Gymnastics Explained
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) is contested on four apparatus: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
4 pages in this section
A WAG competitor moves through all four apparatus in a single session: vault (a single, fixed-difficulty skill), uneven bars (continuous swinging and release work between a high and low bar), balance beam (acrobatic, dance and turning skills performed on a raised 10cm surface), and floor exercise (tumbling combined with choreography set to music).
Every apparatus is scored the same way — a difficulty score (D-score) plus an execution score (E-score), minus any neutral deductions — but what counts as difficulty and what counts as a fault differs apparatus by apparatus. See each apparatus page below for its own routine structure and judging emphasis, or start with scoring guides for the shared basics.
Apparatus 1
Vault
A gymnast sprints down a run-up, springs off a board onto the vaulting table, performs one or more flight elements, and lands. Difficulty and execution are scored separately.
Apparatus 2
Uneven Bars
Uneven bars routines link swings, releases, pirouettes and transitions between a high and low bar into one continuous sequence, ending in a dismount.
Apparatus 3
Balance Beam
A beam routine combines acrobatic series, leap/jump combinations and turns on a narrow raised beam, ending in a dismount, with balance and precision judged throughout.
Apparatus 4
Floor Exercise
A WAG floor routine is performed to music on a sprung floor, combining tumbling passes with dance and choreography, within a set time limit.