Duty and free choice
In some competitive sports, the terms duty and freestyle denote two different types of exercises, which are evaluated by the judges according to their own criteria.
The compulsory part of a competition includes a greater number of mandatory elements than the freestyle part, which makes it easier for the judges to directly compare the performance of two competitors.
In the freestyle part, on the other hand, the athletes can more or less freely select and combine sequences of movements and adapt them to their individual discretion and ability; The judges then rate the level of difficulty, the sequence of movements and the fluent execution with points. Sometimes an ideal number of points is assumed, from which deductions are made in the event of errors in the freestyle. Time restrictions apply to the freestyle exercise in the individual sports.
Sports with compulsory and freestyle (selection)
- Floor exercise . The floor exercise must last between 50 and 70 seconds.
- Sports aerobics
- Sports acrobatics
- Apparatus gymnastics
- Trampoline exercise ; here, after a first freestyle, when qualifying for the finals, a second freestyle is jumped.
- Figure skating . In figure skating, what used to be mandatory until 1991 is now called a short freestyle or short program. In figure skating the compulsory program was until 1991, in ice dancing until 2010 a competitive discipline . See also: duty (figure skating) .
- Figure skating
- Vaulting . See also: compulsory and freestyle exercises in vaulting .
- Dressage riding
- Diving