Winning back-to-back national titles, it’s definitely great to be a Florida Gator.
The Florida Gators Gymnastics team won their second consecutive national championship this weekend, but they didn’t do it alone…literally. For the first time in history, the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners tied for first place, making them co-national champions.
For a sport like gymnastics that calculates scores to hundredths of a point, you would think there would be some contingency in place in the event of a tie for the national championship, but as it turns out, there is not.
In the 1990s, the NCAA started a new scoring system to prevent the possibilities for ties. The new system calculates scores out to a 0.025 difference, making the fact that these two teams tied even more unlikely. The coaches and gymnasts seem to be in high spirits about the tie, saying that it actually boosts their triumph.
Via: espn.go.com
I, like many other people out there, only have a vague understanding of how the scoring in gymnastics actually works. There are so many numbers! The way I understand it, though, is that each gymnast begins the event at a 10.0, and from there, points are deducted based on how well the event is performed. For the team score, five scores count for each event, and there are four events, making a possible 200 points. Florida and Oklahoma both scored an impressive 198.175 out of the possible 200. In the event of a tie in any of the other meets in the tournament, there is a rule in place that prohibits two teams from tying, but not in the championship. I find it pretty ridiculous that it’s set up that way, and I would not be surprised if there was a new rule instated for next season.
This isn’t the first time the Gators’ gymnastics team has made history. In last year’s tournament, they became the first team outside of the big four programs Utah, UCLA, Georgia, and Alabama to win an NCAA title. This win also marks the first national win in this history of Oklahoma’s program, making this one gymnastic competition for the record books.
While both teams seem to be in favor of the outcome, I am not sure how to feel.
On the one hand, the Gators did win consecutive national titles, but they had to share the second one with another team. Both teams did an amazing job at the meet, and both teams deserved the title, but isn’t the point of a champion to have one person/team outshining the others? Perhaps it’s naïve of me to think in those terms. After all, I should be happy that the Gators won at all.
Ultimately, it’s nice to see both teams rewarded for all their hard work this season with a historical national championship title, even though part of me can’t help but wish the Gators had done it solo.
