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GYMNASTICS

Gymnastics, competitive sport that tests an athlete's strength, rhythm, balance, flexibility, and agility. There are three major forms of competitive gymnastics: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline. Artistic gymnastics and trampoline have men’s and women’s competitions. Rhythmic gymnastics is open only to women.

Artistic gymnastics consists of prescribed sets of events, each of which is scored separately by judges to determine a winner. Rhythmic gymnastics consists of several events in which the gymnasts use objects such as balls and hoops while performing choreographed routines, which are judged to determine a winner. In trampoline, gymnasts bounce up and down on a trampoline and are judged on the movements they perform while airborne.

The term gymnastics also refers to a system of physical exercises used for therapeutic or educational purposes. Therapeutic or remedial gymnastics is a series of selected exercises that help relieve physical discomfort or restore function to disabled people. Educational gymnastics is a program that challenges students to master tactics involving strength, flexibility, and conditioning.

Artistic gymnastics competition has been part of the modern Olympic Games since the Games began in 1896. Extensive television coverage helped the sport gain great popularity in the late 20th century.

Men compete in six different events in artistic gymnastics. The events are as follows: floor exercise; pommel horse; rings; vault; parallel bars; horizontal bar.

Women compete in four events in artistic gymnastics. The events are as follows: vault; uneven bars; balance beam; floor exercise.

In rhythmic gymnastics, which became an Olympic sport in 1984, gymnasts compete on a mat. Using rope, a hoop, a ball, clubs, and a ribbon (in separate events), they perform choreographed movements set to music. Some acrobatic movements are permitted, but no flight is allowed

Trampoline first appeared in the Olympics as a medal sport at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, with a men’s individual event and a women’s individual event. Contestants bounce up and down on a trampoline while performing somersaults, twists, and other movements. Athletes can bounce up to 9 m high, and some gymnasts can stay in the air for up to two seconds.

The first gymnasts were acrobats who performed in ancient Egypt. In the 2nd millennium bc, men and women of Crete (Kriti) during the age of Minoan culture developed the art of bull leaping. In bull leaping the performer would run toward a charging bull, grab its horns, and, upon being tossed into the air, execute various midair stunts before landing on the bull's back, then dismount with a flip.

In the early 1800s a form of gymnastics developed in Germany as a defined set of skills performed both with and without specific kinds of apparatus. German educator Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, known as the father of gymnastics, planned exercises using pieces of stationary apparatus to develop self-discipline and physical strength. The Swedish system, devised by gymnast Pehr Henrik Ling, emphasized, on the other hand, rhythm and coordination through routines practiced with hoops, clubs, and small balls.

German and Swedish immigrants to North America in the 19th century brought their commitment to gymnastics with them. A compromise between the German and Swedish system was introduced into school physical education programs in the United States by the end of the 19th century. European gymnastics did not, however, generally appeal to American and Canadian children. Rather, the predominantly English cultural heritage had created an atmosphere in which games were preferred to the rote patterns of exercise. In fact, gymnastics did not achieve popularity in North America until the 1970s, when gymnasts at the Olympics captured the public’s imagination.

1. Answer the following questions:

1. How many major forms of competitive gymnastics do you know?

2. Does the term ‘gymnastics’ mean only the kind of competitive sport?

3. What are men’s events in artistic gymnastics?

4. What are women’s events in artistic gymnastics?

5. What sport equipment does the gymnast use in rhythmic gymnastics?

6. What is it ‘trampoline’?

7. Where and when did gymnastics begin its existence?

8. Who was the father of gymnastics?

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 845