Gymnasts learn to deal with politics before stepping a foot on a balance beam. From their earliest thought of becoming a gymnast, an athlete must decide, “who's balance beam am I going to train on”? High school gymnastics programs are suffering or being simply phased-out because of the competition for the athlete by gymnastic clubs. Clubs are private organizations, and have a different perspective of the gymnastics world than high schools. They generally believe that the athlete should focus on the event(s) that they excel at, rather than the combination of events that the gymnast is required to perform at high school meets. Many gymnastic clubs won't accept a student athlete if they plan to participate in an extra-curricular gymnastic sports program.
The most talented athletes forsake their high school experience for that of more specialized and individualized training. This situation is forcing high schools to re-evaluate their already money-starved gymnastic programs. Clubs offer elite athletes the opportunity to compete at a higher level, receive more recognition and be scouted for a potential collegiate scholarship; something high schools simply can't offer.
Being judged by a human, rather than a scoreboard, leaves a lot of room for politics to become involved.
Remember the 2004 Olympics? Competition was stopped for 10 minutes due to the crowd's angry reaction to the judge's decision of a gymnastic event. Any time there is the human element involved in determining an outcome, there will be subjectivity. In this case, outright favoritism was blamed for the judge's irregularities in scoring the event.
Judges look at overall complexity of a routine, as well as, technical execution when determining a performers score. Basically, the harder the routine is to do, the more potential there is for point scoring. While a definite distinction exists for complex elements of a routine, it is up to a judge to determine the value of the execution. Fractions of a point are deducted for elements that judges feel weren't executed properly. A tenth of a point can be the difference between winning and losing. And as if that weren't enough, gymnasts are also judged on their appearance, the “rules of attendance”. The rules of attendance stipulate which leotards are appropriate and that there is no safety issue with any part of the wardrobe.
Some believe that this subjectivity makes gymnastics a better sport; others believe it holds it back. Whichever the case, it is part artistry, and that will always be subjective.
