Almost Impossible: Gymnasts struggle with imperfections
The greatest gymnasts in the world struggle with the concept of imperfection even as they rise to the pinnacles of their sport.
Sunisa Lee has amazing gymnastics. They simply aren’t “perfect.” In any case, not strictly.
Countless hours of training. Numerous competitions abound. Not even on uneven bars, where the 45-second sequence she intends to perform in Sunday’s event finals is a free-flowing succession of connections and releases that give the impression that she is floating, has a judge ever watched the new Olympic all-around champion perform and said, “That’s flawless.”
Lee is not alone himself. Since the sport switched from the “10” system to a new Code of Points in 2006, no competitive gymnast has ever received a perfect score, not even American celebrity and six-time Olympic medallist Simone Biles. These days, scores are determined by adding the open-ended routine complexity to the execution, which is graded on a 10.0 scale.
Theoretically, execution can be “perfected.” Simply said, no one has ever carried it out. Lee had to accept a long time ago that a flawless routine is unachievable, regardless of how it feels or appears to those outside of the two individuals in blue blazers seated at the judge’s tables.
Rather, she aims for what she believes to be her finest, maybe more as a means of self-preservation. Her 15.400 on the bars in the team final was the highest score any athlete had on the evening for any event, and her amazing performance helped the United States win silver.