Sporting events featuring feats of agility and flexibility date back at least 7,000 years, but gymnastics didn't become a competitive sport until the late nineteenth century. Egyptian murals from 5,000 B.C. depict female acrobats performing for Egyptian nobility. In 1972, Romania's Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast to win a perfect 10 score at the Olympics.
Beginnings
Records from Crete indicate that by 2,700 B.C, gymnastic exhibitions of courage and grace included athletes vaulting over charging bulls. Men and women also trained with bars, rings, vaults and horses. They also performed floor exercises. By 800 B.C., the principles of gymnastics gained acceptance in Asian martial arts training. The Romans used the principles of gymnastics to train their soldiers and improve their power, balance and flexibility. They developed wooden horses -- the precursor of today's pommel horse -- to assist in training.
Olympics and World Championships
In 1896, gymnastics became a world-class competitive sport at the Olympics held in Athens, Greece. Germany earned nearly every medal at the event in categories such as the horizontal bar, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and vault. In 1903, the first World Championships included gymnastic events. The first inclusion of men's gymnastic team competition occurred at the 1904 Olympics. Women joined Olympic gymnastics competition at the 1928 Olympics. The first U.S. women's gymnastic team debuted at the 1935 Olympics.
Physics
The seemingly impossible feats performed by well-trained gymnasts actually demonstrate rather than defy the laws of physics. Sir Isaac Newton's law of motion helps explain the science of gymnastics. The body at rest stays still until acted upon by an external force. When a gymnast swings on bars, for instance, he creates momentum that propels his body. Successful gymnasts tend to possess small, compact bodies. This may rest in another facet of Newton's law of motion -- it takes less force to move a slight body, and an athlete's movements are inversely proportionate to his weight. A gymnast's tricks, perfected with years of practice and training, follow the dictates of physical science.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics, sometimes called modern gymnastics, gained recognition as a sport in 1962 by the International Gymnastics Federation. Rhythmic gymnastics, a women's event, includes the use of rope, hoops, clubs, balls and ribbon. Performed on a 13-meter square floor and accompanied by music, rhythmic gymnastics provides a highly stylized version of floor exercise routines. The U.S. participated in rhythmic gymnastics for the first time in 1973 during the Rhythmic World Championships. The first rhythmic individual all-around competition debuted at the 1984 Olympics.
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