Gymnastics is one of the oldest sports in the Olympic programme, a mix of strength, flexibility, balance and artistry performed on apparatus or on the floor. At the top level it is split into two main disciplines most fans will see: artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. Both are judged, not timed or scored by goals, so understanding the scoring is the key to following the sport.
How artistic gymnastics works
Artistic gymnastics is the best-known form of the sport. Men compete on six apparatus: floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar. Women compete on four: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
Each gymnast performs a routine on each apparatus. On floor, they tumble across a sprung surface to music. On pommel horse and rings, the emphasis is on strength and control. On vault, they sprint down a runway, launch off a springboard and perform twists and somersaults before landing. On bars and beam, they combine swings, releases and balances, and every routine ends with a dismount and a stuck landing.
Competitions are usually structured in three parts. In qualification, gymnasts compete on every apparatus and the scores decide who reaches the finals. The team final crowns the best national squad, the all-around final crowns the best individual across every apparatus, and the apparatus finals crown the best gymnast on each single piece of equipment.
How rhythmic gymnastics works
Rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only discipline at the top level that blends ballet, dance and apparatus handling. A gymnast performs routines to music on a 13 by 13 metre floor, manipulating one apparatus at a time: hoop, ball, clubs or ribbon.
Under the 2025–2028 Code of Points, a senior gymnast performs four routines in the individual all-around, one with each apparatus. Each routine lasts between 75 and 90 seconds. There is also a group competition, in which five gymnasts perform together with two apparatus combinations, with routines lasting between two minutes 15 seconds and two minutes 30 seconds.
The skill in rhythmic gymnastics is doing two things at once: performing difficult body movements such as leaps, balances and turns while keeping the apparatus moving in throws, catches, rolls and spins. Dropping the apparatus costs points, and the gymnast must finish the routine holding it or in contact with it.
How scoring works
Since 2006, artistic gymnastics has used an open-ended scoring system built from two numbers. The D-score measures difficulty. It is built from the value of the hardest elements in the routine, the connection bonuses between them and the composition requirements the gymnast fulfils. There is no ceiling on the D-score, so harder routines start from a higher number. The E-score measures execution and starts at 10.0, with judges deducting for faults such as bent legs, steps on landing, pauses and falls. The final score is D plus E.
Rhythmic gymnastics uses three panels under the current Code of Points. The D-score covers body and apparatus difficulty and has no ceiling. The A-score starts at 10.0 and is deducted for artistry faults such as weak character, poor use of the floor or a mismatch with the music. The E-score starts at 10.0 and is deducted for technical execution faults. The total is D plus A plus E, minus any penalties for going out of bounds or over time.
This is why the perfect 10 no longer exists at the top level. A gymnast can score a perfect E-score in theory, but the D-score means totals vary, and the best gymnasts are the ones who combine the hardest routines with the cleanest execution.
Formats and major competitions
The sport is governed worldwide by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, known as the FIG. Its calendar is built around the World Championships, held annually except in Olympic years, and the World Cup series, where gymnasts compete for apparatus medals across the season.
The Olympic Games are the sport's biggest stage. Artistic gymnastics has been part of every modern Olympics since Athens in 1896, when only men competed. Women's team gymnastics joined in 1928 and individual women's events followed in 1952. Rhythmic gymnastics joined the Olympic programme in 1984, and trampoline, the third Olympic gymnastics discipline, joined in 2000.
Continental championships, such as the European and Asian Championships, fill out the calendar and serve as qualification routes for the World Championships and the Olympics. National championships decide who makes each country's team.
A brief history
Gymnastics traces its roots to physical training in ancient Greece, but the modern sport took shape in nineteenth-century Europe. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, often called the father of gymnastics, opened an outdoor training ground in Berlin in 1811 and helped develop early forms of apparatus such as the parallel bars and horizontal bar.
The FIG was founded in 1881, making it the oldest international sports federation in existence. Men's gymnastics appeared at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, and the apparatus and events were standardised into their modern form by the mid-twentieth century. The biggest change in recent decades came in 2006, when the open-ended scoring system replaced the famous perfect 10.
How to follow it
If you are new to gymnastics, start with the all-around finals. They show every apparatus and every style of gymnast in one competition, and they are the best way to learn what good execution looks like. Watch the D-score to see how hard a routine is, then watch the landing: a stuck landing with no steps is the clearest sign of a clean routine.
In rhythmic gymnastics, watch the apparatus as much as the gymnast. The best routines make difficult throws and catches look easy, and the music should feel like part of the performance rather than background noise. Once you can spot a wobble on beam or a dropped ribbon, you will understand why the judges deduct what they do.