ISO the perfect 10

(Getty Images)
Like most people around the world, I am so happy the Olympics are on. I generally have a hangover after they are done almost as bad as the end of college football season. As a former gymnast I am enamored with the men's gymnastics competition, as well as, all gymnastics, but I am having a competition malfunction.

I have an degree in accounting, got straight A's in math and I still can't figure out this scoring system they have adopted to make things "easier" and "fairer".

I remember the movie 10, Mary Lou Retton's perfect 10 and always looking for a nice time with the perfect 10, but all of a sudden there is no longer a perfect 10. It is somewhere around 16?

I know it starts with a difficulty factor and then the performance itself, but no one has bothered explaining it. The media will tell us about political commercials with Paris and Brittany, the dynamic twins of Brangelina and other mundane items, but have they explained the scoring? If they did I was asleep dreaming of my perfect 10.

Not only is the scoring confusing, it has become controversial. There were many times where the judges had to get together, review tape, change their scores and a lot of extended, very long waits that became exhausting for the audience, and can't imagine how it was for the athletes about to perform next.

And there were times when the scoring didn't seem to "measure up". The Chinese gymnast who nearly fell off 4 times but got a higher score on the balance beam than Shawn Johnson of the USA who had a perfect performance.

Alexander Artemev had a fantastic and flawless performance on pommel horse during the team competition and got the 3rd lowest score on that apparatus. Many years I have watched gymnastics and have never seen anything that fabulous. Not to mention he is a perfect 10 :)

So, what do we do? There are several options, we can demand to know the scoring system (which with all the delays and controversy) might take a masters in mathematics. Another option, grin and bear it.

Or the final option, join the people, headed by Mary Lou Retton, that are demanding we go back to the original scoring system. I will find a link and relate it to you as soon as it is available to me.

So, to the summer olympic and gymnastics fans out there, let's hope in London 2012 we find out perfect 10!!! OR in my case, sooner would be nice.. LOL...until we blog again!!!

Comments

[thisis_pete]

In any sports, whenever the scores are judged by human beings, there'll always be contraversy; no two human beings think alike. One may view this particular skill super, the other may view as good, but not super. As long as the disparity in scores are within margin of error, then the scores should not be questioned about. And if you really are always mad about why my favourite athlete didn't score the highest score, then lets hope that in the near future, ditch the judges, let computers be the judges and score the athletes: It's not entirely impossible; with some motion tracking devices positioned in some critical postions, and sophisticated computer alogorithms, hey it's feasible that we may not see judges in the gymnastics games in the next 10 yrs.

[thesp467]

I have to agree with Johnny West, I miss the old scoring system. I was starting to feel like China was given undeserved higher scores more than once, especially in women's gymnastics. Not to mention that there was no way all those girls were 16. It's a shame China feels they have to cheat. It makes it so unfair for the the rest of the teams competing. You could see the anger in Leuken's face. I hope they uncover some wrongdoing during this investigation but I'm sure china will cover their tracks, one thing China IS known for is making Counterfeits, I'm sure they can handle a few birth certificates.

[TS]

As a gymnastics coach, judge and a former gymnast myself, I understand the new code. However, I will admit that when it first came out I had a hard time trying to grasp the reality that the final score of a 10 was to be no more. BUT there is still the possibility of scoring a "10" with this new code. Not as the overall score, but in the "B" score (or execution score) every routine has the capabilty of scoring a 10. It's important to know that the FIG (the governing body of gymnastics) does not think that any routine could possibly be perfect and this is why a vault as beautiful as Nastia Liukin's in the AA finals scored only a 9.525. Sure, some gymnasts could have flown a bit higher with this same vault, but Nastia more than met the criteria to score a 10.0. This new code isn't really to blame, but more the mindset of the FIG. They don't want any 10's and so they continue to confuse the hell out of every spectator for this already complicated sport. It's no wonder enrollment is down and college programs are dropping like flies. The most magnificent sport in the world is crashing down all because of Bruno Grandi!