Mary Lou Retton was the first American female gymnast to win the individual all-around gold medal during the 1984 Olympics. She went home that year with five medals in total.

More recently, in 2016, the “Final Five” helped the U.S. win more medals in women’s gymnastics than ever before, with four golds, four silvers and one bronze.

The “Final Five” in Rio, 2016. Gymnasts include Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez, Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas. Source

The average Olympics viewer can likely recall the many feats that female gymnasts have achieved over the years. However, the world of women’s competitive gymnastics entails more than just the familiar names and faces that we root for.

Here is a brief guide to use when watching women’s gymnastics during the next Olympics so you know what to look for when performances are being scored.

Brief History

Gymnastics was incorporated in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, though women did not start competing until 1936. Since then, women on the U.S. team have won a total of 94 medals and are one of the top countries in the world for their gender in this sport.

In recent years, Olympic gymnastics teams have been composed of five women; however, for the next games, teams have been shrunk to four.

Currently, Simone Biles, a member of the “Final Five,” is the most decorated gymnast in history among both men and women, with 25 career world championship medals. She won five of these medals at the 2016 Olympics.

The Events and Scoring

Each event has particular requirements that gymnasts are judged on. Women compete in four separate events that last no longer than 90 seconds each: vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. These events are also incorporated in the individual all-around and team all-around competitions, which gymnasts can also earn medals for.

A gymnast’s final score is determined by both the routine’s content (level of difficulty) and execution. There are two panels of judges from the International Gymnastics Federation that determine a gymnasts score: two who judge difficulty and five who judge execution.

When judging for difficulty, a gymnast’s score adds up depending on the skills and combinations they perform in their routine. There is technically no maximum value for this score. An assigned skill level and point value has been determined for every potential element that a gymnast could perform. Elements are valued A (worth 0.1 point) through J (worth 1.0 point).

Coaches are allowed to challenge a difficulty score so long as they do so before the next gymnast completes their routine. They must also pay a fee that will only be reimbursed if the score is changed.

The execution score is determined by the severity of any mistakes a gymnast makes throughout their routine. They start with 10 points that can be deducted for as minor of an imperfection as a step out of line or a flexed foot. These deductions can range from tenths to even hundredths of a point.

Scores vary between events, though high performances usually end up in the range of 15 points. Overall, vault tends to score the highest.

Regardless of the point technicalities, every routine’s success will generally rely on four consistent factors that are worth watching out for: proper form and execution, height and distance, a clean landing, and how unique it is.

Vault

You know you’re watching vault when the gymnast is shown running down a mat, springing up to a vaulting table and pushing off with their hands before proceeding to tumble in the air and (ideally) stick a landing.

Only four Olympic medals have been won specifically for vault by women on the U.S. women’s team — the least amount won in any event. Of those, the only gold medal was achieved in 2016 by Simone Biles.

Uneven bars

The uneven bars event is precisely what its name entails — two uneven bars that the gymnast swings between. The routine typically involves 15-20 skills, and combining two or more yields a higher difficulty score. Points are earned based on the performance on the bars and the dismount; like in any event, the goal on uneven bars is to stick a landing on both feet.

Like the vault event, only one gold medal has been obtained on the uneven bars by the U.S. women’s gymnastics team. This medal, won by Julianne Lyn McNamara, was the first individual event gold medal won by the U.S.

(not from the Olympics, but it is another perfect bar routine from her in the same year)

Balance beam

Performing on the balance beam is similar to the floor exercise, but rather than tumbling over a large springy mat, gymnasts must elegantly and precisely perform on an elevated beam four inches wide.

In this event, judges watch for a graceful mount, a full turn on one foot, two acrobatic skills, a connection of two dance elements — including one mid-air split — acrobatic elements in different directions, and, of course, a perfect dismount. Even the slightest wobble can result in point deductions.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team have won the most medals in this event, totaling at two golds, four silvers and four bronzes.

Floor exercise

The floor exercise is unique in that it requires no apparatus other than a 40x40 foot mat. Unlike when men perform on the floor, the women’s floor routine must be accompanied by music and dance elements. The music must not include any lyrics, and gymnasts can lose points if they do not abide by this rule.

Mary Lou Retton on the floor, 1984. Source

As shown above, this guide will primarily consist of two main sections following the introduction:

  1. Brief history of the women’s Olympic gymnastics and achievements. I intend on fleshing out this section out with more background information
  2. The different events women compete in (with a subsection for each), how the gymnasts’ performance is scored, and some relevant terminology. I could add more detail depending on how specific the guide becomes, but my intention is for it to be relatively brief and understandable for the average viewer. More graphs and/or visuals could also be added here, possibly incorporating data showing highest points earned in each event

I will also contact competitive gymnasts and talk to them about what they believe those watching with little knowledge of Olympic gymnastics should know. I could reach out to judges to get their input on this as well. Their quotes would either be incorporated throughout the piece or I could create another section dedicated to this, depending on their responses. However, while I think these sources would offer relevant contributions, I also do not want to complicate the piece and clutter it with too many elements.

Other relevant sources regarding scoring that I used or plan on using to complete the piece:

  1. Olympic gymnastics squads are shrinking for 2020. That’s good and bad for Team USA
  2. Women’s artistic scoring (according to the official USA Gymnastics)
  3. Olympic gymnastics scoring: The basics
  4. Gymnastics 101: Apparatus guide
  5. Everything you need to know about the scoring in gymnastics, because yeah, it’s complicated