Gymnastics

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Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of sequences of movements requiring physical strength, flexibility, balance and kinesthetic awareness, such as handsprings, handstands, forward rolls, aerials and tucks. It developed from beauty practices and fitness used by the ancient Greeks, including skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and circus performance skills. In ancient times the term implied exercise taken in the nude by men in a gymnasium, a venue for intellectual and physical education.

[edit] Cautions

Gymnastics is considered to be a dangerous sport, due in part to the height of the apparatus, the speed of the exercises and the impact on competitors' joints, bones and muscles. In several cases, competitors have suffered serious, lasting injuries and paralysis after severe gymnastics-related accidents. For instance, in 1998, world-class Chinese artistic gymnast Sang Lan was paralyzed after falling on vault at the Goodwill Games.

Artistic gymnastics injuries have been the subject of several international medical studies, and results have indicated that more than half of all elite-level participants may eventually develop chronic injuries. In the United States, injury rates range from a high 56% for high school gymnasts to 23% for club gymnasts. However, the rates for participants in recreational or lower-level gymnastics are lower than that of high-level competitors. Conditioning, secure training environments with mats and knowledgeable coaching can also lessen the frequency or occurrence of injuries.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

[edit] Forms of Gymnastics

[edit] Artistic gymnastics

Artistic Gymnastics is usually divided into Men's and Women's Gymnastics, each group doing different events; Men compete on Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar, while women compete on Vault, Uneven Bars, Beam, and Floor Exercise. In the past in some countries women competed on the rings and the high bar too, at least at the national level (for example, in the 1950s in the USSR). Though routines performed on each event may be short, they are physically exhausting and push the gymnast's strength, flexibility, endurance and awareness to the limit. In the past,at the international level, competitive women's gymnastics consisted of two different categories: compulsory and optional. At the compulsory level, the gymnast performs routines that are pre-choreographed for all gymnasts. At the optional level, the gymnast performs routines that she herself choreographed or choreographed with the help of a dance choreographer. Every gymnast's routine at this advanced level will be different. Different countries may use compulsory and optional routines at their discretion in the training of young gymnasts.

[edit] Women's events

Vault: In the vaulting events, gymnasts sprint down a 25 meter (about 82 feet) runway, jump onto a springboard and onto the vault in a straight body position, touching the vault with their hands and blocking off it. Beginners will often be upright; more advanced gymnasts will block off from a handstand position and spring to their feet. The dismount may include one or multiple saltos and twists.; In 2001 the traditional vault was replaced with a new one, sometimes known as a tongue or table. The new apparatus is more stable and safer than the old one, giving gymnasts a larger blocking surface. It is also longer -- approx. 1m in length and 1m in width.

Uneven Bars: On the uneven bars (also known as asymmetric bars, UK), the gymnast navigates two horizontal bars set at different heights. The height is generally fixed, but the width may be adjusted. Gymnasts perform swinging, circling, transitional, and release moves, as well as handstands. Sometimes, leather grips are worn to ensure that the gymnast maintains a grip on the bar, and to protect the hands from blisters and tears (known as rips). Gymnasts sometimes wet their grips with water from a spray bottle and then may apply chalk to their grips to prevent the hands from slipping. Chalk may also be applied to the hands if grips are not worn and/or to the bar.

Balance Beam: The gymnast performs a choreographed routine from 70 to 90 seconds in length consisting of leaps, acrobatic skills, turns and dance elements on a padded sprung beam. Apparatus norms set by the International Gymnastics Federation (used for Olympic and most elite competitions) specify the beam must be 125 cm (4' 1") high, 500 cm (16' 5") long, and four 10 cm (4") wide.^[4] The event requires, in particular balance, flexibility and strength.

Floor: Gymnasts perform a choreographed exercise 70 to 90 seconds long. The music used to have to be instrumental and without vocals, the rules have now changed to allow vocals, however the piece may not include discernible lyrics, simply vocal notes. The routines consist of tumbling passes, series of jumps, dance elements, acrobatic skills, and turns.The exercise is performed on a carpeted, spring floor, 12 m x 12 m.

At the compulsory levels gymnasts are judged out of 10, but as the reach the higher levels, particularly levels 9 and 10 the gymnasts' start values may vary depending upon a number of different things. Also, every skill has a letter corresponding to its difficulty. At level nine to reach a start value of ten the gymnast has to acquire bonus, which she can achieve by connecting two or more skills of a certain level of difficulty.

[edit] Men's events

Floor Exercise: The floor event occurs on a carpeted 12m × 12m square, usually consisting of hard foam over a layer of plywood, which is supported by springs or foam blocks. This provides a firm surface that will respond with force when compressed, allowing gymnasts to achieve extra height and a softer landing than would be possible on a regular floor. A series of tumbling passes are performed to demonstrate flexibility, strength, and balance tests. The gymnast must also show non-acrobatic skills, including circles, scales, and presses. Men's floor routines usually have four passes that will total between 60–70 seconds and are performed without music, unlike the women's event. Rules require that gymnasts touch each corner of the floor at least once during their routine.

Pommel Horse: The ultimate balancing act, gymnasts must perform continuous circular movements around the horse while allowing only their hands to actually touch it. This is considered one of the most difficult of the men's events and requires flawless control of balance and body position.

Still Rings: Still Rings is arguably the most physically demanding event. The rings are suspended on wire cable from a point 5.75 meters off the floor, and adjusted in height so the gymnast has room to hang freely and swing. He must perform a routine demonstrating balance, strength, power, and dynamic motion while preventing the rings themselves from swinging. At least one static strength move is required, but some gymnasts may include two or three. A routine must begin with an impressive mount, and must conclude with an equally impressive dismount.

Vault: Gymnasts sprint down a runway, which is a maximum of 25 metres in length, before hurdling onto a spring board. The body position is maintained while "punching" (blocking using only a shoulder movement) the vaulting platform. The gymnast then rotates to a standing position. In advanced gymnastics, multiple twists and somersaults may be added before landing.Successful vaults depend on the sped of the run, the length of the hurdle, the power and strength the gymnast has in the legs and arms and shoulder girdle, the kinesthetic awareness in the air, and the speed of rotation in the case of more difficult and complex vaults.

Parallel Bars: Men hold themselves on two bars slightly further than a shoulder's width apart and usually 1.75m high while performing a series of swings and balances that require great strength and coordination.

High Bar: A 2.4cm thick steel bar raised 2.5m above the landing area is all the gymnast has to hold onto as he shows giants (revolutions around the bar), release skills, twists, and changes of direction. By using all of the momentum from giants and then releasing at the proper point, enough height can be achieved for spectacular dismounts, such as a triple-back somie. Leather grips are usually used to help maintain a grip on the bar.

As with the women, male gymnasts are also judged on all of their events; through performance and presentation.

[edit] General gymnastics

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General gymnastics, sometimes called group projects enables people of all ages and abilities to participate in performance troupes of 6 to more than 150 athletes. They perform synchronized, choreographed routines. Troupes may be all one gender or mixed. There are no age divisions in general gymnastics. Sometimes there are levels that go up to level 10 starting at level 5. There are different routines for different levels! The largest general gymnastics exhibition is the quadrennial World Gymnaestrada which was first held in 1939.

[edit] Rhythmic gymnastics

The discipline of rhythmic gymnastics is competed only by women (although there is a new version of this discipline for men being pioneered in Japan, see Men's rhythmic gymnastics), and involves the performance of five separate routines with the use of five apparatus — ball, ribbon, hoop, clubs, rope — on a floor area, with a much greater emphasis on the aesthetic rather than the acrobatic. Rhythmic routines are scored out of a possible 20 points, and the music used by the gymnast can contain vocals, but may not contain words.

[edit] Aerobic gymnastics

Aerobic gymnastics (formerly Sports Aerobics) involves the performance of routines by individuals, pairs, trios or groups up to 6 people emphasizing strength, flexibility, and aerobic fitness rather than acrobatic or balance skills. Routines are performed on a small floor area and generally last 60-90 seconds, being judged out of a total of 10 points.

[edit] Trampolining

Trampolining consists of four events, individual, synchronized, double mini and trampoline. Only individual trampoline is included in the Olympics. Individual routines involve a build-up phase during which the gymnast jumps repeatedly to achieve height, followed by a sequence of ten leaps without pauses during which the gymnast performs a sequence of aerial tumbling skills. Routines are marked out of a maximum score of 10 points. Additional points (with no maximum) can be earned depending on the difficulty of the moves. Synchronized trampoline is similar except that both competitors must perform the routine together and marks are awarded for synchronicity as well as the form of the moves. Double mini trampoline involves a smaller trampoline with a run-up, two moves are performed and the scores marked in a similar manner to individual trampoline.

[edit] Acrobatic Gymnastics

Acrobatic Gymnastics (formerly Sports Acrobatics), often referred to as acrobatics, acro sports or simply sports acro, is a group gymnastic discipline for both men and women. Acrobats in groups of two, three and four perform routines with the heads, hands and feet of their partners.

[edit] Former Apparatus & Events

[edit] The Rope Climb

Further information: rope climbing

Generally, competitors climbed either a 6m (6.1m = 20 ft in USA) or an 8m (7.6m = 25 ft in USA), 38mm (1.5") diameter natural fiber rope for speed, starting from a seated position on the floor and using only the hands and arms. Kicking the legs in a kind of "stride" was normally permitted.

[edit] Flying Rings

Further information: Flying Rings

Flying Rings was an event similar to Still Rings, but with the performer swinging back and forth while executing a series of stunts. It was a gymnastic event sanctioned by both the NCAA and the AAU until the early 1960s.

[edit] History

To the Ancient Greeks, physical fitness was paramount, and all Greek cities had a gymnasia, a courtyard for jumping, running, and wrestling. As the Roman Empire ascended, Greek gymnastics gave way to military training. The Romans, for example, introduced the wooden horse. In 393 AD the Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympic Games, which by then had become corrupt, and gymnastics, along with other sports declined. Later, Christianity, with its medieval belief in the base nature of the human body, had a deleterious effect on gymnastics. For centuries, gymnastics was all but forgotten. ^[5]

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, however, two pioneer physical educators – Johann Friedrich GutsMuth (1759 – 1839) and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778 – 1852) - created exercises for boys and young men on apparatus they designed that ultimately led to what is considered modern gymnastics. In particular, Jahn crafted early models of the horizontal bar, the parallel bars (from a horizontal ladder with the rungs removed), and the vaulting horse.^[5]

By the end of the nineteenth century, men's gymnastics competition was popular enough to be included in the first "modern" Olympic Games in 1896. However, from then, and up until the early 1950s, both national and international competitions involved a changing variety of exercises gathered under the rubric gymnastics that would seem strange to today's audiences: synchronized team floor calisthenics, rope climbing, high jumping, running, horizontal ladder, etc. During the 1920s, women organized and participated in gymnastics events, and the first women's Olympic competition – primitive, for it involved only synchronized calisthenics - was held at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

By the 1954 Olympic Games apparatus and events for both men and women had been standardized in modern format, and uniform grading structures (including a point system from 1 to 10) had been agreed upon. At this time, Soviet gymnasts astounded the world with highly disciplined and difficult performances, setting a precedent that continues to inspire. The new medium of television helped publicize and initiate a modern age of gymnastics. Both men's and women's gymnastics now attract considerable international interest, and excellent gymnasts can be found on every continent.

Nadia Comaneci received the first perfect score, at the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada. She was coached by the famous Romanian, Bela Karolyi. According to "Sports Illustrated", Comaneci scored four of her perfect tens on the uneven bars, two on the balance beam and one in the floor exercise. Unfortunately, even with Nadia's perfect scores, the Romanians lost the gold medal to the Soviets. Nadia will always be remembered as "a fourteen year old, ponytailed little girl" who showed the world that perfection could be achieved.

In 2006, a new points system was put into play. Instead of being marked 1 to 10, the gymnast's start value depends on the difficulty rating of the exercise routine. Also, the deductions became higher: before the new point system developed, the deduction for a fall was 0.5, and now it is 0.8. The motivation for a new point system was to decrease the chance of gymnasts getting a perfect score.

[edit] In Popular Culture

[edit] Film

Stick It

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Patria Hume Minimising Injuries in Gymnastics Activities Retrieved 2007-03-27
^ CB Lowry, BF Leveau A retrospective study of gymnastics injuries to competitors and noncompetitors in private clubs American Journal of Sports Medicine, V. 10, i. 4 pp. 237-239 July 1982. (Courtesy link to abstract. Subscription required for full article)
^ Gymnastics Safety SafeUSA.org. Retrieved 2007-03-27
^ Apparatus Norms, International Gymnastics Federation, p.63. Retrieved 2007-03-27
^ ^a ^b The Illustrated History of Gymnastics by John Goodbody, 1982

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