What competition rules must a rhythmic gymnast meet?

A senior or junior individual routine must last 1'15" to 1'30"; a group routine 2'15" to 2'30". The time judge counts in full seconds, and every second over or under that window costs 0.05, taken off the final score rather than off your execution mark.

The stopwatch starts when you begin to move and stops when you are completely motionless, so a final pose held two seconds too long is two seconds on the clock. Counting in full seconds is kinder than assumed: 1'30.99 is clean, 1'31.00 costs 0.05.

Before your first movement you may take a musical introduction of up to 4 seconds with no body or apparatus movement. At 4 seconds the artistry jury takes 0.30, so build the opening image inside three seconds.

Delay the competition by more than 30 seconds while preparing and the time judge takes 0.50. If a routine is interrupted, the time penalty applies to the duration performed, while artistry and execution each penalise the full 10.00.

Cutting an over-long routine rarely costs difficulty. The D-jury counts only your highest 8 body difficulties, at most 15 apparatus difficulties and 4 dynamic elements with rotation, so whatever pushes you past 1'30" was probably never valued. Our rhythmic gymnastics scoring guide explains those caps.

The competition floor is 13 x 13 m, measured to the outside of the line, and two line judges watch it. Any part of your body or apparatus touching down beyond that boundary costs 0.30, and the same applies each time you or the apparatus leave the floor area, or if you finish outside it.

Situation	Line penalty
Foot, hand or apparatus touches down outside	0.30 each time
You or the apparatus leave the floor area	0.30 each time
You finish the routine outside the floor area	0.30
You or the apparatus touch the line itself	none
Apparatus crosses the boundary in the air and returns	none
Crossing after your last movement, music still playing	none
Broken, unusable or replaced apparatus removed from the floor	none

Clubs have their own arithmetic. Lost one after the other over the boundary, they cost 0.30 plus 0.30. Lost at the same moment across the same line, they count as one apparatus: 0.30 once. Across two different lines it is 0.30 plus 0.30 again.

Composition hangs on this too. A component started outside the floor area is not evaluated at all, while one started inside and finished outside counts normally. Execution and artistry deductions run for the whole routine, including anything performed off the carpet.

The FIG norms add a 50 cm edge and a 2 m clearance zone around the floor. Neither is competition surface, so a hoop rolling into that zone has left the floor.

A lost apparatus is an execution deduction sized by how far you travel to get it back: 0.50 with no travelling, 0.70 after one or two steps, 1.00 after three or more. Any loss that takes it off the floor costs 1.00 whatever the distance.

What happened	Execution deduction
Loss and retrieval without travelling	0.50
Loss and retrieval after 1-2 steps	0.70
Loss and retrieval after 3 or more steps	1.00
Loss outside the floor, any distance	1.00
Loss inside the floor, replacement used	1.00
Loss at the end of the routine, no retrieval	1.00

Two penalties run in parallel, and athletes forget the second. The execution jury takes the loss; the line judges separately take 0.30 for the apparatus leaving the floor. A hoop that rolls out costs 1.00 plus 0.30 before you take a step.

While you travel to the apparatus and back, the execution jury stops counting body and handling faults; only a loss of balance and any further loss are deducted. Standing still to untie a ribbon knot is not a static-gymnast fault, though the artistry jury takes 0.60, once per routine, if continuity breaks for 4 seconds or more.

Replacement apparatus is a service, not a free rescue. The organiser places two complete sets along two sides of the floor, and you may use one only if your own apparatus left the floor area. Reaching for a replacement while your apparatus is still on the carpet costs 0.50 and turns a 0.50 or 0.70 loss into 1.00. Using an apparatus that was not placed before your start is 0.50, having yours handed back by a coach 0.50, and a replaced apparatus still on the floor at the end of the routine 0.30.

Every apparatus must carry the manufacturer's mark and the FIG approved logo. Competing with unapproved apparatus is not a deduction: the routine is not evaluated, and the score is 0.00. The senior figures below come from the FIG Apparatus Norms.

Apparatus	Size (senior)	Minimum weight	Material
Hoop	Inner diameter 80-90 cm	300 g, unwrapped	Wood or synthetics
Ball	Diameter 18-20 cm	400 g	Rubber or soft plastic, antistatic
Clubs (pair)	Length 40-50 cm, head max 3 cm	150 g each, unwrapped	Wood or synthetics
Ribbon	6 m minimum in one piece, width 4-6 cm	35 g without the stick	Satin or similar
Ribbon stick	Length 50-60 cm, max 1 cm thick	no minimum	Wood, bamboo, fibreglass, aluminium or synthetics
Rope	Cut to the gymnast, no fixed length	no minimum	Hemp or similar

Two details decide most equipment checks: hoop and club weights must be met unwrapped, so grip tape will not rescue an underweight hoop, and the ribbon is doubled over 1 m where it meets the stick, with an attachment no longer than 7 cm.

Junior norms are smaller and lighter: hoop 70-90 cm and 260 g, ribbon 5 m and 30 g, and juniors may compete on senior apparatus but not the reverse. Rope has no length rule: it is cut to the gymnast, carries no wooden handle, and its ends may be knotted or plain.

The senior individual programme for 2025-2028 is hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon, so rope now sits mainly in junior and national competition; our Worlds 2026 scoring guide covers the championship programme. Any apparatus can be checked before you enter the hall.

The whole routine must be performed to music, and the current Code sets no limit on how many routines use singing. The cap that once allowed words in only two individual routines disappeared after the 2017-2020 Code, and nothing replaced it. What costs 0.30 is music that does not conform: sirens, engine noise and other non-musical sound, plus spoken word with no melodic backdrop that cannot be placed in a sung genre such as rap.

Lyrics that breach ethical norms fall under that same 0.30 heading of music not conforming to the rules, and explicit language is not the only trigger: violence and discrimination count without it. Label the audio file with your federation's three-letter code, your name and the apparatus. If the wrong track plays, stopping is your call during the routine: a protest afterwards is not accepted.

Attire is checked while you are in the competition hall, random re-checks included, and each fault costs 0.30. The leotard must be non-transparent from chest to crotch and tight-fitting throughout, with pelvic area and buttocks in non-transparent, non-skin-coloured fabric. Legs may be bare, in full-length tights, or in a unitard; shorts and semi-length tights are out, and both legs must match in colour and base-fabric length. A skirt may not fall past the pelvic area, must be rigidly attached to the waist and must not read as a tutu.

The rest, at 0.30 each: no separate socks, gloves, legwarmers or belts, no LED decoration, jewellery and piercings only if small and tight-fitting, hair compact with decorations at the bun and never on the skin, make-up clear and light, bandages in a skin colour. Bare feet and slippers are equally legal, and a slipper that comes off by itself is free.

You belong in the field of play only when the announcer calls you or the green light shows; early or late costs 0.50. Warming up in the competition hall is 0.50, as is staying on the floor after your routine. Groups enter with rapid marching, without music, and take the starting pose at once. The wrong apparatus for the start order is 0.50, charged to the routine you missed and perform at the end of the rotation, and a coach who speaks to you, the judges or the musician during the routine another 0.50.

Avoidable fault	Taken by	Penalty
Each second over or under the limit	Time judge	0.05 per second
Body or apparatus outside the boundary	Line judge	0.30 each time
Musical introduction of 4 seconds or more	Artistry jury	0.30
Music not conforming	Artistry jury	0.30
Attire, hair, make-up or jewellery	Responsible judge	0.30 each
Replaced apparatus left on the floor	Responsible judge	0.30
Early or late presentation	Responsible judge	0.50
Warming up in the competition hall	Responsible judge	0.50
Unauthorised replacement apparatus	Responsible judge	0.50
Coach communicating during the routine	Responsible judge	0.50
Preparation delaying the competition 30+ seconds	Time judge	0.50

The inquiry route runs through your federation. Only the NF authorised representative, a coach or delegation member and never a judge, may file, and only against the D score. D splits into DB (body) and DA (apparatus), inquired separately; file both and DB counts as the first.

On an electronic device you have two minutes from the score appearing; on paper, until the next competitor's score is displayed. The president of the superior jury reviews official footage only, the score can rise, fall or stay, and the decision is final. Fees run across the whole competition: CHF 300, then CHF 500, then CHF 1,000 each, waived only if D goes up.

Time and line penalties are not inquiries: your coach asks the inquiry officer verbally, free of charge, inside the same deadlines. Nothing else can be reviewed. On a platform such as JudgeMate, these neutral penalties sit in one organiser-only field, out of reach of the panels.