Dubai Student Aims to Transform Gymnastics Scoring with Artificial Intelligence
Fifteen-year-old Viktoria Leusheva, who studies in Dubai, has turned a personal disappointment she experienced in rhythmic gymnastics competitions into an AI-assisted assessment platform now used by more than 3,000 athletes worldwide.
A Year 11 student at Repton Dubai, Leusheva aims to make scoring in rhythmic gymnastics more transparent, understandable, and objective through her application, “Vika.” The platform provides athletes with detailed performance analyses, explanations of their scores, and recommendations for improvement.
The idea for the application emerged from Leusheva’s difficulty in understanding how scores were awarded at children’s gymnastics competitions in different countries. Seeing athletes whom she believed had delivered the strongest performances fail to place, together with the lack of sufficient feedback on scoring decisions, encouraged the young athlete to develop an alternative assessment system.
After finishing fourth in a competition in which she believed she had delivered a strong performance, Leusheva began considering whether all performances could be uploaded to a system and assessed independently. Within approximately six months, she developed the first functional version of the application.
On the Vika platform, athletes upload videos of their performances. A qualified judge then evaluates each element of the routine, explains score deductions, and prepares detailed feedback. Reviewing a performance lasting approximately 90 seconds can take more than 30 minutes. At the end of the assessment, athletes receive score breakdowns, video analyses, infographics, and recommendations for improvement.
Leusheva is also working with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence to explore AI features that could be incorporated into the platform in the future. She believes the system could eventually be used at competitions of every level, including the Olympic Games.