The days of the perfect 10 in the International Elite world of gymnastics have come and gone. Nadia and Mary Lou will forever remain as the icons that achieved perfection. As the skills gymnasts attempt continue to get harder and harder, the scoring system was modified to reflect and reward those successfully completing a harder repertoire of skills.
The Elite scoring equation is made up of two parts: difficulty and execution.
Adds together the values of the hardest skills and the routine and the connections between them. For women, this score is made up of the top 8 skills, for men, the top 10. This score can rise as high as the difficulty in the routine allows. This score does not decrease with form errors or wobbles.
Execution
Begins at a classic 10.0 and decreases with each error (bent legs, wobbles, etc). A panel of 6 judges evaluate each routine independently. Scores are compared. The high and low scores are dropped and the remaining 4 scores are averaged for a final execution score.
Final Score
The final score is determined by adding together a gymnast’s difficulty and execution scores. By today’s standards, a score of 16 or higher is typically considered an excellent score. NBC uses a color code system that evaluates the execution score only (how well the routine is performed), but really it is a combination of difficulty and execution that determine the quality of the score.
A special thanks to Emma Clement for her contributions to this article.