By Lauren and Maddy

One of the most popular and oldest sports of the Olympics is Gymnastics, and has been part since ancient times. Competition events are put into one of the 3 categories Artistic Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Trampoline. Men compete in floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bars. Female Gymnasts compete on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. Romania’s Nadia Comeneci received a perfect score of 10 at the Montreal Games, this being the 1 st perfect score ever. Rhythmic gymnastics is strictly a women’s sport, they perform on a 13 meter square floor area with music. This performance includes the use of rope, hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon The use of a Trampoline can be dated back to the 1800’s. Trampoline competitions recently debuted at the 2000 Sydney Games featuring both men’s and women’s individual events.

The revival of the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896 featured 10 sports including gymnastics. This was the 1 st large- Scale meeting of gymnastics in the modern era. At the 1924 Olympic games in Paris, the basis for modern gymnastics was firmly established and in 1928 the 1 st women’s event – the team combined exercise – was added. Women were not permitted to compete in individual events until Rhythmic Gymnastics was officially recognised by the FIG in 1962 and in 1984 was added as an Olympic sport for the Los Angeles Games. A group event was added in 1996 at the Atlanta Games In 1997 the IOC endorsed the inclusion of the trampoline discipline for the Sydney Olympics in Gymnastic events and formals have evolved throughout the past Olympiads to the current form of the 2000 Olympic Games.

Friedrich Jahn, a German, started modern gymnastics. Jahn lived from 1778 to 1852 and invented much of the equipment that is used in gym competitions today. The popularity of gymnastics spread throughout Europe during the 1800’s and then to the US. The world governing body for the sports of gymnastics is the Federation International Gymnastics, which was founded in 1898.

Artistic Gymnastics Men’s artistic gymnastics consists of the floor exercise, horizontal bar,pommel horse, rings and vault. Women artistic gymnastics consists of the balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars and vault. The balance beam is 5 meters long and 10 cm wide. It is 1.5 meters.competitors have to perform a variety of moves on the beam including running, jumping,leaping, stepping and turning The Floor exercise involves competitors having to perform a routine that includes somersaults, twists, turns and leaps. The space they have to work in is a square that is 12m by 12m long The horizontal bar is positioned 2.55m from the ground, competitors have to perform continuous swinging movements without touching the bar with there body The parallel bars are 2 bars positioned 1.75m from the ground. Competitors have to swing along the bars showing off their strength and flexibility The pommel horse is 1.6m long, 1.05m from the ground and has 2 handles on it. Competitors have to perform a series of maneuvers including swings and scissor movement with their legs The rings consist of 2 steel rings hanging 2.55m above the ground. Competitors have to perform a number of maneuvers to show their strength and balance The uneven bars are 2 bars set at different heights from the ground. The highest bar is 2.45m high, and the lowest bar is 1.65m from the ground. Competitors have to perform several swinging maneuvers with out interruption The vault involves competitors running 25m, then jumping of a sprung platform over a “bench” and landing upright. Before 2001, the vault was like the pommel horse but without handles. In 2001, a new vault was introduced, it is about the same length as the pommel horse but has a wider, sloped push-off area. The vault is 1.35m from the ground for men, and 1.25 for women.

Trampolining involves competitors jumping on a trampoline, high in the air, while performing twists, turns and somersaults The competitions are held for individuals or pairs. In pairs, the team mates have to perform synchronised manoeuvres Both men and women compete in trampoline competitions Trampoline made its 1 st Olympic Games appearance in Sydney in 2000 Rhythmic Gym involves competitors completing a gym routine similar to modern dance Competitors perform their routine, while tossing, catching, rolling and swinging various items The items used in rhythmic gym are balls, dubs, hoops, ribbons and ropes. Only women compete in rhythmic gym Rhythmic gym made its 1 st Olympic Games appearance in Los Angeles in 1984 General gym is a non-competitive form of gym It involves a wide range of activities for all age groups Every 4 yrs a world festival called the world Gymnastrada is held to promote the sport

The scoring of the competitions is awarded by the judges In artistic gym, competitors start each routine with a score of 9 points. Points are taken off for mistakes and up to one extra point can be awarded for outstanding moves. The highest possible score for each routine is 10 points In trampolining, competitors start each routine with a score of 10 points. Points are taken off for mistakes. The highest possible score for each routine is 10 points. In rhythmic gym, competitors start with a score of 9.6 points, points are taken off for mistakes and up to 0.4 point s can be awarded for outstanding moves. The highest possible score each routine is 10 points. Sports Aerobics involves performing continuous complex and high intensity movement patterns to the music It developed from traditional aerobics dance Sport Acrobatics is performed by 2, 3 or 4 people in a team Sport Acrobatics involves team members performing various exercises and gym stunts to music Flying through the air is a common feature in sport acrobatic routines

Olga Korbut perhaps the most famous gymnast of all time, Olga Korbut from the soviet union made her mark when she won 3 gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, dominating gymnastics competition during the 1970’s Olga Korbut is a gymnast who won 4 gold medals and 2 silver at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics but this is half of the story. Olga Korbut developed 2 new gymnastic movements that have never been done before by any human Gustave Techow, who had learned gym in Sweden, introduced the sport to Australia in the mid 1800’s. He wrote a book on gym and convinced the Victorian Government to set up a gymnasium. All through men’s gym was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1896 and women’s gym in it was until the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956 that Australia 1 st competed. Gym Australia, which runs Australian gymnastics, was founded in 1949 under the name of the Australian Gymnastic Federation.

Pommel horse Parallel bars Trampoline Vault Rings Horizontal bars Beam Springboard Floor