Beginner: Levels of Gymnastics

In gymnastics, if you want to get to the Olympics, you have to go through a lot. Many hours in the gym, constant threats of injury, burnout and exhaustion. Oh, and you have to master ten levels' (plus elite) worth of skills, work them to perfection, and perform them in front of cameras with 1 million plus people watching you.

But let's start where every gymnast does: Level 1. Because I don't care if you're Nadia Comaneci, you weren't born scoring perfect 10s, and you had to start somewhere. I'll explain the American system of levels. Other English-speaking countries mostly use ten levels, but they may mean different things in terms of the gymnast's abilities.

A level 4 gymnast competing on beam

So you start with Level 1. Levels 1-6 are called the compulsory levels, when the focus is on introducing the athlete to the sport and safely learning skills. So USA Gymnastics has compiled compulsory routines that are all alike for these levels. In order to advance, a gymnast must perform her current level's compulsory routines to satisfaction. There are compulsory routines for every apparatus except vault, which has a single vault to perform that is deemed appropriate for their level. Competition for most gymnasts starts around level 4, though some regions of the US have competitions for Levels 1-3, usually at their home gym.

In the old days (as in, pre-1996), compulsory routines were performed even at the Olympics. Every gymnast performed the same routine. Today you're considered a hard-core gym fan if you have both the patience to watch old compulsories over and over and the technical know-how to pick out the differences between each gymnast! Because they were the same, heavy emphasis was placed on artistry and form (as in, toes pointed at all times, legs perfectly straight on tumbling, etc). Every Olympic cycle, a different country was chosen to choreograph the routines. Naturally, the country would create routines heavily in favor of their gymnasts' strengths. Because judges were so picky about form, many athletes considered compulsories to be very hard, despite their lower level of difficulty.

Level 10 gymnast Briana Yankie preparing to perform on uneven bars

So what about when you pass Level 6 and move on to Level 7? Well, this is when you start playing with the big girls in the optional levels. Levels 7-10 no longer require compulsories and the gymnast can create their own routines with their coach that adhere to USAG standards for their level. For example, for a level 8 bars routine, the rules state they must move between the the two bars at least once, but they can do it however they'd like, whereas a compulsory routine would also say how they must do it. The expectation of optional levels is that the gymnast has mastered the basics and can move on to getting the harder skills she'll need to possibly be elite or professional.

Once a gymnast has reached level 10, she has a couple of options. Since it requires on average one year to complete a level and move on (especially as she moves into optionals), she may be old enough to compete for a while at level 10 and then stop gymnastics for a normal high school or college life.

Or she can keep training hard, and identify as a level 10 who is "pre-elite." This means the gymnast is preparing for an elite qualifications meet, or "zone" meet. If she does well enough at this meet, she officially qualifies for Elite International status, which enables her to try for National Championships, World Championships, or other international competitions, even the Olympics.

Senior Elite gymnast Nicole Harris performing on beam for Arizona State

The Elite level is sub-divided into two sections: Junior and Senior. It has nothing to do with the gymnasts' capabilities, instead it marks the gymnast as either too young for the Olympics (15 or under) or old enough for the Olympics (16+). Again, the two groups compete the same skills, but because of the Senior gymnasts' greater experience and maturity, there are usually separate meets for the two groups. There is a Junior National Championship and a Senior National Championship, for example. However, there are occasional exceptions, such as the Tyson American Cup. Because these gymnasts are competing in other countries as well as their own, they follow the rules and regulations of the FIG (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique), the international governing body of gymnastics. For the Olympics, the FIG and the International Olympic Committee collaborate, however the IOC tends to bow to the FIG's decisions when it comes to dealing directly with the sport.

Well, I lied, there is a third option. if an Elite does not make the Olympic team, she can always go into the pretty awesome world of college gymnastics. As far as I know, a gymnast is considered an amateur athlete (no matter that they are at the top of their sport) until or unless they go to the Olympics. I could be wrong, however, because there are former Olympic athletes who have had successful college careers (Courtney Kupets  and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, to name a few).

Anyway, there are the levels broken down for you. I personally would rather stick to recreational gymnastics, which still has levels but without all of the pressure!