leave a comment if you have ideas how FIG can “fix” the problem of “boxed” Execution scores.
His latest is the official home page of this Romanian star.
Gabriela won the Olympic Bronze medal with her teammates at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the Team Final! She also won the Gold medal with her team at the 2008 European Championship. Gabriela is also the Bronze medalist at the 2009 European Championship in the Balance Beam Final. …
Gymnastike posted some FUN today for New Year’s Eve:
This year we’ve gotten access to shoot podium training at some big events like SEC Championships, Women’s NCAA Championships, and VISA Championships. Podium training days are always fun, but no one brings more fun to the podium than the Georgia Gym Dogs. They don’t train; they just dance!
… superstar gymnast Beth Tweddle will become an MBE after being included in this New Year honours list.
Beth, from Bunbury near Chester, is one of only twenty people named as members of the Order of the British Empire sporting honours list for her services to gymnastics.
The 24-year-old, dubbed Tweddle the Medal, joins Formula One racing champion Jenson Button on the list which was published yesterday by Her Majesty the Queen.
Speaking to the Leader, Beth said: “I was very shocked when I found out. …
UCLA Gymnastics is well known for having their athletes go on to careers in the Circus after graduation. Less well known is how many girls go on to stunt work.
UCLA magazine posted an excellent article on Bruin gymnasts getting work as doubles on TV and in the Movies.
Five former UCLA female gymnasts work on Make it or Break It.
… Natalie Padilla ’08, Jordan Schwikert ’09 and Ariana Berlin ’10 perform as stunt doubles for some of the lead characters; Tasha Schwikert ’09 plays a gym-nast on the show; and Karin Silvestri-Coye ’98 serves as the show’s gymnastics coordinator. …
2008 NCAA Champion Tasha Schwikert
… Other former Bruin gymnastics stars who have found stunt work in Hollywood include Dee Fischer Murphy ’96 and Kiralee Hayashi ’00 …
… Heidi Moneymaker, has been doing stunts full-time since 2001 …
Selected Most Heartwarming Interview Of 2009 on Gymnastike … and that’s saying a lot.
Nina Kim was an integral part of the University of Utah team as one of their two All-American seniors, but was also best friend of Olympic Champion Nastia Liukin and got to travel to Beijing alongside Nastia. In this interview, Nina talks about how her relationship grew with former WOGA teammate Nastia Liukin and watching her journey to Olympic glory.
It promotes her travel as a clinician, motivational speaker and for appearances. … Not all that easy to do if she’s supposed to be in the gym training full-time.
This initiative is getting some negative buzz on the internet. I’m happy to see Nastia organize her own personal schedule. … But is a retirement announcement next?
Gymnastics Coaching.com 