В МИРЕ ГИМНАСТИКИ

Gymnastics is a kind of sport which includes physical exercises requiring balance, flexibility, strength, agility, coordination, endurance and dedication, according to multiple dictionaries. By the word gymnastics we also mean, the performance of systematic exercises, often with the use of rings, bars, and other equipment either as a competitive sport or to improve health, strength, agility, coordination, and physical conditioning. If we look at etymology of the word, gymnastics derives from the Greek words (gymnos, gymnazo) whose meaning is to “train naked”. In ancient Greece athletes really exercised and competed without clothes probably due to hot climate and absence ofconvenient sports clothes. They called the place where male athletes indeed exercised unclothed gymnasium. Exercise in the gymnasium in later periods prepared men for war.

Physical fitness was a highly valued among both men and women in ancient Greece. Later on that gymnastics in Greece became a form of wisdom, comparable to philosophy, poetry, music, geometry, and astronomy, Athens combined this more physical training with the education of the mind. For the Greeks, physical exercise and learning went hand in hand. World famous Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that “the education of the body must precede that of the mind.” Ancient gymnastic exercises were much different from today’s gymnastics. Many of these exercises came to be included in the Olympic Games. Some of the competitions grouped under this ancient definition of gymnastics later became separate sports such as athletics, wrestling, and boxing. Of the modern events currently considered to be gymnastics, only tumbling and a primitive form of vaulting were known in the ancient world. Tumbling was an art form in ancient China as well. Stone engravings found in Shandong province that date to the Han period portray acrobatics being performed.

Tumbling was popular in the Middle Ages in Europe, where it was practiced by traveling troupes of thespians, dancers, acrobats, and jugglers. It seems to be an activity that evolved in various forms in many cultures with little cross-cultural influence. Tumbling and acrobatics of all kinds were eventually incorporated into the circus, and it was circus acrobats who first used primitive trampolines.

Since ancient times, philosophers and great thinkers have paid attention to combined physical and cognitive training, athletic development of children and gymnastics in particular. In the seventeenth century, schools were opened in Europe where much attention was paid to outdoor activities, including gymnastics.

Later they distinguished natural (utilitarian) and artificial (non-utilitarian) gymnastics. The former disciplines of natural division emphasize the health of the body. Modern aerobics also falls into this category. In contrast, non-utilitarian gymnastics is characterized by modern artistic gymnastics, the maneuvers of which are geared to beauty and not function. For example, in feudal Europe young men were taught to mount and dismount a horse, useful knowledge during a time when armies rode. Modern “horse” work in artistic gymnastics has evolved to a point where there is no practical connection between gymnastic maneuvers on a horse and horsemanship. Only the language of riding remains, with the terms “mount” and “dismount” still being used in gymnastics.

The first developer of natural gymnastics was Per Henrik Ling, who founded a teacher training center in Stockholm, the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute. Ling developed and taught a system of gymnastic exercises designed to improve the health of athletes. He is credited with rhythmic gymnastics, including free gymnastics, that is, exercises without the use of hand-held devices such as maces, sticks, and dumbbells. Although Ling discouraged competition, calisthenics developed into a competitive sport now known as floor exercise.

The acknowledged “father” of gymnastics, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the Turnverein movement, is credited with the rapid spread of gymnastics throughout the world. He developed with his assistant Ernst Eiselen various exercises on the playground. The pommel horse was used for leg-swinging exercises and for vaulting. Jahn invented the parallel bars to increase the upper-body strength of his students, and immense towers were erected to test their courage. Balance beams, horizontal bars, climbing ropes, balance beam and climbing poles were also found at the Turnplatz. Primitive pole vaulting was practiced along with other athletic games. The wide variety of challenging apparatus found on the playground attracted young men. The movement of Turners became very popular in cities throughout Germany. Turners tested their skill on balance beams and pommel horses, climbed ladders, hung from rings, and did long jump and other activities along with mass calisthenic exhibitions.

At Turner festivals, they exchanged ideas, competed in gymnastics, and discussed politics. And over the years, they brought their ideas about philosophy, education, and fitness to the United States, where their gymnastics clubs became crucial community centers.

Another big movement in Europe was Sokol in Prague in 19th century which was made up of nationalists who thought that mass coordinated calisthenics could bring the Czech people together. Sokols became the most popular organizations in Czechoslovakia, with exercises that included parallel and horizontal bars and floor routines.

Thank to high popularity of this sport in 1881 the Federation International Gymnastics(FIG) was founded to supervise international competition. The 1896 Olympic Games fostered interest in gymnastics, and the FIG World Championships in gymnastics were organized for men in 1903, for women in 1934.

The 1896 Olympic Games marked the advent of true international, open competition in gymnastics. The Games featured typical German, or “heavy apparatus,” events and rope climbing. Gymnastics competitions were not standardized nor free of track-and-field events until the 1928 Olympics, when five of the six events presently held in Olympic gymnastics were contested—pommel horse, rings, vaulting, parallel bars, and horizontal bar, with both compulsory and optional routines required. Women first competed in the Olympics in 1928 in events similar to those of the men except for the addition of the balance beam. Floor exercise events were added in 1932.

From our history of sport, we know a big number of greatest gymnasts, for example,Larisa Latynina, Olga Korbut, Viktor Chukarin and other. 

So, as I see gymnastics is a base of all sports in the world (maybe except chess). Because physical exercise of gymnastics designed to develop strength and coordination. Without these two characteristics it’s too hard to compete in any sport.  

Gymnastics develops blending power, coordination, strength, balance, flexibility, speed, discipline and strength. It gives athletes flexibility, grace, balance and incredible power. At the same time this is a sport which also benefits the intelligence - teaching perseverance, poise, attention to details, focus and confidence. 

Generally, this is a sport of young. That’s why parents bring their kids to the gym in early age. I can hardly remember the time when I was not involved in gymnastics. My mom brought me to the gym when I was 5. 

As I said it’s foundation for all sports. Doing gymnastics, we improve strength, balance, agility, flexibility and coordination. All of the skills needed for football, basketball, volleyball, hockey and martial arts. Gymnastics improves mental health and stability as well. This is a sport where you fall again and again and get back up there and finish what you started. So, it teaches you mental toughness and persistence. As they say, there is no “I can’t do it” in sport, there is “I can’t do it yet”. This mentality will eventually pay off. Besides that, gymnastics teaches social skills commitment, deduction, self-esteem and confidence. The scientist say gymnastics helps to develop math skills as the forward and backward movements and bilateral activities build visual and audio senses and increase spatial awareness. Math is a spatial sport; the more children move in different ways, the more connections are made in the brain. Gymnastics and early childhood movement education is directly attributed to developing neurological pathways in students and promoting reading readiness. Gymnastics is all season sport where weather is not a factor in comparison to football or ski.