Gymnastics has always been art in motion. However, in today’s world, it seems to be more about strength and power than beauty and grace.

Until the late 1990s, it was expected to see incredible skills. We saw the three layout step out tumbling pass on beam as well as the full in back out dismount. On floor, we saw many more whip backs and combination tumbling. Vault over all has not changed too terribly much except for the increased difficulty of skills and the design of the apparatus itself. Uneven bars are also not too drastically different. They are now just spaced farther apart which allows gymnasts to perform amazing transition skills between them.

What is missed when it comes to beam and floor is the artistry. For the 2001-2005 Code of Points, it gave judges a new artistic critic system. It stated that if the judges felt a gymnast did not display a sufficient amount of artistry and creativity on the beam and floor exercise, they could take up to two tenths of a point off the gymnast's total score. That was the reason for so many leap and jump combinations during that era. Gymnasts were heavily rewarded with bonus points for these combinations and heavily deducted if they didn’t complete them or just left them out all together.

It was noted by Bart Conner, who was a commentator for ESPN during the 2001 World Championships, that the new rules for artistry on the beam stop the flow of the routines. Beam routines were choreographed as acro skill, stop, leap, stop, gym-acro skill, stop, leap combo. With all the stopping and going, routines became very chunky and almost tiresome to watch.

On the floor, the difficulty of tumbling passes had to be increased. This meant that the last element in a pass was too hard to rebound out of for back to back tumbling. It is also important to note that floor was a lower scoring apparatus only second to vault during this era. Part of the reason was that judges were harsh when it came to leaps and jumps, truly wanting perfection from the gymnasts.

One must remember that it is called ‘artistic’ gymnastics for a reason. It is great to have amazing acrobatic skills, but it is also important to keep the artistry intact. If not, we lose what the sport is all about.