Overview of the World of Gymnastics

         Gymnastics is a worldwide sport that is very popular although many people do not know much about the sport. I want to help educate readers more about gymnastics, even if they are gymnasts themselves, because I was a gymnast for eight years before I actually did some research on gymnastics. I did not know anything about the past history of the sport nor how many types of gymnastics there are. I just knew what it took to be a gymnast and how much hard work and dedication gymnasts need in order to accomplish their goals in gymnastics. With that said, the purpose of my blog is to inform readers about gymnastics, its history, and the different kinds of gymnastics.
                                                                       Carly Patterson

         What is Gymnastics?

 Gymnastics is defined as "a competitive sport in which individuals perform optional and prescribed acrobatic feats mostly on special apparatus in order to demonstrate strength, balance, and body control” (What is gymnastics?,n.d.). To be a gymnast, one needs to have a lot of determination to work hard in the gym to build up the strength and flexibility to perform the routines on each event. In women’s gymnastics the athletes perform on events such as vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and the floor exercise. In men’s gymnastics the athletes perform on still rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, vault, the floor exercise, and the high bar. Other types of gymnastics which you will read about later on will explain about the other kinds of gymnastics and events gymnasts perform. Basically, all male or female gymnasts perform acrobatic feats on or with a piece of apparatus, such as leaps, jumps, flips, turns, and handstands (What is gymnastics?n.d.).
                                           Shawn Johnson on balance beam (Olympic Trials)

This is a video of Shawn Johnson doing her balance beam routine at the Olympic trails, before she actually competed for a score form the judges. The balance beam is one of the apparatus that the women compete on as I stated earlier.

The History of Gymnastics:

Gymnastics is a sport that requires a lot of skill and balance that originated from the ancient Greeks (What is gymnastics?,n.d.). “The term ‘gymnastics’ derives from the Greek word for naked ‘gymno’. In ancient Greece, male athletes trained and competed in the nude” (History of gymnastics,2012).  The activities that took place in the palestra, a square, open-air area, included weightlifting, jumping, throwing, wrestling, running, and swimming which Greeks considered gymnastics (History of gymnastics,2012). Gymnastics continued to spread throughout Europe as mainly a physical training tool for their military (History of gymnastics,2012). Eventually, this led to the civilization learning more about the sport and Europeans started to make gymnastics clubs which led to the first modern Games in Athens, Greece. In 1896, the events in the games included rope-climbing and club-swimming (History of gymnastics, 2012). As the years went on, gymnastics became more modern with the changing of events, allowing women join and more specialized equipment for each event. These changes also led to different types of gymnastics.

 Three Types of gymnastics:

“There are three types of gymnastics currently in the Olympics: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline” (What is gymnastics?,n.d.). Artistic gymnastics is the most commonly known type of gymnastics and it is where men and women compete on different events showing their strength and flexibility on events such as the vault and floor exercise. “Rhythmic gymnastics is probably the second best-known; in rhythmic, gymnasts all compete on the same floor mat, but use ribbons, ropes, hoops, and other equipment as part of their routines” (What is gymnastics?,n.d.). Trampoline became a discipline in gymnastics in the 2000 Olympics games; athletes that preform in trampoline do a series of flips on every single bounce they take and are judged on their skills (What is gymnastics?,n.d.). In the video below you will watch a rhythmic gymnast preforming her routine on the floor using some of the equipment I mentioned before like the ribbon.

                                                   Rythmic gymnastics video

Gymnastics is a sport that has become very popular over the years and has allowed gymnasts to show off their flexibility and strength while on different apparatus. As gymnastics continues to grow, the types of gymnastics will evolve, allowing this sport to take on a whole other level of skills that the body can perform. As the history of the sport continues to grow, I cannot wait to see where it goes.

References

a1a2a3sofy. (2009, April 8). Rithmic gymnastic 2004. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNzS-xPrhc

Deusen, A. (n.d.). What is gymnastics? Retrieved from http://gymnastics.about.com/od/gymnastics101/a/What-Is-Gymnastics.htm

History of gymnastics. (2012, March 2). Retrieved from http://www.gymnastics247.com/history.html

Idolwatcher0. (2008, July 10). Shawn Johnson-balance beam (Olympic trails). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQq9lhNwHA&feature=related