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Revision as of 06:02, 15 February 2010
In gymnastics, the maximum possible score was a perfect 10 until the rules were changed in 2006 by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Impetus for change
The scoring system came under review as a result of two incidents during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. In the men's individual all-around competition, South Korean Yang Tae-Young was awarded the bronze medal, rather than the gold, because of a scoring error, which the FIG decided to let stand. The second controversy centered on Russian Alexei Nemov in the men's horizontal bar final. The crowd so raucously voiced its displeasure with Nemov's score (perceived as too low) that the final was stopped for 10-15 minutes. Finally, the judges raised his score (though not enough for a medal). When this did not satisfy the spectators, Nemov himself had to plead with the crowd to allow the competition to continue.
The new scoring system is open-ended, rewarding competitors for incorporating more difficult elements.
Criticism
The change has its share of critics. "It's crazy, terrible, the stupidest thing that ever happened to the sport of gymnastics," complained noted coach Bela Karolyi. "It's hard to understand. I don't even understand it," remarked gymnast Mary Lou Retton. Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci commented, "It's so hard to define sports like ours and we had something unique. The 10, it was ours first and now you give it away."
Perfect 10s
This list may be incomplete.
Olympics
- 24 men at the 1924 Summer Olympics, all in rope-climbing, with one Albert Seguin getting a second 10 in the sidehorse vault
- Nadia Comăneci, 1972 (seven times)
- Nellie Kim, 1976
- Alexander Dityatin, 1980
- Mary Lou Retton, 1984 (twice in the all-around competition, in the floor exercise and vault)
- Bart Conner, 1984 (twice: parallel bars in both the team and individual events)
- Mitch Gaylord, 1984
- Tim Daggett, 1984
- Daniela Silivaş, 1988 (seven times)
- Yelena Shushunova, 1988 (multiple times)
- Lu Li, 1992
- Lavinia Miloşovici, 1992
World Championships
- Daniela Silivaş, 1985 World Gymnastics Championship
- Aurelia Dobre, 1987 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship (five times)
References
- ^ Diane Pucin (August 6, 2008). "A 10-shun Deficit". Los Angeles Times.
- Dan Baynes (August 6, 2008). "Olympic Gymnasts Won't Chase Perfect 10 as New Scoring Debuts". bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
- ^ Jordan Ellenberg (August 12, 2008). "Down With the Perfect 10!". Slate. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
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