Rhythmic Gymnastics Glossary

The all-around ranking adds a gymnast's scores from every apparatus she competes. At the World Championships the 18 best gymnasts from qualification (maximum two per federation) contest the all-around final over hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon; the 2025 world title was decided at 121.900 across the four routines. In JudgeMate the all-around is the sum of a gymnast's routine totals inside one category, with per-apparatus rankings calculated alongside it.

DA counts apparatus technical elements performed with at least two extra criteria, such as work outside the visual field, a catch without the help of the hands, or a rotation of at least 360° by the gymnast while the base runs. A high throw caught after a rotational element of 360° or more under the flight is never DA: it belongs to the dynamic elements with rotation. A maximum of 15 DA are evaluated in the order performed, and a catch from a high throw joined to a second base adds 0.10 to the higher base value. Commentary still calls this apparatus mastery, and older material writes the abbreviation AD.

A starts at 10.00 and falls by the deductions the artistry jury takes for the guiding idea, character, expression, dance steps combinations, dynamic changes, connections, rhythm and use of the floor. Four artistry judges deduct independently: the highest and lowest deductions are removed and the remaining two averaged, while a panel of two or three judges has every deduction averaged. Music with unethical lyrics and a musical introduction of four seconds or more each cost a further 0.30.

A rubber or soft plastic ball, 180–200 mm across and at least 400 g, which rests on the open hand and is never gripped. Ball bases include throws and catches, active bounces where the gymnast pushes the ball into the floor, rolls over the body or the floor, and rotations of the hands around the ball. The other hand may help on a catch only when the ball comes back outside the visual field.

DB elements are the jumps and leaps, balances and rotations listed in the difficulty tables (older material writes BD), and the eight highest values in an individual exercise count. At least one element from each of the three body groups has to appear; older codes ran a fourth family of flexibilities and waves, which survives as body movement but has not been scored as a group for several cycles. A shape 10° short of its definition still counts with a 0.10 execution deduction, 11–20° costs 0.30, and beyond 20° the difficulty is not credited at all.

A pair of bottle-shaped clubs, each 400–500 mm long and at least 150 g, with a head no wider than 30 mm. The typical work is both clubs together, one in each hand: mills of four to six small circles with alternating crossed and uncrossed wrists, small throws with at least 360° of rotation, asymmetric movements and taps. Losing both clubs outside the floor area costs 0.30 for the first and 0.30 for the second, unless both cross the same line at the same moment, locked or unlocked, which the line judge counts once as one apparatus.

A group action in which all five gymnasts are involved with each other, by direct contact, by passing over, under or through a partner, or by means of the apparatus. A group exercise is evaluated for a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 14 collaborations, and the mix is prescribed: at least three CC without a high or long throw, three CR with a throw plus a rotational element under the flight, and three multiple throws or catches. Each missing required collaboration costs 0.30.

D is the sum of body difficulty (DB) and apparatus difficulty (DA), and it has no upper limit. The difficulty jury seats four judges in two subgroups: DB1 and DB2 record the body content and the dynamic elements with rotation, DA1 and DA2 record the apparatus content, and each pair submits one common value. D is the only part of the score a federation may inquire.

A group difficulty in which all five gymnasts throw their own apparatus to a partner and catch the apparatus arriving from another. The throw has to be high (more than two heights of the standing gymnast) or long (at least 8 m between the two gymnasts); a rebound, a roll or a direct re-throw does not count. Base value is 0.20, criteria raise it only when all five perform them identically, and the lowest value achieved by any one gymnast sets the value for the whole group.

E starts at 10.00 and falls by the execution deductions: 0.10 for a small deviation, 0.30 for a medium one, 0.50 or more for a large one, taken every time and for each element at fault. Four execution judges deduct independently, the highest and lowest deductions are removed, and the remaining two are averaged. A total loss of balance with a fall costs 0.70; losing the apparatus costs 0.70 when one or two steps retrieve it, and 1.00 after three or more steps, when it leaves the floor area, or when it is never retrieved.

A fouetté balance chains at least three shapes on relevé with a heel support between them, no travelling, and at least one turn of 90°, 180° or 270°. It is worth 0.30 with the leg at horizontal in a minimum of two shapes and 0.50 with the leg above horizontal, and only one may be performed in an exercise. A fouetté pivot is a different element: up to ten identical components connected by heel support, counted as one difficulty, valued 0.10 per 360° in passé and 0.20 in the front or side shape.

A wood or synthetic hoop with an inner diameter of 800–900 mm for seniors and 700–900 mm for juniors, weighing at least 300 g (juniors 260 g). Hoop bases include rotations around the hand or an axis, rolls over the body or along the floor, passing through or over the hoop, and throws with rotation. Catching the hoop at the same moment its lower edge touches the floor is an incorrect catch, not a loss.

A rotation on one leg through the vertical plane: the trunk bends backward to horizontal or below while the free leg swings up through split, and the gymnast returns upright. As a body difficulty the illusion runs backward through 360° without hand support on the floor, and each rotation counts as one difficulty. The gymnast does not have to finish facing the starting direction, and the pre-acrobatic version of the element may use hand support.

The only challenge available in rhythmic gymnastics, and it reaches the difficulty score alone. D splits into DB and DA, so a federation may inquire one or both, through its authorised representative and within two minutes of the score appearing. The fee runs CHF 300 for the first inquiry, CHF 500 for the second and CHF 1,000 for every one after that across the whole competition, waived when the difficulty score goes up.

Two line judges watch the boundary of the 13 × 13 m floor area and flag every crossing up to the gymnast's last movement, after which no line penalty is taken. Each fault costs 0.30: any part of the body or apparatus touching outside the line, the gymnast or apparatus leaving the floor area, and finishing the exercise outside it. In group exercises the 0.30 applies for each gymnast and for each apparatus.

The ballet word for tipping the trunk forward while the free leg rises behind, in the deepest versions to a vertical split. The code never prints the term: the matching shapes are listed as an arabesque with the trunk forward at horizontal and as a back split with the trunk forward at horizontal or below, the back split row running 0.40 and 0.60 in the balance table. Judges read trunk and free leg as one shape, so falling short by up to 10° costs 0.10, by 11–20° costs 0.30, and past that the difficulty is lost.

Podium training is the rehearsal on the competition carpet in the days before the event; the World Championships schedule gives individuals their own podium training day and groups another. Marching on is the entry itself: groups come onto the floor with rapid marching, without music, and take the starting pose immediately, or lose 0.50. No gymnast may present herself on the floor before the announcer or the green light calls her.

Rotational elements borrowed from acrobatics. The code lists 13 groups, among them walkover forward and backward, cartwheel, roll forward and backward, lateral rotation with the trunk arched, dive leap and illusion, and they feed both the dynamic elements with rotation and the choreography. They are allowed only without a flight phase and without a handstand held longer than one second; a longer hold or a flight phase is unauthorized technique and costs 0.30.

Qualification decides three things at once: the field for the all-around final, the fields for the apparatus finals and the team ranking. None of its scores is carried forward, and a federation entering two or three individual gymnasts presents eight routines, two on each apparatus. The 8 best on each apparatus (maximum two per federation) reach that apparatus final, where the medal is settled by the score achieved there and nothing else.

Neutral penalties for everything around the routine, long known as coordinator penalties and taken in this cycle by the DA1 judge together with the president of the superior jury. The list is fixed: 0.30 for competition attire, jewellery, hairstyle, make-up, national emblem or bandages that break the rules, and 0.50 for apparatus not placed before the start, unauthorised retrieval, early or late presentation, warming up in the competition hall, and coach discipline. They come off the final score rather than off the execution score.

A satin ribbon at least 6 m long in one piece and at least 35 g without the cane, 40–60 mm wide, on a cane of 500–600 mm (juniors: 5 m and 30 g). The pattern has to stay alive: snakes and spirals that are not tight enough or not level cost 0.10, a knot that affects the handling costs 0.50 or more, and ribbon left lying on the floor costs 0.10 up to a metre and 0.30 beyond it. Involuntary wrapping around the body costs 0.30, or 0.50 when it interrupts the exercise.

Hemp or a similar material, length chosen by the gymnast, without wooden handles and with or without knots at the ends. Rope sits outside the senior and junior individual programme for 2025-2028, which runs hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon; the code keeps it available for individual exercises at local international and national competitions. Its technique is built on passing through the rope with series of skips, spirals and rotations of the open rope, echappés and catches of the open rope from a high throw, which is why club and school events still schedule it.

A rotation is one block of routines on one apparatus, and the running order inside it comes from the draw. For rhythmic gymnastics the draw is corrected afterwards so that a gymnast who competes late in one rotation does not start in the first positions of the next: FIG treats four competition performances as the equivalent of the ten minutes a gymnast needs to recover. In JudgeMate the apparatus rotation is a configurable subset of freehand, rope, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon, stored in FIG order, and each apparatus is one routine.

One or two time judges run the stopwatch from the gymnast's first movement to the moment she is completely still. An individual exercise lasts between 1 min 15 s and 1 min 30 s, a group exercise between 2 min 15 s and 2 min 30 s, and each second over or under costs 0.05, counted in whole seconds. Delaying the start of the exercise by more than 30 seconds costs 0.50.