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THE COMPETITION
In artistic events, both individual and team, men compete in floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bars. Female gymnasts compete on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor.
The gymanasium is kitted out as follows:
The slightly sprung floor is 12 metres square and has a 1m safety border.
The vaulting horse is 1.35 metres high, 1.6 metres long and 35cm high and is reached by a runway 1m wide and up to 25 metres long for men. The women's vault is 1.25 metres high
The horizontal bar is 2.55 metres high and 2.5 metres long
The parallel bars have two wooden rails that sit on supports 1.75 metres from floor level.
The pommel horse is 1.05 metres high, 1.6 metres long, and its two handles are 40 to 45cm apart.
The rings are wooden and are suspended from the roof to a point 2.55 metres above floor level.
The uneven bars sit 2.45 metres above floor level and 1.65 metres above floor level and the distance between them can be adjusted.
The balance beam is 5 metres long, 10cm wide and sits 1.25 metres above floor level.
Rhythmic gymnastics is for women only. There are individual and team events, which involve routines being performed to music on a 13 metres square floor with a ribbon, rope, ball, hoop and clubs.
Of the two panels of judges, one has two "difficulty" judges and the other has six "execution" judges. Marks are given out of ten. Small errors result in a deduction of 0.10 points, medium errors 0.20 to 0.30 and serious errors 0.40. A 0.5-point deduction is made if a gymnast falls of an apparatus. The highest and lowest scores are discarded automatically and the final score is the average of the remaining four scores.
Six teams of six gymnasts - five of whom compete on each apparatus - advance beyond a qualification round to the finals. There is also a qualification round for individuals, with the best 36 men and 36 women progressing to the individual all-around finals, in which the best combined scores from all apparatus produce the winners.
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