rules to play gymnastics

The trampoline category debuted in Sydney in the year 2000. The category holds one individual event each for men and women.

Only women compete in rhythmic gymnastics, and there are both individual and group competitions. Athletes perform to music using a rope, hoop, ball, clubs or ribbon.

When most people think of gymnastics, they are probably thinking of the artistic gymnastics discipline, which has been a part of the modern Olympics since 1896. Athletes show their skill on equipment called apparatus, including the still rings, uneven bars, high bar, parallel bars, pommel horse and vault (the floor is considered an apparatus too). Olympic Competition

Though artistic gymnastics are very different from sports like football or baseball, there is one thing in common athletes compete for themselves and their team at the same time. Just like a baseball player who hits a home run adds to his own statistics as well as his teams score, a gymnast who does well in one event will help his team advance, as well as raising his own chances to take an individual title. Fourteen gold medals are up for grabs at the Olympics; athletes can earn a medal with their team score, an individual event score or an individual all around score (which combines the scores of all of an athletes events).

At the beginning of the trials, there are 196 gymnasts hoping for a chance to go for the gold. Because there are so many competitors, the competition is run tournament style, with four phases qualification, team finals, all around finals and event finals.

One qualification round determines finalists for the rest of the competition phaseseach gymnast competes for her team and herself at the same time (remember, like the player on a baseball team). Four members of every five member team perform on each apparatus (so every each team shows four gymnasts in all events, but not every gymnast needs to compete in every event). The highest three of the four individual scores for each event are combined and added to the teams overall score.

The eight teams with the highest overall score in the qualification round compete in the team finals, where each team chooses three gymnasts for each apparatus. All three scores count toward the teams final score.

The 24 men and 24 women with the highest combined individual totals move on to the all around finals. If an athlete wants to compete for an all around title, she must participate in each event during the qualification round.

The eight gymnasts with the highest individual scores in each apparatus move on to compete for an individual event title in that apparatus. So if youre thinking of the overall competition as a baseball game, then you can imagine the event finals as a kind of home run derby, allowing the athletes to demonstrate their top skills in the event they do best.

The image of three judges holding up cards with their scores based on a ten point scale has become somewhat iconic, but the perfect ten model was changed after it caused confusion in the 2004 Games. Now there is no maximum score, because there is no limit to how many difficulty points a gymnast can earn. Gymnastics athletes gain or lose points based on the decisions of two judges panels.

Six judges on the E panel determine how well an athletes routine is executed. They start with a score of ten and subtract points for mistakes. The deductions can range from .1 points for a small error to one whole point if the gymnast falls. To calculate a gymnasts final execution score, the highest and lowest score is thrown out, and the remaining four scores are averaged together.

Two D panel judges determine the difficulty score for the gymnasts routine by starting at zero and adding points for three categories requirements, difficulty and connections (two or more difficult techniques strung together to form a combination).

There are a few core skills that each routine must have, depending on the specific apparatus. Including all of these required skills will help the gymnast earn the requirements points for her routine.

To calculate difficulty points, the judges assign point values to the ten most difficult techniques in a gymnasts routine (for men) or the eight most difficult techniques (for women )but of course, a gymnast only gets points for those impressive skills if he does them correctly. If a gymnast tries a difficult move and does it incorrectly, he wont get any points. If he falls or makes another serious mistake, the E panel will take points offso not only will he forfeit the points he would have gained for his difficult move, but hell also lose points for his execution.

Extra points are added when difficult skills are connected to one another to create a sequence (a little bit like a double play in baseball, except that the gymnasts can connect as many skills as they like, and theyre going for points instead of outs).

To calculate a gymnasts final difficulty score, the two judges compare their results and agree on a point value that they both think is appropriate.