The days of the “perfect 10” are no more. Here’s how gymnastics scoring works at the Olympics and how to spot a “good” score.
PARIS, France — If you’re tuning into the women’s Olympics gymnastics finals looking for the perfect 10, sorry, that’s so 1992.
The International Gymnastics Federation tweaked the system after the 2004 Athens Games, going to one that awards separate scores on execution and deduction.
A score is divided into two parts. The difficulty or “D-score” is what a gymnast does. The execution or “E” score is how well they do it.
The E-table is based on a 10-point system, though no perfect 10 for execution has ever been awarded anywhere since the new paradigm was introduced (though American Simone Biles has come close a couple of times on vault).
What is a good score in gymnastics?
Shorthand: a score of 13.0 or better is solid. Anything in the 14s is excellent and puts you in medal contention. A 15 or better (typically reserved for vault and typically reserved for Biles, though Algerian Kaylia Nemour posted a 15.6 on bars in qualifying on Sunday) and you’re pretty much assured of a gold medal.
During the finals, each team will enter three athletes per event, with all three scores counting. That differs from qualifying, when four athletes go up on each event, with the lowest score being dropped from the team total.
