Judging International Gymnastics from the comfort of your couch--Part 3

Okay...so I need to wrap up this series so I can blog about my boring life already!    Part 1 dealt with judging (a quick history and breakdown of how scores are currently calculated) and Part 2 covered five of the individual events (p-bars, floor exercise for men and women, high bar, vault for men and women and women's uneven bars).  Here, I shall talk about the final three events:  pommel horse, balance beam and rings.  Any questions I have received on these I will cover in a Part 4 Blog in the near future.

DISCLAIMER:  Still nobody is endorsing the following! 

International Gymnastics Judging 101

~Breaking it Down, Event by Event~

Pommel Horse

The men's pommel horse event is very similar in difficulty to the women's balance beam.  It takes a great deal of strength, determination, and dexterity to conquer this apparatus.  The gymnast must mount the horse and do required elements such as scissor moves and flares and must also be able to travel from one end of the horse to the other, using the pommel handles as well as the horse itself, and then be able to perform some kind of handstand dismount with a stuck landing.  Sounds easy!    So, what can you look for from the comfort of your couch as you watch these routines?

1.  Form.  Yes, gymnastics is all about form.  Look for legs together, pointed toes most of the time (in some scissor moves it is necessary to have a flexed foot in order to help stop the momentum so that another skill can be performed) and straight arms.  Form is even important on the dismount.  Any form breaks usually result in a .10 deduction.

Russia's Alexie Nemov demonstrates good form on his scissor work:  toes pointed, shoulders back when the feet are forward, and straight arms.

2.  Dismount.  The dismount off of the horse at the international level usually consists of a handstand movement sometimes with pirouettes and then leaving the horse and sticking the landing.  Remember, one hop on one leg = .10 deduction, small two-legged hop = .20 deduction, falling on the landing = .80 deduction.  It can never be emphasized enough that the dismount is the last thing a judge sees in a gymnasts routine, so, it could make or break the score of the routine.

Belarus' Ivan Ivankov working the pommel horse.

3.  Crowd-pleasing performance.  I cannot begin to describe the thrill I feel when I watch a gymnast perform an amazing pommel horse routine that consists of incredible fast hands for travelling (displaying confidence and mastery of the apparatus), amazingly high scissor and flare movements, and an incredible multi-pirouetting dismount with a stuck landing!  You know it when you see it...so does the audience.  You can hear the crescendo of excitement as the crowd really gets behind the gymnast.  If you're smiling at the end of the routine, it's gotta be a high-scoring routine! 

China's legendary Li Ning in a 1984 picture.  It is necessary for a gymnast to have straight arms while traveling the pommel horse like Li Ning displays here as his entire body's momentum rotates on his straight left arm. 

Your turn.  Take a look at this video from the 2006 World Championships...you're watching Alexander "Sasha" Artemev.  See any form deductions during the performance and landing?

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhSDcgsDMcc

This next video is from the same competition and it features some amazing pommel work by China's Xiao Qin.  There's two easy form faults to find...can you see them?  Other than those, this is as flawless a routine as you'll find anywhere.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW6UHFHD6cU&feature=related

Balance Beam

The women's balance beam is one of the scariest apparatus ever devised to compete on.  I'm not sure of it's orgins but I'm sure it has some medieval connection to torture!   It's 4 inches wide, usually stands about 4 feet off of the ground, and is 8 feet long.  It's hard as a rock when someone falls on it, or worse, straddles it, and to add insult to injury, there's the gravitational pull of the Earth that further means to destroy a gymnast's self-esteem as she falls.  Yet, when a gymnast performs a routine on this apparatus with beauty, skill, and finesse, it is indeed ballet in the air.

This is personally one of the most emotional events for me to watch, primarily because of my daughter's own love/hate relationship with the beam when she performed artistic gymnastics.  She loved it when she was doing great on it, she loathed it when she was afraid of it.  It's an event that either owns you or you own it for there is not only the required skills to perform, there's the mental aspect of the event as well.  Most gymnasts that we see have had horrible experiences with falls on the beam and it takes a lot of guts to get back up and perform the skill that you fell on originally to begin with.  Beam either makes or breaks a person.

Some of the basic requirements on this event include at least three tumbling passes, a side-flip (like an Arabian or side-somersault), a full-turn, jumps, and a dismount with a stuck landing.  A gymnast must work above the beam as well as performing at least one skill below the walking surface of the beam.  What can you look for at home when you see top-level gymnasts perform the beam?

See those toes wrapped around the edge of the beam?  Doing so helps the gymnast know where the edge is.  The panel of judges looks on....

1.  Form.  Yep...it's all about form.  Tumbling on the beam is different than tumbling on the floor.  The hips must be square to the beam and a gymnast cannot have their feet side-by-side (like during a backhand spring series on the floor) because of the narrowness of the beam.  Therefore, a gymnast adopts a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other stance for tumbling skills.  Most often those little toes are wrapped around the edges of the beam, like a monkey, in order to stay on the beam.  Look for leg separation during tumbling (.10 deduction), bent arms which are easiest to spot on strength elements (.10 deduction), flexed foot instead of pointed toes (another .10 deduction), and "pretty fingers."  Pretty fingers usually come in a few different styles.  One style is to just have your fingers together straight which continues the line of the arm.  Another style, more old school, is to hold the invisible egg between your thumb and ring finger.  It's a touch of elegance and sloppy fingers can result in a deduction if the judge feels snarky. 

The AMAZING Olga Korbut from the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summer Olympic games in Munich, Germany, first of the pixie gymnasts to flood the gymnastics world before the age limit was raised to 16 for Olympic competition.  I was only 9 when I saw her perform beam on television.  I was in awe of her flexibility.  I knew at that point in my life that I would never, ever be able to do gymnastics! 

2.  Balance checks.  Each wobble on the beam results in deductions.  This is a little tricky because there's usually a range of deductions a judge can take from a .05 deduction all the way up to .50 or more if they add each flying arm swing into the equation.  A balance check is a break in form as the gymnast struggles to maintain her balance.  Sometimes its her butt sticking out, an arm swing correction, or a side-to-side wobble.  For simplicity sakes, take .10 deduction for each balance check you see.  Pay particular attention to a gymnasts full turn element as these usually result in a balance check if not properly executed.

The USA's Shannon Miller beautifully executes a wolf jump.  After that it was common place to see every gymnast performing a wolf jump in their balance beam routine, so, the F.I.G. (Federation of International Gymnastics) devalued the skill to the point where it isn't wise to use it in a routine because it would result in a lower degree of difficulty score.  This is an example of how the sport evolves into higher valued skills as a reult of something that use to be "Wow!" becomes "Ho, hum."

3.  Flow.  During the beam routine, any long pause (even just a second!) between movements where no movement is present results in a deduction and can result also in a loss of degree of difficulty if two skills were not connected in a flowing movement.  Looking at the gymnast pausing during her routine is like watching the wheels in her mind moving between fear and concentration.  As much as we want to see her successfully perform the skill, this pause should be deducted for when you're watching at home...another .10.  Note:  don't confuse a pause in the routine with a "ta-da" movement.  It's also important in beam to finish a skill by raising the head and arms in a ta-da salute before continuing on.

Nastia Liukin from the USA performs a very difficult sheep jump.  It's value, in terms of degree of difficulty, is very high because the landing is blind.  My daughter use to perform this on the floor and would quite often kick herself in the head!   Ouch! 

4.  Jumps.  A gymnast is required to execute jumps.  Deductions are taken for not achieving the desired 180 degrees.  Look for these and deduct .10 (although the judges can take a greater deduction if, for instance, a split leap jump was only performed at 90 degrees or less).

A Chinese gymnast has fantastic form in the air during her dismount.  It's so great that it almost looks like diving!

5.  Stick the landing!  You know the drill, right?  As always, the landing is essential.  One step = .10 deduction, two step hop = .20 deduction, one step more than a meter = .30, and a fall = .80.

The USA's Chellsie Memmel puts the balance in balance beam!  Where is this girl's leg?  Yowsa!!! 

Your turn.  Here's an interesting routine by Nastia Liukin.  Unfortunately, I don't have the scores, but I suppose I could find them if I researched it.  It's from the 2006 VISA cup championships and commentator Elfie points out that Nastia's save on beam was equivalent to having fallen off.  What's remarkable is the camera angle used during her tumbling pass on the beam.  It gives the viewer an appreciation of the importance of having the hips square to the beam while landing with one foot in front of the other during a tumbling pass.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4tCed8DGD0

To contrast styles, the following Shawn Johnson 2008 Tyson American Cup balance beam routine displays Shawn's awesome power and makes the viewer realize that she owns this apparatus.  To me, Nastia Liukin with her beautiful lines remind me of the tall and elegant dancer, Fred Astaire, and Shawn Johnson is similar to the powerfully athletic and daring dancing style of Gene Kelly.  Both styles are great yet so different.  During this video, pay particular close attention to Shawn's jumps...do they reach 180 degrees?

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuylzSNKdvg

Rings

I have saved the mightiest of mighty events for last.  The rings, or still rings as they are sometimes refered to, are not for weaklings.  Gymnasts display incredible feats of super human strength performed with control.  I have to remind myself to breath when I see gymnasts performing on rings!  But what do you want to look for during their routines?

Ivan Ivankov from Belarus.  He ain't no wimp!!!

1.  Ring stillness.  The whole point to the rings event is to perform skills as if floating in space.  The movement, or swinging, of the rings disturbs this illusion and results in a .10 deduction.  Ring movement can also be caused by a balance check from either under or over rotating a movement.  However, it is necessary to have the rings seem a little crazy during the dismount portion because a gymnast must get momentum in order to perform the dismount and clear the rings themselves.

Ivan Ivankov prepares to begin his routine by testing his grips to make sure they're in good contact with the rings.  Serious injury can result if a gymnast peels off (slips off) this apparatus and falls to the ground whatever way physics dictates.

2.  Strength moves held for 2 seconds.  You might be familiar with such gymnastics rings moves as the iron cross or the maltese, but did you know that the gymnasts are suppose to hold these strength moves for a long 2 second count?  Not doing so results in a .10 deduction.  Bonus points are awarded when gymnasts move successfully from one strength movement into the next strength movement.  You'll know when this happens because you'll be saying to yourself, "This is not humanly possible!!!!  He makes it look so easy!" 

Raj Bhavsar of the USA performs his iron cross--looks like he could do this all day, doesn't it?

3.  Stick those landings.  Imagine the strength you need to not only perform this routine, but to still have the energy to do an incredible dismount usually involving twists and multiple somersaults AND land on your feet?  Well, it takes a lot of strength.  But, any hops, leaps, or falls still result in deductions.  Same as before, one hop = .10 deduction, two-foot leap = .20 deduction, one step more than a meter = .30, a fall = .80 deduction and leaving the landing area (extensive traveling outside of the performance area) could also result in at least a .50 deduction.

The amazing Jordan Jovtchev from Bulgaria at 35 years of age.  He didn't use to show so much angst in his face but because of his age, he only is at the gym for about 40 minutes per day and doesn't train as hard as he use to.  Still, he's crazy strong!  Just looking at him makes my rotator cuffs hurt! 

4.  Form.  A gymnast must have good form.  Not achieving good form results in deductions, usually .10 for each form break.  Form deductions include not having the legs together, bent arms, flexed feet instead of pointed toes, strength moves not at 180 degrees, and arched back during handstand movements to name the more common form breaks.

China's Yang Wei...need I say more?

Your turn.  The following home video was taken of the United State's Kevin Tan during the 2007 Visa championships.  Kevin was recently described by Tim Daggett as being so strong "that even his sweat has muscles!" 

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKDCccVvbwE

China's Chen YiBing performance from the 2007 World Championship where he easily won the gold medal.  This is as close to perfection as there is on rings yet the judges were able to find at most .80 in deductions (quite frankly, I don't know where they saw them!).  Enjoy.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aYbcMXBf3I

So, this concludes the events.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  I'll do my best to answer them in one final Part 4 blog, including the questions from Parts 1 and 2.  Until then, I leave you with this promotion photo, probably from a gymnastics tour, for rings (never would this be performed in a meet...it's just for fun!):

Jordan Jovtchev, just passing the time of day, probably wondering what he's gonna eat for lunch later on.