The World of Gymnastics

The Junior Olympics is run by USAG. The program was created so that there was a progression of skills for gymnasts to move up to the next level.  Gymnasts must be regsitered with USAG in order to compete in a sanctioned event.  A sanctioned event means it has been approved by USAG.  The Women's Junior Olympic Program is divided into three categories; developmental, compulsory, and optional.   Levels 1-3 are developmental and aren’t required to compete in competitions. There are routines that levels 1-3 can compete with. Level 4 is compulsory and has set routines that every level 4 performs. Levels 6-10 are optional which means that those gymnasts can compete any routine that they want to. Levels 6-9 have skill difficulty restrictions which means that there are skills that they can perform and skills that they are not allowed to perform. Level 10 gymnasts can perform any skills that they are able to do. It has more than 91,000 athletes. 75% are in women’s gymnastics. To be in a certain level, a gymnast must have reached a certain age. For levels 1 and 2, she must be 4 years old. For level 3, she must be 5. For level 4, she must be 6. For levels 5-7, she must be 7. For levels 8-9, she must be 8 and for level 10, she must be 9. This is only for women’s gymnastics