Who should have won the 2006 American Cup?
Shayla Worley. Hands down. She had the best meet of the day but somehow she still ended up in second place. I’m not knocking Nastia Liukin, who took the title, but Nastia had 2 substantial errors (Vault & Beam) and yet still wound up the winner. How does something like this happen?
Although I don’t want to pass judgement too quickly, I think the new open-ended scoring system is partially to blame. Nastia is a tremendous athlete and she admittedly had more difficulty in her routines than Shayla, but not that much more. Not enough to make up for a large stumble on her vault landing and a fall from the balance beam. Shayla was only a few tenths of a point less than Nastia in the difficulty department. Under the old 10.00 system (where 10.00 was the highest score attainable), I don’t think Liukin would have come out on top. We saw something similar to this in Figure Skating at the Winter Olympics last month. Sasha Cohen had 2 falls in her final program but still took the silver medal. While there are merits to the new scoring systems in both Figure Skating and Artistic Gymnastics, there is something inherently wrong with the system if an athlete who falls (Nastia) can beat an athlete of equal caliber who does not (Shayla).
What do you think?
March 22nd, 2006 at 10:16 pm
I personally think that Shayla and Nastia should have tied (but I haven’t seen Shayla’s bars or vault, so I’m not sure–did Shayla do a Yurchenko full? If she did, then I think that the outcome was fair). I like this scoring system, since it seems to be similar to the one in figure skating, and I like that one too. I think this new scoring system fits Nastia really well, which is why she won. Nastia seems to be a better gymnast than Shayla right now.
March 26th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Shayla made a big mistake on beam as well. She covered it nicely, but it was still obvious. Overall, Nastia is a better gymnast with a lot more difficulty. People who throw the more difficult skills need to get the proper credit for them, otherwise everyone would be doing the same boring, simple skills. I think the new scoring system has good intentions for the sport, but as an audience member, I hate it. I am so confused!
March 26th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Thanks to both of you for your comments. I enjoy a good debate…
While I agree that Nastia was arguably the superior gymnast in the competition, on that particular day she did not perform up to par. With a large stumble on her Vault landing and a fall from the Beam, she gave the advantage to Shayla. For that reason, I still hold to my opinion that on that day, in that competition, Shayla deserved to come out on top.
April 1st, 2006 at 2:13 am
I think it was close Nastia had a very low vault while Shayla only did a yurchenko full, Nastia fell off beam while Shayla basically fell on beam. I would still give it to Nastia because I like her gymnastics better.
September 10th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
i think they are both great gymnasts! but i have a really important question - WHY DID THE SCORING SYSTEM CHANGE??? i need to know for a school assignment and all i can find is “to keep it open ended” but why do it the way they did….. pls if anyone knows….. i am so stuck!!!!!!!!!!! thanks guys!
October 11th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Hey. Personally I think Shayla has a little bit more difficulty (minus the vault) and more variety in her routines compared to Nastia. I really don’t like how Nastia seems to do the same twisting elements over and over and over again. Take floor for example: how many passes does Nastia twist in? And Shayla has a lot of variety because she twists does double saltos (Nastia hasn’t done a double salto in competition til her double front that we saw at national) especially the intricate arabian double front. While they both made mistakes I think Shayla performed a little bit better that day than Nastia. And I can say from experience because I was actually there in the arena at Temple University in Philly.
I don’t know if its too late for an answer to your question Jacque but one of the main reason it changed was because of a lot of the judging controversy that happened in recent years especially with the 2004 Olympics.
October 14th, 2006 at 12:45 am
just wanted to say thanks heaps to Alecia for her adivce! it really helped = ) xx
October 16th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Aw, no problem, Jacque. At least something good comes from the hours of gymnastics coverage Ive watched and taped haha
July 14th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
hi,
i think that just because nastia does not do alot double saults however she did do double layout off bars. she is the best gymnast i have seen in years. she has stlye and i just love to watch her on floor bars and beam. im a gymanst myself and i have seen the same thing before and the best has come out on top and that is wahat happened nastia was the best so she won. Nastia has alot more hard skills in her routins so the fall would noot of made a big differences.
August 27th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I can not get how people say that Shay desrved to win with hands down. Nastia had a MUCH higher difficulity, much better form, better execution, artistry, flexibility, everything. But hey! everyone has different opinion….
September 17th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Nastia was really great on bars and she scored very good. Even though shayla worley had a check on her flick lay-out korbut flick she still did well in everything else. The difficulty of nastia liukins routines are much harder than shaylas so i thinck thats why shayla didnt win and nastia did
October 18th, 2007 at 5:38 am
No WAY! Nastia is always the winner no matter what!!!!
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE NASTIA!
December 4th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
While Nastia and Shayla are both very good gymnasts, I think it is important to note the differences in both their styles of gymnastics and their bodies. Nastia is much taller than Shayla, and as such it makes it much more difficult flip than to twist. Shayla doesn’t have that delimma. Also, they have different styles of gymnastics that make if difficult to compare their routines. I’m not sure, but I would agree that Nastia probably has more difficulity than Shayla. With all that said, however, I do not necissarily think Nastia should’ve won. However, the judges can always find things that we as spectators miss–I’m sure that has something to do with the outcome as well.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
i think where nastia gets the higher score is in the B score. practically every skill she performes is done with near perfection.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
LIUKIN , you are all for me!
I love you to the end *.*
August 20th, 2008 at 9:04 am
i love you you are beaiful
November 1st, 2008 at 3:39 pm
This is really cool… Are you trying to play with my cuddly profit Wanna joke?) Why did the vampire give his girlfriend a blood test? To see if she was his type.
November 27th, 2008 at 11:10 am
yeah so i think shayla is a great gymnast and everything but really… come on guys nastia has way higher difficulty and performs better. her bars is WAYYY better and it seems like nastia is a lot more confident. also shayla obviously wouldnt have won because shawn johnson would have.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I think they are both outstanding athletes, I also just think that Nastia has a higher difficulty. I think that Nastia deserved this go-round but shayla can work hard and win it next time.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I think Nastia is a great gymnast and same with Shayla. The new scoring system sucks and nobody will really know who really deserved the better score.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Guys look at it this way, Nastia went to the olympics and she got gold all around. Nastia is the better gymnast.