End of ‘Perfect 10’ era in gymnastics

Beijing, Aug. 8: The likes of Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci made it a habit to score ‘Perfect 10’ in their pomp.

The current and future crop of gymnasts, however, just cannot attain that magical mark, not because they are inferior but simply because the scoring system has got changed.

Determined to separate the grain from the chaffe, the International Gymnastic Federation decided to make the ‘Perfect 10’ score obsolete, replacing it with a new system.

Though the new system has been tried at other events, it would make an Olympics debut in Beijing and both the officials and gymnasts are waiting to see how it pans out.

"What we can say after two World Championship and a number of continental championships is that it will make it easier to differentiate between gymnasts," Adrian Stoica, president of GIF’s Men’s Technical Committee, said. American gymnast Nastia Liukin also shared Stoica’s optimism and said her ilk would soon get used to the new system.

"At the beginning, some people didn’t like it but I’ve got used to it. It works pretty well for me. In the old Code, you could only go up to 10. I have a 7.7 Start Value (A score on Uneven Bars), so my score could go up to 17.7," she said.

According to the new system, gymnasts are now evaluated by two judging panel on two grounds — A (Difficulty) and B (Execution).

The score starts with A and points are added according to the skills which the gymnasts perform. The B score starts at 10 and points are deducted for errors. The final score is a combination of A and B scores.

Apparatus champions at the 2007 Stuttgart World Championships earned winning scores ranging from 15.25 to 16.7.

— PTI