The Road to Atlanta
Qualifying to the Olympics

The top twelve teams in men's and women's artistic gymnastics from the 1995 World Championships qualified to send full teams to the 1996 Olympic Games. Nine more teams qualified to send individuals, based on their team ranking, as follows: 13th-15th place, 3 individuals each; 16th-18th place, 2 individuals each; 19th-21st place, 1 individual each.

The top seven groups from the 1995 Rhythmic World Championships qualify to the Olympics. The USA qualified with an automatic berth, as the host of the Games. The top 35 individuals from the 1995 Rhythmic Worlds, plus the top five at the 1995 Continental Championships, qualify to compete in the rhythmic individual competition.

In addition to qualification through competition, the International Olympic Committee has ten possible "wildcards" which they can use to invite gymnasts to participate in the Games. These ten spots were distributed as follows:

Rhythmic Group: China
Rhythmic Individuals: Australia, Egypt
Men's Artistic: Barbados, Ireland, Iceland, People's Republic of Korea, Puerto Rico
Women's Artistic: Belgium, Morocco

Qualifying to finals

The top 36 gymnasts qualify to all-around finals, with a maximum of three gymnasts per country advancing. In event finals, the top eight qualify on each apparatus, with a maximum of two per country. In the event of a tie, the individual all-around total from the team competition is used to break the tie.

In both all-around and event finals, gymnasts start over from a score of zero.

Competition what?

In gymnastics, the various sessions are competition are given different numbers and are judged under different rules. 

Team compulsories            Competition 1a
Team optionals               Competition 1b
All-Around finals            Competition II
Event finals                 Competition III
A gymnast is required to do more difficulty in the later competitions to achieve a "start value" of 10.0. A start value is the maximum score that a gymnast can receive for a routine, before any deductions are taken.

[]USA Gymnastics' 1996 Olympic Games Homepage


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