Artistic Gymnastics

Gymnastics for health and sport has a very long history dating back to Ancient Greece and even earlier to China and India.

The modern version originated in Eastern and Northern Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The term "artistic gymnastics" was introduced to distinguish this style from that taught in the military. Many people confuse rhythmic gymnastics with its artistic counterpart. The latter uses very large equipment such as the beam and parallel bars. Performance includes numerous flips.

Women's artistic gymnastics became an Olympic event in 1928. The early champions tended to be in their twenties and most had a background in ballet. Larissa Latynina the great Soviet gymnast won her third all-round medal at the age of thirty. In 1958 she became World Champion while pregnant with her daughter.

In the intervening years the competitors have become much younger. As the level of difficulty increased, smaller, lighter girls had an advantage in the more challenging acrobatic required elements. By the 1992 Olympics the majority of competitors were underweight, pre-pubescent teenagers. As a result the Federation of International Gymnasts raised the minimum age for participation in major events to sixteen. This move along with changes in the Code of Points and in popular opinion has seen older gymnasts getting back into competition.

Women's events are:- the uneven bars (known as assymetic bars in the UK), Balance beam and Floor exercise. Women perform a choreographed exercise from 70 to 90 seconds long set to music. Rules state that the music must be instrumental without vocals. Routines consist of tumbling passes, series of jumps, dance elements, acrobatic skills, and turns.

Men also perform a floor exercise. Their routine emphasises flexibility, strength and balance. The routine lasts between 60 to 70 seconds and is performed without music.

Other elements are the pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars and the high bar.

All events for both men and women are judged on their execution, degree of difficulty, and overall presentation skills.

This sport continues to grow in popularity world-wide and is gaining ever greater spectator support. Millions of people are looking forward to seeing this sport at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China at the end of the summer.

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