Sports Term of Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport that puts your strength, balance, and ability to bend and perform acrobatic movements to the test. It, like athletics and wrestling, originated as part of military training in ancient Greece. Gymnastics was included in physical education for boys in Europe by the nineteenth century, and several gymnastics events for men were included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. 

Women and girls were barred from participating in gymnastics until the 1920s due to antiquated attitudes, and the Olympic Games did not include women’s events until 1928. Gymnastics is now a part of physical education for both boys and girls in nearly every country, and it has become one of the most popular Olympic sports. The Games include three competitions: rhythmic gymnastics for women only, artistic gymnastics and trampolining for both men and women, and trampolining for both men and women.

Types of Gymnastics:

1. Rhythmic Gymnastics

On a large mat, rhythmic gymnastics combines elements of ballet, artistic gymnastics, and rhythmic dance. Each of the five events is performed with a different apparatus:

• rope
• hoop
• ball
• clubs
• ribbon

Jumps, balances, pirouettes (spins), apparatus handling, and execution are all evaluated. Despite the fact that rhythmic gymnastics is growing in popularity among men and boys, the Olympic Games only include events for women.

2. Artistic Gymnastics

There are six events for men and four events for women in artistic gymnastics. The six events for men are as follows:

• floor exercise
• pommel horse
• rings
• vault
• parallel bars
• horizontal bar

Competitors perform handstands and complex tumbling lines with handsprings, somersaults, and mid-air twists on a 12m x 12m square mat. Gymnasts compete in the pommel horse event by mounting a pommel horse, performing handstands, and supporting their weight on their arms while swinging their legs. Gymnasts in the rings event are lifted up to reach two rings suspended from a wire, then perform swings, handstands, and other difficult positions before performing a spectacular dismount. 

Competitors in the vault event leap onto a springboard, vault over the vaulting horse, and perform mid-air twists or somersaults before landing. Gymnasts perform a series of acrobatic swings and turns before a spectacular dismount on parallel bars and horizontal bars. A solid landing without losing one’s balance is critical in all events that include a dismount.

Women’s artistic gymnastics events are as follows:

• floor workout
• vault
• unbalanced bars
• beam of balance

Floor exercise and vault are comparable to men’s events of the same name, and uneven bars is comparable to men’s parallel bars. The balance beam apparatus is a narrow padded beam on which competitors perform leaps, somersaults, turns, and dance steps before dismounting.

Trampoline Gymnastics

Gymnastics with the assistance of a trampoline, as you might expect. Athletes jump on the trampoline and use the airtime to do flips and turns. All gendered athletes compete in this individual event. It first competed in the Olympics in 2000.

History of Gymnastics

Gymnastics, derived from a Greek word that means “to exercise naked,” referred to all exercises performed in the gymnasium, where male athletes did indeed exercise unclothed. Many of these exercises were eventually incorporated into the Olympic Games, which were held until 393 CE. Some of the competitions included in this ancient definition of gymnastics later evolved into separate sports, such as athletics (track and field), wrestling, and boxing. Only tumbling and a primitive form of vaulting were known in the ancient world of the modern events now considered to be gymnastics. 

Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example, depict variations of backbends and other stunts being performed with a partner, whereas a well-known fresco from Crete at the palace of Knossos depicts a leaper performing either a cartwheel or a handspring over a charging bull. Tumbling was also a form of art in ancient China. Acrobatics are depicted in stone engravings discovered in Shandong province during the Han period (206 BCE–220 CE).

Artistic Gymnastics Rules

There are four events in artistic gymnastics for women.

• Floor Exercise: Each participant performs their performance, which is essentially a combination of gymnastics and dance, in 90 seconds. The athlete flips, turns, and performs leaps and spins in the allotted time and space.
• Uneven Bars: The equipment for this event is a pair of bars. The participant moves back and forth between the bars, performing various swings and body flips while remaining six feet above the ground, transferring the majority of the stress to the upper body.
• Vault: Athletes launch themselves from a 25-meter run by pushing their hand on the springboard and use the short air-time to perform twists and somersaults.
• Balance Beam: This is a feat of pure balance. Gymnasts attempt to perform a variety of spins and postures without losing their balance and falling off the balance beam.

Conclusion 

Gymnastics is a sport that puts your strength, balance, and ability to bend and perform acrobatic movements to the test. Gymnastics was included in physical education for boys in Europe by the nineteenth century, and several gymnastics events for men were included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Gymnastics is now a part of physical education for both boys and girls in nearly every country, and it has become one of the most popular Olympic sports. The Games include three competitions: rhythmic gymnastics for women only, artistic gymnastics and trampolining for both men and women, and trampolining for both men and women. Gymnasts attempt to perform a variety of spins and postures without losing their balance and falling off the balance beam. Gymnastics is the practice of performing systematic exercises, often with the use of rings, bars, and other apparatus, as a competitive sport or to improve strength, agility, coordination, and physical conditioning.