Gymnastics
How does the scoring system work in Gymnastics at the Olympics?
An overview of how the scoring system for Artistic Gymnastics works at the Olympics
Indian Olympian Dipa Karmakar
Gymnastics has a subjective mode of scoring that involves two sets of judges judging two different criteria of each competitor. The final score that each Gymnast receives is the total of their E and D scores. The competitors are judged on more than just the execution and physicality of their moves and much effort goes into performing moves that are rehearsed, practiced, and improved upon for several months on end. Hence, scoring often goes into the finest of margins based on how much the judges are impressed with the execution and difficulty of the moves.
1)Execution Score- E score
This entails marking done on the basis of the choreographed moves, style, performance, rhythm, and execution of what the gymnast does. The scoring is done backward from 10 points. Each error is given a certain amount of deduction.
1)Small Error gets - 0.1 point
2)Medium Error gets - 0.3 points
3)Large Error gets - 0.5 points
4)Falling during a move gets -1 point
Vault Gymnasts are all given the same D Score for the same move that is executed and this is their allocated points value. Their E Score is also adjudged from 10.0 downwards with minus points based on errors.
2)Difficulty Score
This category marks the quality of the move, relativity to other moves, etc. There are no point deductions but the judges may choose to not award points in case there is no connection of the elements, incorrect moves, or incorrect routines. The D Score is marked upwards on three criteria:
1)Difficulty Value - There is a certain Table of Elements that are looked at with every Gymnast's routine and they are expected to include every element in their routine. The elements are each given a specific number of points based on difficulty between 0.10 to 1.0. The DV is the combined total of all the elements.
2)Composition Requirements - As per the latest Code of Rules that was implemented, Gymnasts are expected to show certain skills from at least 4 elements on different apparatus. Each skill move is given 0.5 points and the total maximum score that can be achieved is 2.0.
3)Connection Value - Bonus points are earned if Gymnasts can bring together more than one element during the course of their moves. The total score is determined based on the value of the elements.
