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On the Judging:The Judging at the Olympics was fair,though hard across the board inWomen’s Trampoline. That beingsaid, “Entering a meet with a goodtrack record of good results means thatyou’ll get better treatment.”With regards to the judgingcontroversies at the Olympics in Men’sGymnastics, Mr. Ross feels that aclosed-ended Start Value system isincomprehensible to the fans.Trampoline has an open-ended StartValue system- a system where the levelof difficulty is not artificially limitedby an arbitrary maximum score. Hefeels that that system is more sensible,comprehensible, and equitable.How can Canada remain competitive inthe world?“How are we going to stay in front ofthe Chinese? China has a huge talentbase, with a talent identification anddevelopment system in place with thehuge budget to run all of that…. but itonly takes one Kyle Shewfelt to win agold medal. That’s the way to competeagainst China…. The coach has torecognise a race horse when he seesone.”Mr. Ross emphasised that it wasimportant to keep talented kidschallenged by giving themprogressively harder tasks. Morespecifically, one must never impedetheir development by ceasing toexplore more difficult challenges: “letthem get as far as they can.”To remain competitive, Canadianathletes will have to go intocompetitions with at a higher technicallevel each Olympic cycle.Additionally, the athletes who qualifyin judged events should have goodreputations by the time they arrive atmajor events.At home, Mr. Ross feels that a changein the Olympic selection process forTrampoline is needed. Selection forthe Games should be done early tobetter enable the athletes to commit toa thorough preparation. “While a lateselection motivates all potentialOlympians to train harder for a fewmonths, in the end for those who donot get selected, but are young enoughto try for another cycle, those fewmonths of hard training are not soimportant four and a half years beforethe next Olympics. On the other handthe qualified athletes, given say ninemonths to prepare for an Olympicsknowing for sure that they will attend,would bring a higher level ofcommitment to the task of preparingfor the pressure and competition of thegames.” A concrete example of that isKaren Cockburn. Karen knew she wasgoing to the Olympics “for sure” a fullyear in advance, as the Canadianselection gave a guaranteed spot to thetop 5 finisher from Worlds 2003.Partially as a result, she won a medal.For the Sydney Games theinternational procedure had allOlympic Trampolinists qualifyingtheir spots personally at the priorWorld Championships, so both Karenand Matt had a year to focus on thosegames.Would more money help Canada achievebetter results?Gym Coach Quarterly Page 17 November 2004