China's New Bonus System/COP and Superhuman Simone

China are set to introduce a new bonus system and COP changes for all of their internal competitions. This system aims to boost innovation and difficulty, particularly in areas where they are weak as a country. The source is here- unsurprisingly, it doesn't translate well in google, but luckily I had a perfect translation of it :)

FLOOR

- F skill +0.1 G skill +0.2 H skill +0.3 (no super unrealistic provision for I skills I see. G and H are very optimistic already. G is the Dos Santos 2, H are the double double tucked and full twisting double layout).

- Max +0.5 for good artistry

- + 0.1 for E dismount or above

- Bonus for D+B turn combination (not sure amount)

VAULT

- Female junior gymnasts cannot choose basic front tuck/pike vaults.

- +1.0 for vaults worth 6.3 or more (*coughamanar*)

- +0.3 for DTY, DTT etc, +0.5 for Rudi

BARS

-  +0.3 Pak full (Bhardwaj) or Shap full (Seitz). Extra 0.1 if either are connected to another skill.

- -0.2 deduction for each extra kip-cast-handstand for more than three kip-cast-handstands.

- +0.1 for E bars dismount, +0.3 for F (Example- Fabrichnova. Presumably if someone does a G rated dismount they'll get this bonus too).

-0.1 for flight series of D+D, 0.2 for D+E or more.

BEAM

- +0.2 triple twist dismount, +0.4 full twisting double back dismount. (The latter is almost funny but Chinese gymnast Jiang Wei invented it in 1980).

GENERAL

- +0.1 stick bonus.

- -0.3 Double front salto cowboying, except on vault. Not sure of the correct term- knee and leg separation?

- -0.2 Crossed legs in twisting.

- Female juniors in their last year before turning senior may not compete at Junior Nationals or the Intercity Games. This is a great move, discourages peaking at the wrong time and lessens the risk of burnout and inopprtune injuries. aids burnout and. For instance, as an old China hand pointed out to me, Zeng Siqi has never fully bounced back from an ankle injury she sustained at the 2011 Intercity Games, her last year as a junior.

- Female senior gymnasts must compete at least two events to qualify for event finals on any one event. Their 2 event total must be higher than the total of 85% of the rest of the gymnasts. Juniors must compete three, and their total must be higher than the total of 80% of the rest of the field. Essentially, MOAR all-arounders please.

- The format of team finals is changing to 6-4-4 for senior nationals and 4-4-3 for junior nationals. Each team should have 4 all-arounders.

So China says death to the one-event specialist, the ubiquitous double pike beam dismount and double layout bars dismount. What do you think of this system? I like the sound of it, in parts it's fairly unrealistic, but it should hopefully encourage innovation as well as drag them up in power events. I do think it's expecting quite a lot, particularly ambitious with dismounts, vault and tumbling. That just won't happen overnight, though I trust they're fully aware of that. The Bhardwaj and Seitz are strange skills to pick out. They are both so rare, and while I love both of them, I think I would have preferred if it was more general in terms of transitions. China are not ones to bring out half-arsed skills so I'm not afraid of that, but I am afraid of greater risk of injury, especially when you have girls with frames that are quite frail and injury-prone, in comparison to for instance the American gymnasts who ARE throwing the hardest tumbles and dismounts that China want to reward.


Speaking of superhuman Americans, a video of Simone Biles throwing a double double off beam emerged last night. It's here. You think her current skill set is exciting enough, until you're blown away by the skills she has thrown/is throwing in training. These include, but are undoubtedly not limited to: the above, triple twisting Yurchenko, triple twisting double back, double arabian full out, standing double tuck and double double laidout. Not to mention the more mundane Cheng, Bhwardwaj, double arabian piked and double arabian tucked. I know I have recently written a post complaining about extreme difficulty, but in this case I have faith in Simone's coaches not to overload her. She only does what she is capable of truly mastering. Check the landing on that double double though, her chest is fully upright. There are issues of course, 1) stamina to do it after a full routine and 2) In this video it's not into a pit but it is lower than the floor. Still, I think she could include at least one of her madder skills in the future. I fully understand how and why a good portion of people do not favour her gymnastics, but wow is she exciting.