New to Gymnastics? 5 Things to Know About Artistic Gymnastics at the Olympics

New to Gymnastics? 5 Things to Know About Artistic Gymnastics at the Olympics

By Megan Roth
Editorial Contributor

Inside Gymnastics will be on the scene in Paris for the XXXIII Olympiad bringing you all of the action from the Games! Make sure you’re following our social media pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Threads) for all the latest and greatest in what promises to be the most epic and most-watched Olympic Games ever.

  • Dates: July 27 – August 5
  • Venue: Bercy Arena
  • TV channels: NBC, USA Network, E!
  • Streaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, NBC app, NBC Olympics app

TV Broadcasts + Streaming Info

  • Primetime coverage featuring marquee events will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock. 
  • The complete gymnastics schedule, including the apparatus feeds for each session and TV listings, is also available on the NBC Olympics schedule page.
  • Live and tape-delayed coverage of gymnastics will be shown on the following TV channels: NBC, USA Network and E!

The Schedule

Gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC, USA Network and E!, and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms starting on Saturday, July 27.

Watch Live Here

Watch Replays and Extras Here

Look for previews, stars and storylines on InsideGym.com throughout the Games!

1. The Events 

In Women’s Artistic Gymnasts, there are four events – vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor. In Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, there are six – floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. 

Even though they have the same name, men’s and women’s gymnastics are completely different sports. Other than floor and vault, men’s gymnasts have a difficult time doing women’s events and vice versa. Even on floor, and vault, men’s and women’s gymnasts have different focuses. While women compete more artistic floor routines set to music, men focus less on artistry and compete more tumbling passes in a routine. 

2. Scoring

In 2006, Elite gymnastics moved away from the perfect 10 system to an open ended system. Now, a score is made up of the E-score (execution) and D-score (difficulty). The two are added together to get a final score. E-scores start at 10.0 and deductions are subtracted from there. The perfect 10 still exists in gymnastics! However, it’s nearly impossible to get a 10.0 execution score today. Some coaches and commentators joke that gymnasts get deductions just for breathing or standing still because of how harsh execution judging is. The top scores will have E-scores in the 8s and D-scores in the 5s or 6s, creating an overall score in the 14s or even 15s. For a more in depth explanation of scoring, read (here)!

3. Qualifications and Finals

All gymnasts at the Olympics will compete in qualifications. No medals are awarded here, but the teams and individuals that will compete in finals are decided here. The top 8 performing teams in qualifications advance to the team final, the top 24 in the All-Around advance to the All-Around final, and the top 8 in each event advance to event finals.

4. Two per Country Rule

The FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) only allows the top two scoring gymnasts per country in each event/the All-Around to compete in a final. This rule was implemented to promote diversity and prevent one country from sweeping the podium. The “two per country rule” is why there will likely be gymnasts who qualified outside of the top 8 or 24 competing in finals. 

5. Vault

Unless a gymnast is trying to qualify for or is competing in the vault final, gymnasts only vault once. 

In qualifications (for those wanting to qualify for the vault final) or in the vault final, gymnasts will vault twice. They perform two different vaults that must be from different vault “families”. The scores of the two vaults are averaged to come up with the final score. This average is only used for determining vault event placements and is not used for team or All-Around placements. 

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