The decline of balance beam

I don't think I am the only one who noticed, but balance beam has certainly become the weakest event in this quad. I actually noticed this in the last quad, though it wasn't as bad as it is now. In the 2006-2008 quad, we were spoiled with many confident beam workers and it seemed even the gymnast that placed in the teens were just as talented as the gymnasts that made event finals. Now it seems gymnasts lack confidence on beam and the routines are no longer original in anyway. Even the top two beam workers in the world, Biles and Iordache, lack confidence and aren't very sharp in their movements. It will be refreshing to see Catalina Ponor back in action on beam because she has that style and confidence we love to see on beam. Hopefully Afanasyeva can start doing beam again by Rio because she has that sharp yet elegant style. I think the CoP has really ruined balance beam in the past two cycles and hopefully for the future cycles they can look back to the past for inspiration.

The decline of balance beam