The 2002 sports acrobatics code of points.

During the 2001 competitions, the need to bring some corrections to the sports acrobatics code of points appeared as an evidence. Here is a short description of the main modifications for the rest of the olympic cycle.

The difficulty note was too important in the final score and the ranking; a new difficulty table has been made to correct this situation. This single table is to be used for the preliminaries and the finals.
This table begins at 30 (= 0.00) and goes up to 250 (= 3.50). 0.01 is added for each extra value.

To calculate the difficulty mark of an exercise, the difficulty values of all the individual elements performed throughout the exercise are added and the total is divided by the number of gymnasts.

The technical and artistic marks are calculated by averaring the two corresponding middle scores, the highest and the lowest score do not count. When there are only three judges, all the three notes are averaged.
The tolerance range is 0.3 if the score is equal or above 9.0 for the technical mark, 4.0 for the artistic mark, and 0.5 if the score is lower. All the judges notes used in the average (2 or 3) must be within the tolerance , not only with each other but also compared to the CJP note.
When a note is out of tolerance, the CJP ask the judge to change it. If the judge refuses, the superior jury is called and the superior jury's notes are used to determine the actions to be taken.

The tariff sheets must be correctly fullfilled. All the elements must be in order of performance clearly drawn. The pages where the elements can be found in the tables of difficulty and the difficulty values must be declared.
The team judges are responsible for checking the tariff sheets from their country before they are given to the Technical Director.
When elements marked to be hold for 3 seconds are held less, the difficulty value for this hold will be suppressed. However, if the hold is needed for special requirements or is the last of a serie, time faults will be applied.

The breakdowns are not penalized by the technical judges anymore but by the CJP.

If there are problems with the music because of the poor quality tape or a coach's error, a penalty of 0.5 wil be given by the CJP.

Special requirements :

Balance; pairs :
A pair gets difficulty only for three holds and two motions of the base with the top being in the same position.
Bases may not repeat the same motion in an exercise, whatever the position of the top.

Balance; women's groups :
The transition to another pyramid but from the same category are not credited to difficulty. Only the base position with the highest difficulty is valued.
A transition gets its value only if the top is in a position of value.
The top can get twice (but not more) the value of her (same) hold, once for the static hold and once for a transition by the base or middle.

Balance; men's groups :
The balance men's four exercise is performed on music. It must contain two different pyramids and three individual elements .
A transition gets its value only if the top is in a position of value.
A landing mat is allowed if it is in contact with the perimeter of the floor. The coach may remove it during the exercise but without walking on the performance area.

Tempo :
After a catch, the position must be held for one second unless it is linked to another element of value.

Combined :
It is not required anymore to have in the combined exercise elements different than those performed during the balance and tempo preliminaries.

Juniors :

For the juniors (SAWAGG group 2 and juniors european championships), the difficulty is limited according to the following table :

The Difficulty is limited to the value corresponding to the first number. If gymnasts perform an exercise with a difficulty value higher than the second number, a penalty will be given.

Unless they are in contradiction with the points explained hereabove, those exposed on the 2001 page remain valid.

Do you want more information about the new code of points? Do not hesitate to contact me or just ask your federation or the FIG to buy a copy of it.

Copyright © 2002 by Valère Binet

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