Gymnastics started 2000 years ago but has evolved extensively over time. It started with the Greek word “gymnos”, or “gymnazo” meaning roughly to train.

Gymnastics became one of the first sports to join the modern Olympics. The first summer Olympics was in 1896 and it became a crucial part of Olympics Sports History.

There are two categories into which gymnastics has been divided:

Artistic Gymnastics

Artistic Gymnastics include:

  • Vault
  • Uneven bars
  • Balance beam
  • Pommel horse
  • Still rings
  • Parallel bars
  • Horizontal bars and floor.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Rhythmic gymnastics apparatus include:

  • Hoops
  • Balls
  • Ribbons.

But how did this all come into the picture?

Introducing gymnastics

The German teacher Johann Christoph Fredrich Gutsmuths, in 1793 when published a textbook about gymnastics in which he discussed using different ways to maintain physical health, and how gymnastics can play a huge role in that. This book was later translated into English. He is so called the grandfather of gymnastics.

Another German, Fredrich Ludwig Jahn is known as the father of gymnastics when he built an open-air gymnasium in 1811. His idea was to help the Prussian soldiers to build their physical attributes through gymnastics.

History and gymnastics

Jahn sparked the German Turnverein movement which translates turen ‘to practice gymnastics’ and verein ‘club, union’. Anybody participating in this movement was known as "turners" who practised their skills on equipment like a pommel horse, parallel bars, balance beam and horizontal bar.

Turner clubs’ made the talk around which caught the eye of conservative forces, who disliked and opposed Jahn’s promotion of Prussia as free of French influence. This sentiment was anti-nationalist and so strong that King Fredrick William III banned the sport and placed Jahn under house arrest in the year 1819.

In 1842, this ban was lifted in Prussia by King Frederick William IV, and only then the Turners were able to practice gymnastics again.

According to sources like Britannica, the “Sokol” movement in Prague during the 1860s was also inspired by the Turnverien movement. It is named from The Czech Sokol better known as Falcon or Hawk in English.

Sokols used a lot of exercises that were similar to the turners but also improvised with their own as a form of maintaining unity and national pride. Sokols played a huge hand in establishing Czechoslovakia in 1918. Sokol bought the use of ‘Swedish Bars’ and emphasized a lot on the use of callisthenics in their art.

In the mid-19th century, European immigrants brought gymnastics to the United States. A lot of them were offshoots of Turnverein and Sokol clubs. Dudley Allen Sargeant, a doctor and an educator taught gymnastics to several U.S. universities from the 1860s to 1910s. Along with that there were 30 different equipments were made just for the sport.

Gymnastics establishment as a sport

Later the Bureau of the European Gymnastics Federation - was born before the establishment of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to bring gymnastics into the Olympics in 1881.

FIG is the governing body today for the sport. At the first modern Olympics, male gymnasts participated in six individual events like horizontal and parallel bars, pommel horse, rings, rope climbing and vault.

Women gymnasts have done demonstration exercises in the Olympics since 1906, when Intercalated games were held. This continued till the 1928 Olympics when they first competed.

In the 20th century, Gymnastics in the Olympics was in full force. It was understood as a discipline and something worth winning. Till the 1950s Eastern European athletes dominated this reign inspiring many to give more time and thought to their respective gymnastics programs.

Gymnasts like Olga Korbut from the Soviet Union became the person to inspire the most with a backward somersault on the beam which had never been seen before in the 1972 Munich Games. This gave her a score of 9.8 out of 10 for successfully executing a backflip on uneven bars. Today, this move is known as Korbut Flip.

Another gymnast who was known for her flawlessness is Nadia Comaneci of Romania gave the first perfect 10 in gymnastics Olympic history in the year 1976.

The domination that United States gymnastics started in 1996, with a group that is popularly called The Magnificient Seven who won the Women’s all-around title in artistic gymnastics.

Today, with the 21st century at its peak, gymnastics is at its peak. But it has not been an easy journey. A lot has happened in this 24 years. From sexual harassment cases on the gymnastics coach in the US to getting one of the most prestigious dedicated names Simone Biles to taking a discussion further where the uniforms are meant for the sexualization of women or comfort.

Today gymnastics is an internationally popular sport as it has become a great way to be fit and learn new skills to be stronger and flexible. There is a lot left to do and we still have a long way to go.