The Beam

Nastia Liukin- 2008 Olympic All Around Champion

On the beam, routines are made of a series of leaps, acrobatic skills, dance elements and poses.
Every beam routine must begin with a mount onto the beam, and a dismount off the beam.
Routines start off very easy, and can include walking 5 steps, turning, and simple straight jumps.
They can also be very advanced, with gymnasts turning somersaults, backflips and walkovers.
Once a gymnast can perform the most difficult moves on the beam, they begin to combine moves one after another to increase the difficulty level.
International level routines must include:

• A connection of two dance elements, one a leap, jump, or hop with legs in 180 degree split
• A full turn on one foot
• One series of two acrobatic skills
• Acrobatic elements in different directions (forward/sideward and backward)

Beam routines can last up to 1.30 minutes, and after 90 seconds is up, a deduction is taken from the score. 
 Several different things decide the gymnasts final score. Judges add up the scores given for each move and combination the gymnast performs. They then deduct marks for falls, balance checks, and failure to fulfill the required code of points elements (leaving something out).