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.
It has almost been four years since Aliya Mustafina introduced her namesake dismount on uneven bars, a one and a half twisting double back tuck. The weird thing is that a stretched dismount of the same element has not been performed. The problem with that element is that the CoP has no special value for it given that a full twsiting double layout is rated an F and the double double is rated a G. The CoP had the luxury of fitting the Mustafina, an E rated element, in between the D and F.
