GYMNASTICS HISTORY

SHORT HISTORY OF GYMNASTICS

Gymnastics is thought to have began in ancient Greece about 2500 years ago where it was used in
training to keep fit for sporting activities. In the Greek city of Athens, gymnastic tournaments were held,
including tumbling, rope climbing, and other similar activities.

The gymnasium was the hub of cultural activity. Men met there not only to practice sport, but to
understand art, music and philosophy. The Greeks believed symmetry between the mind and body was
possible only when physical exercise was coupled with intellectual activity. Because of their love for
these tournaments, the Athenians sponsored the ancient Olympic Games. When the Roman’s
conquered Greece, they found that gymnastics was very valuable in their military training. But after the
fall of the Roman Empire, gymnastics vanished for hundreds of years.

Today, gymnastics is often termed the ultimate combination of sport and art, but the idea is nothing
new. Plato, Homer and Aristotle strongly advocated the strengthening qualities of gymnastic activity.

The term “artistic gymnastics” emerged in the early 1800s to distinguish between free-flowing styles
from the techniques used by the military. Although viewed as a novelty sport by many, gymnastics
competitions began to flourish in schools, athletic clubs and various organizations across Europe in the
1880s. When the Olympic movement was resurrected at Athens in 1896, gymnastics was one of the first
sports included.

The early Olympic Games featured some gymnastic disciplines which could hardly be called “artistic”,
however. Rope climbing, tumbling and club swinging were some of the events that failed to survive the
refining process. At the World Championships, 1st held in Antwerp in 1903, field events such as the pole
vault, broad jump and shot-put even featured every now and then until 1954. Swimming appeared once,
at the 1922 championships.

The Olympic program began to settle in 1924, with men competing for individual medals and in team
events on each apparatus. 4 years later, women began competing in Olympic gymnastics at Amsterdam.
By 1952, the Soviet Union had become the leading country in Olympic gymnastics, its profile rising
slowly after a group of social reformers – including playwright Anton Chekhov – formed the Russian
Gymnastic Federation in 1883.
The sport of gymnastics, which derives its name from the ancient Greek word for disciplinary exercises,
combines physical skills such as body control, coordination, dexterity, gracefulness, and strength with
tumbling and acrobatic skills, all performed in an artistic manner. Gymnastics is performed by both men
and women at many levels, from local clubs and schools to colleges and universities, and in elite national
and international competitions.

History

Gymnastics was introduced in early Greek civilization to facilitate bodily development through a series
of exercises that included running, jumping, swimming, throwing, wrestling, and weight lifting. Many
basic gymnastic events were practiced in some form before the introduction by the Greeks of
gymnazein, literally, "to exercise naked." Physical fitness was a highly valued attribute in ancient Greece,
and both men and women participated in vigorous gymnastic exercises. The Romans, after conquering
Greece, developed the activities into a more formal sport, and they used the gymnasiums to physically
prepare their legions for warfare. With the decline of Rome, however, interest in gymnastics dwindled,
with tumbling remaining as a form of entertainment.

Modern Gymnastics

In 1774, a Prussian, Johann Bernhard Basedow, included physical exercises with other forms of
instruction at his school in Dessau, Saxony. With this action began the modernization of gymnastics, and
also thrust the Germanic countries into the forefront in the sport. In the late 1700s, Friedrich Ludwig
Jahn of Germany developed the side bar, the horizontal bar, the parallel bars, the balance beam, and
jumping events. He, more than anyone else, is considered the "father of modern gymnastics."
Gymnastics flourished in Germany in the 1800s, while in Sweden a more graceful form of the sport,
stressing rhythmic movement, was developed by Guts Muth. The opening (1811) of Jahn's school in
Berlin, to promote his version of the sport, was followed by the formation of many clubs in Europe and
later in England. The sport was introduced to the United States by Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent, who taught
gymnastics in several U.S. universities about the time of the Civil War, and who is credited with
inventing more than 30 pieces of apparatus. Most of the growth of gymnastics in the United States
centered on the activities of European immigrants, who introduced the sport in their new cities in the
1880s. Clubs were formed as Turnverein and Sokol groups, and gymnasts were often referred to as
"turners." Modern gymnastics excluded some traditional events, such as weight lifting and wrestling,
and emphasized form rather than personal rivalry.

Modern Competition
Men's gymnastics was on the schedule of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, and it has been on
the Olympic agenda continually since 1924. Olympic gymnastic competition for women began in 1936
with an all-around competition, and in 1952 competition for the separate events was added. In the early
Olympic competitions the dominant male gymnasts were from Germany, Sweden, Italy, and Switzerland,
the countries where the sport first developed. But by the 1950s, Japan, the Soviet Union, and the
Eastern European countries began to produce the leading male and female gymnasts.

Modern gymnastics gained considerable popularity because of the performances of Olga Korbut of the
Soviet Union in the 1972 Olympics, and Nadia Comaneci of Romania in the 1976 Olympics. The
widespread television coverage of these dramatic performances gave the sport the publicity that it
lacked in the past. Many countries other than the traditional mainstays at the time — the USSR, Japan,
East and West Germany, and other Eastern European nations — began to promote gymnastics,
particularly for women; among these countries were China and the United States.

Modern international competition has six events for men and four events for women. The men's events
are the rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar, side or pommel-horse, long or vaulting horse, and floor (or
free) exercise. These events emphasize upper body strength and flexibility along with acrobatics. The
women's events are the vaulting horse, balance beam, uneven bars, and floor exercise, which is
performed with musical accompaniment. These events combine graceful, dancelike movements with
strength and acrobatic skills. In the United States, tumbling and trampoline exercises are also included in
many competitions.

Teams for international competitions are made up of six gymnasts. In the team competition each
gymnast performs on every piece of equipment, and the team with the highest number of points wins.
There is also a separate competition for the all-around title, which goes to the gymnast with the highest
point total after performing on each piece of equipment, and a competition to determine the highest
score for each individual apparatus.

Another type of competitive gymnastics for women is called rhythmic gymnastics, an Olympic sport
since 1984. Acrobatic skills are not used. The rhythmic gymnast performs graceful, dancelike movements
while holding and moving items such as a ball, hoop, rope, ribbon, or Indian clubs, with musical
accompaniment. Routines are performed individually or in group performances for six gymnasts.

Scoring

Gymnastic competitions are judged and scored on both an individual and a team basis. Each competitor
must accomplish a required number of specific types of moves on each piece of equipment. Judges
award points to each participant in each event on a 0-to-10 scale, 10 being perfect. Judging is strictly
subjective; however, guidelines are provided for judges so that they can arrive at relatively unbiased
scores.

Usually there are four judges, and the highest and lowest scores are dropped to provide a more
objective evaluation. Gymnasts try to perform the most difficult routines in the most graceful way, thus
impressing the judges with their mastery of the sport.

Men's Artistic Gymnastics Event Descriptions

Olympic competition order

The international competition order is decided by the FIG. The men's Olympic order is floor exercise,
pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

Floor Exercise

The entire floor area should be used during the exercise, which consists primarily of tumbling passes
performed in different directions. Acrobatic elements forward and backward and acrobatic elements
sideward or backward take-off with one-half-turn must be performed during the routine. There must
also be a non-acrobatic element included, such as a balance element on one leg or one arm; a static
strength move, held for two seconds; or jumps, circles or flairs. Transitional skills, or gymnastics
movements performed in between tumbling and acrobatic passes, should be executed with proper
rhythm and harmony. The exercise must not exceed 70 seconds in length.

Today's floor exercise routines consist of dynamic tumbling skills that only a few years ago were
performed solely on the trampoline. The best gymnasts will incorporate tumbling passes with
substantial difficulty, performing multiple twisting and flipping saltos during their routines on the
40'x40' floor exercise mat.

This event is difficult because:

It is one of the more difficult events to achieve a high difficulty value. The best routines will include
difficult tumbling passes with connected bounding skills and will look near-effortless to the spectators.

What can we expect to see?

Difficult tumbling passes with multiple flips and twists

Creative routines with a high difficulty value which have no execution errors and stuck landings

Specs:

Length: 12 m (approx. 40 ft.)

Width: 12 m (approx. 40 ft.)

Pommel Horse

Many consider the pommel horse to be one of the most difficult of the men's gymnastics events. It
requires an enormous amount of practice to master even the most basic skills.

Pommel horse routines consist of continuous circular movements interrupted only by the required
scissors elements. Swinging through a handstand position, with or without turns, is allowed. The hands
are the only part of the body that should touch the apparatus and the entire exercise should flow with
steady, controlled rhythm. A maximum of two cross support travels for bonus are permitted (forward
and/or backward). The hand placements should be quick, quiet and rhythmic.

This event is difficult because:

The event's difficulty stems from two factors. First, the gymnast must perform skills with a circular
movement in a horizontal plane. Second, he spends most of each routine on only one arm, as the free
hand reaches for another pommel or part of the horse to begin the next skill.

Pommel horse is the only event in which gymnasts do not get to stop or pause during the routine. If a
gymnast gets in trouble, he must continue moving through the routine while making corrections. The
constant movement makes this very difficult to do. Also, many of the skills learned in gymnastics can
easily be transferred to other events; however, with the exception of a circle and a flair circle, this is not
the case on pommel horse. Mastering basic skills on this apparatus often takes twice the time.

While the untrained eye may not catch these flaws, judges may deduct for several mistakes. For
example, deductions may be taken if the hips are not high enough and the legs are not separated
enough while performing the scissors requirement; the gymnast does not make it completely up to a
handstand during a handstand dismount; or the gymnast performs a dismount that does not match the
rest of the routine.

What can we expect to see?

Flawless routines performed with extended circle swings

Specs:

Height: 115 cm (approx. 3.8 ft.)

Width: 35 cm (approx. 13.8 in.)

Length: 160 cm (approx. 5.25 in.)

Still Rings

Stillness and proper body position while performing strength elements are paramount on the still rings.
Gymnasts with the best command of the event will display extraordinary skill in arriving at all holds with
absolute precision. The rings should be absolutely still and under control at the end of each skill. The
body should be straight with no arching, and arms should be sturdy and strong with no shaking.

The still rings routine must include one swing to handstand and swings to strength hold elements. At
least two elements of strength, one swing to strength element and the other a static strength element,
must be held for two seconds during the routine.

Examples of strength elements include a cross, an inverted cross and a swallow or Maltese cross. A cross
is performed in a straight body or L position with the body perpendicular to the floor and arms stretched
perpendicular to the body, while an inverted cross is executed in an inverted handstand position with
arms stretched perpendicular to the body. A swallow or Maltese cross is performed when the body is in
a straight position parallel to the floor at rings height. The rings must remain still throughout the
routine. Deductions are taken for unnecessary swings and instability.

Today, the trend among gymnasts is to achieve a high difficulty value for their routine by combining
strength moves with one another.

Look for confidence in the strength elements. The gymnast should move directly into the proper and
controlled position when performing his cross or Maltese, stopping securely for a full two seconds, and
then move smoothly into the next part. During the swinging elements, watch for stretched body
positions and straight handstands.

This event is difficult because:

It requires a great deal of upper body strength and it is almost impossible to obtain a high start value
without strength moves in the routine. Gymnasts without excellent upper-body strength fail to score
high on this event. If a gymnast does have a high difficulty value, it often boils down to sticking the
dismount in order to win.
What can we expect to see?

Strength moves connected to strength moves that are held in a perfectly straight position for more than
two seconds

Straight handstand positions

No movement of the feet during the landings (stuck dismounts)

Specs:

Tower height: 575 cm (approx. 19 ft.)

Cable/strap length: 300 cm (approx. 9.8 ft.)

Space between cables/straps: 50 cm (approx. 19.7 in.)

Vault

Quick, explosive and dramatic - a good vault is often described as a "big" vault. The height, distance of
travel, overall acceleration into the vault and sudden impact of a no-step, "stuck" landing all create a
good impression for the judges.

Men have a choice of performing one or two vaults, depending if a gymnast is attempting to qualify into
the individual event finals of this event. Each individual vault has been assigned its own value based on
the vault's complexity.

Following the pre-flight from the springboard to the table, the gymnast must demonstrate a rise in the
height of his body after pushing off of the table and not deviate from the extended axis of the table. The
gymnast should show an opening in preparation for a controlled landing, which should be accomplished
without extra steps and in line with the table, springboard and runway.

This event is difficult because:

The entire performance happens very quickly. The gymnast must stay intensely focused and be
prepared for the ground when it is time to land. Speed, power and spatial awareness are essential to
performing high-level vaults correctly.

What can we expect to see?

Handspring double fronts in the piked position and in the tucked position with a half-turn

Tsukahara double backs in a tuck and piked position

Yurchenkos (round off entry vaults) with multiple twists

Specs:

Height: 125 cm (approx. 4 ft.)

Width: 95 cm (approx. 3 ft.)

Length: 95-105 cm (approx. 3-3.5 ft.)

Runway width: 1 m (approx. 3.2 ft.)

Runway length: 25m (82 ft.)

Parallel Bars

A parallel bar routine consists mostly of swing and flight elements. The gymnast should not stop or hold
a move more than three times during the routine. The gymnast is required to execute swinging
elements from a support, hang and upper arm position. The gymnast is also required to perform an
under swing, sometimes referred to as a basket swing.

The most difficult skills require the gymnast to lose sight of the bars for a moment, such as a double
front or back salto. Difficulty is earned by executing these skills in connection with other higher valued
skills.

This event is difficult because:

It requires a great deal of hand-eye coordination, timing and balance. Many of the skills' execution must
be coordinated with the flex of the bars. Losing sight of the bars on the high-level skills makes it difficult
to re-grasp the bars and smoothly continue.

What can we expect to see?

Double front and back saltos in-between the bars performed in tuck and piked positions

Peach basket elements from handstand to handstand often with half and full turns

Double backward dismounts in a piked position with stuck landings

Specs:

Height: 195 cm (approx. 6.4 ft.)

Width: 42-52 cm (approx. 16.5-20.5 in.)

Length: 350 cm (approx. 11.5 ft.)

Usually the most crowd-pleasing and spectacular of all the events, the horizontal bar consists of swings,
release moves and high-flying dismounts.

During the routine, the gymnast must execute a series of continuous swings and turns and at least one
move in which the gymnast releases and re-grasps the bar. He also must perform at least one element in
el-grip, dorsal hang or rearways to the bar.

The gymnast is also required to perform an in-bar skill, such as a stalder circle. High-level gymnasts
usually complete multiple release moves and receive bonus points for connecting high-difficulty skills
before and after their release moves. Look for soaring dismounts with multiple somersaults and twists.

This event is difficult because:

A gymnast must perform very difficult release moves that have a small margin of error to have any
hopes of winning. Release moves are performed 12-15 feet over the bar, which requires a fearless and
aggressive effort. He must maintain form throughout the release move and while catching the bar,
which is usually a matter of just inches. The world's best will have several release moves, no execution
errors and a big dismount with a perfect, stuck landing. Examples of big release moves are Kovacs with a
full twist, a Tkatchev stretched with a full twist or a Gienger with a full twist.

What can we expect to see?

Double back saltos over the bar (Kovacs) in different body positions (tucked, piked and stretched)
performed with twist

Double twisting, double back dismounts in a stretched position

Intricate in-bar skills with pirouettes

Specs:

Height: 275 cm (approx. 9 ft.)

Diameter: 2.8 cm (approx. 1 in.)

Length: 240 cm (approx. 8 ft.)