Managing Non-Competing Participants


If a participant is no longer expected to compete, Acro Companion provides several ways to handle the situation. The correct option depends on when the participant withdraws and why they are no longer competing.

1. Choosing the Correct Option

Use the table below to determine which action is appropriate.

2. Changing a Competition Status

The ABS, DSQ, and DQB buttons are available from the Starting Order tab.

To display the available actions, expand the exercise.

When a participant is marked as ABS, DSQ, or DQB, it appears greyed out and crossed out in the starting order. This information is visible to both competition managers and the public.

Click the appropriate button to assign the desired status.

After changing the status, click the Save button.

3. Re-enabling

If a participant has been marked as ABS, DSQ, or DQB by mistake, you can restore them.

In the Starting Order tab, hover over the exercise and click the Re-enable button.

After making your changes, click the Save button.

4. ABS (Absent)

Marks the participant as absent.

Use ABS when a participant withdraws after the starting order has been created, but before competing. This allows the published starting order to remain unchanged while clearly indicating that the participant will not perform.

Besides marking individual exercises as ABS from the Starting Order, you can also set all exercises for a partnership to ABS from the Gymnasts tab.

Select the partnership and click the Set all exercises for the selected partnership to absent button.

If the withdrawal is known well before the competition, it is generally recommended to remove the participant from the competition instead.

Example: A participant withdraws on the morning of the competition after the starting order has already been published.

Consequences:

  • The participant remains visible in the starting order.

  • The participant is displayed greyed out and crossed out.

  • The absence is visible to competition managers and the public, and is also marked in the scoring inputs.

  • Exercises marked as ABS do not receive a score and are not ranked.

  • Setting or resetting ABS does not change the rankings.

Note: If only some exercises are marked as ABS and scores are submitted for the remaining exercises, the participant will still appear in the All Around ranking, provided they still have an exercise on each apparatus required for the ranking.

5. DSQ (Disqualified)

Marks the participant as disqualified.

A DSQ indicates an official disqualification issued according to the FIG rules.

Source: FIG, Appendix to the Code of Points 2025–2028, p. 13.

Consequences:

  • The participant remains visible in the starting order.
  • The participant is displayed as greyed out and crossed out.
  • The disqualification is visible to competition managers and the public.
  • Any submitted score is removed and replaced by a DSQ score.
  • If the ranking contains only a DSQ score, no ranking position is assigned and the participant is placed at the end of the ranking.
  • If the ranking combines multiple exercise scores (for example, an All Around ranking), the DSQ score is counted as 0 while the remaining exercise scores are still included in the calculation.

6. DQB (Doping Disqualification)

Marks the participant as disqualified because of a doping violation.

A DQB indicates a disqualification resulting from a violation of the Olympic Charter, the World Anti-Doping Code, or other applicable regulations issued by the IOC, FIG, or an NF/NOC.

Source: FIG, Appendix to the Code of Points 2025–2028, p. 13.

Consequences:

  • The participant remains visible in the starting order.
  • The participant is displayed as greyed out and crossed out.
  • The disqualification is visible to competition managers and the public.
  • Any submitted score is replaced by a DQB score.
  • If the ranking contains only a DQB score, no ranking position is assigned and the participant is placed at the end of the ranking.
  • If the ranking combines multiple exercise scores (for example, an All Around ranking), the DQB score is counted as 0 while the remaining exercise scores are still included in the calculation.

7. Other options

7.1 Disable Specific Exercises

If a participant is known in advance not to compete in specific exercises, you can disable those exercises instead of marking them as ABS.

This is useful, for example, for apparatus specialists or team competitions where a participant is only expected to compete on selected apparatus.

  1. Open the Participant Lists tab.
  2. Locate the participant.
  3. Clear the checkbox for each exercise the participant will not perform.

Consequences:

  • The disabled exercise is not included in the starting order.
  • No score can be submitted for the disabled exercise.
  • Exercises can only be disabled if no score has already been submitted.

Note: If an exercise that counts towards the All Around ranking is disabled, the participant will not be included in the All Around ranking.

7.2 Remove the participant

If it is known well before the competition that a participant will not participate, it is recommended to remove them from the competition instead of marking them as ABS.

Note: participant can only be removed if they have no submitted scores.

Removing a participant may require updating other competition information.

For more information, see the Deleting Participants chapter.

7.3 Judges' Actions

Some actions related to participants not competing are performed by the Head Judge (CJP/D1) during the competition rather than by the Competition Manager.

7.3.a DNS (Did Not Start)

If a participant reaches its turn to compete but does not start the exercise, the Head Judge can set the exercise as DNS.

Unlike ABS, DNS is applied during the competition after the participant has been called to compete.

For more information about setting an exercise to DNS, see the Head Judge (CJP/D1) chapter.

7.3.b Submit Zero Score

Available only in WAG, MAG, and Trampoline.

Use Submit Zero Score when a participant starts an exercise but is unable to complete or properly perform it. A score of 0 is submitted for all values.

For more information, see the Head Judge (CJP/D1) chapter.

7.3.c Skip Exercise

Use Skip Exercise when an exercise is intentionally not performed and should not be included in the competition.

Unlike DNS, this action does not record that the participant failed to start the exercise.

Typical examples include:

  • Optional routines in Trampoline qualifications.
  • Artistic team competitions where not all participants perform every apparatus.

For more information, see the Head Judge (CJP/D1) chapter.