Men's Artistic Gymnastics Code of Points, Explained

What the Code of Points is

The Code of Points is the rulebook that defines how routines are scored. There is no single code for every level: the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) writes one for men's artistic gymnastics and another for women's, and bodies outside its jurisdiction, such as NCAA college gymnastics and many national federations, use codes of their own. The FIG code is the one used at official FIG competitions, from World Cups to the World Championships and the Olympic Games. Pan American events work within the same system: the call for the 2012 Pan American trampoline championships required every gymnast to hold an FIG licence and every judge an FIG brevet.

The FIG rewrites the code for each Olympic cycle. The current men's edition covers 2025–2028; the one before it covered 2022–2024. Each edition keeps the same structure — general rules, judging panels, then one section per apparatus with its tables of elements — but changes the numbers, as the comparison below shows.

Final score = D-score + E-score

Two panels judge every exercise. The D-jury (two judges at World Championships and Olympic Games) writes the routine down in symbols and agrees the D-score: what was performed and what it is worth. The E-jury (seven judges at those events) each deduct independently for execution, technique and composition. The final score is the D-score plus the final E-score, and the all-around total is the sum of the six final scores.

There is no upper limit to the D-score, while the E-score starts at 10.00 and can only go down. That open-ended structure dates from 2006; before then a routine had a start value of at most 10.0, the "perfect 10".

The D-score: difficulty, element groups and connections

Every element in the code's tables has a letter value. On floor, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and horizontal bar the letters are worth the same everywhere:

• Counting elements. Under the 2025–2028 code the difficulty value is the sum of eight elements: the best seven, with at most four from the same element group, plus the dismount. The 2022–2024 code counted ten — the best nine, at most five per group, plus the dismount (eight for juniors).
• Element groups. Each apparatus except floor has three element groups, I to III, and a dismount group, IV; floor has four element groups. An element group fulfilled by a D-value element or higher within the counting elements earns 0.5; one fulfilled only by an A, B or C element earns 0.3, except group I, which earns 0.5 with any element.
• The dismount. Every exercise must end with a dismount from the dismount group, landing on the feet. Except on floor, the dismount's group value equals its difficulty value: an F dismount brings 0.6 for difficulty and 0.6 for the group.
• Connections. On some apparatus the D-jury adds connection points for recognised high-value elements performed directly one after another without a fall.
• Stick bonus. A stuck landing after a dismount of at least C value, and after vaults with saltos, earns a 0.1 bonus on every apparatus except pommel horse.

Repeating an element adds nothing, and an element the D-jury does not recognise — because it was performed too poorly or held in the wrong position — counts neither for difficulty nor for an element group.

The E-score: deductions from 10

The same deduction applies every time for the same degree of bending, whether arms, legs or body. Each E-judge's total is taken from 10.00; the highest and lowest totals are dropped and the rest averaged — with seven E-judges, only the middle three count. After a fall the gymnast has 30 seconds to continue.

Separately, the D1 judge takes neutral deductions from the final score: for stepping out of bounds, time and behaviour faults, and for a short exercise. Six or more elements carry no short-exercise penalty; five cost 3.0 points, and an exercise with no recognised element loses 10.0.

The six apparatus, in Olympic order

Rings show how much the code steers a routine. Its groups are I, kip and swing elements and swings to handstand; II, strength and hold elements; III, swings to strength holds; and IV, dismounts. Holds must last two seconds, a swing to handstand must be among the eight counting elements, and only one final strength position per element group counts for difficulty — so at most two cross-type holds can score in one exercise.

How vault is scored differently

On vault there are no element groups: every vault in the tables has its own difficulty value, which becomes the D-score, plus the stick bonus where it applies. A gymnast shows one vault in qualification, the team final and the all-around final, but two vaults from different vault groups in qualification for the vault final and in the final itself.

• Group I: single salto vaults with complex twists.
• Group II: handspring salto vaults with or without simple twists, and all double saltos forward.
• Group III: handspring sideways vaults and vaults with a turn onto the table and a backward salto off, with or without simple twists, and all double saltos backward.
• Group IV: round-off entry single salto vaults with complex twists.
• Group V: round-off entry vaults with or without simple twists, single saltos without twist, and double saltos.

The E-jury judges vault phase by phase: first flight, support on the table, second flight and landing. Both feet must land inside a zone marked either side of the table's centre line, and twists must be complete before landing.

From the perfect 10 to open-ended scores

Until 2006 each routine had a start value built from a base score — lowered over the years from 9.4 to 9.0 and then 8.8 — plus bonus for difficult elements and combinations, up to 10.0. Judges deducted from the start value. After the judging controversy at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the FIG replaced that system in 2006 with separate D- and E-scores and no ceiling on difficulty. The change was disputed by gymnasts and coaches at the time, but there has been no return to the perfect 10.

Many elements in the tables carry the name of the gymnast who first performed them. In the men's code, a new element is named after a gymnast who performs it for the first time at an official FIG competition, with at least C value and without a fall, once the Technical Committee has confirmed its value. Only the D-score can be challenged by an inquiry; the E-score cannot.

Competition formats are set by technical regulations rather than by the code itself. At the 2007 Pan American Games, for example, the team competition used a 6–5–4 format and three gymnasts per country could reach the all-around final.

Where to read the code

The FIG publishes the current men's Code of Points, the judges' rules and the element symbol booklet free of charge on its rules page, in English and other languages. Links to the copy of the men's code that this domain once hosted, /en/documentos/magcop13.pdf, now lead to this page; that file is no longer available here.