Today we are going to talk about artistic gymnastics, also called Olympic gymnastics, it is a sport that involves a set of movements. In this case, these movements require precision, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination and balance. Therefore, mastery of the body is one of the main characteristics of these athletes. You will learn a little about everything in gymnastics:
History
The history of artistic gymnastics is older than we think, it is believed that the Greeks practiced various movements and acrobatics on some devices in order to achieve physical perfection. So Greek gymnastics was a preparation of the body both for the practice of other sports and for military training at the time and is still used today. The German pedagogue Friedrich Ludwig Christoph Jahn was one of those responsible for transforming artistic gymnastics into a sport. We know that he founded gymnastics clubs for young people interested in the modality and also created several devices that are still used today. At the time, gymnastics was seen as a dangerous practice, so Jahn was arrested and gymnastics at the time was banned.
It's a good thing they didn't let the extinction of this sport happen, which today is one of the most important in the Olympics. Thus, some Germans took the modality to other parts of Europe and the whole world. Then, in 1881, the European Gymnastics Federation was founded, which resulted in the consolidation of this sport. Thus, since 1896, artistic gymnastics has been present at the Olympic Games. However, the female category was placed in the Olympics only in 1928 in the Netherlands and then women began to compete. The practice of artistic gymnastics arrived in Brazil at the end of the 19th century, and began in the states of the southern region. Which was taken to Brazil by European immigrants. In 1858, the Joinville Gymnastics Society was founded in Santa Catarina. Ten years later, another organization of this type was founded in Porto Alegre: the Sociedade de Ginástica de Porto Alegre.
After that, it started to be practiced in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in the 20th century. They began practicing Olympic gymnastics in clubs around the city. The first national championship took place in 1950 between athletes from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. On November 25, 1978, the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation (CBG) was created, the body responsible for the sport in the country. He then joined the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), responsible for organizing world competitions. The first Brazilian Olympic competition was held in Moscow in 1980. Since then, this modality has been growing in the country.
Rules
Artistic Gymnastics focuses on the perfection of movements. Then in sequence the gymnasts perform a series of movements that occur on the apparatus and on the floor.
The Appliances are:
Apart from ground movements and jumps performed by gymnasts, Olympic gymnastics has several devices. Gymnasts use a kind of splint on their hands to perform these movements. In each category the equipment used is different, for men there are some and for women there are others. Thus, for female practice, the main devices are:
- Asymmetric Bars – Gymnast in uneven bars event
- Balance Bars – Gymnast on balance bars
- Jump and Solo – Both women and men perform movements on the ground and jumps.
As for the male practice, the main devices are:
- Pommel Horse – Gymnast performing movements on pommel horse
- Rings – Gymnast on rings
- Parallel Bars – Gymnast in the parallel bars event
- Fixed Bars – Gymnast in fixed bar event.
Gymnast after the jump
In the ground test, turns, jumps, steps and acrobatic movements are performed by both groups and they cannot exceed the limit of the court in the form of a square with 12 meters on each side. Men have 70 seconds to perform the moves. Women have 90 seconds. In the female solo competition, in turn, there is a musical background, while in the male solo competition there is no music to accompany the movements.