Here we go, folks! Team USA's awe-inspiring women's gymnastics team is gearing up for the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the team finals kicking off today at 12:15 p.m. ET. And all eyes are on Simone Biles as she and her teammates Sunisa Lee, Hezly Rivera, Jade Carey, and Jordan Chiles go for gold.
Gymnasts will then compete for individual medals later in the week — and every point counts.
That's because artistic gymnastics — the version of the sport you most commonly see on TV screens, different from its equally beautiful sister sport, rhythmic gymnastics — is scored to the near decimal point, with nail-biting finishes and routines that can come down to a single foot out of place.
It's all based on a gymnastics scorebook known as the "Code of Points."
But the judges and their scores are historically fickle, and viewers should be used to live commentators capping off jaw-dropping routines with phrases like, "We'll see what the judges say." (Fans of the 2006 cult classic Stick It are all too familiar.)
Even so, there's a basic formula every routine abides by. And the way global competitors, in particular, win medals has its own system. Here's a general overview of how Team USA goes from on the mat to the top of the podium.
Gymnasts compete in different events based on apparatuses: Vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor (tumbling). Each routine begins with a base difficulty score of zero, with points added to their difficulty as they include more and more complicated elements, from flips to twists to the order of elements and even the way they're facing when they land. Certain events also have "composition requirements," or skills every gymnast has to complete.
During the competition, an athlete can elect to adjust their difficulty score by adding or subtracting elements (like an additional half twist or alternative landing). On a beam routine, for example, this may mean getting on the beam in a simpler way to eliminate an early mistake. Small elements may only cost a few decimal points.
If an athlete attempts all elements in their routine, their difficulty score will be set to its max, decided by the "difficulty panel" of judges. It's the baseline for scoring.
That's just part one. Athletes are then scored by their execution of said routine, rated on a scale of 10. Here's where the confusion lies: Judges on the execution panel are keeping a careful watch on the smallest details as an athlete competes and deduct points for what they deem errors. These can be things like extra steps, bobbles on the beam, flexed feet, bending knees, a hunched posture, and more. You'll see these marked under "penalty score."
Execution scores are then added to the difficulty score for a final total.
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Each event feeds into a larger push for a medal, and that includes the team at large. National teams compete in two rounds. During the qualification round, each country elects four athletes to compete per event. Full teams compete in all events, with scores for each gymnast being added together for a total amount of points per event.
You might have seen just one or two athletes from a country during a qualification round — they're going for individual medals, not a team win.
The team will then drop one of its four scores from the total amount for the event, submitting just three valid entries into the final scoring. At the end, all of the event totals are added together for a final, all-encompassing score and, thus, their ranking going into finals.
Team USA ended the qualification round with a grand total of 172.296 points — nearly six points ahead of second place. They will now do it all again heading into the final, alongside the other top seven scorers, but with just three athletes competing per event.
Team USA selected Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles to compete in all four events again. Sunisa Lee will compete on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor. Jade Carey will compete on the vault. Hezly Rivera, the youngest American delegate at the Olympics, will not compete, but she'll still qualify for a medal if Team USA takes the podium.
As Team USA and its competitors racked up three-digit point totals, judges were also keeping track of each individual gymnast, with a final all around score given to each competitor.
Individuals can win medals in two ways: As an all-around champion with the highest total amount of points or as a winner for a specific event or apparatus (or both). For example, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Team USA walked away with a silver medal in the team competition. Lee took away the all-around gold medal and the bronze in uneven bars, while her teammates brought in gold for floor (Carey), bronze for vault (Mykayla Skinner), and bronze for beam (Biles).
After Sunday's qualification round, Biles, Lee, and Chiles scored the top three spots in total points across all competitors. A country can only send two athletes into the all-around competition, however, and Team USA selected Biles and Lee to compete for the all-around spot.
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The sport's scoring code has evolved over the last century, picking up speed after the millennium as athletes become faster, stronger, and more daring. Team USA has repeatedly showcased record-breaking scores across events, but Biles has blazed a trail never before seen. Since her debut at the 2016 Olympics, Biles' routines have ramped up their difficulty scores — she even has multiple moves named after her.
Her baseline difficulty scores are so high that scoring a "perfect 10" in execution is often unnecessary. But the added pressure of being the first woman in history to attempt what she does is a hurdle in itself, as judges have routinely "shortchanged" her total scores because there's simply no comparison.
With the finals, maybe the points are finally meeting her where she's leaped ahead.
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