The new gymnastics format is terrible

[theSurlyMermaid]

Originally posted by cheyita
Why is that? What have they changed about the scoring? Just curious...

I don't know the precise rules, but you know....MSN had an article on this the other day. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5651379/

Found it.

 

[tonyswife]

As a former gymnast, coach and judge, I LOVE the new format. When I judged, I hated to see the gals throwing more difficult skills just because they could do it. Execution is so important. I would rather see a perfect double back than an ugly full-in. I personally think aquring skill after skill without perfecting the ones before them is pointless. The scores are lower because they've changed the requirements and point values of various skills in the routines. I'm glad we no longer see 10.0 after 10.0. It's been several years, so I'm no longer able to remember what is worth what, but during the 2000 Olympics, I annoyed the heck out of my husband by accurately scoring the routines, with my little pencil and paper right in front of the TV.

Anyway, I thought the Americans were great, they should be proud of their silver. The Romanians really hit everything, they were just so good and deserved the gold. I can't wait for the individual competition.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Originally posted by tonyswife
As a former gymnast, coach and judge, I LOVE the new format. When I judged, I hated to see the gals throwing more difficult skills just because they could do it. Execution is so important. I would rather see a perfect double back than an ugly full-in. I personally think aquring skill after skill without perfecting the ones before them is pointless. The scores are lower because they've changed the requirements and point values of various skills in the routines. I'm glad we no longer see 10.0 after 10.0. It's been several years, so I'm no longer able to remember what is worth what, but during the 2000 Olympics, I annoyed the heck out of my husband by accurately scoring the routines, with my little pencil and paper right in front of the TV.

Anyway, I thought the Americans were great, they should be proud of their silver. The Romanians really hit everything, they were just so good and deserved the gold. I can't wait for the individual competition.

Tonyswife, who do you like in the All-Around?

 

[tonyswife]

Originally posted by theSurlyMermaid
Tonyswife, who do you like in the All-Around?

Well, I will be rooting for Carly Patterson, and I think she's got an excellent chance.

I do not think Courtney will medal. I think Carly will medal and then two of the Romanian girls will medal as well. In which order I just can't guess, LOL, they are too closely matched.

 

[cheyita]

Originally posted by theSurlyMermaid
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5651379/

Found it.

Thank you!!

 

[dzneelvr]

Seems to me that the sport of gymnastics is almost getting too physically demanding to be safe for the athlete. Do you see how many compete with current injuries, hardly-healed scars from procedures and operations, pulled muscles, etc. I know you can't hold back progress, but instead of enjoying all the routines, I'm holding my breath hoping no one gets hurt or lands wrong to do damage.

Am I the only one or do some of the bodies look almost deformed this year....men and women

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Originally posted by dzneelvr
Seems to me that the sport of gymnastics is almost getting too physically demanding to be safe for the athlete. Do you see how many compete with current injuries, hardly-healed scars from procedures and operations, pulled muscles, etc. I know you can't hold back progress, but instead of enjoying all the routines, I'm holding my breath hoping no one gets hurt or lands wrong to do damage.

Am I the only one or do some of the bodies look almost deformed this year....men and women

Well, I will say that every time they show Courtney Kupets' Achilles tendon scar, I recoil....it's impossible to watch her perform and just enjoy it because I'm way too busy wondering if she is going to rupture it again. It definitely makes it less enjoyable to watch.

 

[padams]

The reason that the format was changed to 6 team members, 3 compete per event, 3 scores count was to give teams with less depth (for example, some of the former Soviet bloc countries) a chance.

Some of you might like following the gymnastics message board, www.gymn.com.

Khorkina hasn't always been so thin. Her coach has been quoted in Olympics news reports that she has been sick on and off for several months including a recent bout with flu. She had been curvy enough a few years ago to appear in the Russian Playboy magazine.

 

[missypie]

I had heard that Svetlana had posed for Playboy and wondered that that bony thing must have looked like without her clothes! I really wonder what she weighs. I am her height - 5'5" - have very long legs like hers- and am considered quite thin...and I bet she weighs 20-25 pounds less than I do! (My DD is built like a miniature version of her; for DD's sake I'll be sorry to see Svetlana retire. It is good for her to see someone competing who looks like her!)

On the subject of injuries, look at Holly Vise. She is from the same gym as Carly Patterson and won beam in the Worlds (I think). Of course, she won by doing incredible back contortions (looking a bit like those Chinese contortionists at the circus.) But now she has a chronic back injury and is watching the Olympics on TV. (We would have won last night if we'd have had her beam routine from the Worlds.)

 

[tonyswife]

Originally posted by dzneelvr
Seems to me that the sport of gymnastics is almost getting too physically demanding to be safe for the athlete. Do you see how many compete with current injuries, hardly-healed scars from procedures and operations, pulled muscles, etc. I know you can't hold back progress, but instead of enjoying all the routines, I'm holding my breath hoping no one gets hurt or lands wrong to do damage.

Am I the only one or do some of the bodies look almost deformed this year....men and women

I think the change in the way routines are judged will help. It encourages technical excellence instead of simply raising the bar on difficulty year after year. Well executed skills are "safer" than just throwing the most difficult skill they can manage, even if they are not ready for it.

I go back and forth about whether or not to put my DD in gymnastics. I personally wouldn't go back and change it, for me. But, I pay the price, I have bad knees and weak ankles from chronic injuries that I under reported in order to keep doing it.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Originally posted by missypie
I had heard that Svetlana had posed for Playboy and wondered that that bony thing must have looked like without her clothes!

Yeah, and how about the Romanian team from years past? The little segment they did on the Romanian team's past troubles was very startling to me. Usually, those segments are all about tinkly piano music and talk about dreams, but the one last night mentioned how one of the girls (Lavinia Milosevic, don't ask me why, but I remember her from Games past) did a "naked Japanese video" for $40,000 and another wrote a nasty tell-all book about Romanian gymnastics. I did a total double-take on that one.