Judge’s Inquiry: Would She Really Have Scored Higher With a Different Leotard?

One complaint I frequently hear from gymnastics fans is that the top teams receive a “leotard bonus” when they compete. There is a perception that competing for a top team gives the gymnast an unfair advantage–not just in recruitment and athlete resources but also in judging.

In this article, I wanted to see if competing for a more well-known or historically successful school results in more overscoring. To do this, I looked at athletes that had transferred and compared their routines while competing for two different teams.

To try to be as accurate as possible, I only watched the routines once at full speed to come up with my score. This is different from some of my other articles, where I try to find every possible deduction. Instead, I tried to be as realistic as possible in taking college deductions as they are standard in NCAA gymnastics.

I used a system to identify teams that were over or underscored as compared to my score. If my score is within one tenth of the average, I rated it as “just right.” If I am within range of both judges’ scores, but more than one tenth from the average, it’s rated as “overscored” or “underscored.” If my score is out of range from one of the scores, it was rated as “very underscored” or “very overscored.”

Based on the difference in overscoring between the two routines, as well as my own impression, I give my opinion as to whether or not there may have been a leotard bias. 

🔻🔻Very underscored

🔻Underscored 

✅Just right

🔺Overscored

🔺🔺Very Overscored 

Vault

Rachel Slocum

Transfer from Eastern Michigan to Florida

Watch her vault while at Eastern Michigan

Panel Score: 9.900 🔺

My Score: 9.750

Deductions: Shoulder angle (-0.050), arch on the vault (-0.050), leg form (-0.050), hop backward (-0.100) 

Watch her vault while at Florida

Panel Score: 9.90 🔺

My Score: 9.750 

Deductions: arch on vault (-0.050), chest down on landing (-0.100), small hop backward (-0.050), failure to open body prior to landing (-0.050)

Slocum performed the same vault with the same score in each of these videos, but they had very different problems. With the EMU vault, most of her deductions are on the table with her body position, as well as a large hop backward. It appears the judges only took the hop backward.

At Florida, Slocum was in a better body position on the table but did not have as much rotation and had to pike down. She landed with her chest down and had a minor shuffle backward on her landing. I think the Florida deductions were much more obvious, but since both routines were overscored by about the same amount, I don’t think there was a leotard bias. 

Leotard Bias? ❌

Anne Maxim

Transfer from Michigan State to Michigan

Watch her vault while at Michigan State

Panel Score: 9.775 ✅

My Score: 9.700

Deductions: Leg separation onto table (-0.050), piked body position (-0.050), large step on landing (-0.200)

Watch her vault while at Michigan

Panel Score: 9.825 🔺

My Score: 9.700 

Deductions: Leg separation onto table (-0.050), bent leg on table (-0.050), two steps on landing (-0.200)

These vaults looked very similar, with Maxim receiving a two-tenth deduction on both of her landings. I think her MSU vault was a little cleaner otherwise, as the leg bend and separation on the Michigan vault were more noticeable. It’s also possible they only took one tenth on the Michigan landing, even though both feet moved, as the adjustments were smaller than the MSU landing. Holistically, I think the Michigan State vault was stronger than the Michigan performance, even though it scored lower.

Leotard bias?  ✅

Julianna Roland

Transfer from Bridgeport to Temple

Watch her vault while at Bridgeport

Panel Score: 9.850

My Score: 9.800 ✅

Deductions: large hop backward (-0.100), lack of control on landing (-0.050)

Watch her vault while at Temple

Panel Score: 9.925 ✅

My Score: 9.900

Deductions: Low chest on landing (-0.050)

Roland went from a Division II to a Division I program when she switched from Bridgeport to Temple. Both of these vaults were well-executed with great form and control. The Temple vault was a little underpowered, so she dropped her chest but stuck it. The Bridgeport routine had better power but less control. Both scores seemed appropriate to me. 

Leotard Bias? ❌

Bars

Gabrielle Gallentine

Transfer from Florida to Penn State

Watch her bar routine while at Penn State

Panel Score: 9.900 ✅

My Score: 9.850

Deductions: Arch on pirouette (-0.050), short final cast handstand (-0.050), pike on dismount (-0.050)

Watch her bar routine while at Florida

Panel Score: 9.925 ✅

My Score: 9.900

Deductions: Late turn on pirouette (-0.050), body position on final cast handstand (-0.050)

Gallentine performed almost the same bar routine at Penn State and Florida, except at Penn State she upgraded her double layout to a full-twisting double layout. Both are valued at an E, so there was no change in her start value, but the upgrade incurred a deduction for the pike in her body in the Penn State routine. Her higher score at Florida seems to be a result of better routine composition rather than a leotard bonus.

Leotard Bias? ❌

Karrie Thomas

Transfer from Maryland to Oklahoma

Watch her bar routine while at Maryland

Panel Score: 9.775 ✅

My Score: 9.750

Deductions: Short first cast handstand (-0.050), very short final cast handstand (-0.100), Hop forward (-0.050) and chest down (-0.050) on dismount

Watch her bar routine while at Oklahoma

Panel Score: 9.975 ✅

My Score: 9.950

Deductions: Bent arms on release catch (-0.050)

Thomas’ bar routine at OU is slightly more efficient than her Maryland routine. She takes out a kip on the low bar, and by adding the hecht mount over the high bar rather than a jump from the board, she has more power for her first kip cast handstand. She also has much better cast handstands in the second routine, although it’s harder to evaluate them from the camera angle in that video. Her rotation seems faster on her double layout in her second routine, giving her more time to spot and control the landing. Overall, the OU routine was a better routine and should have scored higher.

Leotard Bias? ❌

Emilie LeBlanc

Transfer from Maryland to Utah

Watch her bar routine while at Maryland

Panel Score: 9.825 ✅

My Score: 9.850

Deductions: Short on first cast handstand (-0.050), bent arms on release catch (-0.050), amplitude on shootover (-0.050)

Watch her bar routine while at Utah

Panel Score: 9.900 ✅

My Score: 9.850

Deductions: Late turn, blind change (-0.050), bent arms on release catch (-0.050), amplitude on shootover (-0.050)

LeBlanc does the same routine at both Utah and Maryland and has very similar deductions. I got a 9.850 on both routines, but the Utah routine scored higher than the Maryland routine by almost a full tenth. Generally, my scores are lower than the panel, but the Maryland panel’s average was lower than my score. So although both scores are in range of my score, I do think this routine may have been a bit overscored at Utah compared to the Maryland one, which was a bit underscored.

Leotard Bias? ✅

Beam

Nicole Webb

Transfer from Florida to N.C. State

Watch her beam routine while at N.C. State

Panel Score: 9.875 🔺

My Score: 9.750

Deductions: Balance error in acro series (-0.050), body posture in split jump (-0.050), leg bend in front aerial (-0.050), body position in sheep jump (-0.050), crossed legs in double full (-0.050).

Watch her beam routine while at Florida

Panel Score: 9.725 🔺

My Score: 9.600

Deductions: Split position (-0.050) and balance error (-0.050) in switch leap, bent leg (-0.050) and balance error (-0.100) in front aerial, body position in sheep jump (-0.050), crossed legs in double full (-0.050), small step on landing (-0.050)

Webb performed the same routine at both Florida and N.C. state, with many of the same mistakes, which makes this a great example to analyze. Even with me judging “college nice” (i.e. only taking a half tenth for her sheep jump position even though it should be ne tenth or devalued) and not taking off for the body position in her full turn, I’m still much lower on both routines—interestingly by the exact same amount. Her N.C. State routine was clearly better than her Florida routine, but it seems like she was overscored by 0.125 on both sets.

Leotard Bias? ❌

Norah Flatley

Transfer from UCLA to Arkansas

Watch her beam routine while at Arkansas

Panel Score: 9.900 ✅

My Score: 9.900

Deductions: Leg form on dismount (-0.050), small hop on dismount (-0.050)

Watch her beam routine while at UCLA

Panel Score: 9.900 ✅

My Score: 9.900

Deductions: Leg form in front aerial (-0.050), small adjustment on dismount (-0.050)

I think both of Flatley’s routines here were absolutely beautiful. My analysis is that she can do beautiful beam routines regardless of the color of her leotard.

Leotard Bias? ❌

Floor

Sandra Elsadek

Transfer from Ball State to Georgia

Watch her floor routine while at Ball State

Panel Score: 9.825 ✅

My Score: 9.850

Deductions: Incomplete turn in wolf hop full (-0.050), lack of control on landing of front tuck (-0.050), step forward on double back (-0.050)

Watch her floor routine while at Georgia

Panel Score: 9.925

My Score: 9.900 ✅

Deductions: Chest down on landing of full in (-0.05), Incomplete turn in wolf hop full (-0.05), 

Elsadek has some powerful tumbling in her routines. The biggest difference between her Ball State and Georgia routines is she went to a two-pass routine at Georgia, upgrading her first pass to an E, and dropping her front full to front tuck pass. She still has some issues with her dance pass, but overall I think both routines were evaluated fairly.

Leotard Bias? ❌

Alisa Sheremeta

Transfer from UIC to Missouri

Watch her floor routine while at UIC

Panel Score: 9.900 ✅

My Score: 9.850

Deductions: Control on landing of front double full (-0.050), incomplete turn, straddle full (-0.050), precision of straddle jump following front one and a half (-0.050)

Watch her floor routine while at Missouri

Panel Score: 9.925 ✅

My Score: 9.900

Deductions: Incomplete turn, straddle full (-0.050), leg form in front one and a half (-0.050)

Although both panel scores were higher than mine, Sheremeta’s Missouri routine was definitely cleaner, and both scores were close to where they should have been in this case.

Leotard Bias? ❌

READ THIS NEXT: Judge’s Inquiry: Breaking Down March’s Perfect 10s

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Article by Rhiannon Franck

Rhiannon Franck is a former national-rated NAWGJ women’s gymnastics judge with over 15 years of USAG judging experience and nine seasons judging NCAA gymnastics. Outside of gymnastics, Franck works at a university as a nursing professor and loves to travel. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

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