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OLYMPICTIONARY
Gymnastics is one of the most popular sports at the Olympics. The athletes that compete in this event are called gymnasts. Gymnastics actually began in ancient Greece, when warriors practiced similar moves to prepare for battle. The word "gymnastics" actually comes from the Greek word "gymnos", which means naked, because these ancient warriors were often naked!
The only battle today's gymnasts will face is the competition for the gold medal. Athletes need to be very strong as they twist, flip, turn, and tumble.
The gymnastics competition is divided into three sections: artistic, rhythmic, and for the first time ever, trampoline. The difference between artistic and rhythmic gymnastics is that in the artistic competitions athletes perform on something and in rhythmic gymnastics athletes perform with something.
ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS
Artistic gymnastics has the athletes performing on things like the rings, the parallel bars, the balance beam, and even the floor. In this competition, men compete in six different events - the pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar and floor. Women compete in four events: the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. Athletes can only have one chance at each event except for the vault, where they can have two tries.
The Vault
Both men and women perform on the vault. The vault looks like a small beam, standing on two legs. The gymnast runs, jumps onto a springboard and flies in the air towards the vault. The gymnast must touch the vault with at least one hand and then either twists or somersaults before landing, feet first, on a mat.
The Floor
In the floor exercise, gymnasts tumble and perform acrobatics. Women's floor exercises use music, so they may incorporate more dancing into their routine. Both the men and women must use the whole floor, but they cannot step out of the marked boundaries.
The High Bar
The high bar is an exciting and quick event. Gymnasts hang from a steel bar and swing in different directions. Sometimes they let go and then grab back on. Usually, at the end of the event, a gymnast will make an exciting dismount off the bar with lots of twists and turns.
Parallel Bars
Gymnasts swing back and forth on the parallel bars. They even look like they are flying sometimes. Gymnasts are constantly moving forwards and backwards, from move to move, switching their handgrips as they go along.
Pommel Horse
The pommel horse is thought to be the most difficult men's event. The horse is like a small beam standing on two legs, with two handles sticking up on top. Athletes need to have super upper body strength. The gymnast lifts himself above the horse and swings himself around in non-stop circles and swings. He keeps switching from one arm to the other, too. His feet cannot touch the horse at all and his legs need to stay straight.
Rings
The official name of this event is actually "Still" Rings because the rings need to stay completely still for the entire routine. The gymnasts swing from the rings. They move their body using lifts, and turns. It is really hard to keep the rings from moving because they are hanging from the roof by two straps. The gymnast needs to be really strong and must have lots of control.
Uneven Bars
The uneven bars consist of two bars, one low and one high. This gymnast moves smoothly from bar to bar, swinging, making circles, changing grips and changing direction.
Balance Beam
The balance beam is 16.5 feet long and only 4 inches wide, about the size of a closed fist. The gymnasts jump, leap and turn on the bar as if they are standing on the floor. Their routine can last between 70 and 90 seconds. In the end, the gymnast must jump off the bar and land on her feet without stepping or stumbling.
RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
Rhythmic gymnastics is for women only. The gymnasts perform on the floor with a rope, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon while music plays. The gymnasts throw these things up into the air and catch them
TRAMPOLINE
The trampoline competition is new to the Olympics. Gymnasts bounce really high on the trampoline and they twist and tumble in the air.
In all gymnastic events, judges score the routines out of ten points.
Ones to Watch: Russia and China usually do great in the gymnastics competition. Ukraine, Romania, the United States, France, and Spain do well too. In the men's competition, watch for China's Zhang Jinjing and Li Xiaoshuang, Russia's Alexei Bondarenko, Ivan Ivanenko of Belarus, and Spain's Jesus Carballo.
In the women's artistic competition, watch for China's Ling Jie and Liu Xuan, Russia's Anna Kovalyova and Yekaterina Lobaznyuk, and Ukraine's Liliya Podkopayeva, who was a gold medallist in the last Olympics.
From the U.S. women's team, both Amy Chow and Dominique Dawes represented the U.S. in 1996. Dawes, who first competed in the Olympics in 1992, has seven medals from the Olympics and the world championships, and wants to increase that number in what could be her last Olympic games.
In women's rhythmic gymnastics, watch the 1997 world champion, Elena Vitrichenko, and Atlanta gold medallist Ekaterina Serebrianskaya, both from the Ukraine.
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