Gymnastics Olympic sports London 2012

This is the last opportunity for gymnasts to qualify for the 2012 Games and is vital for the British men’s artistic gymnastics team, which includes Olympian Louis Smith.The London 2012 Gymnastics test event is taking place at the North Greenwich Arena (also known as The O2). Artistic Gymnastics and Trampoline competitions run from 10–13 January, followed by the Rhythmic Gymnastics competitions from 16–18 January.Competing for Olympic qualificationThe British men's team will be looking to qualify a full team for London 2012 during the men's Artistic Gymnastics qualification competition on Tuesday 10 January.For the Trampoline competition on Friday 13 January, both men and women will be competing for the final Olympic qualification spots. British champion Kat Driscoll will also compete despite already having secured a place at London 2012.For Rhythmic Gymnastics there are two individual routines and one group routine which count towards Olympic qualification. British athlete Francesca Jones has already booked her place for London 2012 as an individual and will compete at the test event in order to aid her preparation. The British team have to score 45.223 from the test event in order for a nomination to be submitted to the British Olympic Association to accept a host country place.'Fierce competition'Debbie Jevans, London 2012 Organising Committee Director of Sport, said: ‘Visa International Gymnastics is LOCOG’s biggest test event to date.'Not only is it vital for us to test our operations, but the competition will be fierce as the gymnasts who have yet to qualify for London 2012 battle it out for Olympic qualification.

The first competition to be contested is the team event, which doubles as the qualification round for the individual and all-around contests.
Men compete on the floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar, while women compete on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor.
The top 24 overall gymnasts advance to the all-around final, while the top eight scorers on each apparatus qualify for the individual apparatus finals. No more than two gymnasts per nation can compete in either the all-around or apparatus finals.
The days of scoring a perfect 10 are long gone after the scoring system was given a radical overhaul by the sport’s world governing body in 2006.
Gymnasts’ performances are now rated by two judging panels. One group of judges scores the degree of difficulty, or ‘start value’, of the routine and the other scores its execution, composition and artistry. Instead of maximum 10s, the medal-winning scores tend to be in the high 15s, 16s and 17s.
Events / disciplines
Men’s individual all around, women’s individual all around
Men’s team, women’s team
Men’s floor exercise, Women’s floor exercise
Men’s pommel horse
Men’s rings
Men’s vault, women’s vault
Men’s horizontal bars
Men’s parallel bars
Women’s balance beam
Women’s uneven bars