PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 26 — SUNDAY 27, MAY, 2012
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Gymnastics: The sport, the passion Complied by Richard Ihediwa with additional reports from Wikipedia
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ymnastics is one of the sporting activities that have continued to hold spectators spell bound Athletes engage in very daring moves that could have fatal consequences in the event of a miss. Gymnastic involves the performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. It typically involves the women’s events of uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, and vault. Men’s events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks, that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills. Participants can include children as young as two years old doing kindergym and children’s gymnastics, recreational gymnasts of ages five and up, competitive gymnasts at varying levels of Exercises of the ancient Greeks began with athletic feats performed by each individual according to his own notion. The youth were encouraged to combine amusement with exercise. In time, this kind of exercise was incorporated into a system that figured prominently in the state regulations for education. In fact, the period for exercise or gymnastics was equal to the time spent on art and music combined. The Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG) was founded in Liege in 1881.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. By 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 15) had been agreed upon. Artistic gymnastics is usually divided into Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics. Typically
men compete on six events: Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar, while women compete on four: Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise. In some countries, women at one time competed on the rings, high bar, and parallel bars (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.
Vault In the vaulting events gymnasts sprint down a 25 metres (82 ft) runway, jump onto or perform a roundoff entry onto a springboard (run/ take-off segment), land momentarily, inverted on the hands on the vaulting horse or vaulting table (pre flight segment), then spring off of this platform to a two footed landing (post flight segment). Uneven Bars On the uneven bars (also known as asymmetric bars), the gymnast performs a routine on two horizontal bars set at different heights. These bars are made of fiberglass covered in wood laminate, to prevent them from breaking. Gymnasts perform swinging, circling, transitional, and release moves, that may pass over, under, and between the two bars. Movements may pass through the handstand. Gymnasts often mount the Uneven Bars using a springboard. Balance Beam The gymnast performs a choreographed routine up to 90 seconds in length consisting of leaps, acrobatic skills, somersaults, turns and dance elements on a padded beam. The beam is 125 centimetres (4 ft 1 in) from the ground, 500 centimetres (16 ft 5 in) long, and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide. The event requires, in particular, balance, flexibility, poise and strength. Floor Gymnasts perform a choreographed routine up to 90 seconds in the Floor Exercise event. They must choose an accompanying music piece. The routine should consist of tumbling lines, series of jumps, dance
elements, acrobatic skills, and turns, or piviots, on one foot. Pommel Horse A typical pommel horse exercise involves both single leg and double leg work. Single leg skills are generally found in the form of scissors, an element often done on the pommels. Double leg work however, is the main staple of this event. The gymnast swings both legs in a circular motion (clockwise or counterclockwise depending on preference) and performs such skills on all parts of the apparatus. Still Rings The rings are suspended on wire cable from a point 5.75 meters from 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. Parallel Bars Men perform on two bars slightly further than a shoulder’s width apart and usually 1.75m high while executing a series of swings, balances, and releases that require great strength and coordination. High Bar A 2.8 cm thick steel or fiberglass bar raised 2.5m above the landing area is all the gymnast has to hold onto as he performs 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 salto. Leather grips are usually used to help maintain a grip on the bar. Flying rings was an event similar to still rings, but with the performer executing a series of stunts while swinging. It was a gymnastic event sanctioned by both the NCAA and the AAU until the early 1960s Scoring: A gymnast’s score comes from deductions taken from their start value. The
start value of a routine is calculated based on the difficulty of the elements the gymnast attempts and whether or not the gymnast meets composition requirements. The composition requirements are different for each apparatus. This score is called the D score. Deductions in execution and artistry are taken from 10.0. This score is called the E score.[15] The final score is calculated by taking deductions from the E score, and adding the result to the D score. And since 2007, the scoring system has changed by adding bonus plus the execution and then adding those two together to get the final score. Source: Wikipedia