No More Perfect 10’s

I’m not much of a sports fan, but I like watching the Olympics. My favorites are swimming, diving, track/field and gymnastics. I have fond memories of playing gymnastics after the 1976 Olympics – if I recall correctly, my little sister was always Nadia Comaneci, the girls next door were generally Olga Korbut and Nelli Kim, and I was Lyudmila Turishcheva (she was older and taller, as was I).

I was browsing the gymnastics information on NBC’s Olympics website and discovered they’ve changed the scoring system. A score of 10 is no longer the Holy Grail of gymnastics – and in fact, a score of 10 is pretty crappy.

Why is there a new code of points?
The International Gymnastics Federation decided to overhaul gymnastics’ rulebook, the Code of Points, following the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Not only did a scoring error leave American Paul Hamm’s gold medal in limbo for two months, but the men’s high bar final was delayed for more than ten minutes when the crowd couldn’t understand Russian Alexsei Nemov’s score.
When did the new rules take effect?
The FIG, gymnastics’ international governing body, passed the new code in November, 2005 and it was first used in 2006. The last major event under the old system was the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 American Cup was one of the first to employ the new rules.
What’s the biggest difference?
In previous codes, gymnasts were striving for a maximum score of ten points. Now, there is no maximum score.
The Perfect 10 is gone?
Yes. Gymnastics’ iconic Perfect 10 as a maximum score was abolished in favor of an open-ended system, designed to allow greater separation of gymnasts’ scores. While it is theoretically still possible to score a 10, the routine wouldn’t be Olympic-caliber (and it al so wouldn’t be considered perfect).
How is a gymnasts’ score determined?
The new system is similar to the scoring system used in figure skating. One panel of judges starts from 0, adding points for requirements, difficulty and connections. A second panel of judges starts from 10.0 and deducts for execution and artistry. The scores are then added together.
Doesn’t that emphasize difficulty?
In fear that the sport would turn into the x-games, with athletes throwing as much difficulty as possible, execution errors were increased. For example, falls are now eight-, instead of five-tenths of a point.
What’s a good score now?
As a general rule, scores in the 15-16 range are considered good, with scores over 16 being exceptional.

I find myself a bit nostalgic for the Perfect 10. I vaguely remember Nadia making history with her first 10, and at subsequent Olympics it was always exciting to see how close gymnasts came to achieving “perfection.” But now that there’s no maximum score, it will be interesting to see how high they can go. I suppose it just takes a shift in how you think about it. Before, scoring was based on the idea that there was a level of performance that constituted the pinnacle of achievement in the sport – a ceiling, if you will. The new scoring system means there is no level of performance that can be considered perfection.

I would imagine that requires at least some change in approach. Elite gymnasts can no longer think of the sport as something to be mastered; rather, the focus must be on continuous improvement, increasing difficulty/complexity and innovation. Not that they didn’t do those things before, but I would expect the new scoring to turn up the heat in those areas.