Just about every gymnast dreams about one day stepping atop the podium to receive a gold medal. While winning the all-around event is the most coveted prize, it is not the only gymnastics competition. In most events, gymnasts perform optional routines, meaning the gymnast performs his own choreography with the required skills, plus additional skills to increase the total point value. In artistic gymnastics, men compete on the floor, vault, horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse and still rings. Women compete on the uneven bars, balance beam, vault and floor.
Team
The team competition, or Competition IB, determines the best gymnastics club or country, depending on the level of competition. Although it's team against team for the highest overall score on all the events, not every gymnast competes on every event. In the 2012 Olympic Games, each country will have five members per team. On each event, the best three gymnasts on that event from the team compete. This is quite the downsize from the 1996 Olympics when the United States "Magnificent Seven" took the gold. Fewer gymnasts on the team means the selected gymnasts must be especially skilled on their events.
All-Around
Just getting into the individual all-around is an accomplishment for any gymnast. Per its name, the all-around, or Competition II, includes all the events. Only the highest-scoring gymnasts from either the team competition or the qualifiers -- depending on the event -- advance to the all-around. In international competitions, the top 24 gymnasts advance, with no more than two gymnasts from one country. At the international level, the all-around winner becomes the number one gymnast in the world. Because the all-around champion is so skilled, she might also win several individual medals, as Nastia Liukin did in the 2008 Games when she won the bronze on floor, the silver on beam and the silver on bars.
Individual
The individual event finals, or Competition III, selects the best gymnasts on each event to compete for the individual event medal. The individual event selects from either the team competition or the qualifiers, depending on the event. The top eight scoring gymnasts from each event advance, with a maximum of two gymnasts from the same team. On the vault, gymnasts perform two vaults from two different categories, with the scores averaged together. The individual competition allows specialists to shine. These gymnasts excel at one event but might be subpar in other events, and will not compete on the other events.
Compulsory
USA Gymnastics requires compulsory competitions for gymnasts in the Elite, Junior Elite and Junior Olympics programs. In a compulsory competition, gymnasts perform the exact same routines per level. The Compulsory competition, or Competition 1A, was part of the Olympics through 1996, after which the International Gymnastics Federation discontinued it because the compulsory event lengthened the competitions, were poorly attended and limited the time gymnasts could work on their optional routines, says Coach John Howard on Gymnastics Zone.
References
- NBC Olympics: Gymnastics
- Gymnastics Zone; Definition: Competition IB; John Howard
- USA Gymnastics; News; Magnificent Seven to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame; April 2008
- Gymnastics Zone; Definition: Competition II; John Howard
- Nastia Liukin: Bio -- Golden Moment
- Gymnastics Zone; Definition: Competition III; John Howard
Member Comments