Random gymnastics questions

[Denn]

BTW, I think it's hilarious that someone made a montage of Olga Teslenko going out of bounds. I don't think I ever realized she had this problem. LOL



Even keeping 56 feet, at least half of these would not have been out of bounds. Corner shape = more out of bounds.

 

[Matilda23]

Denn what do you mean about corner shape? Even with a rectangle floor, the gymnasts would still use the diagonal and tumble into the corners I imagine

 

[KristyJ]

If we are seriously considering a bigger floor, I am miffed as to why that must include narrowing one dimension. I would argue that keeping a minimum of 40' depth would be wise, and if anything was reasonable, widen the sides. Yes that would be more cost but it would not require dramatically changing the patterns used for the exercise.
It would likely take many gyms and federations years to make the change regardless due not only to cost but the space restrictions in many facilities.

 

[irichluck21]

Speaking of Teslenko, I always wondered why she didn't do bars in team finals in Sydney.

 

[dweiss324]

@Matilda23 I think he means that a lot of oob infractions are not because the gymnast went longer than the diagonal, but because they were slightly offline trying to work into a corner, meaning they stepped oob on a side line, not past the actual corner itself. This means you only get 56 feet if you're perfectly straight from corner to corner.

The idea being, it isn't the length of the tumbling diagonal that's the problem necessarily, it's that to utilize the full length of the diagonal, you have to be perfectly straight. If you're one foot off to the left, you effectively also lose a foot of distance in bounds, and a few feet off sends you onto actual gym floor or off the podium

Tumbling down a rectangle would eliminate that issue, you'd be guaranteed the full length of the pass, even if slightly off line.

 

[Denn]

@dweiss324 explained it beautifully (thank you) and here's a picture that helps explain further. This guy went out of bounds because of the corner, not because he went longer than the diagonal. The pink line simulates the line at the end of a 56' mat. There would still be out of bounds, but they would happen a lot less often — because no corners.

 

[MaryClare]

Steve Legendre probably agrees