Gymnastic experts, can someone tell me how Simon Biles made 3 major errors but yet had top score in qualifying?

the difficulty ratings of her routines are very high, so she can afford a few errors.

In field events you can foul 4 times but still win with just one good attempt. I think if someone has a faulty routine but can land moves that are impossible for everyone else to even attempt then it deserves merit.

The system used to be based on 10 points max and there was a deduction for every goof. Now there's a difficulty score and an execution score and they are added. I can't stand to watch it any more but if her difficulty is higher then she can still win if she takes some dings on her execution.

No idea!

I like non-subjective competition. For example: first one to the finish line wins.

I think there are a few elements to this somewhat mystifying result.

Yes, the scoring now does favor "harder" routines, but that gives a significant, built in advantage

to the better gymnasts, as they are the ones that most likely will attempt these

more technically difficult moves.

I also believe there is some "woke" intimidation for the judges. Biles has been universally acclaimed as the "GOAT",

and anybody that even suggests that she's not gets flamed as a racist at this point. Giving her a bad score, even after obvious mistakes, opens the judging up to heavy criticism and controversy.

At this point, she could probably fall out of the building after every routine and still win multiple golds.

Tank AyeRon wrote:

No idea!

I like non-subjective competition. For example: first one to the finish line wins.

Hmm. Good idea. Whichever gymnast finishes their routine the quickest, wins.

6403 wrote:

I also believe there is some "woke" intimidation for the judges. Biles has been universally acclaimed as the "GOAT",

and anybody that even suggests that she's not gets flamed as a racist at this point. Giving her a bad score, even after obvious mistakes, opens the judging up to heavy criticism and controversy.

Nonsense. The judges dont just wing a score based on their mood at the time. Each element has a particular score and each mistake has a particular deduction. Thats why the best gymnasts are less concerned with minor infractions, even stepping out of bounds here are there because they know they can more than make up for it based on the routine they are performing. But you go ahead and be upset that they wont let the judges judge based on racism.

She is just that much better than everyone else. She actually could do error free routines and win as well, but she chooses to push the envelope on difficulty more than is needed anyway, which is pretty cool.

Gymnastics scoring is now based off of two scores, a difficulty score (D score) and execution score (E score). It used to be just out of 10. The reason for the change was that rewarding more difficult routines benefits better gymnasts and pushes the sport forward keeping people from paying it safe and doing "easier" techniques that they are sure to execute perfectly. We want to see new challenging combos and gymnasts pushing the sport to new places! Simone Biles' routines are way more challenging than everyone else's, so even if she looses points in her E score, she more than makes up for it in her D score.

Re: Simone biles. The new scoring system really benefits very strong, technically advanced gynmnasts like Simone compared to the much older system (I can't remember when the change was made...either around the 2000 or 2004 olympics I believe). It's actually part of the reason you see much more power gymnasts now than in the past.

However the argument is that the D scores still don't reflect just *how* difficult Simone's routines are relative to everyone else and thus penalizes her. No one was arguing the much older way of scoring (out of 10) would do anything but penalize an athlete like Simone Biles. That's why the code of points had an overhaul sometime around the early 2000s.

Ah apparently the scoring system changed in 2006. So it would have been the 2008 Olympics that incorporated it. Anyway, if you want to know the deets, this is a breakdown of how E scores and D scores are calculated: https://usagym.org/pages/events/pages/fig_scoring.html

6403 wrote:

I also believe there is some "woke" intimidation for the judges. Biles has been universally acclaimed as the "GOAT",

and anybody that even suggests that she's not gets flamed as a racist at this point. Giving her a bad score, even after obvious mistakes, opens the judging up to heavy criticism and controversy.

No offense meant but this is just a REALLY really stupid comment by someone who clearly does not follow gymnastics.

In certain disciplines, she is worlds away from her nearest competitor. She is able to complete moves that some men find difficult. Her moves are not ranked as high in order to keep her more competitive with the others.

In running terms, she is so far ahead of everyone else, her errors can be equated to a leader in the marathon stopping to use the restroom and still continuing to win.

Dwightarm wrote:

No offense meant but this is just a REALLY really stupid comment by someone who clearly does not follow gymnastics.

obviously offense is meant. Who are you kidding?

Here's something else to offend you. If you want to score more points for a more difficult move, you should be able to do it without adding errors.

Imagine the figure skaters falling down and still winning because the jump they attempted had one more rotation than everyone else.

Not that I care, these olympic-based sports have always been a joke, mainly I just don't like nasty posters.

No offense taken!

You are correct, I don't follow this sport closely but used to watch it during the Olympics fairly regularly.

Usain Bolt was so far ahead of his competitors at one point that he was able to turn around and

look at the other athletes when he got near the finish line.

He still had to "finish" the race. I think this "revised" scoring system is a double edged sword and gives too much

of an advantage to the athletes that simply attempt moves that have a higher degree of difficulty. It's has a "built in"

bias.

And I wouldn't bet the house that there won't be some sort of scoring controversy with Biles before the games are over.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Dwightarm wrote:

No offense meant but this is just a REALLY really stupid comment by someone who clearly does not follow gymnastics.

obviously offense is meant. Who are you kidding?

Here's something else to offend you. If you want to score more points for a more difficult move, you should be able to do it without adding errors.

Imagine the figure skaters falling down and still winning because the jump they attempted had one more rotation than everyone else.

Not that I care, these olympic-based sports have always been a joke, mainly I just don't like nasty posters.

Thanks, and totally agree. Also, isn't the whole point of this forum the "nasty posters", LOL!

6403 wrote:

I also believe there is some "woke" intimidation for the judges.

Letsrum.com

some thoughts from a woman wrote:

Gymnastics scoring is now based off of two scores, a difficulty score (D score) and execution score (E score). It used to be just out of 10. The reason for the change was that rewarding more difficult routines benefits better gymnasts and pushes the sport forward keeping people from paying it safe and doing "easier" techniques that they are sure to execute perfectly. We want to see new challenging combos and gymnasts pushing the sport to new places! Simone Biles' routines are way more challenging than everyone else's, so even if she looses points in her E score, she more than makes up for it in her D score.

They can even have video review if there is disagreement on what the "D" score should be, so there are no questions on fairness in that regard. I believe the high and low overall scores are also thrown out.

6403 wrote:

I also believe there is some "woke" intimidation for the judges.

So, still, us empowered, strong, acknowledged, with adulation, simply just being the best or superior at something can not be objective truth. It must be explained away, caveated, conditioned, smeared to protect what I can only describe as a cultural narcissism, an existential narcissism.

Hence all the relentless daily dumping on Kenyan athletes on this forum.