More Gymnastics News

“She Kept Failing Her Drug Tests”: Simone Biles Recalled the Time Her Biological Mother Screwed Up Her Parental Rights for Gymnastics GOAT

Gymnastics GOAT Simone Biles was adopted by her maternal grandparents at age 6 as her birth mother struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.
Gymnastics – Artistic – Olympics: Day 2

US Gymnastics Star Announces Quest for Paris Olympics 2024

Elite gymnast from the United States women's gymnastics team has announced her participation in the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Simone Biles and US Women’s Gymnastics Team

“All I Wanted to Do Was Cry and Be Alone”: Inspired by Simone Biles, Elite Boxer Opens Up on His Mental Health Struggles

A professional boxer revealed that he was inspired by Simone Biles to give importance to his mental health. Read on to know more.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Women’s Gymnastics Balance Beam Final

“Have the Same Bank PIN Code”: Simone Biles Leaves Fans Confused With Her Latest Post With Sister

A recent post by Simone Biles and her little sister caused confusion among her fans, resulting in a series of humorous comments.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – Day Eleven

“Look Like She’d Swallowed a Deer”: Simone Biles Faced Body-Shaming by a Coach after Her Underperformance In 2013 Championships

Life of an athlete is never easy. In her autobiography "Courage to Soar" Simone Biles narrates an incident where she was body-shammed.

“Can’t Touch His Toes”: Michelle Obama Gave Barack Obama a Reality Check When He Hilariously Claimed to Do Tough Gymnastics Routine With Simone Biles

Simone Biles along with her teammates won the gold medal in artistic gymnastics making the country proud. They displayed courage and strength
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“Way Out of My Comfort Zone”: Simone Biles Embarks on a New Daring Journey With Snapchat

In a fun new avatar, Simone Biles goes from cheerleading to baking to beekeeping and much more in her brand new show "Daring Simone Biles."
SFChronicleNews

“Back Off and Watch a Pro Do Magic”: $60 Million Worth American Celebrity Joined Team Simone Biles Against Detractors Trying to Bring Her Down Once

The problems Simone Biles faced in gymnastics got her a lot of criticism but this famous American celebrity decided to shut her naysayers.

“Would Never Have Done This”: Simone Biles’ Mother Struggled After Selling Her Business to Open a Gym for Her Daughters

Gymnastics GOAT Simone Biles' mother, Nellie Biles, started up their own family gym but it turned out to be a lot tougher than she thought.
Simone Biles

“Not Getting Punched in the Head”: Inspired by Simone Biles, American Boxer Opens Up on Mental Health Issues After 20 Years of Struggle

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Simone Biles pulled out of multiple events citing mental health issues and inspired many other athletes to talk about the same.

“Broke the Color Barrier in Sports”: Simone Biles Pays Tribute to MLB Legend as She Achieves Inaugural Jackie Robinson Sportsman of the Year Award

Simone Biles has won many awards throughout her career. With her consistent and record-breaking performances, she is an inspiration to many.
Gymnastics – Artistic – Olympics: Day 4

“I Can Kind of Read Her Lips”- Simone Biles’ Fiancé Jonathan Owens Predicted Her Mental Health Struggles at 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Gymnastics legend Simone Biles's husband and NFL star, Jonathan Owens, was able to predict her struggle during the Tokyo Olympics.
Simone Biles Jonathan Owens

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.'