NCAA gymnastics continues to rise in popularity, and as it gains attention, it also gains confusion. This past season, there was a lot of online discourse discussing the inconsistencies in scoring, so let’s talk about it.
Just like any other sport, gymnastics has a couple of powerhouses we see every year in the postseason. Some include Oklahoma, LSU and Florida. The list goes on, but one thing they all have in common is that they all compete in the SEC. These schools put up multiple 10s every week, but some schools have yet to see a 10, namely Clemson.
The obvious answer is that these schools just have more talent. LSU is about to welcome an Olympian, Florida has a gymnast who competed in the Olympic trials and Oklahoma has been recruiting the top gymnasts for years. While talent may be the simple answer, people online feel that it is not the reason for the high scores.
The NCAA sees numerous 10s every week in the SEC, but other conferences — such as the ACC — see very few.
Stanford freshman and Olympic bronze medalist Ana Barbosu has yet to see a 10 in her collegiate career. Brie Clark, who is ranked seventh nationally on floor, has also never seen a 10 in her career at Clemson.
Gymnastics is one of the few sports that is subjective, as the score quite literally depends on what the judges think of each athlete. There are no replays or challenges in collegiate gymnastics, so whatever the judges say goes, and you just have to accept it.
However, the routine difficulty is objective, meaning that the difficulty is fixed and the same for everyone. Although some judges deduct more than others for errors like flexed feet or a misstep, all deductions should be consistent.
These issues have become the topic of conversation when judges give drastically different scores for each gymnast, which is where the discussion of bias comes in. As the sport continues to grow, it may be time to consider a more in-depth training for judges to help eliminate this bias.
While these judges are trained not to be biased, it is human nature. In gymnastics, scores are averaged from either two or four judges, but those scores can sometimes differ by a 10th of a point, which is a relatively large discrepancy in the sport.
This has led people to believe an SEC — or even just an athlete — bias exists. The discussion of bias continues to take away from athletes’ talent and remains a focal point in NCAA gymnastics, as people continue to see patterns in scoring.
The NCAA has not directly addressed the issue, but it is expected to see some change in the offseason.
