JUDGES’ EVALUATION OF ROUTINES IN MEN ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS

Abstract

For competition judging, the practice of assigning gymnastics judges into one of two groups (D-Jury and E-Jury) is internationally accepted. International judges (the highest level) are placed in the D-Jury and national judges are allocated to the E-Jury. Performance evaluations are the jurisdiction of the E-Judges who record the deductions in the exercises, determining the exercise final score. The purpose of this study was to examine if there were significant differences between D-Jury and E-Jury judges (international vs. national), based on their evaluations of gymnastics performances; allowing for an assessment of the necessity to split judges into these two groups. Twenty experienced judges, who volunteered to participate in the study, were divided into two groups (National vs International). The judges evaluated, via videotape, nine gymnastics routines performed on the rings. Points were deducted (in tenths of units) based on the severity of errors in the routines. According to the results, for the judges level effect the results approached significance and significant differences were found across the 9 separate programs. The observed differences raise questions concerning the existing placement system of judges (international vs. national) in Greece.