Gymnastics

From OSU Wiki

Gymnastics Events Summary

Granted, gymnastics is not the most popular or well-known sport in the United States, or among college students. In gymnastics, women compete in four events: vault, uneven parallel bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. In men's gymnastics (which does not exist at Oregon State University, and is generally less popular and common in the United States than women's gymnastics), athletes compete in six events: vault, high bar, pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars, and floor exercise (very different from the women's floor exercise). The following is a brief description about each of the women's events:

• Vault: On vault, the gymnast runs down a runway at a maximum of approximately 82 feet from the vault (or horse), jumps onto a springboard, hits the horse with her hands, then flips and twists her way into her specific vault before landing on a mat. The vault, or horse, itself is a leather covered apparatus sized at approximately two feet wide by three feet long.
• Bars: On the uneven parallel bars, the gymnast performs skills without stopping between two wooden type bars set at different heights, most of the time referred to as a "low bar" and a "high bar."
• Beam: The balance beam is a leather covered apparatus on which the gymnast performs dance, jumps, and acrobatic skills for a maximum of 90 seconds. The beam is four feet high, sixteen feet long, and an intimidating four inches wide.
• Floor: Women's floor exercise is performed on a carpeted spring floor in an area that is about forty feet by forty feet. Routines are no longer than 90 seconds and are performed to music. The routine includes dance, jump combinations, and usually three tumbling passes that are performed from corner to corner.

Individual Event Scoring in College

Gymnastics scoring in college is very different from that in FIG (Federation of International Gymnastics). FIG scoring is the scoring that most people would recognize in the Olympics. In college, scores tend to be much more lenient, and although earning a "perfect 10" is still difficult, it is quite possible, unlike in today's FIG counterpart. Competitions are judged by four judges, with the highest and lowest scores being dropped, and the middle two scores averaged.

• Vault: Each vault is given a set start value. In college, only one vault is performed and scored. Deductions are taken for form breaks such as bent arms when hitting the horse, bent legs when they are supposed to be straight, or flexed feet instead of pointed. Deductions can also be taken if the gymnast does not get enough height, or amplitude, after hitting the horse. The most difficult and crucial part of the vault is the landing. Gymnasts strive for a "stuck" landing, meaning she does not move her feet in the landing. Each hop or step is a one-tenth deduction, and falling is a five-tenth deduction. Falling includes touching any body part to the mat other than the feet alone.
• Bars: Bar routines are judged starting from a 9.5 start value if all of the required elements are in the routine. Some of the required elements in a college gymnastics routine include two releases (a skill performed where the athlete releases the bar, performs a skill, and regrasps the bar), two bar changes (going from the low bar to the high bar and vice versa), and a minimum number of skills performed. Each skill in every event except for vault is given a difficulty value from A to E, E being the hardest and A being the easiest. In addition to performing all of the requirements, gymnasts can earn up to five-tenths of bonus for skill combinations and difficulty to start from a 10.0.
• Beam: On the balance beam, gymnasts start from a 9.5 and have potential to earn five-tenths of bonus. Requirements include a minimum of a full turn (360 degree turn on one foot on toe point), an acrobatic series (two acrobatic skills connected to each other), a leap (in a split or straddle position taking off from one foot), a skill that is performed either sideways or forward, and a dismount with a minimum of a "C" difficulty. Gymnasts earn bonus by performing a series of difficult jumps connected to each other, a difficult acrobatic series, a difficult skill, etc.
• Floor: Gymnasts performing on floor once again start from a base of 9.5 and can earn enough bonus to start from a 10.0. The gymnast earns her bonus by difficult tumbling passes or jump combinations. Each time a gymnast steps out of bounds from the floor exercise, a one-tenth deduction a taken from the final (or post-averaged) score.

College Women's Gymnastics

Generally, gymnastics is an individual sport, with each athlete competing all-around, meaning everyone competes on all four apparatus. However, gymnastics is transformed into a team sport in college. Division I gymnastics schools offer twelve full ride scholarships to gymnasts. In addition to the twelve scholarship athletes, coaches accept "walk-on" gymnasts, meaning these gymnasts participate on the team, but are not on any type of athletic scholarship. Therefore, division I gymnastics schools typically have anywhere from twelve to twenty athletes on the team. Instead of every girl competing every event, "line-ups" are created. Six gymnasts compete on each event. Generally, line-ups consist of the best six on a particular event from the team, with the "highest scorer" placed last in the line-up. Of these six competitors, the top five scores are counted into the team score.