The impact of vault group on performance scores in women’s artistic gymnastics at the Olympic Games

The Yurchenko vaults dominate elite women's artistic gymnastics, yet its impact on execution scores (E-scores) remains unquantified. This study investigates whether Yurchenko vaults confer a systematically higher E-score at the Olympics. We analysed 298 vaults from the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Olympic qualifications, classified by FIG-certified judges (ICC = 0.988, P < 0.001). Three analytical approaches, correspondence analysis (CA), one-way ANOVA, and ordered logistic regression (OLR), were used to evaluate E-score distributions across vault groups. Results show that Yurchenko vaults consistently achieved higher E-score terciles (CA), demonstrated significantly higher mean E-scores than Handspring(across all Games, p < 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.57 to 1.21) and Tsukahara vaults (2024: p < 0.05, d = 1.04), and conferred a 24.0% (vs. Handspring) and 22.6% (vs. Tsukahara) greater probability of achieving higher E-score terciles (OLR, p < 0.001). These findings provide the first quantitative evidence of a significant E-score advantage for Yurchenko vaults, suggesting biomechanical alignment with modern equipment and scoring criteria. The discovery highlights systemic scoring disparities influencing elite vault selection and underscores the need for Code of Points revisions to promote diversity.