Vault in the Proposed 2013-2016 Code of Points

A draft of the code of points for the 2013-2016 quadrennium was recently released, and I will be writing a series of posts on how it effects scoring on each event. I will also post a set of sample scoring using the document with the 2011 world event finals, altering the difficulty scores for a new final score. I will not try to tackle any changes in execution judging or artistry deductions in these posts, because that is somewhat more subjective (especially artistry) and if I have no clue what the judges took in the first place, how would I be able to compare that with what they should take now?

You can download a copy of the proposed code of points by clicking here.

Values of Vaults

Vault	Old Value	New Value
Handspring fwd with 1⁄2 turn (180°) on	N/A	2.4
Round-off, flic-flac on	N/A	2.6
Round-off, flic-flac with 1⁄2 turn (180°) on	N/A	2.6
Handspring forward on – stretched salto forward with 1/1 turn (360°) off	5.9	5.8
Handspring forward on – stretched  salto forward with 11⁄2 turn (540°) off	6.3	6.2
Handspring forward on – tucked double salto forward off	7.1	7
Tsukahara tucked with 11⁄2 turn (540°) off	5.1	4.9
Tsukahara stretched with 21⁄2 turn (900°) off	6.7	6.5
Round-off, flic-flac on – tucked salto backward with 11⁄2 turn (540°) off	4.9	4.7
Round-off, flic-flac on – stretched salto backward with 2 1⁄2 turn (900°) off	6.5	6.3
Round-off flic-flac with 1⁄2 turn (180°) on – stretched salto forward with 1/1 turn (360°) off	6.1	6
Round-off flic-flac with 1⁄2 turn (180°) on – stretched salto forward with 11⁄2 turn (540°) off	6.4	6.5

Vaults Needed for Event Finals

2013-2016

The two vaults must be from different groups and with different second flight phase

2009-2012

The two vaults must show a different Repulsion phase (take off position) vaulting table.

This change in wording should indicate that gymnasts are now allowed to perform two vaults from different groups in which they leave the table in the same direction but do a different number of twists or have a different body position. It allows for, for example, the return of gymnasts doing a double twisting Tsukahara and an Amanar for event finals. It would still not allow, however, a double twisting tsukahara and a double twisting yurchenko or a layout podkopayeva and a layout barani, the vaults used by all of the medallists in the 2000 Olympics. It may make vault finals a little bit more interesting and competitive.

Vault Scoring for Event Finals

The biggest change in the proposed code of points, in terms of how scores will look, is probably for vault in event finals. The two difficulty scores are averaged, then all of the deductions from both vaults are taken from a 10.0 and added to the averaged difficulty. This means that gymnasts are penalized more for poor execution.

My Opinion

I like some of the changes, but dislike some as well. It looks like the FIG just took .1 off all high rated front entry vaults and .2 off all high rated tsukaharas and yurchenkos without really looking at the vault itself and compared to other vaults. The 2 1/2 twisting tsukahara has never been competed, and I have never even heard that anyone was training it. There were no double twisting tsukaharas performed at worlds this year. I think that it is clear that the world’s top vaulters need more incentive to go for this vault, and they did get a little bit of it because they can now perform it in event finals with a yurchenko, but they cannot perform two 2 1/2s, so which one will we see? The Amanar, of course! The different postflight rule may also lead to some chucked Amanars by gymnasts with double twisting tsukaharas (maybe that’s paranoia). What I just said is also true for vaults like the handspring front layout full, which is now worth the same as the double twisting yurchenko. Nobody was doing it when it was worth more than the DTY, why would they do it now?

As far as the scoring for event finals goes, I like it in theory. I think that if you look back, it generally effects vault results in a very positive way, making execution more important and making vault seem more like a full routine instead of two separate skills in which if you mess up on one, you can make up for it on the other. In event finals, all deductions were divided by 2 when the vaults were averaged. That is no longer the case. This rule does, however, make vault scores very very low. They decrease by over a point for most gymnasts, unless they have superb execution (9+ E scores). With 10.0 execution scores, these scores would be the same as in the old code of points, but they drop rapidly with deductions and it will be odd to see gymnasts winning beam with 16s (I think that beam will be the highest scoring event in the next quad in event finals) and winning vault medals with 13s. As far as comparing the vaulters goes, I like it, but for a casual fan, won’t it be weird to have top all arounders scoring high 15s on vault but the event winners only scoring in the 14s?