Something that occurred to me...

I just got a DVD/VHS burner for Christmas, and so I've been going through all my VHS tapes and burning them to DVD, year by year. I have done '92, '93, 94, '95 and am doing '96 now.

Wow, when you are accustomed to the 2-panel scoring system, the 10.0 seems quite odd.
For example, we'll assume that most gymnasts in the top 10 at say the 1992 Olympic all-around had 10.0 start values on all four events. But some of these gymnasts technically have over a 10.0. So, what if they hit everything but one skill, versus a "just barely getting to a 10.0 SV" gymnast... who gets the better score? It seems like there were way more judgment calls back then. Like, well so-and-so did a hard routine, so in spite of her balance check, we'll give her a better score. And then other times, someone went out on a limb with difficulty, and you'd kind of like to see the judges reward that, but not. (i.e. Miller v. Lyssenko on BB finals). Basically, the risk-for-reward ratio was whacked (I'm so articulate) -- back then, why take the risk when it didn't necessarily assure you anything? (Of course the flip side to this is Li Shanshan winning a bronze on BB at the '07 Worlds with a fall...).

I mean, I am basically used to the new system and can't see going back, but watching all of those all competitions solidified this in my mind. And another consequence of the new system: most of the time, not all of the time, winners are more definitive. I mean, what is winning a gold medal by .012 (Gutsu v. Miller), especially when we consider HOW subjective it was?! I don't know the exact number off the top of my head, but Liukin defeated Johnson by several tenths of a point.

And another thing: the scoring at the '95 Worlds. A lot of the routines there seemed almost identical to the ones in Atlanta (i.e. Huilan, Gogean, Milo) and yet the scoring seemed a lot losing. We didn't break 9.875 in Atlanta, but there was at least one 9.9 in Sabae. Milo's bar routine was pretty standard in the team competition (or maybe it was all-around) and she had a substantial hop on her double front with a half dismount, and got a 9.875. Umm, what? They were HARDLY giving those out in Atlanta.

I will say that now, it is SO MUCH NICER to be able to actually see HOW the score was derived.

Now the execution scores on the other hand, right now they are still wack. But that's another tirade.