Gymnastics Explained
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.
The team final decides the team champions. Under the FIG Technical Regulations, the eight highest-scoring teams from qualification take part. Each team has up to five gymnasts, three compete on each apparatus, and all three scores count — so there’s no dropped score to hide a fall, unlike in qualification, where four compete and the best three count.
That format rewards depth and consistency across a whole squad. A team’s total is the sum of every counting score across four apparatus for women or six for men. If teams tie, the tie is broken only by comparing their best apparatus scores; if they’re still level, they share the placing.
Not every World Championships has a team final: in the year after an Olympics, the World Championships are an individual-only event. At the LA 2028 Olympics, 12 teams of five will compete in each discipline, and a new mixed team event will be added.
Sources
- FIG Technical Regulations 2025 — International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) (accessed 11 October 2026)
- Qualification System – Games of the XXXIV Olympiad – Los Angeles 2028: Artistic Gymnastics — International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) (accessed 11 October 2026)