perfect 10

This Sunday the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships will air on CBS. On the West Coast, it will air from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Check your local listings or the TV Guide for the times in your area.

Online coverage of the NCAA’s can be found at

1. Inside Gymnastics
2. International Gymnast
3. NCAA Sports Online

• Onodi, Backhandspring, One-arm Backhandspring, Layout Step out on Beam – Catalina Ponor (ROM)
• Two-footed Fronthandspring mount, double stag jump on Beam – Courtney McCool (USA)


(more…)

The FIG recently made a startling announcement. As recently reported on International Gymnast Online…

Earlier this year, the FIG announced it was developing a new Code of Points which would result in open-ended scores with unlimited points for difficulty. Gymnasts would no longer strive to get the Perfect 10 (though a 10.00 in execution would be possible).

So what does this mean to the non-gymnastics person who is unfamiliar with this kind of lingo? The scoring will now be similar to Ice Skating, with 2 scores. The gymnast will receive one score for execution (which is a fancy word for form – are their legs straight, toes pointed, etc?) between 0 and 10. And they will receive one score for difficulty (ie: how hard are the skills they perform?), which is open-ended. Up until now, gymnasts were given one score with a maximum of ten (hence, the perfect ten), in which execution and difficulty were both taken into account.

This announcement has caused unprecedented turmoil within the international gymnastics community. Coaches, current gymnasts, former World & Olympic Champions, and experts alike are up in arms about the proposed changes in the Code of Points. So I find myself contemplating the changes myself and attempting to write a coherent opinion on the subject.
(more…)

Bear in mind that because I live in the United States and do not have the opportunity to travel to many international competitions (nor do I get many cable channels), I have seen a limited number of international competitions. So unfortunately, my lists may tend to be heavy on the American side but that is not because I do not appreciate international routines… I just don’t get the chance to see very many.

In no particular order…

• Courtney McCool, (USA) – 2004 US Nationals, 2nd Day
• Alanna Slater, (AUS) – 2004 Olympic Games, Team Prelims

(more…)

I have been waiting a long time for this. For the past two years I have been hearing about the prowess of Nastia Liukin but had yet to see her compete. I was wondering if she would live up to the hype. After winning the Junior National Championship two years in a row (2003-2004), she finally made her Senior debut at the 2005 American Cup.

(more…)

I have long wanted an outlet for my gymnastics ardor. Some might call me obsessed but I prefer to think of myself as passionate! So my husband helped me set up a weblog using WordPress with the FastTrack theme, though we obviously changed the photo to this one of Nadia Comaneci at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games (the photo is of her compulsory bar routine, where she scored the first-ever perfect 10 in Olympic history). I decided to title this blog “Perfect Ten” because the perfect 10 in gymnastics is on its way to extinction so the title serves as a memorial. More thoughts on the demise of the 10.00 to come. For now, I will leave you with my credentials, modest though they are…
(more…)