What makes each rhythmic gymnastics apparatus different?

Four, not five. The senior individual programme this cycle is hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon, and juniors compete the same four. Rope sits outside both FIG championship programmes; the Code permits it in junior individual exercises at local international and national competitions, and development ladders still run it.

Junior norms relax four numbers: the hoop may be 700-900 mm and 260 g, the ribbon 5 m and 30 g. Every apparatus must carry the manufacturer's mark and the FIG approval logo, and the President of the Superior Jury may have any of it checked before the gymnast enters the hall or at the end of a routine; competing on unapproved apparatus means the routine is not evaluated (0.00).

At club level the apparatus rotation is a setup choice. JudgeMate carries a FIG individual preset, an all-apparatus set that still includes rope, and a beginners' set with a freehand routine; the all-around sums those routines inside one category.

The difficulty score is the sum of two sub-scores, each judged by its own pair of judges on the four-strong D-jury: body difficulty (DB, including dynamic elements with rotation) and apparatus difficulty (DA). Neither sub-score has an upper limit. A senior may have up to 15 DA counted in chronological order, a junior 12.

One DA is an apparatus base plus at least two criteria performed during it. The base sets the value, 0.20 or 0.30, with one exception at 0.40. A catch from a high throw may also carry a second base and one criterion through both, worth the higher base plus 0.10.

Seven criteria exist, the same for all four competition apparatus: outside the visual field, without the help of the hands, under the leg, in a position on the floor, during a full body wave, during a body difficulty, and during a 360-degree rotation. Every base marks which of the seven apply, and one marked N/A cannot count. The junior rope table adds two of its own, listed further down.

Apparatus mastery is no longer a separate line on the sheet: it lives inside those criteria. A throw behind the back is "outside the visual field", a catch on the shoulder blades is "without the help of the hands". A base performed to perfection but without two criteria the table allows scores nothing.

Four rules cut difficulties back out: an identical repetition scores nothing, a lost apparatus voids the DA, four consecutive difficulties on the floor cost 0.30, and no more than three may use a pre-acrobatic element as the rotation criterion. The wider arithmetic sits in our scoring guide.

Both round apparatus reward an object that keeps moving on its own while the gymnast does something difficult with her body, but they punish different mistakes. The hoop is rigid and 800-900 mm across, so every wobble reads from the back row; the ball is soft and must never be squeezed or grasped.

The hoop's technical groups are the large roll over at least two large body segments, rotation around its own axis on the fingers or the body, passing through with two large body segments, rolling or rotating on the floor, and sliding. Its top bases all sit at 0.30: the large roll, the free rotation around the axis on the body, the high throw with rotation around the axis, where the plane must hold to the catch, and the catch from that throw.

Hoop faults are cheap individually and expensive in bulk: altered work plane 0.10, sliding on the arm during rotations 0.10, contact on the arm during a catch 0.30, feet caught in the hoop while passing through 0.30.

The ball's groups are the large roll, a series of three small rolls (small rolls score only in threes), the figure eight with two arm circles, the flip-over, rotations of the hands around the ball, free rotation on a body part, the one-handed catch, bounces, and the rebound off the floor after a high throw.

Ball control is judged on contact. The ball rests on an open hand with the fingers naturally joined; holding it against the forearm or squeezing it costs 0.10, and catching with two hands costs 0.10 unless the catch is outside the visual field. The one-handed catch is worth 0.30, but rescue it with the other hand and it counts only as an attempt.

Clubs are the only apparatus used as a pair, and that is the whole difficulty. The technique the Code expects is one club in each hand, small head inside the palm, and it must dominate the composition. Holding them by the body or neck is allowed but must not take over.

A mill is the signature element: at least four small circles with time delay, alternating crossed and uncrossed wrists each time, hands as close together as possible. Four circles make a double mill, six a triple. A mill with one arm on each side of the leg earns the "under the leg" criterion whichever way the body faces.

Asymmetric movements are the strictest thing on the apparatus to earn: the two clubs must differ in shape or amplitude and in work plane or direction. Throws split three ways, simultaneous, asymmetric and cascade, and for the last two it is enough that one club clears the height requirement of more than two heights of the standing gymnast.

Asynchrony is the club-specific fault, only 0.10 an instance, which is why it accumulates: altered synchronisation of the two clubs during throws and catches, arms too far apart during mills, imprecise work planes in asymmetric movements. Losing both clubs is scored once, on the steps needed to reach the club that travelled farther.

The ribbon is the longest and lightest apparatus in the sport: at least 6 m of satin in one piece, weighing at least 35 g without the stick, on a stick of 500-600 mm no thicker than 10 mm. Juniors compete 5 m and 30 g.

The technical groups are spirals of at least four tight loops of the same height, the swordsman, snakes of at least four waves, the boomerang, the echappe, rotation of the stick around the hand, wrapping, the stick held without hands during a rotation, a large roll of the stick, and passing the body through the pattern.

The boomerang in the air is worth 0.40, the highest base value in the four individual apparatus tables. It has three parts: a release of the stick, a pull back holding the fabric within 50 cm of its end while the ribbon is extended, and a catch of the stick. Released along the floor instead, the same element drops to 0.30.

The stick should be caught by its end, and an intentional catch by the fabric is legal within roughly 50 cm of the attachment. Catch the fabric by mistake and the technical element is not valid at all, so the difficulty vanishes and the execution judges still take their penalty for an incorrect catch.

Knots are graded: 0.10 for a small knot with minimal impact, 0.50 for a medium or large one that affects handling. Fabric lying still on the floor costs 0.10 up to a metre and 0.30 beyond it. The real damage sits in artistry, where stopping four seconds or more to open a knot adds 0.60.

The rope is the only apparatus with no prescribed length: the norms leave it optional for seniors and juniors alike. They do specify hemp or a similar material, uniform or centre-reinforced thickness, ends with or without knots, no wooden handles, and an optional non-slip wrap running a length that matches the width of a hand.

It is out of both FIG championship programmes for 2025-2028, and the Code keeps one door open: rope may be used in junior individual exercises at local international and national competitions. The USA Gymnastics development Code for the same cycle competes rope at Level 6 alongside floor, hoop and ribbon.

Rope technique is built on passing through. The groups are passing the body through the open rope turning forward, backward or sideways, series of at least three skips, catching the open rope with one end in each hand from a high throw, the echappe, spirals made by rotating the free end, rotations of the folded rope, mills, and wrapping.

Six bases score 0.30 in the junior rope table: passing through, the series of skips, the catch of the open rope from a high throw, the echappe, spirals, and the catch after a high throw. The rest sit at 0.20, with a maximum of 12 difficulties counted. Rope also brings criteria no other apparatus has, among them a double rotation during jumps or skips, and crossed arms.

The Code is blunt about what does not belong: wrapping, rebounding, mills and work with the folded or knotted rope are called not typical. Basic technique is the open rope held by one end in each hand.