Fun and Games in Birmingham

Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022

Event: Artistic Gymnastics, Second Day of Individual Apparatus Finals

Birmingham Arena

This was a last-minute decision to take my granddaughter to see some gymnastics. I’d picked up on the hints that cars were not welcome so we took the train into New Street and wandered through the city in good time for the afternoon event. I’m a West Brom lad by birth and trips to the city were a frequent part of my youth – I even worked there briefly in student days – but Birmingham has changed vastly, and it scrubbed up well for these Games. The general feel as we approached the arena was much the same as at the 2012 London Olympics. Hyped-up volunteers every few metres, making sure that no-one was miserable. It all felt very safe and well-organised, with thorough security checks. We bought our event programmes (£10) from the concourse.

 

I hate artificial crowd warm-ups and today’s was typical of the genre. Do a bit of screaming and a Mexican wave to pass the time whilst a few thousand people get their bags checked and queue for the toilet. That is the one major criticism from me – it’s 2022 and it is still necessary for half of the population to queue for unacceptable lengths of time. Who designs these buildings? Presumably men. However, on to the sporting action …

The action opened with the men’s vault. There were some helpful video clips first to tell the spectators what to look for in the performance. Competitors get two attempts, and the average score decides the rank order. Judges award points based on technical difficulty of the chosen route through the air from springboard to landing mat, and some kind of mathematical process combines this degree of difficulty with the marks for execution to get a final score. There are penalty points for certain offences such as landing outside a defined zone. For competitors, there is a tension between scoring a high execution mark for a performance of lower technical difficulty versus choosing a more difficult routine with a higher risk of error. All of the athletes today had qualified for these finals as a result of their scores on previous days of the competition.

  

Jake Jarman and Giarnni Regini-Moran took Gold and Silver for England, with Australian James Bacueti taking Bronze. For Jarman, this was a record-breaking moment as he became the first Englishman to take four Golds in one games. Young Welshman Emil Barber was interviewed, the first of many athletes who would tell us how wonderful we were as a crowd, how amazing the experience had been, and how many donuts he was now going to eat in one sitting. I might have misheard the last bit.

Jake Jarman (England)

One medal ceremony later, we moved on to the Women’s Beam and the Men’s Parallel Bars. The scoring system is much the same with the balance between technical difficulty and execution. This time, however, just one chance for the athletes. I have to say that the performances on the beam in particular are astonishing feats of athleticism and balance. The margin for error must be incredibly small, and the crowd responded with ooohs, aaahs and gasps if someone wobbled. The dismounts were greeted with warm applause. The male and female athletes alternated.

There were instant slo-mo replays of key moments on the big screen afterwards. Fantastic if you’d nailed the dismount, horrible if you’d stumbled.

Goalkeepers should have sparkly tops imo (see other blogposts)

Australia's Georgia Godwin on her way to a Silver medal

On the beam, Georgia Godwin of Australia scored 13.433 which was enough to be ahead of the English women. Georgia-Mae Fenton ended up in fifth place and defending champion Alice Kinsella, who had apparently fallen at the team stage of the event, was edged into fourth by Canadian Emma Spence. In the meantime Georgia had dropped into Silver position due to an accomplished 13.466 routine by compatriot Kate McDonald. Afterwards, the two young Welsh finalists Jea Maracha and Sofia Micallef told us how wonderful we were as a crowd and how amazing the experience had been etc etc. Putting microphones in front of sportspeople immediately after events is one of the most cruel of human sports. As a physicist and mathematician, I can’t really explain the difference between 13.466 and 13.433 here. It's one-thirtieth of a point, for something with a high degree of subjectivity. There must be plenty of room for chance and unconscious bias in a system such as this, especially when grading a single event.

On the parallel bars, we watched another English one-two as local boy Joe Fraser performed a 15.000 routine, the highest of the games. It would not be beaten, so Joe took his third gold medal of the week. Giarnni Regini-Moran took his second silver of the day with 14.733, and Cypriot Marios Georgiou took bronze. This time, fourth place Canadian did the honours for telling us we were wonderful, and Joe himself got a warm reception from all the Brummies of course.

 

Two more medal ceremonies later – also highly choreographed with a flag delivery party of a mixed group of miltary servicemen and a procession of medals and mementos on trays, in the time-honoured fashion. With one exception, these were handed over by a grandfatherly figure, with great solemnity. We stood again for Jerusalem and then Advance Australia Fair.

On to the Mens’ Horizontal Bar and Women’s Floor. These are about as different as you can get. The Bar requires strength, co-ordination and balance. The floor exercise also incorporates elements of dance alongside the athleticism of the diagonal tumbling routines. As before, men and women alternated.

 

The floor competition gave the third one-two for England. Alice Kinsella and Odine Achampong secured gold and silver, with Emily Whitehead of Australia only just behind. She had pushed out Emma Spence into fourth. I believe that Emma had been the only athlete in all of the separate apparatus finals over the last two days. The young Welsh talent spot this time was occupied by Poppy-Grace Stickler.

English interest for the bar centred on Joe Fraser, who now had a chance to match Jake Jarman’s haul. This was not to be – he fell, one of three (if I remember correctly) men to do so in this final. The gold medal was secured at the last moment with a brave and well-executed routine. Ilias Georgiou of Cyprus was the last performance of the day, and the crowd roared (told you we were good) when his score came up. Australia’s Tyson Bull – apparently a late replacement for the event – took silver with Marios Georgiou of Cyprus taking his second bronze of the day.

A few more participants gave the usual post-performance interviews, and then two more medal ceremonies. A final blast of Jerusalem and this time, the Hymn to Liberty. Four hours had shot past.

Floor gold medallist Alice Kinsella (England)

 

As an event, the staging and organisation was impeccable. It was a fantastic experience, and both my granddaughter and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. We even had an on-screen moment. My granddaughter is waving the English flag and I have a gormless glazed look on my face. I was enjoying myself, honest! Just trying to work out a scoring system that claims five significant figures, I suppose. Two more grandchildren will get their chance for a memorable day out in due course. They had to settle for a t-shirt today. Football is the most likely sport for #2, but preference #3 is yet to emerge. I can’t wait.