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| History of Gymnastics |
The beauty of gymnastics and the strength of the athletes is an awesome thing to watch, whether it is in person or on the television. There are several athletes to choose to cheer for and many countries to watch in each gymnastic competition, including the biggest competition, the Olympics. This sport has only been a competitive sport for a little over 100 years, but during that time, it has had an interesting past.
It all began in 1830 when a group of immigrants, namely Charles Beck, Charles Foller, and Francis Lieber, began to introduce this sport into the local school system. This began the realization of a sports dream for many American children. The year 1881 saw the formation of the Bureau of the European Gymnastics Federation. Their job was to establish and monitor international competitions, like the Olympics and World Championships. The United States formed the Amateur Athletic Union in 1883. This union was in control of the gymnastic competitions within the United States. This encompassed all the various championships, from the local level ones to the national ones that decided who were going to world championships. At the Athens, Greece Olympics in 1896, gymnastics made its debut, but only the men participated. The events included the horizontal bar, vault, parallel bars, rings, and pommel horse. Five countries participated in these events and Germany, which was one of the countries, took almost all of the medals in every event. It was correct to say that Germany clearly had the edge during those games. 1903 saw the introduction of the first international gymnastics event, which was considered the first world championship, which took place in Antwerp, Belgium.
There were gymnasts there from Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. In the following year, the Olympics were held in St. Louis. This saw the competition of the men's team which added more events, as the individual events were the only ones that were preformed before then. Women were finally allowed to participate in the 1928 Olympics in gymnastics. They were only allowed one event and it was the team combined exercise. The Netherlands won this event. In the 1930 world championship, the events were extended to more track and field events. The reason that track and field events were scheduled as gymnastic events is uncertain, but it did not stay that way long. The events that the athletes were to participate in were the pole vault, 100 meter dash, broad jump, rope climb, and shot put. The first women's gymnastics' team for the United States was established in 1936 and has been strong ever since.
Today, gymnastics have turned into a huge display of tumbling, strength, rhythm, dance, and coordination. With athletes in this field like Shawn Johnson and Paul Harmon, the bar for performance has been set incredibly high for the next World's Championship. One can only look forward to how creative these athletes will be with their routines and their moves, along with how strong their athletics are, for future events.
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