Gymnastics

As many people have noticed, the Olympic Gymnastics have been tainted with scandal during these games. I have had a few people ask me what the big deal is about having underage Chinese gymnasts and about the scoring. I know most of you don't care but it's actually something I know quite a bit about, so I thought I'd share.

First of all, the big deal is IT'S THE RULE. Whether or not their gymnasts are better, a country should not be rewarded for breaking the rules, no matter what sport it's in.

A comment I've frequently heard is "Well, if their 14 year olds can beat our older girls who cares if they're underage? They're obviously better so they deserve to win. The age limit should be lowered." There are a few explanations for this and I'd like to start with why the 16-year-old age limit was set in the first place. Prior to the year 2000 the minimum age to compete in Olympic gymnastics was 14 (I think it was 12 at one point). The age limit was increased for multiple reasons- most of them pertaining to the health of the gymnast. Most gymnasts train 40+ hours a week from the time they are 10, sometimes younger, up until their early 20s. They also don't go through puberty until their late teens, usually 15 or 16, because of the physical demands the sport places on them. Before a gymnast is 16ish, they can be more demanding of their bodies. A 14-year-old body can take more aches, crashes, etc. than a 16 year old can. Their bodies have not physically matured, which makes it easier for them to get in the repetitions they need and they don't quite need the mental toughness an older gymnast does, as younger gymnasts are generally fearless. An older gymnast can definitely tell when her body has had enough, where a younger gymnast may hurt but will do whatever her coach tells her to without truly considering how it will affect her body now and in the future (nobody really wants to marry someone who always aches and pops and complains about it, as Kyle White told me in 10th grade after hearing me pop my back and neck for some pain relief). These are a few of the reasons why a younger gymnast has an advantage over an older one. It's kind of counterintuitive.

This brings me to another reason it's not fair for one country to be using underage gymnasts while all other countries don't. Yes, their 14 year olds are better than our 17 year olds, but they may not be better than our 14 year olds. To accurately decide who is the best in the world the playing field must be even. 17 year olds generally aren't competitive gymnasts compared to 14 year olds. Counterintuitive, but correct.

The next exciting part is scoring. Most people are familiar with the "perfect 10." To try to make scores more accurate a different scoring system was incorporated after a scoring error resulted in a person, who would not have won the gold medal, winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. Two components now make up the score: a difficulty score and an execution score. The difficulty portion has been single handedly killing off gymnasts (not literally). To be competitive now, you HAVE to throw multiple life threatening skills (sometimes in a row) where you used to be able to have one huge skill and could fluff the rest of the routine. Does this make gymnastics more interesting? Yes. More dangerous? HUGE YES (Also, another reason why younger gymnasts are more competitive). The execution score is what people know as the 10. The judges tally every little, little error they see and deduct that number from 10. Add those two components together and you get the 15s and 16s you see today.

So how does a scoring system that was supposed to make scores more accurate allow a gymnast that falls on her knees (If you want to know, that Chinese gymnast technically should have gotten a 0 (zero). She did not complete the vault- didn't land on her feet, therefore its not considered a vault) and has visible errors medal over another gymnast, who to the normal eye, had barely any mistakes. Also, how does one take second place when she has the exact same score as the gymnast who takes first place?

The Vault episode comes down to the code of points. TheChinese gymnast's vault was more difficult. She had more room to lose tenths than Alicia did. Yes, Alicia performed her vaults way better but execution isn't the only thing that matters. Is it fair or right? I don't think so. And it never would have happened using the 10.0 scoring method.

The bars tie fiasco is a whole mess in itself. In 2006 they changed the rules so that there could be no ties. When the 4 judges scores are counted (there are 6 to begin with- the high and low are dropped automatically) and there is a tie, what is the next logical thing to do? I guess its drop another score. Is it logical? Not really. Is it right? NO. A score is a score. Give them both gold medals, they've done it in the past.

I hope these Olympics have some effect on the future scoring of gymnastics. These issues have made the sport unattractive to those who don't have enough knowledge and enthusiasm about it. But most importantly gymnasts were not fairly reward for their routines, when compared to their competitors.

Thanks for reading my long, confusing blob.