Olympic Gymnastics 2012: Everything You Need to Know About the Scoring System

If you did not already know it, the perfect 10 no longer exists in gymnastics. A new scoring system was created in 2005 after controversial incidents at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.

The International Gymnastics Federation decided on this following two separate incidences of errors in scoring. The first had to do with the awarding of a gold medal to American Paul Hamm, who had to wait two whole months to get a clear picture and his medal. 

The second one was when the men’s high bar final was delayed for a few minutes when the score that Russian Alexsei Nemov was given made more than a few heads turn. 

The last major event that employed the old scoring system was the 2005 World Championships in November that year. Subsequently, the new rule was passed and has been used ever since. 

Under the new system, there are two panels that adjudicate the scoring of each performer and athlete. One panel gives marks while the other deducts them.

The panel that gives the D-score—which measures difficulty—starts from zero and can give marks up to 10. This score provides a measure of Difficulty Value (DV), Connection Value (CV) and Composition Requirements (CR).

In DV, elements are ranked according to difficulty and scored on the same basis. For example, an element with a rank or difficulty of "E" earns 0.5 marks while one for "G" earns 0.7 marks for the gymnast performing it successfully. Inappropriate execution may even lead to the judges awarding no points.

With CR, there is something of a required quota. Every performing gymnast must display skills from five required element groups for each apparatus. 0.5 marks are awarded for each CR and the maximum score here is 2.5. Gymnasts can be as creative as they like to include different routines in such a way that both the DV and CR are fulfilled and scored for simultaneously.

The panel that gives the E-score—execution score—starts from 10 and deducts points for errors in technique, routine composition, artistry or execution.

In CV, extra points are given for demonstrating connection of two or more elements. 0.1 or 0.2 extra marks are given depending on factors pertaining to the value of element difficulty.

There are various errors for any event. For each small, medium and large error 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 marks are deducted, respectively.

To safeguard athletes so that they don’t throw themselves for as much difficulty as possible, the penalty for the execution error of falls was increased to a minimum of 0.8 from 0.5 previously. If the gymnast falls off the apparatus, the maximum penalty is 1.0 points.

Then there are neutral deductions for exceeding time, going out of bounds, inappropriate attire and podium mishaps.

The panel coming up with the D-score has 2 judges, while the panel that grants the E-score has six judges. This is strange because you would think that deducting for mistakes would be easier and require fewer people to scrutinize than judging three different parameters, which will also have connections at random.

The two scores are added and neutral deductions, if any, are taken away from this total to give out the final marks. Thus, there is no maximum score anymore in gymnastics. This is because the D-score is open-ended. You can earn as many points as you want by connecting skills at will.

Top gymnasts regularly achieve scores between 15 and 16 now, which is considered very good. A score above that is rare, exceptional and very hard to beat. One of the biggest advantages to the new system is that there is more diversity between the scores that each performer receives. That makes it easier to come out with a clear winner. The range is also much wider.

One of the criticisms of the new system is that some events are easier to score than the others. This means that the scoring sometimes becomes skewed. I actually don’t see a problem with this as it maintains the excitement and romance of competitive gymnastics, rather than revealing monotonous nines and 10s every few minutes.

In any case, no system can be foolproof and subjectivity always invites differing opinions. The new system also allows inquiries by the coaches, which leads to more transparency.

An inquiry must be made immediately after the score of the gymnast is displayed. The verbal inquiry must also be followed up with a written one that is supplemented by a fee. If the appeal proves worthy,  the fee is refunded. Otherwise, it is donated to the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG).

That is all folks. I hope you now won't be shocked or confused when a gymnast scores a 15.716 in London.

Thanks for reading.