u/analysthenics

Hello! I made another (as promised) small data analysis.

This time it is about MAG!

A few notes that may foster interesting discussions in the comment section 😊

In 2018, Artur Dalaloyan and Ruoteng Xiao finished their all-around at Doha Worlds with exactly the same score: 87.598. After six apparatus — the same number. [WRONG] The tiebreaker was the higher sum of execution scores: Dalaloyan's E-sum was 52.3 to Xiao's 51.9, a +0.400 margin on execution that decided a world title. [WRONG]

[CORRECTION] FYI: The 2018 tie breaker was to drop the lowest score and count the five highest. Dalaloyan dropped a 13.400 and ended up with a total of 74.198 whereas Xiao dropped a 14.133 and ended up with a total of 73.465.

Source: https://www.gymnastics.sport/site/news/displaynews.php?urlNews=2293693 Article 7.2 of the current Technical Regulation document [CORRECTION]

The third chart breaks this down apparatus by apparatus — pommel horse is where Xiao had a massive advantage on both D and E, but Dalaloyan clawed it back on floor and high bar.

That tie isn't a one-off. Looking at every MAG AA final from 2013 to 2024 (chart 1), the gold-to-silver margin has been shrinking across three quads. In the Rio quad, Uchimura was winning by 1.3 points on average. By the Tokyo quad, that dropped to 0.5.

At the Olympics specifically, the average margin is just 0.244 — barely a quarter of a point across six apparatus.

But here's what surprised me (chart 2): the winner-to-field gap is actually growing. The gold medalist is pulling further from the pack average (ranks 2–8) even as silver gets closer. MAG has more parity at the very top, but the winner still separates.

Data source: FIG results books, MAG AA finals at Worlds and Olympics 2013–2024. All charts made with matplotlib. Happy to share the data or discuss methodology.

Curious what you all think about the score tiebreaker rule — do you agree with it, or would you prefer a different system?

Please, do comment, criticize and ask for clarification of you think I may improve (or rectify) something.

I was so delighted when reading all the discussions and comments under the other post that I really want to produce other analysis that gymnastics fans want to see and want to comment.

Enjoy!

I know that Simone Biles can be considered as one of, if not the, most dominant gymnast in history. Yet, as a data inclined person, I wanted to see and visualize the gap between her scores and the rest of the field, quantified and plotted across the 2013-2024 time frame.

Overall, +2.6 points. That's how far Simone Biles averages above the top 8 in all-around finals. In a sport scored to thousandths!

I pulled every WAG all-around result from 2013 to 2024 — nine Worlds, three Olympics — and charted the gap.

72% of that gap comes from difficulty alone. She clearly is doing harder gymnastics. Yet, and I will investigate that later, she also has the E-score of the very top of the top.

I just wanted to share these because I think it is really cool and that it may foster interesting discussions.

In particular, I really find it interesting in the slide number 2, how the slopes of Biles and the average top-8 are the same.

In my opinion, it shows a better preparation and adaptation to the corresponding quad Code of Points, everyone optimizing for it according to capacities.

Please do share your thoughts, I would be more than interested to read and share some ideas with you.

Data: FIG results books, WAG AA finals 2013–2024

I used python and matplotlib for the charts and slides.