No Medal for Maroney Under the Proposed Vault Code
McKayla Maroney, always cool under pressure and a rock in her performance, had a rough time in the Olympic vault final this evening. Maroney opened with one of her weaker Amanars (incurring three-tenths in penalties) followed by a Mustafina (roundoff, half-on, full twist off), which, to the shock of the world, she sat down.
If you were wondering, she’s competed on vault thirty-three times since her elite debut. Prior to the Olympic vault final, a sat Amanar at the 2009 Visa Championships was the only other faux pas in her entire elite career.
Maroney still earned silver, however, because mathematically her vault difficulty is so high as a whole, a point off for a fall doesn’t make a huge difference in her average of the two…and therefore, in her placement on the podium. Romania’s Sandra Izbasa, in comparison, hit two incredibly solid vaults for the gold, though her average score was only about a tenth higher than Maroney’s.
Even had Izbasa scored lower, I personally think she deserved the gold because who wants to see a major error earn the top place on the Olympic podium while the silver medalist competed two phenomenal vaults? We see it all the time in the All Around, but realistically there are so few athletes who can challenge for those 60+ scores, a sub-par performance – like Mustafina falling from beam on Thursday – can be made up with strong execution elsewhere.
But no one wants to see falls rewarded in an event final. Especially on vault, where gym fans were up in arms over Yamilet Peña Abreu making finals despite sitting her Produnova (handspring double front) in qualifications. After getting a zero in competition in the past, she and her coach seem to have discovered the loophole in the system – making sure the soles of your feet touch the mat before your butt or knees. Both in qualifications and event finals, she was deducted for her fall but was not taken out of the running completely, leaving fans griping over a system that rewards attempting high difficulty but punishes easier clean vaults.
Why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of something like this? It’s not the athlete’s fault. Just look at the countless U.S. athletes attempting Amanars not to be competitive throughout the world but to be competitive on U.S. soil alone.
Kyla Ross, for example, wanted so badly to contribute as an All Arounder at the Olympic Games (I asked her at Nationals on which events she’d best help Team USA and she responded “on bars and beam!…and vault…and floor!”) but after an insane growth spurt this past year, could no longer pull her Amanar together. In training, she’d usually take steps out to the side, actually over-rotating at times in order to ensure getting it all the way around. The same would happen in competition, and she’d often need to step off the mat just to stand it up. Martha Karolyi asked her to compete the DTY at Nationals, a vault Ross could stick while blindfolded. But she wanted those extra seven tenths of difficulty, began training Amanars again leading up to Trials, and then a sat Amanar on night one effectively decided her place among the stronger vaulters of Team USA.
Why risk it in the first place? A 6.5 start value means that even with major errors, athletes could score higher than with a strong DTY. Viktoria Komova, for example, got a 15.466 for taking four large steps off the mat in the Olympic AA Final while teammate Aliya Mustafina was given only a 15.233 for a gorgeous stuck DTY. In a sport where medals can be decided by hundredths of a point, isn’t it worth the risk for those extra two or three tenths? We can’t fault the athletes for trying to squeeze out as many tenths as possible, even if it means attempting vaults they can’t always realistically do.
Granted, Maroney’s one of only a handful of athletes who can actually compete the difficulty she’s attempting. Her errant Mustafina vault on Sunday was a fluke. As she planted her butt on the ground, her brows furrowed and her mouth opened into an “O”; you could see the absolute confusion on the face of this girl who is unarguably the best vaulter in the world, the girl who was essentially “guaranteed gold” unless she crashed. It’s unfortunate that she did crash; like Wieber, she experienced her only real bit of bad luck on the day it counted most…if you can call a silver medal with a fall “bad luck.”
The proposed 2013-2016 Code of Points attempts to combat rewarding higher difficulty by both downgrading the Amanar by two tenths (from a 6.5 start value to 6.3) and by changing the math in determining how both add up so that it focuses on execution, not difficulty. Instead of averaging the two to total scores, the deductions from both vaults are taken from a 10.0 and are then added to the averaged difficulty of both vaults. The formula:
[(SV V1 + SV V2) / 2] + [10.0 - (V1 + V2 deductions)] = Score
If the 2012 Olympic Games used the proposed code rather than this quadrennium’s code, the standings would look something like this:
1. Sandra Izbasa (ROM) – 14.433
2. Maria Paseka (RUS) – 14.050
3. Janine Berger (GER) – 13.884
4. McKayla Maroney (USA) – 13.766
5. Oksana Chusovitina (GER) – 13.360
6. Brittany Rogers (CAN) – 12.960
7. Yamilet Peña Abreu (DOM) – 12.583
8. Elisabeth Black (CAN) – 0.000
Maroney averages a 6.2 difficulty here (with her 6.1 Mustafina difficulty and the proposed 6.3 Amanar difficulty), but even if these vault final rules existed in 2012 with the Amanar out of a 6.5, Maroney’s average of 6.3 would give her a 13.866, still leaving her in fourth place behind Berger rather than on the podium.
It’s also interesting to note that had this “execution over difficulty”-based vault finals code existed in 2008, Alicia Sacramone would have won gold with her Rudi and DTY. Hong Un Jong and Cheng Fei, both with two vaults out of a 6.5 start value, would have placed third and fourth, respectively. Oksana Chusovitina would have kept her silver.
Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo by Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
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51 Comments
Jennifer
Very interesting and informative!
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
Name Philippa
But if they were the rules, would the gymnasts still have been performing the most difficult vaults? Probably not.
06 Aug 2012 07:08 pm (@Twitter)
Ana
But, that would be only for vault finals? There would be no difference por the AA and amanars would be the higgest again?
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
admin
Amanars in the new code are 6.3 no matter what. They still give athletes a bit of an edge over a DTY (five tenths) but it would make more sense to compete a solid DTY than a messy Amanar in the All Around, since a solid DTY would make up the difficulty in execution. But if you're McKayla or Gabby or Jordyn and you can do an Amanar really well...then you still get that edge in the AA from the difficulty being higher.
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm
Sorator
“Maroney averages a 6.2 difficulty here (with her 6.1 Mustafina difficulty and the 6.5 Amanar difficulty), but even if these vault final rules existed in 2012 with the Amanar out of a 6.5, Maroney’s average of 6.3 would give her a 13.866, still leaving her in fourth place behind Berger rather than on the podium.”
I think you mean “(with her 6.1 Mustafina difficulty and the 6.*3* Amanat difficulty)”
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
admin
Yep, typo. Fixed!
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm
DM
I agree it’s hard to swallow the idea of sit-down vaults medaling in EF, but the new vault calculation makes no sense. With the current structure of scores based on (difficulty + execution) it’s unfair to the athletes to honor execution for two completely different vaults that way. A “one-tenth” step on a 3TY is NOT the same as a “one-tenth step” on a 1TY. They should keep the average scores.
I understand the concern that some may feel the Americans may have had an exaggerated advantage because of the 3 outrageous Amanar vaults they pulled off; but you have to reward risk. It should be awesome when you pull i off, and it SHOULD really really hurt when you don’t. It’s the judges’ responsibilities to deduct for each for each leg separation, bent knee, 3rd, 4th, or 5th step as applicable… Don’t punish the athletes that can pull it off because others aren’t capale. De-valuing the Amanar to 6.3 is fine. Good that it’ll pave the way for the 3TY.
They can make a rule that a “sit-down” vault can’t medal regardless of score, but that new vault score calculation stinks.
-Daniel
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
Laura Marcella
I agree! Keep it simple. Make a rule something like if you fall in event finals, you're out of the medals. There's no need to continue making the Code so darn complicated. It just confuses the judges who don't score consistently from gymnast to gymnast, and it baffles the fans. C'mon, FIG, keep it simple!
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
Lauren
So, you're saying that in addition to the boost the athlete gets in difficulty score from performing a more difficult vault, they should also get an advantage in execution score? I'm sorry, but that completely defeats the purpose of having a Code of Points at all. By that standard, Yamilet Pena should have placed ahead of McKayla Maroney, because sitting down a double front is NOT the same thing as sitting a Mustafina.
Difficult vaults should be given higher tariffs, but they should not make vaulting specialists who are weak on other events suddenly strong all-around challenges. It should not make it utterly impossible for a comparable gymnast to gain ground on someone with an Amanar unless she also does an Amanar. This is exactly what the Amanar difficulty score has done this quad. A specialist is a specialist, and an all-arounder is an all-arounder.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Gabriel
The fact is one tenth in a Amanar IS the same as one tenth in a DTY, cause the reward to the athlete for taking risks is given in the D score. In the past, cause there were basically a E score, the judges would be more benevolent to the gymnastics who were taking more risks. It was more subjetive. So, if Simona Amanar was attempting a 2,5 twist, then her a huge step would be seen as a smaller problem. The Code of Points should try to be more objetive, not the opposite.
06 Aug 2012 02:08 am (@Twitter)
Sorator
I like that change to the code, a lot. It makes execution matter more, which is a very good change to make. Certainly don’t have any hard feelings for the girls milking the code for every possible tenth, but this quad has definitely demonstrated that they encouraged difficulty a little too much. I’d like to see a working solution for the vaults in the AA as well, instead of just for the vault finals, but I’ll take what I can get. (Though I think our girls are rightly scoring higher with their Amanars than they would with their DTYs – except for Kyla – since they do have pretty darn good execution.)
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
Sonya Natalia
^^^^
Yes!! American gymnastics fans forget how many of us are from elsewhere (including people who contribute to this site!).
06 Aug 2012 03:08 am (@Twitter)
Lara
I'm an American but my girls are Russian :)
06 Aug 2012 06:08 am (@Twitter)
DM
Be careful saying things like "our girls". Sounds like you assume everyone is American.
I am not...
:)
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Gustavo
Info about the other changes in the code?
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
Catherine
These are all proposed, as is the vault change- NOT finalised. Though after seeing this vault EF I am sure they'll be even more eager to get that in the new code.
- UB pirouette bonus gone. (This is most obvious in 2008 UB ef routines..the top 3 exploited it bigtime). Other elements with the same d-score as pirouettes will still get the connection bonus.
- One lunge back allowed on one tumbling pass on floor
- Deductions for pausing too long in the corners on floor
- Harsher all around on lack of artistry
- Leaps out of tumbling passes must have a B value or more..I'm almost certain all of the ones currently being done are all A's. Would be much harder to do a wolf jump or something!
Vault has the most changes. Remains to be seen if they really will deduct for lack of artistry/expression etc..
05 Aug 2012 11:08 pm (@Twitter)
GJ
The first I saw of the vault was this pic. I thought it was a marionette puppet .
I would prefer their leo to be more sporty & it does look too high cut sitting there.
Team managers – please dark bottom halves no sparkles for the most athletic of apparatus.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Christian
Are the Mustafina and the Cheng (both currently 6.3 vaults I think?) being downgraded as well, or will they be equal to the Amanar under the new code? Also, love how Chuso never moves position – solid lady! Well OK, I just love Chuso.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Catherine
The Mustafina is a 6.1 It's not changing. The Cheng was a 6.5 and is going down to a 6.3, so still equal with the amanar when that changes too. I understand why they are doing it (though the Cheng was never really exploited..) but it still kind of sucks for vaulting as they are extremely difficult vaults and those who can nail them should be rewarded. Maybe we will see more handspring varieties.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Laura Marcella
Mustafina’s vault in team finals was not gorgeous. The stick was awesome, but the form in the air, not so pretty: legs apart on the block, bent knees, flailed legs. She twists like that on floor, too. Not good. Her reputation preceded her, and she was lucky she got the scores the judges gave her on vault and floor. It worries me that many gymnasts have been getting away with this kind of form.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
admin
I hate Mustafina's twists more than anyone and it killed me when her Amanars were scored similarly to Wieber's around 2010-2011 but I think I'm pretty subjective when I describe vaults. I should have said gorgeous for Mustafina...I've seen much worse! Though compared to Komova's form, it's horrible. Had to admit being shocked at how pretty Komova looks in the air. Totally thought she'd have the Musty-Nabieva-Paseka helicopter legs! -Lauren
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am
DM
- UB pirouette bonus gone.
–> That’s silly. Again; it’s the judges’ responsibilities to score elements and connections properly. It’s so nice to watch a beautiful gymnast on bars like Nastia or Komova. Would be a shame if the beautiful turns go away because they don’t count.
- One lunge back allowed on one tumbling pass on floor
–> Terrible rule
- Deductions for pausing too long in the corners on floor
–> What does it matter if you complete all your elements, artistically (including sync with music) perform, and complete the routine in the allotted time?
- Harsher all around on lack of artistry
–> Not sure where I stand on this, but surely Shawn Johnson and Aly Raisman aren’t happy…
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Cecile
To be honest…. I’m still in shock. wow. (at the reality result and at this result.)
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
Jessica
First of all, it was about seven tenths in deductions… not three. Her Amanar start value was a 6.5 not a 6.1. I’m only a fan and even I knew that!!! Apart from this enormous oversight, you seem to be under the impression that the US team shouldn’t throw amanars because they are higher DODs and if you can’t stick the landing then what’s the point??? Yeah right. Landing an Amanar is a spectacular achievement and US being able to have a squad of girls that can all do this is very rare. Qualification rounds often weed out athletes throwing vaults they can’t actually land, not all the time. So when it comes to the actual competition the real stars can compete, aka McKayla who btw is the best vaulter in the world. Everyone knows that. She goes bigger, higher, harder, and better than any other gymnast out there, anywhere, period. Yes, she had a freak landing that never happens, and even she said she wouldn’t have wanted the gold with her fall because she knows she wouldn’t have deserved it. But if you are really asking who is the best vaulter in the world not just based on one competition, everyone is going to say with resounding confidence its Mckayla Maroney. DUH! This new ruling they are considering is by far the worst thing I’ve seen in way of judging in recent history. The change in how scoring is done, was to encourage difficulty and reward better gymnasts. If you go back to the old standby of the 10 or even partially, it’s like taking a massive step backwards in the world of gymnastics. The amanar is extremely difficult and should not be downgraded just because Maroney can do it perfectly… which she wasn’t rewarded for during the team final as she should have been. UGH! I like the newish way of judging changing it would be dumb!
06 Aug 2012 12:08 am (@Twitter)
admin
I think you misunderstood a lot of what I was saying...
First, I didn't say her Amanar SV was a 6.5. Her Mustafina SV is 6.1. Today in finals she got about seven tenths off on her Amanar between deductions and penalties (0.3 for penalties which is what I'm talking about in my opening paragraph).
I don't think the US shouldn't do Amanars. I think athletes who CAN'T do them shouldn't. It has nothing to do with sticking the landing. Girls attempt really difficult vaults they can't do just because difficulty is rewarded over execution. I think girls who can do the difficult vaults - like Maroney - should by all means do them and be rewarded in high execution. Many of the girls doing Amanars don't look good at all. Kyla's didn't look good. It looked scary. When you're attempting a difficult skill you can't physically do well - regardless of the landing - it means injury. Kyla was one Amanar away from destroying her knee, just like Katelyn Ohashi is one DTY away from destroying hers.
Basically, I think that high difficulty plus good execution equals a good gymnast. On an average day, that's McKayla Maroney on vault. But you can't compare Maroney to someone like Peña who does high difficulty but can't rotate a double front around if her life depended on it. The new COP rewards girls like Maroney - WHEN THEY HIT - and keeps girls like Peña away from the podium.
McKayla Maroney is easily the best vaulter in the world. But gymnastics competitions aren't retroactive or based on your past history. You have to hit when it counts. Maroney didn't today. It's really unfortunate, but it happened. That doesn't mean she's any less of a gymnast or shouldn't do difficult vaults.
06 Aug 2012 01:08 am
B
This change looks good to me. I agree that you don’t want to see mistakes as big as landing on your butt rewarded with a medal in event finals.
Someone suggested a fall on vault should incur a 2.0 deduction as the landing is so critical to this apparatus. This would also help to discourage big vaults being attempted that may only have a 50/50 chance of landing them on their feet (*cough Abreu).
A change I’d like to see after this Olympics is a team requiring a certain variety in the vaults performed. For example, in team finals a team would need to show 3 different vaults from the 3 different gymnasts. It would be great to see a greater diversity of vaults performed at the highest level of competition (I’m already sick of DTYs)!
06 Aug 2012 01:08 am (@Twitter)
Lara
Same here. Too many DTYs... More handspringers please!!!
06 Aug 2012 05:08 am (@Twitter)
Jessica
Execution should matter, but if you are a better gymnast capable of more than other gymnasts that should also be rewarded when you succeed at being better, not just in execution but in difficulty as well. Breaking boundaries in gymnastics is always exciting but I fear this will become rare if we revert back to the old standby of execution scores counting more than difficulty.
06 Aug 2012 01:08 am (@Twitter)
Rich
Forget the mathematical equations. D scores are hard enough for the 4 year fans to understand and even I have trouble at times (being a 26 year fan myself)
“If you fall you are out of the medals”
What happens if 6 gymnast fall on one of their vaults? It might seem improbable, but there have been several Worlds were 4 or 5 gymnasts have fallen off UB or BB in finals and left only 4 or 3 athletes in contention for a medal.
Make it simple. If you fall on VT it should be an automatic 2 point deduction. Maybe even 3 point deduction.
Think about it: No more chucking vaults in the team competition because a fall on a VT won’t be worth it. No more chucking vaults in the AA because if you fall the 2 point loss is most likely going to eliminate you from a medal.
In event finals if you take a 2 point hit for a sat down vault, you won;t be able to medal.
They could also increase the depth of vault by making all gymnasts do two vaults again in qualifications, with the average counting toward the team total. Pena would likely not perform the Produnova in qualifications if she knew that there were more chances she could get knocked out of EF.
06 Aug 2012 01:08 am (@Twitter)
Rich
I also agree with you.
That’s because you lose .1 total for tucking your twist. In my opinion you should lose .1 for every rotation of a twist that is tucked. So for example, Ponor and Mustafina on floor would receive .3 deduction on their triple fulls for the poor body form. I also think that crossed legs in the twists should also incur a .1 deduction for every rotation of a twist. So again, Mustafina would lose another .3 for her triple full.
Under my proposed rule Mustafina would lose .6 for her triple full each time. Would she take the hideous skill out? or at least improve the form? Yes.
Gymnasts won’t remove hideous sklills until they are deducted heavily for it.
I am glad to see the pirouette rule change. I also hope that they deduct more heavily for dead hangs on the UB. (I am talking to you China!) I can;t stand to watch any of the Chinese routines currently (I used to love them pre 2000) because of the awful dead hangs on the HB.
06 Aug 2012 01:08 am (@Twitter)
GJ
Could need a trade off. Mustafina & others give up their triple twists -ok - but in return several girls give up trying to leap dance or move at all. Floor & beam to be 8 tumbles. And for good measure tie all flailing those arms to their bodies .
Your idea leads to many outcomes.
06 Aug 2012 04:08 am (@Twitter)
SK
No matter what rule changes are put in the code, one thing is certain: each country and/or coach will game the system to benefit his or her gymnasts. After that is done, there will be another round of why the code results in unfair placements and needs to be changed….again.
06 Aug 2012 01:08 am (@Twitter)
PR
Maroney was so lucky to hvae gotten the silver, after than fall on her bum she should have gotten a bronze, if any. The russian who came 3rd should have won the silver she had better excecution and landed on her feet. No one who lands on their bum should be on the podium.
06 Aug 2012 02:08 am (@Twitter)
Sonya Natalia
I’ve seen a lot of Russians saying this since what happened last night (and I’m guessing they wouldn’t if it had been someone of another nationality with the bronze!), but they’re all forgetting about Vanessa Ferrari’s World gold with a fall in 2006, and Cheng Fei’s Olympic bronze with a fall in 2008, and Mustafina’s bronze with a fall only days ago.
Maroney was far from perfect last night, but she earned that medal. She is THAT good. It’s how the code of points is now, and when it’s changed, gymnasts will adjust their difficulty and execution to match the new system.
But until then, Maroney is the deserved silver medallist from last night.
What really annoyed me about the vault final was Janine Berger’s sobbing and carrying on about not getting a medal (did anyone really expect her to??!!), and completely ignoring Oksana Chusovitina. Very poor sportsmanship there.
06 Aug 2012 03:08 am (@Twitter)
Kat
Well with the new code of points that might be placed next year she wouldnt medal which is the best thing cause no one wants to see a major fall be awarded on the podium. The difference with Mustafina falling off beam and still getting bronze is cause that was the All Around category, meaning, she peformed strongly on other 3 other events that made up for that fall on beam. While this here is Event Finals, theyre only performing one sole event, and they only got 2 chances, 2 vaults, its not like if they performed bad they can make up for it with another event, like in the AA...One fall or major mistake and you're out, thats the way it will be in the new code of Points, the way it should be.
06 Aug 2012 04:08 am (@Twitter)
Catherine
Janine should have gotten bronze. The talent pool was quite shallow and although she did not have textbook form or stuck landings, her vaults were really good she was screwed over. Chuso's form has deteriorated bigtime, she would not have expected to medal..Berger has beaten her in internal competitions anyway. Paseka did not do a fully rotated amanar and should not have gotten credit for it. That screwed Janine over.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 pm (@Twitter)
Clinton
I don’t really have a problem with the vault results. She has 2 amazing vaults and is far better than anyone else in the world, so even with a fall, putting her in 2nd is about right. The main problem with the current code is the ‘boxed’ execution scores. Gymnasts who are showing great execution are only getting slightly better execution scores than gymnasts who have much worse execution.
06 Aug 2012 04:08 am (@Twitter)
Kirsten
For the person who complained about Berger crying and not showing good sportsmanship, how exactly do you know this? Were you there? On the BBC coverage they didn’t focus on her all the time so who knows what was going on. Yes she was crying, but she came sooooo close and had led for quite a bit of the way through the final so I’m sure there was a bit of disappointment.
06 Aug 2012 09:08 am (@Twitter)
GJ
It is likely not what we think in this case. It is the public. They see a girl fall on her ass & get a high ranking medal.
Imagine what the Basketballers have to do to get one of those. Yes about 7 full games .
06 Aug 2012 09:08 am (@Twitter)
Gym Fan
Just wanted to add: something a lot of people haven’t realised is that averaging vaults actually means there is currently only a 0.5 deduction for a fall, not a 1 point deduction. A faller gets a score of (D1+D2)/2 + (E1+E2-1)/2 (for the sake of clarity let’s keep the fall as an explicit deduction). This works out if written out as:
D1/2 + D2/2 + E1/2 + E2/2 – 1/2
A fall is currently 1 point deduction off 1 vault, which because of averaging is 1/2 a point deduction from the total score! All the new system does is make a fall a whole point deduction off the total score, which seems to be enough. This is the same as taking a 2 point deduction for a fall on a single vault (for execution at least, it also averages rather than sums difficulty but let’s keep it simple). So it makes perfect sense to do it that way. It would be great if this can be highlighted too.
Now if only we could require two vaults in the AA, great vaulters should get an advantage, just as great exponents of any other piece, but a great vaulter should demonstrate two different vaults.
Great article, I was curious how this would pan out.
06 Aug 2012 10:08 am (@@gymnastics_fan)
Olivia
I felt this years vault was abit boring compare to 2008s i mean taking aside the falls from Cheng and Maroney.The difficulties and execution for most of the gymnast during 2008 was better. The execution yesterday was pretty terrible for most of the gymnast only 2 manage a E score of above 9.Most end up outside the mat, big hops and on their bums. Maybe its just me ?It looks like a curse? haha . wining team gold and falling during vaults.Maroney could pull a Cheng and compete in 2 Olympics, Cheng was 20 during 2008, same age Maroney would be and maybe like Cheng or better maybe she could add in floors and beam rountines and a few more world championship and a vault named after her in the next 4 years.The fall is not all that bad, a good thing may come out of it.
06 Aug 2012 10:08 am
DM
Yes, I particularly noted the overall disappointing execution for all 8 gymnasts on Sunday. Reminded me of Sydney. Are we sure that vault table was at the right height?
07 Aug 2012 10:08 am (@Twitter)
Ricky
Apparently 2 vaults have very high difficulty values, the Produnova and the Amanar. So high values that they encourage gymnasts to throw them, knowing that even with a fall the final mark will still be higher than an easier hit vault.
In that case, isn’t it more logical and easier just to lower those difficulty values, instead of adding a new complicated formula ?
Actually some people are complaining that the public doesn’t understand very well the gymnasts’ marks, so I doubt it’s a good idea to make it more complicated.
According to me, just adjusting the difficulty values of those vaults is a very simple and easy solution to solve this problem, no need to complicate things.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 pm (@Twitter)
Catherine
The amanar is being lowered, it's going from 6.5 to 6.3. It doesn't fully make up the difference between a great stuck DTY and a sloppy crappy amanar, but it almost does. It gives gymnasts a much greater chance to brush up elsewhere and do a DTY and still be competitive. In a way, the amanar is so difficult that it does deserve to be rewarded. But I absolutely see where they're coming from.
Pena is the first to do the Produnova in over a decade. You have to have an insane coach and huge pressure from a nonentity of a country in the gymnastics worls to continue doing a vault you can't land. The technique is crap, she has the power to stand it up but goes too far instead of getting the height. All they have done is get her to always touch her feet first instead of perfecting the block. What a joke. It doesn't matter anyway- the deductions for sitting a vault will be so huge in the new vault EF rules that nobody is going to crash a Prod and qualify, never mind get near the podium. It will also stop amazing vaulters falling and medalling.
06 Aug 2012 07:08 pm (@Twitter)
Meredith
I’m no expert on the gymnastics COP, but this sounds like a good move. Sure, as you said, we can’t fault a gymnast for trying to start off with as many tenths of an edge as possible. However, it isn’t really fair, in my opinion, for a gymnast who executes a very sloppy vault or falls to medal because her difficulty is so far above the difficulty of her competitors.
06 Aug 2012 12:08 pm (@Twitter)
Cee
Yamilet is getting pounded in the blogosphere today
I have to say, I admire someone trying to do the impossible–or the barely possible–isn’t that how the sport evolves? She has landed it at least once (I checked YouTube) although it wasn’t a great landing. I just really admire her spirit (even though I was definitely rooting for McKalya last night!)–I first noticed her at World finals last year, and her rueful smile as she saluted the judges after her vault stayed with me. I hope she starts nailing that vault consistently.
McKayla, you’re still awesome! Please stay with the sport, and we’ll see you in Rio! (And every other major competition, of course!)
06 Aug 2012 08:08 pm (@Twitter)
admin
I admire Yami's persistence, if anything. I don't admire the attitude of "well, I can sit this really hard vault and still hopefully win!" I know she's won at a World Cup or two after sitting that vault. It tells the sport that you don't have to really be great at something...just try to do the hardest possible skill and get rewarded for falling. Takes a lot away from what makes the sport so beautiful to watch. Though I blame the COP for this attitude, not Yami or her coach. They're just trying to eke the most out of a code that favors difficulty over execution. -Lauren
06 Aug 2012 09:08 pm
Tamara
This article is a perfect example of what draws me to this web site!
I’m tired of watching gymnasts include vaults (or other apparatus elements) that they cannot reasonable perform well, simply because the current COP rewards them for failing. It’s time for the punishment to fit the crime.
Land on your butt and you have not completed your vault. Period. I’d like to see harsher penalties for stepping out of bounds, too.
07 Aug 2012 10:08 pm (@Twitter)
John
I agree with an earlier poster regarding “boxed” execution scores. It does seem like a really awesome and near-flawless routine (both Chinese EF beam routines) get about a point off, no matter what. And then Ponor with clear errors gets about a point and a half off. It doesn’t seem like they’re really separating gymnasts based on execution. Maroney’s 9.733 in execution in the team final is another example.
11 Aug 2012 06:08 am (@Twitter)
Gilttrip
What if we took out any medal winners who had a fall, stepped off the mat in a big way or touched the beam? Gymnastics would have less artistry, no reward for innovation. Maroney’s 1st vault alone was medal worthy but I cringe to think about an Olympics without Ponor and esp Mustafina bc the risk of the “possible” fall by girls who strive for execution and power would leave us with something like compulsories. Would they even make the team in that environment? Same routine hashed out over and over giving the highest score to the best finger position.
11 Aug 2012 08:08 pm (@Twitter)
Anya
There is NO REASON why Maroney shouldn’t have gotten a perfect score in TF for her vault. There was NOTHING wrong with it.
11 Aug 2012 09:08 pm (@Twitter)