Section 3 · Coaches
Coaches: Rights and Duties
What a coach may do on the floor, what he must not do, and how many coaches may be there.
Unofficial summary. The FIG Code of Points and its newsletters are the authority; every rule links to its page there.
The coach
Coaches on the Field of Play
- Qualifications and Team Final — a complete team1 or 2
- Qualifications and Team Final — a nation with individuals only1
- All-Around and Apparatus Finals1 per gymnast
The coach
Rights
The coach may:
- help the gymnast or team with written requests: to raise the apparatus, or to rate a new element or vault.
- help on the podium during the warm-up, and help prepare the apparatus.
He may:
- lift the gymnast to the hang on rings and horizontal bar, and stand by there during the exercise for safety.
- on parallel bars, come onto the podium after the green light to take away the springboard.
- be at every apparatus in case of injury or a defect.
He may help or advise the gymnast in the 30 seconds after a fall, on every apparatus, and between the first and second vault.
He may also:
- make an inquiry to the Superior Jury about the content of the exercise.
- ask the Superior Jury to review a time or line deduction.
The inquiry procedure is in the FIG Technical Regulations.
The coach
Duties
The coach must know the Code and follow it. He must submit the competition order and any other information required.
He must not:
- change the height of any apparatus.
- add, rearrange or remove springboard springs.
- delay the competition, block the judges' view, or interfere with anyone else's rights.
He must also not:
- speak to the gymnast during his exercise, or help him in any other way — signals, shouts or cheers.
- talk with active judges.
- talk with people outside the field of play, except the team doctor and the delegation leader.
He must behave fairly and in a sporting manner at all times, including at the award ceremony. The Coach Penalties page lists the cards and penalties for a coach's conduct. Changing the apparatus (height, springs, mats) is a 0.5 penalty from the gymnast's Final Score: see Gymnast and Team Penalties.
The coach
The Coaches' Oath
The coaches promise to uphold sportsmanship and ethics, in accordance with the fundamental principles of Olympism. They promise to educate gymnasts in fair play and drug-free sport, and to respect all FIG rules.