Longines and gymnastics: over a century of expertise

Longines has been committed to sports timing since 1878. On the strength of its rich experience serving the world of sport, the brand was named Official Timekeeper for all artistic and rhythmic gymnastics competitions of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in 1989.

Timing is only one small part of managing a gymnastics competition. During the events, Longines’ main task is actually to collect and distribute the results.

Close cooperation is essential between Longines, the officials and the competitors. After the athlete’s performance, the judges enter the scores into their microterminals (MTS600) and the scores are then sent via a data bus to the Technical President’s terminal. Only after the President’s decision is the final result processed by the competition management software, enabling the athletes to be ranked with great precision (to 1/1000 of a point).

Next, the results are displayed on the video boards and simultaneously sent to the television and to the network of monitors arranged in the stands where journalists commentate live on the event.

A new, state-of-the-art tool is available to officials to assist them in judging. It is called IRCOS (Instant Replay & Information System), and it provides assistance to the judges. IRCOS should be understood in the very specific context of the entry into force of a new rule which, for the first time, gives the gymnast and the coach the possibility to contest a difficulty score immediately in communication with the judge. This is where this new, revolutionary system finds its true application and significance. The camera and the laptop actually enable supporting images to be used to secure a decision. Together they constitute an irrefutable tool for instantly viewing a disputed sequence.

Once the competition is over, the results are available immediately on the following websites: www.longines.com, www.swisstiming.com and the site of the International Gymnastics Federation: www.fig-gymnastics.com.

In order to produce this result, a team of six Swiss Timing technicians and several tons of material are required. The installation of this complex infrastructure and testing begin approximately five days before the start of the first events.