Vault Judging

So what do the judges actually look for?

Several things actually.  They watch your arms when they are on the vault.  The more bent they are the more deduction they can take.  They watch to see how high you are when you're flipping.  They can deduct if you land too close to the vault, or if you are really crooked in your landing.  Most people look at gymnastics and think that if they stick the vault then it must have been perfect.  Although this is can be true it is not always true.  If a gymnast is supposed to be performing a layout but she isn't in a perfectly straight body shape then the judges can continue to take tenths away.  If the gymnast fails to land the vault i.e. falls, then that is an automatic five tenth(.5) deduction.  In college gymnastics when a single tenth sometimes separates first and second place a five tenth deduction is a huge blow to the team score!  Judges watch to see how in-control you are of your gymnastics.  Usually the more controlled the gymnasts is the  better they score.  If they go flying all over the place it is likely that the score will be lower.  Judges also consider basic form, meaning, were the gymnasts toes pointed, were her legs together, if she is performing a layout were her legs completely straight?  Let's compare two Yurchenko layout-fulls.
1.                                                              

2.

On the first vault the gymnasts legs are separated, she takes a hop on the landing, and she is not in a perfectly straight line in her layout shape.  These are all deductions.  The second vault is significantly better.  This is actually a vault that received a perfect 10.0!!

Rules Regarding Landings

Rules regarding landings are fairly standard on every event.  If you stick, i.e. don't move you're feet at all when you land, then there is no deduction taking directly on the landing.  If you take one small step forward or backwards that is either half of a tenth (.05) or one tenth of a deduction(.1) depending on the size of the step.  A large step backwards or forwards means that the judges can take anywhere from one tenth (.1) up to three tenths(.3) depending on the size of the large step.  If you hop with both feet, like the girl in the first Yurchenko video that we just watched, that is a two tenth (.2) deduction.  Again, a fall is an automatic five tenth (.5) deduction on top of any other deductions that the judges take for the vault.

Last Comments on Vault

There are a few other important things to note on vault.  

• College gymnasts have 2 chances to vault, but only one of those can actually go over the vault.  So if a gymnast is standing at the end of the runway, salutes, and starts running and suddenly trips, as long as she does not touch any of the equipment, i.e. the springboard or vault, then she can go back to her starting spot for a second try where she will re-salute the judges and then perform her vault.   
• If a gymnast only puts 1 arm or no arms on the vault table then vault is considered void and a score of 0.0 is given.
• Judging is subjective!  This is so important because sometimes one judge will have a better angle then another or one judge will judge more strictly.  Having at least two judges per event allows the score to turn out more fairly.  In normal competitions, i.e. not National/Regional Championships, each judge flashes the score that they believe the gymnast deserves and then the two scores are averaged. The averaged score is the score that the gymnast receives.

I am aware that this is a lot of information, but I hope it was helpful to those of you who are new to Collegiate gymnastics!