Uncle Tim's 8 Most Popular Posts in 2013

When I started this blog, I was drunk, and I had one goal in mind: to help women's gymnastics fans appreciate men's gymnastics.

In my vodka-soaked brain, that much was clear. The blog's trajectory, on the other hand, was much fuzzier. After writing my first post, I decided that I would let my subject matter evolve organically. By that I mean that I was going to sip some wine, wait for the gymnastics gods to appear to me in a theophany, and write down whatever Sexy Alexei told me to say.

Confession: Sexy Alexei never appeared to me in a theophany, so I've been making things up as I go. 

Yet, for whatever reason, you guys still read what I write.

Below, you'll find the most popular posts on this blog. (For the most up-to-date men's UTRS, click here, and for the most up-to-date women's UTRS, click here.)  I hope that you enjoy catching up on some posts that you may have missed, and I look forward to gym-nerding out with you in 2014!

8. For Better or Worse: The Event Finals at the 2013 World Championships

During event finals, which gymnasts improved their scores from qualifications? And which gymnasts did worse?

The Evolution of Artistry in Women's Gymnastics: 1981-1984

Yeah, yeah, yeah… It has been a while since I last wrote about the evolution of artistry. But I have good reason. I take my holiday baking very seriously, and since my inner fatty was busy baking roughly 500 cookies, I just didn't have time to think about artistry.

But now that I've consumed about 52% of those cookies, I'm back, and I'm going to continue looking at how "artistry" evolved over the years. Our next victim is the 1979 Code of Points.

Once again, there's no mention of the word "artistry" in the Code of Points. So, for those of you looking for a "return to artistry" in the Code, well, that's darn near impossible on the women's side because the term "artistry" was largely absent from the first versions of the Code of Points.

Instead, what the Women's Technical Committee regularly discussed was the idea of "elegance." In her introduction to the 1975 Code of Points, Ellen Berger, the FIG WTC President at the time, stated:

"The explosive development of Women's Artistic Gymnastics, not only making the sport feminine-elegant, but also technically complicated, has caused the FIG Women's Technical Committee to revise the current Code of Points."

Clearly, it took a while for the women's liberation movement to reach the International Gymnastics Federation. The phrase "feminine-elegant" stems from the essentialist notion that there is one way to be a woman, and you can bet that the FIG's ideal of femininity was not of bra-burning women. Why do you think women like Nelli Kim still want to see servile, smiling young girls on the competition floor?

That said, despite the emphasis on "feminine elegance," there was some progress in the early 1980s. After Olga and Nadia, we moved out of the era of pigtailed school girls, and we started seeing a larger variety of music choices and dance styles. More on this below.

Women's UTRS: The Best Scores of 2013 Updated December 15

Last year, The All Around created some handy dandy rankings, leading up to the Olympics. This year, not so much. So, I've decided to create the UTRS (Uncle Tim Ranking System), which, for those who care, is pronounced "uterus." Think of my ranking system as a surrogate until The All Around steps in and takes over.

As per usual, take these rankings with a grain of salt. (Pro Tip: Never bet your life savings based on my numbers–or my predictions for that matter.) Judging varies from meet to meet, and as you can see, I've culled these scores from several meets. I've included the competition names so that you can decide how much crack the judges smoked before handing out the scores.

More than anything, you should think of these tables like this: New quad, new Code of Points. What the H is a good score nowadays? Well, let me show you…

Key:

• Bold Face: An update since the last iteration of the UTRS.
• An asterisk (*): Usually denotes a routine for which I have a final score without a D score.
• Links, when available, are provided for the top 5 routines.

Women's All-Around Rankings: Best Scores

Name	Country	Score	Meet
1. Simone Biles	USA	60.500	U.S. Nationals
1. Kyla Ross	USA	60.500	U.S. Nationals
3. Aliya Mustafina	Russia	59.850	Russian Nationals
4. Giulia Steingruber	Switzerland	59.400	Swiss Championships
5. Katelyn Ohashi	USA	59.199	American Cup
6. Larisa Iordache	Romania	58.550	Romanian Nationals
7. Brenna Dowell	USA	58.450	U.S. Nationals
8. Peyton Ernst	USA	58.250	Secret Classic
9. Roxana Popa	Spain	58.083	Spanish Nationals
10. Elizabeth Price	USA	58.032	Stuttgart
11. Yao Jinnan	China	57.965	Worlds
12. Anastasia Grishina	Russia	57.932	European Championships
13. Shang Chunsong	China	57.801	Chinese National Games
14. Maggie Nichols	USA	57.750	U.S. Nationals
15. Mykayla Skinner	USA	57.700	U.S. Nationals

Men's UTRS: The Best Scores of 2013 Updated December 15

All hail King Oleg!

Kohei Uchimura may have won Worlds, but Oleg Verniaiev was the first gymnast to break 92 under the new Code. And he did it TWICE!

Last year, the All Around created some handy dandy rankings, leading up to the Olympics. This year, not so much. So, I've decided to create the UTRS (Uncle Tim Ranking System), which, for those who care, is pronounced "uterus." Think of my ranking system as a surrogate until The All Around steps in and takes over.

As per usual, take these rankings with a grain of salt. (Pro Tip: Never bet your life savings based on my numbers–or my predictions for that matter.) Judging varies from meet to meet, and as you can see, I've culled these scores from several meets. I've included the competition names so that you can decide how much crack the judges smoked before handing out the scores.

More than anything, you should think of these tables like this: New quad, new Code of Points. What the H is a good score nowadays? Well, let me show you…

Key:

• Bold Face: An update since the last iteration of the UTRS.
• An asterisk (*): Usually denotes a routine for which I have a final score without a D score.
• Links, when available, are provided for the top 5 routines.
• Parentheses ( ): The U.S. Nationals used a peculiar bonus system. (See image at the bottom.) Even though start value bonus was not in effect, the execution bonus was added to the D score. To the best of my ability, I have adjusted the scores for the U.S. men on the individual apparatus. However, I have not had time to adjust their all-around scores. Consequently, the U.S. men's all-around scores have parentheses around them. 
• Many, many, many thanks to Chinese Gymnastics Tumblr for their help with the transliteration of names!!

Men's All-Around Rankings: Best Scores

Name	Country	Score	Meet
1. Oleg Verniaiev (Олег Верняєв)	Ukraine	92.165	Stuttgart
2. Kohei Uchimura (内村航平)	Japan	91.990	Worlds
3. Sam Mikulak	USA	(91.650)	U.S. Nationals
4. Liu Rongbing (刘榕冰)	China	90.650	East Asian Games
5. Max Whitlock	Great Britain	90.650	British Championships
6. Alexander Naddour	USA	(90.600)	U.S. Nationals
7. Jossimar Calvo Moreno	Colombia	90.500	Mexican Open
8. John Orozco	USA	(90.400)	U.S. Nationals
9. Deng Shudi (邓书弟)	China	90.350	East Asian Games
10. Wataru Tanigawa	Japan	90.300	Valeri Liukin
11. Zhou Shixiong (周施雄)	China	90.269	Chinese National Games
12. Fabian Hambuechen	Germany	90.265	Stuttgart
13. Ryohei Kato (加藤凌平)	Japan	90.250	University Games
14. Oleg Stepko (Олег Степко)	Ukraine	90.050	University Games
15. Cheng Ran (程然)	China	89.969	Chinese National Games