Comparative Study On Difficulty Elements Between The 14th And 15th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships

The Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships is the world's highest-level athletic aerobic gymnastics event hosted by International Gymnastics Federation(IGF).Competitive aerobic gymnastics consists of competitions in five categories:Individual Women,Individual Men,Mixed Pair,Trio and Group.The difficulty elements in the routines is an important constituent of the sport,the reflection of the value of the routine,the competitive edge among the competition.As the aerobatic gymnastics competition grew more fierce among different countries,the key to achieve the breakthrough for athletes is to maximize the value of difficulty elements.By employing various methods such as literature method,video analysis,mathematical analysis,comparison and logic analysis,this paper analyzed the numbers,categories,values,distribution and frequency of difficulty elements in the total 80 routines of the top eight finals in the five events in the 14th and 15th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships.It aims to reveal the trend and characteristics of difficulty elements in international acrobatic gymnastics competition,providing references for coaches to choreograph routines in Championships,and theatrical guidance for Chinese national gymnastic teams to better prepare for the next Championship,and improve China's aerobatic gymnastics.Here's conclusion:(1)In terms of the number of difficulty elements performed by the top eight finalists in each event of the 14th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships,the sequence of difficulty elements from all categories is C>D>A>B(from maximum to minimum)while the sequence of difficulty elements from all categories for the 15th Championships are C>A>D>B(from maximum to minimum).The above statistics have shown that most difficulty elements from group C are selected by the World's top aerobic gymnastic teams.By comparison,the number of difficulty elements selected from D and B have declined while more from A are selected and the number of difficulty elements from C remains the same.(2)As for the routines performed by the top 8 finals in each event of the 14th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships,the scoring of difficulty elements selected ranges from 0.5 to 0.9 points.The difficulty elements with the value of 0.7 are most selected,the value of 0.8 in the second place and 0.5 in the third place.In the routines performed by the top 8 finals in each event of the 15th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships,the scoring of difficulty elements selected ranges from 0.6 to 0.9 points.The difficulty elements with the value of 0.8 are most selected,the value of 0.6 in second place and the value of 0.7 in the third place.This shows that the selection of difficulty elements with higher value forms a new trend in Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships.(3)In terms of the most popular difficulty elements from each group for the top eight finals of each event in the 14th and 15th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships,are as following:Explosive A-Frame To Wenson and Explosive A-Frame 1/2 Turn to Wenson(A);Combination Of Straddle/L-Support 2/1 Turn(B);Scissors Leap 1/1 Turn,1/1 turn Straddle jump to push up and 1/2 Turn Pike Jump 1/2 Twist To Push Up(C);3 turn and Free Support Illusion To Vertical Split(D).It can be seen that the most popular difficult movements are those which can not only get higher scores but also ensure the perfect completion of the movements(4)The characteristics in the distribution of difficulty elements performed by the top eight finalists of each events in both 14th and 15th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships are as following:In Individual Man or Individual Woman,difficulty elements from A or B group are rarely selected for the last move of a routine,but those from C or D are mainly selected for the last move.In Group event,more difficulty elements from B or D group than those from A group are selected for the first and last moves of a routine while difficulty elements from C are selected evenly in a routine.For the 15th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships:few difficulty elements from A group are selected for the last two moves in a routine and few from B group are selected for the middle section while the difficulty elements from D group are selected for the second half of a routine,and those of C group are distributed evenly during a routine.This shows that difficulty elements from C group are evenly selected in a routine,and those from D group are selected when athletes are in good balance and do not consume their physical energy.Most difficulty elements from A group are selected when athletes are high in stamina while those from B group are most selected for the first half and less selected for the middle section of a routine.Coaches should take into account athlete's skill and physical energy in the selection and sequence of difficulty elements when choreographing a routine(5)The total score respectively in the finals of the 14th and 15th Aerobatic Gymnastics World Championships shows that difficulty elements in the routine in Individual Woman,Mixed Pair,Group of the 14th Championship,and Trio and Group of the 15th Championship have sent China to the all-time top ranking national teams.