Why only 5 team members?

[gymnstcoach]

Does anyone know why they keep cutting down the number of girls that compete? It was the Magnificant 7, then Super 6, now only 5 girls make the team? Why don't they keep a large team so many girls can make it? Wouldn't it make more sense to have 7 compete and take 6 scores? Wouldn't that be a better indication of which country really was the best?

 

[wandrewsjr]

The Olympic commitee is forever looking for ways to make sure more countries are included in the competition. That is why they eliminate sports that 1 or 2 countries dominate(like women's softball), and look for ways to open the doors to make it possible for more countries to contend for a medal in all sports. With 7 competing and 6 scores counting, likely only 4 countries would ever contend for a medal (USA,Russia,China,Romania). When you reduce the team to 5 with 3 scores counting, you open up the playing field to more countries since you only need 3 top gymnasts to make a team. Japan,Britain,Germany,Australia,France,Canada,Italy,Brazil - could all actually contend for a medal if their 3 best hit all of their routines and the top teams don't hit every routine.

 

[wallinbl]

Wouldn't that be a better indication of which country really was the best?

That's a question mathematicians can debate with no resolution. If a country has the top 3 gymnasts (gold, silver, bronze AA) and practically no one after that, are they they best team or not? If a country has none of the top 3, but has places 4-12, are they the best team?

DD's team has been to meets where they didn't place first based on a 5 score/event team score, but would have with a 4 score/event team score (or 3 score/event). It's a question of how much you value depth vs having the top talent. The more scores you include, the more you devalue having the top gymnasts.

 

[JessLW]

The Olympic commitee is forever looking for ways to make sure more countries are included in the competition. That is why they eliminate sports that 1 or 2 countries dominate(like women's softball), and look for ways to open the doors to make it possible for more countries to contend for a medal in all sports. With 7 competing and 6 scores counting, likely only 4 countries would ever contend for a medal (USA,Russia,China,Romania). When you reduce the team to 5 with 3 scores counting, you open up the playing field to more countries since you only need 3 top gymnasts to make a team. Japan,Britain,Germany,Australia,France,Canada,Italy,Brazil - could all actually contend for a medal if their 3 best hit all of their routines and the top teams don't hit every routine.

I never really thought about it before but that makes a whole lot of sense.

I really like seeing a wider range of countries being contenders for medals. Not all countries have the resources to dump into massive gymnastics programs, yet their gymnasts work just as hard as anyone else, all the while knowing that the chances of that hard work paying off in a medal are super slim (and no college scholarships either, in most countries). If cutting the teams down to a smaller size gives those gymnasts more of a chance then that's a great reason to do it.

 

[J&A's mom]

Also, they claim its to add the Trampoline and Tumbling events. I just don't get it....Swimmers and Track bring huge delagations!

 

[rodhen091696]

Did the men amount of ppl change

 

[emorymom]

Also, they claim its to add the Trampoline and Tumbling events. I just don't get it....Swimmers and Track bring huge delagations!

I believe swimming gets to enter 2 per event. So it is actually quite difficult to get to go to the Olympics in swimming given the number of elite swimmers who take turns beating each other. It keeps a country from sweeping gold, siver, bronze.