- Gymnastics competition has been part of the Olympic Games since 1896, but the large telivision coverage is what contributed to the large intrest now shown.
- In competition, performance is scored on a 10 piont scale by judges
- All events have required skills; a level of difficulty is also figured in scores.
- Two things usu. determine standards for each event:
1. The governing body overseeing the competitive league- i.e. the critieria for high school gymnastics vs. Olympic competiton
2. The level of competition (like competitors compete on the same level)
- Depending on the competition, there are two types of routines that may be required:
1. Compulsary routine (a prescribed series of exercises)
2. Optional routine (an original series of exercises that still contains required elements)
The school teams: Boys Girls
USA Gymnastics web site find out events, programs and about them
Some Olympic sport coloring pages
- Gymnastics: systematic form of physical exercise designed for theraputic, educational and competitive purposes
- Educational Gymnastics: is a program that challenges students to master tactics involving strength, rhythm, balance, flexability and agility.
- Competitive Gymnastics consist of prescribed sets of events for men and women, each of which is scored separately in order to determine a winner.
Men compete in 6 events:
-Floor exercise: a routine of dancelike movements with acrobatic skills
-Pommel Horse: a routine performed on a leather apparatus with two handles called pommels inserted in it. Consists of using swinging circular motions with only hands for support.
- Vault: a routine in which the apparatus without pommels is ran at lengthwise, take off from springboard and completes an acrobatic move over
-Parrallel bars: a routine performed on two parrallel wooden rails. The routine is a series of swinging moves, balances, and changes in grip.
-High Bar: routine performed on a single steel bar suspended above the floor. The routine requires continouous swinging and vaulting movements around the bar with direction change and grip changes, in the dismount the athlete casts himself off the bar and makes a stable landing.
-Rings: a routine performed while grasping one wooden ring in each hand; the rings are suspended from straps and hung parrallel to eachother from the ceiling. The routine combines static positions w/ rapid movements designed to test strength and precision.