Journal of Human Movement Studies, 2003,45: 327-346 ELITE PERFORMANCE IN RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS: DO THE CHANGES IN CODE OF POINTS AFFECT THE ROLE OF ABILITIES? E. GIANNITSOPOULOU', V. Zrsr 2 AND E. KrOUMOURTZOGLOU 2 / Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2 Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini; Greece. SUMMARY This study investigated the relationship of selected cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities with competitive performance in rhythmic gymnastics. 11 elitejunior (13-14yrs) and 33 youngjunior (11-12yrs) rhythmic gymnasts participated in a series of laboratory tests assessing memory (retention and grouping), analytic ability, sustained and selective attention, perception speed, simple visual and choice reaction time, two hand co-ordination, line tracking, wrist-finger dexterity and aiming. Competitive performance was calculated as the mean score of the 2001 Hellenic National Championship semifinals and finals in each apparatus. According to the results, different abilities correlated significantly with performance in each apparatus at two age groups. In junior gymnasts, the amount of performance variance explained by two hand co-ordination and aiming was 73.6% in hoop and 65.7% in club. Two hand co-ordination and selective attention explained 43.7% of variance in ball performance, while performance in ribbon was predicted only by two hand co-ordination (13.4%). In young junior gymnasts the only significant prediction was that of memory (grouping) and choice reaction time, which explained 18.5% of variance in ball performance. These findings can provide useful explanations about performance in rhythmic gymnastics, as well information for designing training schemes and testing protocols in different age groups of gymnasts. 0306-7297/03/1000-0327 $22.00 ©2003 TEVIOT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS