Glossary | Gymnastics Explained

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Acro line: In women's floor, a tumbling pass of at least two directly connected flight elements, one of them a salto. Up to four acro lines count, and the last counting one is the dismount.
All-around: A competition, or a gymnast's total, combining scores from every apparatus in their discipline: four for women, six for men.
Amplitude: The height, extension and size of a movement. Insufficient amplitude is one of the most common execution deductions.
Apparatus: The equipment a routine is performed on: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor for women; floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar for men.
Apparatus final: A final deciding the medals on one apparatus, contested by the eight highest qualifiers on it, with no more than two per country.

Back handspring: A backward jump onto the hands and back over onto the feet. The Code of Points calls it a flic-flac; it links most backward tumbling and is the second half of a Yurchenko vault entry.

Code of Points: The FIG rulebook for judging, published separately for women's and men's artistic gymnastics. The current editions run from 2025 to 2028.
Composition requirement: In women's gymnastics, one of four required skill types on bars, beam and floor, each worth 0.50 towards the D-score.
Connection value: A difficulty bonus of +0.10 or +0.20 for performing certain skills directly linked, with no pause or extra swing. It applies on women's bars, beam and floor, and men's floor and horizontal bar.

D-score: The difficulty score: the value of the skills performed plus credit for composition and connections. It has no upper limit.
Difficulty value: The value the Code of Points gives each skill, written as a letter from A (0.1) to J (1.0). Vaults have numerical values instead.
Dismount: The final skill of a routine, taking the gymnast off the apparatus. It counts towards difficulty, and a strong dismount can earn a bonus.

E-score: The execution score: it starts at 10.00 and is reduced by deductions for faults in technique, form, landings and, in women's gymnastics, artistry.
Element group: In men's gymnastics, one of the families of skills each apparatus is divided into. A routine must include skills from every group to earn full credit.
Empty swing: A swing on a bar apparatus that doesn't lead to a skill. It's deducted from execution and, on women's bars, cancels connection value.
Execution: How well a skill or routine is performed — form, precision, amplitude and control — as opposed to how difficult it is.

Fall: Landing on anything other than the feet, or coming off the apparatus during a routine. A fall costs 1.00 from the E-score and can cost difficulty too.
FIG: The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique — the international federation that governs gymnastics, writes the Codes of Points and runs the World Championships.

Giant swing: A full 360° circle around a bar with the body straight, passing through handstand. It builds the swing that releases and dismounts depend on.

Handguards: Leather or synthetic pads worn on the hands for bar and ring work, often called grips. They must fit properly and be in good repair.
Handspring: A forward movement from the feet onto the hands and over onto the feet again. It's the entry for the simplest family of vaults.
Hold: A position held still — such as a cross on rings or a handstand — which must be held for at least two seconds to count.

Inquiry: A formal challenge to a D-score, submitted by a coach within two minutes of the score appearing. Only the difficulty score can be inquired.

Judging panel: The judges on each apparatus: D-judges set the difficulty score and E-judges the execution score. At major championships there are two D-judges and seven E-judges.

Kip: A swing from a hang up into support on a bar, using a fold at the hips and a quick extension. It's one of the most fundamental bar skills.

Layout: A salto with the body fully extended, with no bend at the hips or knees. The Codes call it 'straight' (men) or 'stretched' (women).
Leap, jump and hop: Three dance skills defined by their footwork: a leap takes off from one foot, a hop takes off and lands on the same foot, and a jump takes off from both feet.

MAG: Men's Artistic Gymnastics: six apparatus — floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar — under its own Code of Points.

Named skill: A skill named after the gymnast who first performed it — such as the Yurchenko, the Tkachev or the Biles. The FIG names it only if strict conditions are met.
Neutral deduction: A penalty for breaking a rule rather than for poor technique — such as going over time or stepping out of bounds — taken from the final score.

Olympic order: The fixed sequence in which apparatus are competed at major championships: vault, bars, beam, floor for women; floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar for men.

Pike: A body shape with the legs straight and the body folded at the hips, at least 90°.

Qualification: The opening round of a championship. One set of scores decides who reaches the team final, the all-around final and each apparatus final.

Release: A skill in which the gymnast lets go of the bar mid-swing and catches it, or another bar, again. The Codes call them flight elements.
Rotation: One round of a competition, in which each group performs on one apparatus before moving to the next in Olympic order.
Round-off: A cartwheel-like skill with a quarter turn, landing on both feet facing back the way the gymnast came. It's the usual entry for backward tumbling and Yurchenko vaults.
Routine: A complete performance on one apparatus, made up of linked skills from the mount to the dismount. The Codes of Points call it an exercise.

Salto: A somersault: a full rotation of the body in the air, forward, backward or sideward, with no hand support.
Series bonus: On balance beam, an extra 0.10 for linking three or more skills together (at least B + B + C), on top of connection value.
Start value: Under the pre-2006 perfect-10 system, the maximum score a routine could earn: a base score plus bonus points for difficulty.
Stick: A landing with no movement of the feet. In men's gymnastics, a stuck dismount of at least C value earns a 0.1 bonus.

Team final: The competition for the team title: the top eight teams from qualification, with three gymnasts competing on each apparatus and every score counting.
Tie-break: The rules for separating gymnasts or teams on the same score. In apparatus finals, the higher execution score wins first.
Tuck: A compact body shape with the hips and knees bent and the knees pulled in to the chest.
Turn: A rotation on one foot around the body's vertical axis, on beam or floor. On bars, the equivalent rotation in handstand is a pirouette.
Twist: A rotation around the body's long axis (head to toe), added to a salto or vault and counted in half turns.

WAG: Women's Artistic Gymnastics: four apparatus — vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor — under its own Code of Points.