On YouTube the footage of the 1972 games is very clear and good quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Tp_WBcMmQ Of course it is still just standard definition and subject to the limitations of the time, but it is still better than what is available for a ton competition until digital video became a thing. For example the available footage from the 1976 Olympics is much poorer overall. Does anyone know why this is the case? Is it some copyright thing preventing the release of the archival footage of other games, leaving home video as the only source? Or is it the 1972 games were just more well documented than the others for some reason? I would love to hear your ideas!

Another Nebraska transfer! Adriana was a freshman at Auburn this past season who didn’t compete (due to injury, I believe).

Emalee spent the last 4 years at Nebraska and contributed on bars during her junior year. She says has one year of eligibility left

Grace Drexler transfers from Arkansas to Nebraska!

gasped when i saw this! i’ve been wanting her to switch for years and i’m so excited for her

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!