Technology changes the way sport is judged, and sometimes the sport itself. Basketball has instant replay, tennis has Hawk-Eye, football has VAR and semi-automated offside. Now gymnastics could be next. According to The Athletic, World Gymnastics is considering bringing artificial intelligence into the judging process. In a sport as steeped in tradition as gymnastics, the idea is a radical departure. It would also remove an element of human judgement that has long been a source of controversy, particularly at the Olympic Games. Los Angeles 2028 could be the first Games to use the technology, subject to approval from the International Olympic Committee. Initial trials are already under way, World Gymnastics president Morinari Watanabe has confirmed.
The Judging Support System (JSS) uses cameras and motion analysis to assess gymnasts’ routines. It is already being used at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, where competition supervisors can, for the first time, consult its analysis across all ten men’s and women’s apparatus. Official scores remain in the hands of human judges. Watanabe hopes the system will help curb the disputes that have dogged Olympic gymnastics in recent years, casting doubt on the consistency of judging. He has pointed to two cases in particular: the controversy over the women’s floor exercise bronze medal at Paris 2024 and the judging error acknowledged in the men’s all-around final at Athens 2004. Both, he argues, damaged the sport’s reputation and exposed the difficulty of applying the same standards consistently.
“I tried to introduce this technology for the 2020 Olympic Games, and I tried again for Paris 2024,” Watanabe told The Athletic. He is also an IOC member and sits on the coordination commission for Los Angeles 2028. Discussions over the proposal are continuing; the IOC has been approached for comment.
World Gymnastics and Fujitsu began developing the JSS in 2017, aiming to make judging more consistent and transparent. The system uses four cameras for each apparatus, rising to eight for the floor exercise. By capturing routines from different angles, it reconstructs gymnasts’ movements in three dimensions.
During a demonstration, Fujitsu representatives used the system to analyse a routine by American gymnast Skye Blakely. Within 10 to 15 seconds of the routine ending, it was able to produce joint measurements and other data relevant to scoring. Watanabe’s ambitions go well beyond assisting judges. His ultimate aim is for AI to award scores itself, without relying on human assessment. Officials would still be needed to deal with exceptional cases.
For now, the JSS remains an aid to judges, not a judge in its own right. It does not determine official scores. Whether that distinction survives as the technology develops remains to be seen. World Gymnastics is exploring how far the judging process can be handed over to technology ahead of Los Angeles 2028. In gymnastics, where the smallest difference in a score can decide an Olympic medal, the question is how much of that judgement can be entrusted to a machine.