What are the rules for the women's floor exercise?
I · Intermediate · Vault and the women's apparatus · 4 of 9An exercise of up to 90 seconds on a 12 by 12 metre floor, performed to music without words. It combines dance with up to four acrobatic lines. It must include a travelling dance passage, a twisting salto, a double salto and saltos both forwards and backwards. Stepping outside the area is penalised.
How it works
- The area: 12 by 12 metres. Touching outside it with any part of the body is penalised.
- Time: the exercise "may not exceed 1:30 minutes (90 seconds)". Overtime is penalised at 91 seconds or more.
- With the music: "The exercise must end with the music."
- No words: the voice may be used "as a musical instrument without words", such as humming or whistling. Music with words is penalised.
- Eight elements: at least three dance and three acrobatic.
- Acro lines: at most four. A line is at least two directly connected flight elements, one of them a salto.
- Requirement one: a dance passage of two different leaps or hops, one with a 180-degree split or a straddle.
- Requirement two: a salto with a twist of at least 360 degrees.
- Requirement three: a double salto.
- Requirement four: a salto backwards and a salto forwards.
- The dismount: the last counting acro line. Its bonus of 0.20 needs more than two acro lines.
- Artistry: choreography, expression and musicality are judged in the E score.
The glossary has the floor exercise, the tumbling pass, the somersault, the twist, the leap, the artistry entry and the dance element.
Tricky cases
A gymnast's music has a choir singing "ah" with no words. Is that allowed?
Yes. Vocalising without words is given as an example of the voice used as an instrument.
She finishes her last pose two seconds after the music stops. What happens?
A fault for not ending with the music. The code read lists it among the artistry and musicality deductions, and the amount is a lost symbol.
She performs a fifth acrobatic line with a hard salto in it. Does it count?
No. Any difficulty in an acro line beyond the fourth is not counted.
She lands a tumbling pass with both feet outside the line. Does the salto still count?
Yes, as far as the women's code read goes: she receives a line penalty. An element that takes off from entirely outside the border has no value.
Why the rule exists
Floor is the one event where a gymnast performs to music, and the rules keep both halves in it: a cap on acrobatic lines so that there is room for dance, and artistry deductions so that the dance is more than a walk between corners. The no-words rule keeps attention on the movement.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Women's floor | 90 seconds, music, artistry judged | FIG WAG 13.1 |
| Men's floor | 70 seconds, no music | FIG MAG 10.2.1 |
| Women | At most four acro lines | FIG WAG 13.2 |
| Men | Must go to or from every corner | FIG MAG 10.2.1 |
From the rule book
Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, Code of Points 2025-2028, WAG section 13. Checked 14 October 2026. Official documents: 2025-2028 Code of Points, Women's Artistic Gymnastics and Men's Artistic Gymnastics (PDF).