WAG Curious about floor and beam shoes?

[stargazer]

Hi everyone, so this is just an idle question that I'd love to get an answer to. What exactly is the purpose of the different floor and beam shoes/slippers that I've seen some gymnasts wearing? Sarah Finnegan wears little half-shoes, while Ellie Black has full ones, and I even saw a Chinese gymnast wear ankle socks for her routine in the Olympics. I'm not sure why I can't add the images in, but here are links to the ones I'm talking about. Thanks for answering my silly question!

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Photos+Canada+women+vaulters+fall+flat+London/7044858/story.html

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Sarah+Finnegan

 

[sglemon]

The little toe ones help with turns. You see rhythmic gymnasts wearing those. Not sure about the vault shoes, they look like jazz shoes on the bottom. We use to have gymnasts wear beam shoes, but the reason was for sweaty feet that slide on the beam. We had another coach come in and tell them to take them off, because it makes it hard for judges to see pointed toes.