More Gymnastics News

Olivia Dunne Suffers NCAA Setback as Jordan Chiles Makes Major Jump with UCLA

The latest NCAA rankings have shaken things up, with Olivia Dunne and LSU taking a hit while Jordan Chiles and UCLA made a big leap.
Jordan Chiles, Olivia Dunne, credits: Imago

Battling Illness, Jordan Chiles Addresses NCAA Return After Olympic Gymnastics Drama

Jordan Chiles makes a triumphant NCAA return after Olympic drama, showcasing resilience and earning a perfect 10 for UCLA

Concerned LSU Gymnastics Coach Reveals Major Hurdle That Continues to Delay Haleigh Bryant’s Full Comeback

LSU gymnastics star Haleigh Bryant rose to the occassion but after battling serious physical issues. Here's what you need to know.
lsu gymnastics

Unwell Jordan Chiles Confesses Reason for Perfect Score While Competing Being Sick

Jordan Chiles emerges victorious despite the high fever and stuns the audience in UCLA Bruins’s recent meet against Michigan State.
Jordan Chiles

Simone Biles ‘Obsessed’ With Baby Biles While Jonathan Owens Takes New Role To Help Make Her Gymnastics Competition a Success

Simone Biles is at the Invitational venue and a lot is happening. From Ronni's cuteness to Owens‘s shoutouts, its a blast.
Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens

Olivia Dunne Takes Break From NCAA Drama to Spend $47,000 on Surprise Gift for Sister Julz Dunne

Before her sister Julz Dunne’s auspicious day, Olivia Dunne shares a special gift worth more than $47,000 with her.
Olivia Dunne, Julz Dunne

Emotional Scenes at Clemson University as Gymnastics Star Drops Tearful News Amid Ongoing NCAA Season

A college athlete from Clemson Gymnastics has made a huge call regarding her NCAA season and it’s not good for the team.
trinity brown

Gymnastics Future Looks Good as Fans Support Team USA’s Latest Decision Toward Sport’s Growth

Team USA gymnastics gets a major change. And fans are happy about it. Here's what the leadership shift loooks like.
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Suffering With Surgeries Gymnastics Star Reveals Frustration After Missing Crucial Years

Gymnastics Star, Kayla DiCello pushes through injuries and setbacks to keep striving for her Olympic dreams.

UCLA Gymnastics Coach Reveals Emotions Behind Jordan Chiles’ & Co’s Historic NCAA Moment

UCLA Gymnastics Coach opened up about the emotional impact behind Jordan Chiles and her teammates’ historic NCAA moment.
Jordan Chiles and team

Frustrated Over NCAA Absence Simone Biles’ Former Teammate Reveals Surprising Role With Florida Gators

Simone Biles’ alternate teammate from the Tokyo Olympics, now a gymnast for the Florida Gators, is working hard to recover from injury.
Final: Artistic gymnastics – Paris 2024 – Floor August 05 2024: Simone Biles (United States of America) competes during

Gabby Thomas Reveals Hardest Part Watching Simone Biles & Co As Track and Field Star Reveals Paris Olympics Frustrations

Gabby Thomas recently revealed the most challenging part of her Paris Olympics experience, which was about her own performance.
Gabby Thomas and Simone Biles

About Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a collection of physical exercises requiring a lot of strength, agility, balance, and flexibility. It is closely related to circus performing skills as athletes put their bodies to the fullest use. Likewise, there are various disciplines for gymnasts to showcase their talents. Thus, it evolved from ancient Greeks that included skills to mounting to dismounting a horse. The competitive form of gymnastics is called artistic gymnastics. It involves various events for women like the floor, vault, uneven bars, and the beam. For men, they have floor, vault, rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bars. Therefore, the sport is famous for its aesthetic values and the Olympics draws major crowds to the gymnastics arena.

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History of Gymnastics

Gymnastics originated from the Greek term, 'to exercise naked,' applied in ancient Greece exercises. These exercises became a mainstay at the Olympics but most of the competition came from ancient roots. There are stone engravings found in Shandong province during the Han Period (206 BCE–220 CE) where they portrayed acrobatics. Like every sport, the person credited for making the sport famous was Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the Turnverein movement as he helped to spread gymnastics across the world.

Most of the exercises were conducted on the playground. Therefore, various events came into existence. They held the first Gymnastics festival in 1860 in Coburg. The Americans were introduced to Gymnastics in the late 1820s while the Federation Internationale Gymnastique was founded in 1881 to organize the event. The 1896 Olympic Games saw the starting stages of gymnastics being introduced to the world. 

The Sport

There are three divisions of artistic gymnastics- artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline. There are six events for men and the all around event where they combine scores from every discipline. For women, there are four exercises and a similar all around event, both team and individual events. Apart from artistic gymnastics, there is rhythmic gymnastics and is practiced only by women. Trampoline is the other discipline of gymnastics and introduced itself at the 2000 Olympic Games. As years pass by, various gymnasts showcased their athletic skills to the masses in attendance.

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Famous gymnasts in the world

Simone Biles:

In terms of pure dominance, Simone Biles enters the list as arguably the greatest gymnast of all time. She is the most decorated gymnast in the World Championships, winning four gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. The 2016 Rio Olympics saw her winning four gold medals and completely dominated the events. She has 25 World Championships medals to her name and her stance on mental health helps her become an influential person in the society.

Larisa Latynina:

Winning nine gold medals at the Olympics is astonishing and Larisa Latynina ranks on top of the famous gymnast charts. After Michael Phelps, she has the most Olympic medals with 18. She popularized the sport of gymnastics and was the first star in the sport. Her iconic performances will go down to the gymnastics folklore.

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Nadia Comaneci:

Achieving a perfect 10.0 score in gymnastics is amazing. But, doing it at the Olympics, when just turning 14, placed Nadia Comaneci amongst the pantheon of greats. The 1976 Olympics saw her earning seven perfect scores. She won five Olympic gold medals out of the nine she won.

Svetlana Khorkina:

With a total of 47 Olympic, World and European Championships medals, Svetlana Khorkina is a remarkable gymnast. She became the first gymnast to win three all-around titles at the World Championships while winning five gold medals in the uneven bars at World Championships. Her success in the uneven bars earned her the moniker 'The Queen of Bars.'