In Gymnastics..what is a "start value" for gymnasts?

Question

I've been watching the Olympics and in gymnastics they gymasts have a start value which they are given before they actually perform their routine and compete. What is this? How is it determined?

Answer 1

Its the difficulty value of their routine.

It is dictated by how hard it is to perform the 'tricks' that is in their routine, and the difficulty of the connections of tricks.

The harder it is to do, the higher the start value.

Which is why there is such disparity. Take the Vault finals for example.

Alicia Sacramone decided to take an easier vault for her second, clocking only a 5.8 difficulty value. This meant that it was far easier for her to land on her feet.

Cheng Fei's was 6.5, thus it was much more difficult to do and there was more of a likely hood of her landing on her head.

If Alicia had tried a more difficult vault like Chang did, it is entirely possible she too would have landed on her knees and the scores would have ended up much the same. We will never know because Sacramone opted for the easy vault.

Answer 2

That is A's mark. It means difficulty mark.

Before you start perform, you need to report what kind of movement you do. Then every movement gets its own difficulty mark. Plus all the difficulty marks and form the A's mark.

A's mark higher, more marks you get. That's why somehow you will see some sportman who drop out or step out and still get a higher mark. It is due to his high A's mark