Sports equipment and techniques As sports have grown more competitive, the need for better equipment has arisen. Golf clubs, bicycles, American football helmets, tennis racquets, baseball and cricket bats, footballs, hockey skates, and other equipment have all seen considerable changes with the development of new technologies.

Women's Artistic gymnastics (WAG) Pride of Russian sport Women's Artistic gymnastics (WAG) Artistic gymnastics has been contested since the first modern Olympic games in Athens. Beginning at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, women were allowed to compete in artistic gymnastics events as well. Athletes representing the former Soviet Union have captured the most number of Olympic medals. Russia has kept the tradition of gymnastics excellence. Larissa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, became the 1958 World Champion. She holds 18 total medals, more Olympic medals than any other competitor in any sport. She got most individual medals (14 outside of team events) in Olympic history. Later she was the national team coach.

Natalia Kuchinskaya one of the stars of the Soviet team in 1965-1968. At the 1966 World Championship she won three gold medals, silvers and a bronze in the all-around and team events. At the 1968 Olympics, Kuchinskaya was arguably the most popular member of the Soviet team. She was dubbed "The Bride of Mexico" and "the Sweetheart of Mexico" by the admiring press and was serenaded with a folk song, "Natalie," during her stay in Mexico City. In 2006 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Ludmilla Tourischeva is a nine-time Olympic medalist, who has won the grand slam of All-Around titles: Olympics, World Championships, World Cup, European Championships. Her trainer Vladislav Rastorotsky said about her: "Ljudmila would fight to death in any situation". She proved it during the 1975 World Cup at Wembley Stadium in London, when the uneven bars she performed on, broke and crashed to the ground, just as Tourischeva landed. Saluting the judges, she calmly walked off the podium without even turning around to look at the remains of the apparatus.

Olga Korbut won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympics in 1972 and 1976. At the Munich Olympics, her acrobatics and open display of emotion captivated the audiences. The tuck back and Korbut Flip are still very popular in gymnastics. This excellence in technical skills marked change in the sport techniques. O. Korbut greatly contributed to popularity of gymnastics worldwide. In 1988 Korbut was the first gymnast to be inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Nelli Kim was the first woman in Olympic history to earn a perfect 10 score on the vault and the floor exercise, rivaling Nadia Comăneci, Ludmilla Tourischeva, and other strong competitors of the 1970s. She was the first to perform the double back salto and vault with the full twist for the first time in Olympic history. She was famous for the sparkling, cheerful and graceful style. At the 1976 Summer Olympics she performed her floor exercise to a fiery Samba.

Artistic gymnastics apparatus The vault is an artistic gymnastics apparatus, as well as the skill performed using that apparatus. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics is VT. To perform a vault, gymnasts run down a 25 metre runway, jump onto a springboard, land inverted on the hands on the vaulting horse or vaulting table ,then spring off of this platform to a two footed landing. The post flight segment may include one or more multiple saltos, and twisting movements. In 2001, the traditional vaulting horse was replaced with a new apparatus, more stable, wider, and longer than the older vaulting horse.

Rhythmic gymnastics ball rope rope hoop ribbon clubs In Rhythmic gymnastics girls manipulate one or two apparatus: ball rope rope hoop ribbon clubs

Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics The Russian gymnasts Dina Kochetkova, Natalia Shaposhnikova, Olga Korbut, Natalia Yurchenko, Oksana Omelyanchik, Svetlana Khorkina pioneered new elements in gymnastics which were named after them. Olga Korbut, a Soviet gymnast who won three gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games, was the first gymnast to perform a backward aerial somersault on the balance beam. This movement is still considered exceptionally difficult. The move became known as the Korbut salto.

A Yurchenko loop is a skill performed on the balance beam in women's artistic gymnastics. It is named after Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, who originated and competed the element in the early 1980s . In a standard Yurchenko loop, the gymnast stands sideways on the beam, dives backwards into a back handspring (the "loop"), grasps the beam, performs a back hip circle and ends up in a front support position, resting on her hands. http://www.shanfan.com/animations/93wa/ll93wabb3.gif French gymnast Elvire Teza performed a variation of the Yurchenko loop with a full twisting handspring in the 1990s. The element is referred to as "The Teza“. http://www.shanfan.com/animations/95ibm/et95ibmbb1.gif

Nadia Elena Comăneci, a Romanian gymnast, is one of the best-known gymnasts in the world. She is the first gymnast ever to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. At the age of 14, Comăneci became one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. She is also the winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. The Comăneci salto is a gymnastics manoeuvre on uneven bars, developed primarily by Nadia Comăneci and rated E (difficult). C:\COMANECI - PERFECTO SALTO.mp4