Jessica Gadirova's season-high floor score

[Denn]

The comments are full of people decrying the 14.6 score this exercise earned.

However, I think it’s pretty close to right — maybe just a couple tenths generous. I had this at 8.6ish. It has a 5.8 D-score, so I had a 14.4 total. Floor scores will mostly go up 0.2 this year due to the dismount bonus.

There are some big mouths in the comments complaining about her tuck position in the double double. But open tucks are fine on twisting double saltos. There’s a Help Desk comment about that.

Thoughts?

 

[RAFIKI]

I was at this competition and laughed when the 14.6 score came up. However I’m not a judge or an expert fan judge so this was only based on comparison with outdated Tokyo scoring. I’d be interested to see your deduction breakdown.

In Tokyo and Munich she scored 14 for similar routines and there were accusations that her Munich EF score was too high. She still has the uncontrolled Gogean landing that does my head in and has developed occasional popa wobbles (these might be too small to get deducted). Her DLO doesn’t look as good as it did in Tokyo but I’m not sure why without some YT analysis. Her expression and jump height definitely comes across more in person and I think the former has improved now that she is performing in front of audiences.

Uninformed opinion - I think that she is one of the few gymnasts out there capable of a 14.6 on floor, but I don’t think this routine is it.

 

[KristyJ]

After watching it twice, I have it at an 8.2 E, so 14 overall. No real big deductions, though, lots of .1s and only a couple .3s.
I’d never noticed before today that she has a consistent habit of dropping her left shoulder on turning leaps, leading her to have to hop sideways on landing because of landing unbalanced/unsquare. Camera angle helped to highlight this. She’s probably dropping her shoulder with her arm to scoop up into it, which is an error that can be fixed by simply scooping the arm around more instead of down or being aware of one’s shoulder when going into a turning dance element.
Edit to add- it’s the same error that can make skating jumps tilt to the side in the air.

 

[Doug1233]

But open tucks are fine on twisting double saltos. There’s a Help Desk comment about that.

This has been one of my biggest pet peeves in watching youtube “judging videos” this summer. They invariably have some kind of “body shape” or “insufficient tuck” deduction on her Silivas. The code is clear that this deduction does not apply to Double Saltos with twist.

Ding her for leg separation, sure. But not that.

 

[Doug1233]

She still has the uncontrolled Gogean landing that does my head in

It does my head in too. Especially when it’s short (it often is), so she only gets the C anyway, plus the precision deduction for overturn, plus the off-axis balance check deduction. What’s worse is that they already made Jen do a clean Split 1/1 after hers was repeatedly short. But they insist on Jess doing the Gogean when it’s often the only 0.3 deduction in her entire exercise.

 

[Doug1233]

jump height definitely comes across more in person

I’ve never seen her live (she’s only been “famous” post pandemic) but I’ve consistently heard this from people who have.

 

[Yarotska]

Random thought but Jennifer still seems to be cleaner but Jessica was the lucky one to not suffer an injury. I obviously don’t know the full story but I imagine Jennifer suffered some overuse injury to her ankle from the extra difficulty that Jessica was not training and it’s a slow recovery. I wonder if a long winter off and a technical reset would help things. As they get older some of their tumbling starts looking rushed and a bit suspect.

 

[Samxo]

They’ll both probably use the time between November and March (English and British Championships) to upgrade and clean up

 

[Gymfan93]

They said in an interview recently they’ve grown taller and had to relearn a bunch of skills since Tokyo. Jennifer in particular looks like she’s struggled with that. I’m glad they don’t seem to be pushing them too far beyond what they can do safely right now.

 

[Samxo]

I’m glad they are not going full out, I think some people forget that this is still technically the year after the Olympics and that they also have had other focuses such learning to drive and sixth form

 

[J175]

That floor final was weird. Because domestic scoring can be wacky, we all know that, but the rest of the championships seemed fairly tame in that respect, and then suddenly the judges decided to use a different code or something for the last event.

 

[irichluck21]

I think some people forget that this is still technically the year after the Olympics

Right! The recovery time from Tokyo to now has been one year, it normally would have been 2. Plus lots of lost training time due to Covid lockdowns, etc.

 

[JoseM]

If I were a gymn judge, I would give Jessica for her FX no less than 14.4. Perhaps I would give her 14.5, perhaps. Jessica’s FX performance is one of the best I have seen in a good while, in both artistry and tumbling. Maybe I should give her 14.5.

To decry the 14.6 score is a bit too much. She was not grossly overscored. Perhaps slightly overscored, but not grossly. The 14.6 is very close to correct, so close that it is virtually correct. There is nothing to decry in that 14.6. I really would not argue with it.

José M.

 

[Yarotska]

Oh, I didn’t forget. The issues pointed out were things people noticed before the Olympics. Their technique has been questionable, and now that Ondine has transferred to their gym, some of the decisions with her routines have been questionable as well. I just genuinely wonder if it’s something the coaches are thinking about. Many people like to say of course they know and are working on it, but as we’ve seen, many don’t.

 

[KristyJ]

What deductions would you take, though? You can’t just give a score because you like it.

 

[GymBeauty]

I have it at an 8.2 E, so 14 overall.

Agreed!

 

[navyblue]

I know this question wasn’t directed at me, but I actually got it to exactly an 8.5 while pointing out some other stuff below that I think a stricter judge could go for.

1. Double Double: leg separation 0.1, flexed feet 0.1, chest on landing horizontal 0.1, step, 0.1 (Doug says no body position issue for an open tuck?) = -0.4
2. Tour Jete 1/2: Could argue a 0.1 body shape, if you look at her split position when she hits the first half turn, her leg is turned out such that her back foot is perpendicular rather than parallel to the floor. I doubt this was deducted here, and certainly there are gymnasts with much more egregious examples of un-square hips. I’ll choose not to take it for this exercise…
3. Double Layout: 0.3 landing, probably a flexed foot option that I won’t take (she does flex midway through the second salto but I feel like there needs to be reasonable accommodation too, ya know, get ready to land on your feet lol)
4. Switch ring to Gogean: bent leg as she sets up the turn 0.1, precision on 1.5 turn landing position (incomplete) 0.1, landing issue 0.1 (?) = -0.3
5. Popa: strict judging might say landing control? Personally think it’s silly to “stick” dance moves that are meant to be fluid, but might be prudent in this code?
6. Front full to double tuck: Crossed legs on front full,0.1, big leg separation on back handspring 0.1 (generous judges will ignore backhandsprings I’m sure), double tuck flexed feet 0.1, chest position on landing 0.1, small hop = -0.5
   ===8.5
   I’m not remotely close to knowing the artistry deductions but from what I can tell her routine is exemplary in this department so I think taking nothing off here is reasonable.

I’m bored so anyone want to post their non-amateur opinions I’ll gladly read em

 

[KristyJ]

I think our primary difference is that I did take some of the deductions you found optional- the feet went hard flex on the double layout for much longer than they needed to to prep for landing. Honestly, I wonder if she feels she needs to prep for landing more than she needed to, because she didn’t need to have the slightly pike down, it’s what made her have to take the hop.
I took the landings of the dance skills because, while I am fine with fluid movement out of a dance skill, these were clearly hops to the side of landings she was trying to control. One was a big hop! She did not demonstrate balance on landing.
I absolutely took the leg separation in the handsprings, and I wonder if a different angle would have had me taking more in that department.
The one judgement call you list where I didn’t take anything was the tour jete 1/2.
I too am bothered by the lack of listed deductions for body shape in the double double.

 

[navyblue]

Thanks for that. In terms of control on landings for dance elements – I think we are in total agreement regarding her Gogean… The Popa I find more debatable but a reasonable deduction, but the tour jete 1/2 should be deduction free on landing, yeah? She shows control and then quickly steps into choreo – which seems like the correct standard, whereas if it were an acro landing probably it would count as a small step deduction right?

 

[KristyJ]

I would agree with that, yeah