I am the FIRST!!!
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How Olympic gymnastics works and watch to watch for in Tokyo
Gymnastics is one of the most popular Olympic sports. But unlike swimming (finish first!) or basketball (score more points!), it can be complex and difficult to follow.
How it works: There are seven individual events for men and five for women.
- Men: Floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, individual all-around.
- Women: Floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, balance beam, individual all-around.
Scoring: The "Perfect 10" is a relic of the past. Since 2006, gymnasts earn scores made up of two components — difficulty ("D") and execution ("E").
- Difficulty score: Routines are comprised of skills, and each skill has a pre-assigned value that reflects its difficulty. So the higher the "D" score, the harder the routine was.
- Execution score: This is the grade for how well skills are performed. All "E" scores start at 10.0 and judges take deductions for mistakes, such as wobbles or poor dismounts.
Between the lines: Simone Biles' routines are so difficult that she can afford missteps and still dominate thanks to her huge "D" score. Something to watch: whether Tokyo judges give her moves — which few, if any, gymnasts can do — their proper value.
Of note: While artistic gymnastics is the most well-known discipline, medals will also be awarded in rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline.
Tokyo notes:
- Men's schedule: The team final began early this morning (6am ET, Peacock) and will air on primetime tonight (8pm, NBC). The individual all-around final is on Wednesday.
- Women's schedule: The team final begins early tomorrow morning (6:30am, Peacock) and will air on primetime tomorrow night (8pm, NBC). The individual all-around final is on Thursday.
- Inside the venue: Ariake Gymnastics Centre is a temporary venue. That explains the unfinished wood seats that make it look like the world's biggest IKEA set, Axios' Ina Fried reports from Tokyo.
- Spotted: A jar of honey! Turns out, men use it as a gripping agent for parallel bars.
Go deeper: Meet Team USA's gymnastics teams (Axios)
Armin Laschet elected as leader of Merkel's CDU party in Germany
Armin Laschet, the centrist governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, was elected on Saturday as the new leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), defeating the more conservative Friedrich Merz by a 521-466 margin.
Why it matters: Laschet is now the most likely successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel as the standard bearer of the German center-right heading into September's elections. With Merkel preparing to step down after 16 years in power, Laschet is seen as a continuity candidate.
- The union of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), will select its nominee to become chancellor in the spring, with Laschet now positioned as the front-runner.
- After the contest, Laschet said that he wanted to ensure that the next German chancellor would be from the CDU/CSU union.
The big picture: Laschet will replace Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had been Merkel's hand-picked successor. She resigned resigned as part chair in 2018 with the CDU losing votes to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and to the Greens on the left.
- The party has regained strength due to perceptions that Merkel has handled the COVID-19 crisis successfully.
- The CDU/CSU union leads the most recent opinion poll with 37%, followed by the Greens (20%), the center-left Social Democratic Party (15%) and the AfD (10%).
The bottom line: Laschet, a Merkel loyalist, has promised to keep the party in the "middle of society," signaling a preservation of Merkel's policies.



