Olympic gymnastics tie-break rules changed

Nastia Liukin would have another gold medal if tie-break procedures introduced for this summer's London Olympics were in place four years ago.

The International Gymnastics Federation is ditching its complicated formulas for breaking ties, saying Tuesday that gymnasts will share places — and medals — if basic calculations aren't enough. In event finals, for example, the execution mark would serve as the first tie-break, followed by the difficulty score. If the tie still isn't broken, the results will stand.

Liukin and China's He Kexin tied in the uneven bars final at the Beijing Games, finishing with identical start values (7.7) and execution marks (9.025). But Liukin wound up with silver because of a convoluted formula based on deductions from the execution mark.