How The Numbers Compare

A few weeks ago, I posted a post, Predicting The 2013 Podiums , where I took the season averages of the favorites in each event to be able to get a picture of how things stacked up prior to the event.  Of course, this isn't a perfect science, as domestic scoring can be a little funny and, it's gymnastics: anything can happen.  Now that World's are over, I'm going to go back to the averages and standings, and compare that to what actually happened!

All Around
Prediction
Gold: Simone Biles 60.32
Silver: Kyla Ross 59.63
Bronze: Aliya Mustafina 58.927 
Fourth: Larisa Iordache 58.06
Fifth:  Giulia Steingruber 57.344 

Actual
Gold: Simone Biles 60.216
Silver: Kyla Ross 59.332
Bronze: Aliya Mustafina 58.856
Fourth: Larisa Iordache 57.766
Fifth: Yao Jinnan 57.632

Wow, these predictions were actually pretty accurate!  Besides Giulia Steingruber, who placed 7, the results here were spot on, and the scores weren't too far off.  No one really thought that with her difficulty level, Kyla Ross would factor into the medal picture, but the numbers (and the competition itself!) proved those people wrong!

Vault
Prediction
Gold: McKayla Maroney 15.42
Silver: Simone Biles 15.41
Bronze: Giulia Steingruber 14.804 

Actual
Gold: McKayla Maroney 15.725
Silver: Simone Biles 15.595
Bronze: Hong Un Jong 15.483

While the numbers were well off, 2/3 of the podium were correct.  While the Maroney/Biles competition wasn't as close as it was built up to be, but it was just as intense!  With Biles and Maroney the last two to go up, and then for Biles to nail both her vaults as amazing as we've seen from her, to Maroney going up and just hitting her vaults right after Biles, it was intense!  When I ran the numbers, I believe Hong Un Jong had the 4th highest score, so it wasn't too far off, but Giulia was incredible as well, hitting both of her vaults at the beginning of the final, then being knocked out of contention by the last 3 vaulters.

Bars
Prediction 
Gold: Yao Jinnan 15.433
Silver: Kyla Ross 15.389
Bronze: Aliya Mustafina 15.211

Actual
Gold: Huang Huidan 15.4
Silver: Kyla Ross 15.266
Bronze: Aliya Mustafina 15.033

So many people doubted that Kyla Ross could possibly beat Mustafina on bars when I originally posted it!  However, when the green light went up, Kyla Ross performed better than Aliya Mustafina when it counted.  No one really expected that Huang Huidan would even make make bars finals, as Yao Jinnan and Shang Chunsong were expected to qualify over her.  No one expected Yao Jinnan to fall either, but that's gymnastics.

Beam
Prediction
Gold: Larisa Iordache 15.48
Silver: Kyla Ross 14.836
Bronze: Aliya Mustafina 14.633

Actual
Gold: Aliya Mustafina 14.9
Silver: Kyla Ross 14.833
Bronze: Simone Biles 14.333

This podium isn't as exact as the others, which just goes to show how unpredictable gymnastics really is.  No one expected Larisa to fall and no one expected Mustafina to win.  This final will forever been known as the Beam Finals of Inquiries.  I feel bad for Mustafina, because I fell like that's what people are going to remember about this final, not that fact that Mustafina won gold on her weakest, most inconsistent event, beating the favorite by a hefty margin.

Floor
Prediction
Gold: McKayla Maroney
Silver: Simone Biles
Bronze: Larisa Iordache

Actual
Gold: Simone Biles 15.0
Silver: Vanessa Ferrari 14.633
Bronze: Larisa Iordache 14.6

Wow, who would've thought going in that Kyla Ross would beat McKayla Maroney on floor and Maroney wouldn't qualify?  I'm so happy for Vanessa Ferrari, she's been waiting for this medal for SO long!  I totally disagree with Iordache's score, she performed so well and I believe it should've been higher.  Simone has been so amazing during this week, definitely proved herself as the one to beat for the next year with 2 golds, 1 silver, and 1 bronze!

There we go!  I'm not going to lie, some of the predictions were closer than I thought they would be!  It's been an amazing week, and I can't wait for next time!