Gymnastics Explained
Scoring & Rules
Difficulty, execution and the rules that shape a final score, explained without assuming prior knowledge. New to scoring? Start with the basics.
15 pages in this section
The basics
How Gymnastics Scoring Works
Final score normally combines a difficulty score and an execution score, then applies any neutral deductions.
What Is a D-Score in Gymnastics?
The D-score reflects what a gymnast attempted: the value of their skills, whether composition requirements are met, and, on some apparatus, bonus for connecting skills together.
What Is an E-Score in Gymnastics?
The E-score judges how well a routine was performed, starting from a fixed ceiling and losing points for technical faults such as bent knees, poor form or landing errors.
Difficulty and composition
Gymnastics Difficulty Ratings and the Code of Points Explained
The Code of Points is the FIG's rulebook assigning a difficulty value to every recognised skill; it's revised in multi-year cycles, so a skill's value can change between cycles.
Composition Requirements in Artistic Gymnastics
Composition requirements ask a routine to include a defined mix of skill groups; meeting them contributes to the D-score, and missing one usually costs credit rather than triggering a specific fault deduction.
What Is a Gymnastics Connection?
A connection is two or more skills performed back-to-back with no pause; on apparatus where connection value applies, certain connections add difficulty beyond the sum of the individual skills.
Connection Value on Uneven Bars Explained
On uneven bars, linking certain skills — especially release-to-release combinations — directly together without a pause adds bonus difficulty defined by the Code of Points.
Connection Value on Balance Beam Explained
On balance beam, linking acrobatic skills into a continuous series — with no extra step or pause between them — earns bonus difficulty defined by the Code of Points.
Artistry in Women's Floor and Beam: What Judges Assess
On WAG floor and beam, artistry — musicality, expression and choreography — is assessed as part of the execution score rather than as a standalone artistic mark.
Deductions and penalties
The Most Common Gymnastics Deductions Explained
Most execution deductions fall into a few recurring categories: body form, amplitude, landing control, and rhythm/composition faults — graded small, medium or large.
Landing Deductions: Steps, Hops, Deep Landings and Falls
Landing faults are graded by severity — a small step, a larger hop or a deep bend cost progressively more, and a fall is deducted as its own fixed, larger penalty.
How Falls Affect a Gymnastics Score
A fall costs 1.00 from the execution score. It doesn't remove difficulty already earned for earlier skills, but the skill the gymnast falls on may lose its value — and with it any connection, requirement or bonus it would have earned.
Neutral Deductions in Gymnastics Explained
A neutral deduction (in women's gymnastics, a 'penalty') punishes a rule breach unrelated to technical quality — going over time, stepping out of bounds, a coach helping, incorrect attire — and is taken from the final score, not from the D-score or E-score.
Results and procedures
Gymnastics Tie-Break Rules Explained
When gymnasts tie, the FIG Technical Regulations break the tie with a fixed sequence of criteria — the best apparatus scores in the all-around and team events, then execution and difficulty — and only share the placing if every criterion is equal.
Score Inquiries: When and How a Gymnast's Difficulty Score Is Reviewed
A score inquiry formally challenges a gymnast's D-score, usually submitted by a coach within a short time window after the score is posted, and reviewed by a separate panel.