On the Dutch floor routines

The Dutch floor routines have created quite a stir and some heated debate on the gymternet. People seem to have one of two lines of thought regarding their dance-skill-and-artistry-heavy routines:

Who cares about the tumbling? They have beautiful artistry. Why does it matter that they only have two D passes?

or

Right, they're pretty, but tumbling isn't supposed to be an afterthought in a floor routine. It's basically just a very pretty form of code whoring.


I'm in the second camp. I enjoy watching Lieke and Eythora, but I don't support their scores (Lieke especially, since Eythora's are pretty much unable to break 14) being among the highest in the world. To use an oft-ridiculed phrase, "It's gymnastics, not dance." Even back in the ever-celebrated 1980s, the top routines had three passes, most of them having at least one pass more difficult than Lieke's and Eythora's.

Now, I'm all for encouraging artistic routines. But with the intense focus the gymternet has placed on artistry, I actually think tumbling has been undervalued in the gymternet's collective conscious. I also think it has created a mindset of artistry and difficulty as two opposing forces, with one having to win out over the other. This is a very unbalanced mindset. The tumbling elements, dance elements, and purely artistic performance aspects of a floor routine are all supposed work in harmony with one another, not compete for prominence.

There are plenty of routines where the technical and performance aspects do work in harmony (some even having very high difficulty) that seem to be forgotten when the debate over the Dutch gymnasts arises in favor of a "war between difficulty and artistry" outlook. This is supremely unhelpful because the conversation spirals into an "is tumbling or artistry more important?" issue and the actual goal of artistic gymnastics floor routines- a cohesive routine where all the elements combine to make one strong performance- is ignored. Routines with two bare-bones tumbling passes but with lots of spins and lovely artistry are just as unbalanced as routines in which every pass is mind-blowingly difficult and even clean but the gymnast can't hit full split and the choreography and performance are sorely lacking.

I love the Dutch team and enjoy watching Lieke and Eythora on floor, but their approach to constructing their routines is flawed and only feeds even more strongly into a "Neither can live while the other survives" artistry vs. tumbling sentiment. I just hope that FIG makes changes to the rules on floor next quad so I can just appreciate these routines as the pretty routines they are after this quad and not be concerned about it becoming a trend.

The Weirdest Worlds EVER!

Yeah, I know I'm about a week after what could be considered reasonable timing for this post, but The Gymternet just started post-Worlds coverage as has The Couch Gymnast, so I feel justified in that.

The Good Surprises

• SANNE WEVERS HAS A WORLD BEAM MEDAL!!!!
• Great Britain got a team medal on both sides
• Brenna Dowell has officially competed at a World Championships and got the pike double front named after her with only the clapping of the audience as her track
• Sanne Wevers got a SILVER on BEAM
• The Netherlands qualified directly to Rio!! And were represented in three individual finals.
• Shang Chunsong is suddenly a beast
• Gabby won the AA silver
• Vika didn't fall of the beam in a major international event final.
• Farah Ann Abdul Hadi earned a higher AA total than either of the "Belorussians."
• Did I mention Sanne Wevers is A WORLD MEDALIST ON BEAM?

The Bad Surprises

• Romania only qualifying in 13th. If the Tokyo qualifying rules were implemented this quad, they wouldn't be going to Rio.
• On the flip-side of the Netherlands qualifying to the final, Brazil was SO CLOSE!
• Flava-Flav coming in dead last in the AA final.
• Aly not making a single individual final.
• Brenna falling twice on her UB routine (though admittedly, that can't be considered too shocking)
• Only one Russian in the AA final
• Simone grabbed the beam and landed her sisone in the red in the AA final

The Just Weird

• Russia was laughing and smiling after coming in fourth?
• Russia had fewer falls in qualifications than the US?
• Simone was 2-per-ed out of the UB final with China benefiting?
• There was a FOUR-WAY TIE?

The Top 5 Weirdest Things That Happened:

5. China benefited from an American being 2-per-ed out of the UB final

4. Simone had two big errors in the AA final

3. Russia was more consistent than the US in qualifications

2. Great Britain won the team bronze

1. A FOUR-WAY TIE

Team: The competition for second through fourth was amazing. The US, China, and Great Britain all had pretty much the best competition they could reasonably expect, so it was great to see them rewarded for it. It was also very exciting to see Canada sneaking up the rankings in a couple of rounds! And we had the Netherlands making everything pretty, even if they didn't catch lightning in a bottle like they did in qualification. I think Russia seemed a bit cavalier, and Seda was the only one who really seemed to care about their performance. But it was nice to see them take it in stride.

All Around: It's so disappointing that Simone had such big errors, but she still managed to get her highest score of a Worlds all around final yet! Ridiculous! Someone made the point that Simone tends to peak earlier in the season, so hopefully that is a good sign for next year. Larisa's fight to the podium was so wonderful! She's the first from outside the top group to make the podium in years, and it was such a triumphant victory! Speaking of gymnasts coming from outside the top group, so many of them were able to climb the rankings this year! Half of the gymnasts in the top eight who get recognized were from lower-ranked groups, and three of the top ten were from the bottom group! Unfortunately, the scores needed to get into the AA final were quite high, and they weren't sustained in the final itself, but the fluidity of the placements between qualifications and the final still shows a good competition. And to round of the medalists, we have Gabby. Long may she reign. She proved herself so well at these Worlds even after a rough training.

Vault: I'm of the mind that Hong Un Jong was the rightful winner of this one. But I also just love her vaulting. It's also disappointing that Simone wasn't able to win because of her lower difficulty when she has such superior technique and execution. When will she upgrade? But either way, this was by far the most exciting vault final in a long time! The podium was so close! Also, I just love Ellie Downie's vaulting. I would not be at all surprised to see her with upgrades next year, she's got such great power and technique. Giulia's injury was horrible, but at least she's supposed to be in fairly decent shape and not too badly injured. Ah, I miss the final last year when no one was injured.

Uneven Bars: Oh my goodness, THIS FINAL! No falls, and a FOUR-WAY TIE! It's too bad about Sophie Scheder messing up her dismount, but it is nice to know that that was the biggest error of the final. I think we can all pretty much agree that Spiridonova and Kocian were not on the same level as Fan Yilin and Vika. But here's my perspective: Fan Yilin and Vika won the gold anyway. So while it wasn't necessarily the most accurate judging, when the gymnasts who were overscored didn't affect the placing of the gymnasts who were better anyway, why can't we just appreciate the fact that we witnessed a four-way tie and gymnastics history? It's not like four-way ties are going to become a common thing. With the exception of Scheder's dismount, everyone had a great routine in this final, and it will definitely be one I'll watch over and over again as the years go by. And ruby made it with her wonderful routine!

Balance Beam: SANNE WEVERS WON THE SILVER! My delusional dream is now a reality! And so nothing else that happened in this final makes me at all unhappy. Honestly, it was better than I was worried it might be. With this group of eight gymnasts, who would stay on was seriously a crap shoot. I was going into this final with the mindset that Simone would be the only gymnast to stay on just because that was a legitimate possibility and I didn't want to get my hopes up. So honestly, I'm pleased with four of them staying on. Also, Pualine Schaerffer got a medal for Germany and that was so wonderful! And Vika didn't fall in a major international beam final, so that's more than could have been expected. So yeah, this final was pretty bad, but I wasn't expecting better. And Sanne medalled! So I really can't look at this final with any objectivity or any disappointment that anything else happened. She could have been the only one to stay on and I would have been happy.

Floor: I still haven't seen this final in whole: I missed the beginning of the final as I tried to get the mobile stream up, and I couldn't watch the last four routines with music because I was watching it in public. However, I have seen all of the routines (with music) at this point, though I still don't have a great perspective on it. No falls! The only World floor final this quad with not a single fall! Simone obviously was the deserving champion, she put on her usual awesome display. As to the debate over the bronze (and silver?) medals, my opinion is that Maggie, Sae, and Shang all had routines of pretty much the same quality, and so whoever took the bronze took it rightfully. It's sad, but true: sometimes a medal could go more than one way. Also, overall, the E scores were pretty high in this final, which was nice to see. And who doesn't like just watching Lieke's routine?

My favorite final: Bars. Only one major error which wasn't even that big comparatively and a four-way tie. This is one of my favorite finals of all time.

My least favorite final: Beam. Though, as I said earlier, I'm still not that unhappy with it. Sanne!

Overall, I really enjoyed these Worlds. The competition was generally pretty strong and so much unexpected happened! And there were people who thought this Worlds was boring.