Gymnastics News! | Aly Raisman

After reading little things here and there and seeing pictures of a supposed comeback attempt by the three time olympic medalist, nothing is more convincing then seeing her tumbling. Aly Raisman posted a video of her tumbling on her instagram page - hopefully shot recently. There had been videos of her 'training' but nothing ever really showed her working out except for her trying to fix her poor toe-point. The video tells me that she is back and is definitely working on a comeback for a shot at Rio 2016.

The video shows her working on an arabian double piked. I will summarize what an arabian is now but will talk about that term extensively in a later post. An arabian is a half turn, the gymnast starts from a back entry and then takes the half turn and proceeds to forward twice. The most typical arabian being performed on the floor is an arabian double tuck, valued at an E. Gymnasts that are currently performing that particular skill are Aliya Mustafina and Maria Kharenkova.

The piked arabian is slightly more difficult, valued an F, and not that many gymnasts on the women's field are performing it. Part of the reason that there aren't that many people training it is because front moving saltos have difficult landings. If you see the video you will notice that she takes a very big step forward which would probably incur a three tenths, .3, in deductions.

Enjoy.

 Via GymnasticsCoaching

Breaking Down: Code of Points

Breaking down the code of points, sometimes abbreviated as CoP, in depth would take hundreds of pages and I certainly won't be doing that. I will be breaking down the code in a way that will help everyone 'out of the loop', with basic knowledge, understand gymnastics better than not. I can't work miracles but I'll try and be as specific as possible and will gladly answer any questions that are directed in the comments section. Please take note that I am breaking down the code of points for women only, while some of this information transfers over to the men's field it is much more complicated and with varying rules. Please take a breath and continue reading!

According to the code of points (CoP), I will use CoP from now on, every element, or sometimes referred to as a skill, is given an alphabet letter name that translates into a decimal score. That means that an A element is worth 0.10, a B element is worth 0.20, a C element is worth 0.30 and so on. The current CoP's has left it open for higher values being created if they deem a new skill merits it. Currently the values go from A to I or 0.10 to 0.90.

Note: The latest revision to the CoP has not updated the diagram below, it should show I is worth 0.90.

Each performance is given a difficulty score, that score is determined by adding up the highest 8 elements, 2.5 points of required elements and connection bonuses. The execution score starts at 10 and deductions in the performance are removed from the 10. The difficulty score is added to the final execution score to determine the score of a gymnast. That means an uneven bars routine with a D-score of 6.2 and an E-score of 9.0 results in a final score of 15.2.

The fact that the judges only take the highest 8 elements does not mean that a gymnast can only do 8 skills. A gymnast can do as many elements as possible within the time limits of the apparatus. The drawback of doing more elements is that the judges can find more deductions. A gymnast might still perform more if she wants to gain connection bonuses.

The vault is the only apparatus that lacks the use of alphabet letter name values, instead it uses a direct value for each vault. For example, the most performed vault is the double twisting Yurchenko and it has a value/difficulty score of 5.8. That means that it can score a maximum value of 15.8 if it had zero deductions - extremely unlikely.

The CoP has composition requirements for uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, which all gymnast must comply with to receive the composition points, 2.5 points. The universal requirement is that a gymnast must perform a D valued dismount. That means if a gymnast complies with that requirement they receive .5 under the composition requirements. If they perform a C dismount they will only receive .3, and zero for an A or B dismount.

That appears to be the bulk of the necessary information to understand the CoP. Everything else is very specific and can be reviewed by checking a copy of the CoP. I will deconstruct a performance in a later post that will hopefully help you apply the information learned in this post to an actual performance. You guys are one step closer to becoming educated gymnastics fans!

Bonus: Below is a video of the only element the CoP has classified an I value. It is a double twisting double layout salto from a back entry. Performed by Victoria Moors and named after her - commonly referred to as the Moors.

A salto means a jump but is usually only referred to jumps that rotate more than once - usually excluding twisting jumps that don't flip/rotate. In the US the term salto is referred to as a somersault but the CoP uses the term salto and to be honest it is easier to spell.

First Post | My Platform | Breaking Down: Full Twisting Double Back Tuck Dismount on Bars

I am a gymnastics and enthusiast who has been watching gymnastics since the 90s but haven't really understood the technical aspect until around 2011. Before 2011, I saw every tumble and twist as more of the same thing and didn't fully understand the difference between a back triple full and a full in double back tuck. Everything was just tumbling and twisting and everything else was filler. I remember watching Nastia Liukin all around floor routine and being impressed without fully understanding how weak her tumbling was. Thankfully, I've studied and reviewed the previous and current code of points and can now say that I have a 'good' grasp of gymnastics.

My platform is to bring gymnastics fans the latest news regarding gymnastics, explaining the current code of points, review the latest FIG's releases on judging, explanation of jumps, breaking down routines and hopefully predict routines that gymnasts are going to do. That means I'm going to catch you up to my level of gymnastics understanding and send you off to some other sites when I lack the knowledge of the concepts.

To be completely honest I am a Russian gymnastics nut, I bleed for Komova and jump up and down for the Russian men. That doesn't mean that I don't follow what other nations are doing, I keep track of the competition just as much as I do the Russians. I generally lean towards gymnastics that fully incorporates artistry with tumbling and hard skills. I cringe when I see unpointed toes, bent knees and bad form all around. That doesn't mean that I won't appreciate a really massive skill - I really want to see a girl do a triple back - hopefully better than Valeri Liukin's cowboyed triple back. I will try and keep it quite unbiased but sometimes feelings do sneak out and I will keep that to a minimum.

Before I end this post, I want to make it clear that I am not a blog set up focused on a culmination with Rio 2016. I will focus on gymnastics as a cycle that culminates in four years but begins a new right after the last floor routine is performed in the event finals. Please come back and check out our posts and educate yourself on gymnastics.

P.S.: Below is a picture diagramming Viktoria Komova's 2011 gold medal winning uneven bars routine. The focus is on her dismount, a full twisting double back. That particular skill is rated by the FIG with a difficulty value of a D or .4. The skill requires that the gymnast perform a full twist with a double salto tucked from a back entry. The skill is sometimes referred to as a Tsukahara (pronounced sukahara) or a Chusovitina after the first man and woman to perform it.