Bring back the ten!

As I sit here and watch the compulsory competition for the Beijing Summer Olympics, I am flooded with memories. Though I have followed gymnastics my whole life (even had a poster of Olga Korbut on my wall as a little girl and Nadia is still one of my idols), my favorite time can be traced back to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. I loved watching the showdown between Ekaterina Szabo and Mary Lou Retton. It was unforgettable to watch all of that unfold...but I digress. Back to tonight's competition...

The frontrunners, China and USA, both have had a precarious night. Team USA in particular, has had a rough go of it. No one seems immune from mistakes and they are down with two injuries. I am really rooting for Nastia Liukin, daughter of the great Valeri Liukin, to do well. What I love about her is how she strays far from the normal cookie cutter routines. She is especially stunning on the bars and balance beam (which also happen to be my favorite events). It's too bad she took a tumble on her bar landing, but hopefully her difficulty level will help qualify her for the even finals. You just never know.

Gymnastics is a sentimental favorite of mine as I once swung around the uneven bars myself and did roundoffs from the end of the beam. I remember as a kid learning how to sprint down the runway to do a somersault on the vault. It was the scariest event in my eyes when I was training in gymnastics. I lasted about 5 years, but just didn't have the stamina to continue on to the next level of the sport. Though I learned few dazzling tricks, I wasn't brave enough to do backsprings, a signature move in the sport. I think the most complicated trick I learned was the back and front walkovers. The most complicated move I can to this day though is the backbend. Instead of becoming a competitor, I instead began watching the competitions on TV. I have been following the sport heavily since before I can remember. It's fun to research and watch older competitions to see how everything has changed.

For instance, if you look back to a typical ladies vault from the late sixties to early seventies, it usually consisted of a woman running and doing a single flip over it. No pizzazz or fancy tricks, just a simple body going over the vault. As time wore on, you noticed how gymnasts tried to set the bar higher each time. Even the vault itself has evolved in shape and dynamics. For an amazing example of a challenging vault, check out Olesia Dudnik at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up3oPgNrKHUbe.com/watch?v=Up3oPgNrKHU. You'll also notice how body styles have evolved. Men seem to stay pretty consistent in their builds, but the ladies have gone from having very womanly shapes to very girlish to somewhere in between. Nowadays, you see stocky, muscular gals to more very lean, almost birdlike like bodies.

Each apparatus also has had its ups and downs in terms of talented performances by gymnasts. I'm not sure which women's event is considered the flagship, but balance beam is widely considered to be the hardest due to the balancing elements involved. The high bar is clearly the premier event for the men. The high-flying tricks never fail to get the crowd excited. The women compete in just four, while the men compete in six events. I've never understood why the men have more routines to perform, but I always figured because men are expected to be extraordinarily strong while the woman exhibit their flexibility and artistry.

What has become a staple of all competitions though has been the scoring system. All gymnasts aspire to earn a perfect ten, reminiscent of Nadia. We all know that she won the not only won the 1976 Olympic All-Around, but she also scored the world's first perfect ten in competition. People still talk about it as thought it happened yesterday. We all remember Mary Lou's amazing vault performance back in 1984 when she also clinched the gold with a perfect ten. It is interesting to note how mesmerizing these moments are at the time and how they withstand the test of time. What I can't fathom is how the powers that be decided to do away with the traditional system and replace it with a new one that seems to stretch to a 17 scale. I'm still trying to figure out how it works. All's I know is that I don't really like and think that they should bring back the ten. Even the US announcers made comments about how they ought to bring it back. It is part of our history now and who knows what will transpire as we move forward. Bela Karolyi was interviewed and he let his feelings be known. He pulled no punches and would like to see the perfect ten return, no shock there. I tend to agree though.

Can't wait to see the team finals!