How Difficulty Scores Are Validated in Competitions
At a trampoline competition run under the FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique) Code of Points, two judges on the panel, D7 and D8, have your competition card in front of them at least two hours before the session starts. They check the elements and the difficulty values written on it. Then they watch you compete and independently determine and record every element you actually performed, with its value, on that same card. Under the 2025-2028 edition, that second record is your difficulty score, the D mark. The card is a declaration of intent. The D mark is a finding of fact.
Most of the difficulty points that go missing at a competition are lost in the gap between those two things, and almost none of them are lost to arithmetic. They are lost because an element was performed in a shape the gymnast did not declare, or a twist did not finish, or an element was repeated.
Degree of Difficulty (DD) is one component of a trampoline score, not the score itself. In individual trampoline the total is execution plus horizontal displacement plus difficulty plus time of flight, minus penalties, rounded to two decimal places. Only the difficulty part is what this article is about, and it is the only part Trampigo calculates.
Who Validates the Difficulty Score
The individual trampoline panel is nine people, and only two of them are looking at your difficulty:
| Role | Number | What they produce |
|---|---|---|
| Chair of the Judges Panel (CJP) | 1 | Rules on disputes, interruptions, and the validity of final scores |
| Judges for Execution (E1-E6) | 6 | The E mark, form and landing deductions |
| Judges for Difficulty (D7-D8) | 2 | The D mark, plus difficulty-related penalties |
Two judges is a small number for a task that means tracking ten elements performed back to back with no pause between them. It works because they are not scoring the routine in any subjective sense. They are recording a list: what happened, in order, using the FIG numeric system, the digit-and-symbol shorthand for flips, twists, and shape.
If the two disagree, the CJP decides. The CJP is also responsible for determining the validity of the final scores, so the D mark passes through one more set of hands before it reaches the scoreboard.
When the Difficulty Score Gets Checked
The process has fixed checkpoints, and knowing where they are tells you when a correction is still possible and when it is not.
At least two hours before the competition. The Local Organising Committee is responsible for getting the competition cards to the difficulty judges by this point. A card handed in late may mean the gymnast is not allowed to start at all. The card has to use the FIG numeric system; if it does not, the card is not accepted.
Before the exercise. The difficulty judges check the elements and difficulty values entered on the card. This is a check, not a service. They are not there to fix your arithmetic, and a card with a wrong value on it is not evidence that the value is right.
During the exercise. The judges determine and record every element performed and its value. If you perform an element other than the one on the card, or perform them in a different order, that is displayed in public with a red flag. The difficulty judges also decide whether the exercise was interrupted, for example by an intermediate straight jump, and advise the CJP.
After the exercise. All changes of elements are recorded on the competition card by the difficulty judges. They input the difficulty score along with any difficulty-related penalties. The card you filled in is now a document with their corrections on it.
If you disagree. The Code of Points does not set out an inquiry procedure for difficulty. A disagreement between the two difficulty judges is settled by the CJP, and the CJP decides the validity of the final scores. Beyond that, the Superior Jury and Jury of Appeal are governed by the FIG Technical Regulations rather than the Code of Points, and in trampoline a Superior Jury only functions at World Championships, the Olympic Games, and World Cups. At most events, what is available to you is whatever the organising committee's own rules provide. Check that before the competition, not after the score goes up.
What a Difficulty Judge Is Actually Looking At
A difficulty judge does not watch the whole skill when deciding its shape. The Code of Points defines a window, and the parts outside that window do not count for or against you:
| Element type | Position assessed from | Until |
|---|---|---|
| Single somersault | Beginning of the take-off | The remaining 135° before landing |
| Backward multiple somersault | 90° after take-off | The remaining 180° before landing |
| Forward multiple somersault | 135° after take-off | The remaining 180° before landing |
Two practical consequences. Opening out of a double back inside the final half somersault does not cost the shape, because that last 180° sits outside the window. Breaking the shape midway through the second somersault does, because that is squarely inside it. And on a single somersault the window opens at the take-off itself, so a shape that is not set until the gymnast is already inverted has been in view the whole time.
Twist is assessed the same way, from the evidence at landing. Looking at the position of the feet, a rotation of more than a quarter twist (90°) is counted as a half twist, and more than three quarters of a twist (270°) is counted as a full twist. That rounding runs in both directions. It can credit a twist you did not quite finish, and it can refuse to credit one you nearly did.
Worked Example: A Card That Says 12.8 and a D Mark of 12.3
Here is an illustrative senior routine, ten distinct elements, with the difficulty values as they would be written on a competition card. Every value below was produced by running Trampigo's calculator, which implements FIG Code of Points 2025-2028.
| # | Element | Flips | Twists | Position | Declared DD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full-in full-out double | 720° | 1/1 in, 1/1 out | Straight | 1.7 |
| 2 | Half-in half-out double | 720° | 1/2 in, 1/2 out | Tuck | 1.3 |
| 3 | Barani out fliffis | 720° | 1/2 out | Tuck | 1.1 |
| 4 | Full-in double back | 720° | 1/1 in | Straight | 1.5 |
| 5 | Triple back | 1080° | none | Tuck | 1.8 |
| 6 | Rudolph | 360° | 1 1/2 | Straight | 0.8 |
| 7 | Back somersault | 360° | none | Straight | 0.6 |
| 8 | Barani | 360° | 1/2 | Straight | 0.6 |
| 9 | Double back | 720° | none | Pike | 1.3 |
| 10 | Triple back | 1080° | none | Pike | 2.1 |
The declared total is 12.8. That figure is the same for a women's and a men's routine here, because the routine-level bonus for elements of 1080° or more only starts past two such elements for women and past five for men, and this routine has two. Elements 5 and 10 are the same rotation in different shapes, which FIG treats as two different elements rather than a repetition.
Now the same routine as the difficulty judges recorded it. Three elements came back differently:
| # | Element | What the judges recorded | Declared | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full-in full-out double | Second somersault tucked, so the element is assessed as tucked | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| 6 | Rudolph | Feet came around less than a quarter twist past the full twist, so no extra half twist credited | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| 9 | Double back | Performed in tuck, not pike | 1.3 | 1.1 |
The awarded total is 12.3, half a point below the card.
None of those three is a disputed judgement call. On a multiple somersault a gymnast may claim only one body position for the whole element, and the judges assess it on the least difficult position adopted. Element 1 held straight through the first somersault and tucked the second, so it scores as a tucked full-in full-out: the 0.2 position value for a straight double disappears, and nothing else about the element changes. Element 9 lost the same 0.2 the same way. Element 6 lost 0.1 of twist value under the feet-rotation rule.
The position values are the biggest single lever here and the easiest to lose. Tuck never earns a position value at all, while pike and straight earn 0.1 per completed somersault, with a twisting single somersault the exception that earns nothing in any shape. Tuck vs. pike vs. straight works through which upgrades actually pay, and the DD guide breaks down all five components that make up any single element's value.
To check a routine of your own against the same rules, build it in the DD calculator and compare the total against what is written on the card. That gives you the number the FIG math produces for the elements as described. It does not give you a judged score, because no calculator can tell you which shape you actually held in the air.
The Five Rules That Move a Number Between Card and Scoreboard
| What changes | The rule | Effect on the D mark |
|---|---|---|
| Body shape on a multiple somersault | Only one position may be claimed per element; the judges assess the least difficult position adopted | Element re-scored at the lower shape's value |
| Twist that does not finish | Feet rotation of more than 90° counts as a half twist, more than 270° as a full twist | Twist value recalculated from the landing |
| A repeated element | No element may be repeated during an exercise | The repeat's difficulty is not counted |
| An interruption | No credit for the element in which the interruption occurs; the gymnast is judged only on elements completed | That element scores nothing, and nothing after it counts |
| Junior and age-group difficulty caps | Higher-difficulty elements may be performed but receive the limited value for that age group | Element capped regardless of what it is worth in senior rules |
The interruption row is the one with the largest downside. An intermediate straight jump, a landing that is obviously not on both feet, or a touch from a spotter all interrupt the exercise, and the elements after it are simply not judged. A routine built to peak with a 2.1 triple in tenth place loses all of it to an interruption in element four. That is a sequencing decision, not a calculation one.
For Junior and Age Group events the difficulty judges carry two extra jobs. Required elements are marked with an asterisk on the card, and a missing required element or requirement costs 2.0 points each, applied by the difficulty judges and recorded on the card. Quadruple somersaults are not allowed in Youth and Junior competitions at all, and performing one results in disqualification from the competition.
Common Mistakes on the Card Itself
Declaring a shape that carries no value. A twisting single somersault earns no position value, tuck or straight. Element 8 in the example above is declared straight and would be worth exactly the same in tuck. Declaring it is not wrong, but planning around it as an upgrade is.
Treating the card as the score. A card is checked, not accepted. The judges' record of what was performed is what gets input. See 5 Common Errors in Trampoline Tariff Calculation for the arithmetic mistakes that survive that check unnoticed until someone re-adds the card.
Declaring two elements that FIG counts as one. Same rotation in tuck, pike, and straight are three different elements, which is why elements 5 and 10 in the example both count. Two multiple somersaults with the same somersault and twist count are a repetition, though, unless the twist sits in a different phase, and the difficulty of the repeat is not counted. A card can show ten entries that look distinct and still be awarded nine elements' worth of difficulty.
Assuming an element order change is invisible. Performing elements in a different order from the card is displayed in public with a red flag. It does not cost difficulty by itself, but it does tell the panel that the card and the performance have diverged, on an exercise where they are already checking element by element.
Carrying an element list across a rule cycle. FIG republishes the Code of Points periodically. Values from an earlier edition look plausible on a card and can be wrong. Trampigo implements 2025-2028 specifically, not a blend of editions.
What This Means for Routine Planning
Plan the shape you can hold under competition conditions, not the shape you are training toward. A straight double back declared on the card is worth 1.3. Performed in tuck, it is assessed as tucked and awarded 1.1, which is exactly what a declared tuck double back is awarded. The optimistic declaration buys nothing on the scoreboard. What it costs is an accurate total to plan the rest of the routine against.
Then treat the card as a working document rather than a submission. Write the elements you will perform, check each value against the rules that actually move it, and re-check the total whenever a shape changes anywhere in the order. A shareable digital tariff sheet makes that re-check cheap enough to do every time, which matters because the last-minute swap is exactly the one nobody re-adds.
What none of this gives you is the D mark itself. Two judges decide that, in real time, from what they see. The best a calculator can do is make sure that the number on your card is the number those elements are worth, so the only thing left to argue about is what you performed.
Sources and Ruleset Note
This article uses FIG Code of Points 2025-2028, Trampoline Gymnastics, Part I (TRA): competition cards (§6), the Superior Jury and Jury of Appeal (§10), repetition of elements (§14), interruptions (§15), scoring and the evaluation of difficulty (§17), the judges' panel (§18), and the duties of the judges for difficulty (§21). The full document is linked from the DD guide. Every DD value in the worked example was generated by running Trampigo's own calculator, which implements this edition.
This covers individual trampoline for the men's and women's categories. It does not cover synchronised trampoline, tumbling, or double mini-trampoline, all of which have their own difficulty judge duties, and it does not cover execution deductions, time of flight, or horizontal displacement, none of which Trampigo calculates. Two things it points at rather than defines are handled in separate documents: Junior and Age Group difficulty limits live in the FIG Junior and WAGC Rules, and appeal procedures live in the FIG Technical Regulations.