A Brief History About Gymnastics

By Joshua Nelson


Gymnastic exercises refer to the performance of exercises that require flexibility, strength, control, and balance. These performances are under the regulation of the FIG, which is an international body with global powers. Besides the FIG, each country in which gymnastics is practiced has its own governing body that regulates the sport. State regulatory bodies have affiliations to the FIG.

Gymnastic as a term has its source in the Greek language. Corresponding English translation means naked. It could also mean dancing naked in some sense. A word with such a meaning was adopted because gymnasts from ancient times practiced while naked. In 1570s is when the terms first appeared. It has continued to be adopted globally from the time it was coined.

Gymnastic originated in Ancient Greece. Its invention was for military training. As part of preparations for war, soldiers trained in different gymnastic exercises. The skills and knowledge could assist soldiers in fighting according a common belief at the time. Inclusion into military training was dropped later. Some aspects of training in the military may however still be based on some gymnastic exercises even today.

The birth of modern gymnastic took place in the state of Germany by the work of three pioneers. This happened following the creation of exercises for boys and young men to be performed on apparatus designed by the pioneers. These exercises were later to lead to the gymnastic industry as it is known today. Educative gymnastic in France was introduced by Don Franscisco Ondeano. Today, international competitions include the use of high bars, parallel bars, and rings, a phenomenon that was promoted a lot by one of the German pioneers named Jahn.

The establishment of the FIG happened in 1881 in Liege. The popularity of men gymnastic had risen to a point that it could be included in modern Olympic Games of 1896. From the first time men gymnastic was introduced into Olympic Games all the way to the early 1950s, the exercises changed a lot on both national and international level.

What seemed normal back in the day would be very strange to the audiences of today. Some among the exercises participants took part in include high jumping, horizontal ladder, running, rope climbing, and floor calisthenics. Women started to take part in gymnastic events in the 1920s. The first Olympic competitions in which women participated were very primitive. The only events included were track and field and synchronized calisthenics. This Olympic Games occurred in Amsterdam in 1928.

By 1954, female and male Olympic apparatus and events had already undergone standardization. Formats and grading structures had already been agreed upon on a global scale. Around that time, the spectacle performance of Soviet gymnasts took the world by surprise and set a precedent that continues to date. The television played a major role in initiating and publicizing the modern age in this field.

Today, gymnastic has reached a very high level of quality in both male and female events. It is a sport that attracts global interest and admiration with excellent gymnasts on all continents. The traditional system for scoring point was changed to a new system in 2006.




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