Yul Moldauer put some daylight (1.95 points to be exact) between himself and his main rival, Akash Modi. The probability of Moldauer making enough mistakes to find himself an equivalent distance behind Modi (or someone else) is very low. However, Modi can make up almost all the ground he lost from his low score on PH (12.75) if he hits that event (and makes no other major errors), as he is capable of scoring in the mid 14s on horse. The gap may also close if [...more]
ANAHEIM, CA -- Day 1 for the Seniors started out rather raggedy, but things got better as the evening progressed. Yul Moldauer, one of the all-around favorites was steady throughout, earning the session's top score (86.65) over co-favorites Akash Modi (84.70) and Allan Bower (84.45). Moldauer and Modi tied for best score on PB (14.70), while the first-day leader went on to compile top-5 scores on all six events, including 2nd and 3rd place scores on FX (14.55) and SR 14.85), respectively. Modi was steady, too [...more]
Five NCAA Division I men's artistic gymnasts (MAG) from four different MAG university teams have just traveled half way across the world to do what they love to do - gymnastics. Arriving in Taipei earlier this week for the 29th World University Games (WUG), the team is ready to make a great first impression, representing the USA in a three-event competition that begins Saturday [...more]
As the United States men move into a new quadrennium, the storyline has shifted from one of the dominance of one man (Sam Mikulak) to the head-to-head rivalry of Akash Modi and Yul Moldauer. Which one will emerge as the champion at the end of race? Or will other men push one or even both of them out of the top two spots?
With the retirement or absence of many of the stalwarts of U.S. men’s gymnastics of the last eight years [...more]
In somewhat of a comeback, Marvin Kimble led all scorers at the 2017 U.S. Championships Qualifier in Colorado Springs. Kimble topped the standings in the 20 Point Program (91 points), and he put up the highest AA score (83.55), posting top-3 event scores on SR (3rd-14.50), VT (2nd-14.75), PB (2nd-14.20) and HB (1st-13.80). After moving back to his home state of Wisconsin earlier [...more]
This time the axis are set up so the actual rate of decline can be easily compared. Up until about 1992, the NCAA sponsorship of both men's and women's teams was declining at almost identical rate - something partly masked by the greater population of women's teams. One of the women's teams cut during this period was at University of Texas (Texas AD Donna Lopiano, famous as a Title lX advocate, [...more]
Most of the men’s teams were lost during the era of the 10.0. The naïve interpretation of this picture is that open ended scoring actually halted the decline! The more likely answer is [...more]
One night in August 2004, I turned on the TV to watch whatever Olympic stuff happened to be on at the moment (I had no idea in advance what that stuff was going to be). That moment happened to be the one where Paul Hamm fell on his butt in the men’s all-around. The announcers seemed to think he had no chance for a medal. Knowing nothing about the sport of men’s gymnastics, I had no reason to think they were wrong. But they were. Paul Hamm’s last two routines were like [...more]
Yes, you read that right. Growth in the number of men’s NCAA sports teams. Most of them, that is. Some of this was due to teams migrating from the NAIA to the NCAA, but men’s teams have also been added.
By far the largest growth has been in the sport of Lacrosse. Is there something the men’s gymnastics community can learn from Lacrosse? I believe there is. The Lacrosse community is concerned with adding teams, but some of their strategies could be applicable to preventing men’s gymnastics teams from [...more]
"In the end, our society will be defined not only what by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy."
John C Sawhill, president, The Nature Conservancy, 1990 - 2000.
The graph shown below starts from 1981-82, as the data collected by the NCAA from 1956 until 1981 was not collected in the same manner as the post 1981 data and included recreational programs. The largest number of men’s gymnastics teams recorded by the NCAA between 1956 and 1981 was 124 in 1971-72. There is a discrepancy between this and the 200 plus teams that are said to [...more]
