Rhythmic Gymnastics is a beautiful sport, combining body movements and apparatus handling
in a routine done on music. There are five different apparatuses: rope, hoop, clubs and ribbon.
Young girls also do routines without apparatus. The apparatus must move the whole routine and
it must be in harmony with both gymnast and music.
What happens in a routine?
The gymnasts perform their routine on a carpet of 13 by 13 meter.
The routines are performed on instrumental music, but voices without lyrics are also alowed since 2001.
There are individual and group competitions. A group consist of 5 gymnasts. The main
difference between group and individual: in group routines the gymnasts must perform
exchanges, and working synchronous is very important. A group performs two routines; one
with five times the same apparatus and one with two different apparatuses. A junior group
does only one routine, with one apparatus.
Individual exercises are 75-90 seconds long, group exercises last for 135-150 seconds.
During the routine, a senior gymnast can do a maximum of 18 difficulties
(difficulties are jumps, pivots, balances and flexibilities/waves). At least 6 of the difficulties must be of the compulsory body movement
group for the apparatus. In the routine there can only be two difficulties of each noncompulsory group.In hoop,
the difficulties must be equally divided, meaning that there can't be a bigger difference than 2 in the number of difficulties from the different groups.
In the routine there are also spectacular throws, catches and
special handling of the apparatus.
In the past, RG was known as RSG: Rhythmic Sports Gymnastics. Since 2000 it's generally known
as RG.
Judging
In competitions, the judges are divided in two parts:
panel A (composition) and panel B (execution).
Panel A is further divided in A1 (Difficulty) and A2 (Artistry)
Before the competition, the coach hands in two forms; one for D, with all technical
difficulties on it, and one for A, with all special artistic characteristics.
Panel A1: Difficulty
The judges look if the gymnast does all difficulties that are on the form,
and if they are performed in the right way. Difficulties who are not performed right
are invalid and crossed out by the judges. After the routine, the judges count the score
of all difficulties that were valid. After that they give deduction if necessary.
Panel A2: Artistry
These judges look for a couple of things.
1: They give a basic score for the music of the
routine (a maximum of 1.00 point). This score is based on a couple of facts: there must
be a unit between the gymnast and the music, there may not be not-allowed sounds in the
music and that kind of things.
2: They give a basic score for the choreography of the
routine (maximum 2.00 points), based on balance between working with the right and the left
hand, static apparatus or gymnast, overuse of a special difficulty and so on.
3: They check the special artistic characteristics on the
form and cross away the invalid ones. Here they can give a maximum of 7.00 points. After
the exercise they have to add all these scores together, which makes the final mark for
Artistry.
Panel B: Execution
The judges look for the neatness in an exercise. They give deductions for faults like not
pointed toes, drops, losing balance, low jumps and that kind of stuff. This panel can give
a maximum of ten points.
The final score is calculated by dividing the sum of D and A by 2 and adding the execution score.
This way the maximum score is 20 points.
Scores for juniors are calculated by dividing the sum of D and A by 2 and adding two times the execution score
(maximum of 30 points). In Holland however, junior scores are calculated in the same way as senior scores.
