ELITE FEMALE VAULT FINALS FROM 2008 – 2016
After Vault Qualifications (in C-I competition), the top eight scores, maximum two gymnasts from one national team, qualify for Vault Finals. During the Vault Finals, these top female vaulters need to perform two different vaults. The aim of this study was to determine: 1)trends of the Difficulty Scores (DS), Execution Scores (ES) and Total Scores (TS) of the first vault and the second vault; 2) differences between differently ranked gymnasts (Medal Winners vs Non-Medal Winners) on all major competitions held from 2008 to 2016. An increase in results of all scores, from initial competition (OG2008) to final competition (OG2016), confirms the progress in quality and complexity of the female vaults. Numerically higher values of all scores have been demonstrated for Medal Winners compared to Non-Medal Winners, but only some of them have been determined to be significant. The ES has been determined as the score that makes the difference among differently ranked gymnasts.