Nine judges are appointed for Olympic trampoline competitions: a chair of the judge's panel, two difficulty judges, five execution judges and one time of flight judge.
There are three categories of scores: difficulty, execution and time of flight. For the first routine of the qualifying round, only two elements' difficulty values count toward the difficulty score. For voluntary routines, the difficulty of all 10 elements are counted.
Each athlete begins his or her routine with zero difficulty points. Each element performed has a specific difficulty value. By checking the difficulty values entered on the competition card (and ensuring that the same elements are performed), the judges determine the final difficulty score for a routine and display it.
During a routine, the five execution judges evaluate the athlete's form and how well each skill is performed, such as whether the body line is kept straight, legs are together, and landings are near the center of the bed.
When they see imperfections, they make deductions of up to 0.5 points for each mistake. The total deductions (plus a possible deduction for lack of control after the last element) are then subtracted from the maximum score of 10.0.The final execution score is determined by dropping the highest and lowest of the five scores, then adding up the remaining three scores. Therefore the maximum possible score for execution is 30.0 (10 + 10 + 10).
In 2011, a 'time of flight' machine which measures the total flight time of the gymnast was introduced. It will be used for the third time at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The final score for each routine is the addition of the scores for difficulty, execution, and time of flight:
Difficulty score + Execution score + Time of Flight score = Final score
Example:
- Difficulty mark (unlimited): 14.8
- Execution marks (8.4, 8.5, 8.3, 8.3, 8.4): 25.1
- Time of flight: 16.475
- Final score: 14.8 + 25.1 + 16.475 = 56.375
If there is a tie in the final round, rankings will be determined by the following criteria until the tie is broken:
- The total of all five of the execution judges' scores of the final routine without eliminating the highest and the lowest marks
- The total of the four highest execution judges' scores of the final routine
- The total of the three highest execution judges' execution scores of the final routine
