The basics
Floor exercises are performed on a 12m x 12m mat, without musical accompaniment. Routines include a series of linked elements that demonstrate strength, flexibility and balance. Elements include handstands, somersaults and rotations, and the routine must use the whole floor. The maximum time allowed for a routine is one minute and 10 seconds.
Competition format
The Olympic Artistic Gymnastics competition has four phases: qualification, Team final, Individual All-Around final and individual apparatus finals.
All gymnasts compete in the qualifications. The best eight teams then go through to the Team final, where three team members compete on each apparatus. Teams are ranked on their total score.
The best 24 individual gymnasts (maximum two from each country) go through to the Individual All-Around final, where gymnasts compete on all apparatus. The best eight gymnasts on each apparatus (maximum two from each country) go through to the individual apparatus finals.
Each apparatus is judged for difficulty and execution, with the highest scoring athlete the winner.
For further information please refer to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
