31. Juli 2005  
Duisburg / Moutier  
Artistic Gymnastics

FIG: Video Made Available to Judges and for Training Purposes

Green Light for Instant Replay from World Champs 2005 on!

New ICROS System...
 The Artistic Gymnastics Technical Presidents, Ms Nellie Kim and Mr Adrian Stoica, travelled to Duisburg to participate in a work meeting with Swiss Timing Director, Daniel Baumat, who came to comment on the latest tests carried out with the new IRCOS system (Instant Replay and Control System), a development requested by the FIG, primarily to allow judges to visualise an exercise immediately following its presentation during a competition....

Daniel Baumat
Swiss Timing

So the F.I.G. announced Wednesday that it has approved IRCOS as a new program that will give judges the ability to immediately visually review routines. Judges will be able to analyze video in the case of a scoring dispute among the judges or a protest filed on behalf of a gymnast.
Available to Judges
The new and multifunctional system will be up and running for the Artistic Worlds in Melbourne (AUS) in November. Its main task is to record, save and, upon a Jury’s explicit request, provide instantaneous reproduction of the images of a gymnast’s exercise. In the case of dispute, judges will dispose of an effective tool to visualise a critical sequence, making it possible to give an immediate decision based on photographic proof.
Following the competition, the Technical Committee will be able to review the whole of a competition’s exercises. Through Longines' computer system, IRCOS mixes images and judges’ marks. This function will allow FIG technicians to assess the quality of judging and to analyse the judges themselves. Education
The saved data, which will be measured not in giga but in tera, may be burned onto a disc and made available to the federations and their technical management. This precious material will also be used in the Academies, an educational programme set up by the FIG. Coaches will be the first to reap the benefits of the IRCOS system in their quest for a perfect gesture. The information will also offer assistance to the scientists who accompany the FIG educational programme in the areas of study, prevention and the writing of the programme adapted to all stages of human development.

Available to National Federations
IRCOS produces images of a very high quality, sufficient for broadcasting on a television network at the broadcast standard. In the future, the FIG could supply broadcasters from countries whose gymnasts failed to advance past the qualifying competition, a competition that is not covered by the host broadcaster.
This is a first in terms of gymnastic development in countries with a weak gymnastic tradition. These countries will be able to discover their gymnasts on their own national television networks.
The IRCOS system will be approved by the FIG and used at the Olympic Games, World Games and official FIG competitions, those being the world championships and the world cup finals.

Finally this development is part of the total overhaul of the discipline’s Code of Points, following the events that peppered the Men’s Olympic Finals last year in Athens.
source: fig-info