Such a lot is said about artistry these days - but you don't really see much evidence of it in the gymnastics. There are flashing moments of brilliance that some people enjoy - for example, a gymnast like Brazil's Flavia Saraiva is a favourite for her spirited and expressive floor and beam. Others might prefer the structured work of a gymnast like Kyla Ross. For me, though, the idea of consummate artistry has been lost almost totally - the last time I saw anything like it was in 2012 when Komova performed her floor so brilliantly in the all around final. But without a mechanism to reward artistry - something that is absent from this Code of Points - there really isn't much point even trying any more. Aliya Mustafina was interviewed recently while on holiday in Italy and expressed the opinion that artistry was something that was inborn, rather than trained. She uses a metaphor to describe this - some gymnasts have five gears, not four, and the abilit...
music and artisty haven't been major (or even significant) elements in exercise composition or judging for the last several Codes.....expect the usual FIG blather resulting from these workshops but do NOT expect any perceptible change....
ReplyDeleteI am all for it, but to me tha FIG is playing with a double edge sword. for example the women are unfairly being push to try 4 hard difficult passes, insert all the requirements in the COP, come up with a good choreagraphy, and they have to stick their landing like the men and now with no pauses in the corners, that is a recipe to bring more injuries. but the men floor exercise is nothing but tumbling passes from one corner to the next. the men no longer have to do scales, or 2 different kinds of planches and handstand, and absolutely no flairs or show flexibility. something is got to give.
ReplyDeleteto me they should allow the women to return to lunges, only penalize them if they stand more than 3 seconds in the corners, and increase the time to a minute and forty five or fifty seconds per exercise in order to have them to work on choreagrophy while incorporating all the requirements in the COP and the 4 tumbling passes.
Gymnasts are not initially selected for their artistic abilities, but rather their athletic , and they might or might not have an artistic bone in their body. The code is not conducive to artistic endeavour and has not been for quite awhile. You cannot quantify artistry.
ReplyDeletePossibly the choreographers have adapted to the scoring reality and have a few dynamic poses on the way to a multitude of counting skills.
I still think the Russians are the best in the world artistically