What is Gymnastics?

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What is Gymnastics?

Have you ever watched the Olympics and been in awe by the males and females that do flips on the floor, or watch people tumble on sliver of wood. That awesome sport is called gymnastics. Let’s first take it back to when gymnastics really started. Gymnastics is the world's oldest sport. It was developed in Australia. The first national competition was in the 1950’s for the Olympics. It has been a competitive sport for more than 100 years. Gymnastics is an active sport in which people move their body smoothly and gracefully. It tests a person's strength, balance, flexibility and coordination. A gymnast needs to be strong, good at stretching their body and have good balance. There are small differences between male and female gymnasts. The first difference between the two genders is the events they compete in and the second difference is their body shape and strengths. A female’s body is small, lean, and strong compared to males. The males who have strong arms can bend and stretch easily.

Along with the shape differences in male and female gymnasts, they also use different equipment. The men’s equipment consists of still rings, high bars, parallel bars and pommel horse. Many people know “still rings” as just rings. They are two parallel and separate rings that are 50 centimeters apart, and are suspended from a cable and straps. The male gymnast holds a ring in each hand and does exercises without taking a break or stopping. A high bar stands 2.75 meters high and is also sometimes called the “horizontal bar.” Here the men do many hard release moves while trying not to touch the bar with their hips. Parallel bars are used in men's artistic gymnastics. These two bars are wooden rails on uprights. They are adjustabl...

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...ng sport of gymnastics. Gymnastics is a strict sport because of how the gymnast and the routine are performed for the judge. Girls have to have their hair put up and spray it down with hairspray so they don’t have flyways.

The way gymnasts present themselves is very important; no one wants to watch a gymnast that looks sloppy and unclean. When someone first starts this sport, it is hard and painful. The more a person practices, the more she/he can build stability to do the core exercises and warm-ups. The gym that gymnasts work in is very spacious and usually organized for specific events. The events in gymnastics all fit together in some way. This sport is fun to learn and experience for any young child or anyone wanting to propel themselves into the air.

Works Cited

http://shrike.depaul.edu/~vbard/histpg.html

http://www.athletesedge.info/gymnastics.php

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