6 INTRODUCTION In the all around each gymnast competes on every apparatus The final score combines all the results There are also competitions for each apparatus Finally there is a team competition There are many skills required of a gymnast As gymnasts get better and learn more skills they move up levels The highest level is elite Gymnasts become more flexible as they learn more skills FUN FACT In 1996 Dominique Dawes was the first Black woman to win an individual medal in Olympic gymnastics with the bronze in the floor exercise She is one of only three American women to have competed in three Olympics
Competing on the still rings requires a lot of upper body strength 13 Those are the gymnasts who compete at international competitions including the Olympics and World Championships 7
8 BASICS OF GYMNASTICS The US women's gymnastics team awaits its score at the 2022 World Championships Scoring Scoring gymnastics has changed over the years The perfect 10 used to be the best score a gymnast could get It still is at some levels GYMN
9 of the sport Elite gymnastics now uses an open ended system Each routine receives two scores One is based on difficulty A group of judges adds points based on requirements and how hard the skills are The other score is based on execution The highest possible execution score is 10. A second group of judges takes away points for mistakes For a final score the difficulty value and execution score are combined Scores at international competitions will often be between 13 and 16 points 10.00 SEIKO Before 2006 a 10 was the best score a gymnast could receive for a routine
