Will Simone Biles’ calf issue impact her qualifying score? Learn more about the AI scoring system at Paris Olympics
Simone Biles is competing in Olympic gymnastics with a calf injury. Will her calf problem have an impact on her qualification score? Could it? Here's a look into it.
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Simone Biles injured (uneven bars); qualification round, Bercy Arena, Paris Olympics (Source: IMAGO/X)
When Simone Miles shoots up her hand in the air or nods to judges at Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium, the world lights up. When Biles crawls to victory at Paris’ 24, so does the Paris Olympics. Her gravitational pull is as real as it gets, with all of the Olympic spectrum keeping a close eye. During NBC’s Live coverage of the Games (Sunday, July 28), she gave Paris 2024 Olympics quite an injury jumpscare.
Biles dominated in qualifying for the US women’s gymnastics team at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. However, she was sporting quite a calf injury. The parallels were like déjà vu; quite hard to miss! Biles sat away from the grind and Games — and disappeared with USA Gymnastics team doctor Marcia Faustin. It was Tokyo all over again. However, she pulled through.
But what if she didn’t? What if the scoring system was convoluted enough to cause it despite optimal performance up to the injury? Paris Olympics already has had too many controversies, including the drone-spying scandal, rioting, the opening ceremony debacle, and even a wrong anthem playing. Does it need another one with convoluted scoring? Here’s a brief look into the scoring system that helps athletes in artistic gymnastics.
Zoom in, boom out: JSS AI Scoring
A quick rush and roundoff onto the springboard, A press of the block, and some historical twists. Until she lands on the mat and raises her arms above her head. That’s Simone Biles; she keeps to her juvenile dream and grinds on to this day. With her ankle strapped, Biles posted the highest scores on the floor and vault in two divisions. Biles limited the difficulty of her uneven bars routine, omitting a unique move that she’d submitted to the International Gymnastics Federation on Friday.
While the usual cameras and phones capture all these, other cameras (non-media availability) capture kinesthetic didactics. They were created by Japanese technology giant Fujitsu Ltd., which has worked with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) since 2017.
It is a part of The Judging Support System (JSS), which it facilitates instead of making informed final calls. Fujitsu and FIG announced JSS back in 2017, with the detection and ranging system capturing 3D composites of gymnasts in motion. However, it came to be in 2023 when Biles, 27, had an empathetic performance.
How AI Scoring Helps Artistic Gymnastics
Her calf injury did not seemingly affect her scoring. She did her usual set, scoring 14.333, and then tried not to put much weight on her leg after dismounting. She leads the all-around standings with 59.566 points after 2/5 qualifying rounds at the Paris 2024 Olympics. But sometimes, between the roundoff, the unbound upward trajectory, or even mounts and twists, hi-def cameras in the corner capture prominent borderline moments. Moments can cause all the difference.
From its initial lidar (light detection and ranging), the high-definition cameras for JSS now create better gymnast composites. Olympics gymnasts often introduce new elements, which the FIG has to assess/approve. Unlike ball games, there are no set values on composites in gymnastics, like arcs or backshots. One good value in a game could be bad in another. Hence, the cameras help AI Scoring to capture and scale minute moments during mounts, twists, and so on.
If and when someone like Simone Biles hurts a limb during a mount, dismount, or twist, it might seem like a fumble. But if the minute moments show a smooth overall transition up until she lands the blue mat, scores could work in favor of the Texas native. That’s how it helps – offer more data to the transition so as not to make judgment calls or misread something as a fumble.
Simone Biles: What’s next?
U.S. coach Cecile Landi and her husband, Laurent — longtime coaches, have aided Biles forward through her injury. They informed USA TODAY Sports’ Tom Schad that the discomfort and subsequent injury was from before the Games but will not stall her. Biles’ next event would be Tuesday – the one she skipped all those years back due to a block and risk to health. Landi said they haven’t discussed pulling her from the Paris Olympics.
Women’s all-around Team final, Tuesday begins at 12:15 p.m. ET/9:15 a.m. PT, streaming on NBC platforms and Peacock. The event consists of vault, bars, beam, and floor exercises. She joins Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey on the vault and Suni Lee for the rest.
In case you missed it:
- “Lot of weight on our shoulders,” Simone Biles and Suni Lee ready for ‘redemption’ race at Paris 2024 following Tokyo Games performance
- How to watch Gymnastics at the Paris Olympics 2024: Full schedule, channel and live stream
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