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USA Gymnastics
USA gymnastics is the sole national governing body for gymnastics in the U.S. The International Olympic Committee and International Gymnastics Federation have granted this privilege to USA Gymnastics. This organization oversees the development of gymnastics in the country and undertakes the training and selection of gymnasts for the Olympic gymnastics and the Gymnastics World Championships. USA Gymnastics was established in 1963 in Tucson, Arizona. Back then, the U.S. had a mere 7,000 athletes competing in a limited schedule. Today USA Gymnastics has more than 13, 000 professional instructors. Potential gymnasts are subject to a rigorous selection process before they are given a place in the Olympian team. These gymnasts come from various grassroots level organizations spread across the country.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics is firmly rooted in modern gymnastics and is influenced by the Swedish system of free exercise. ‘Aesthetics gymnastics’ provided an expression of feelings and emotions through bodily movement. Eurhythmics was developed by Emil Dalcroze of Switzerland as a form of physical training for musicians and dancers to promote grace of movement, muscular flexibility and good posture. Rhythmic gymnastics was also influenced by dance elements from Finland. Rhythmic gymnastics is judged on various elements such as originality and execution, fluidity of line and movement as well as facial expressions and gestures. Vigorous acrobatics lower the score of a rhythmic gymnastics contestant. Rhythmic gymnastics competition takes place on a 41 feet X 41 feet carpet and points are deducted for overstepping the limit.
Ernest Idla of Estonia developed a scoring method for rhythmic gymnastics and it soon became a competitive sport. Rhythmic gymnastics was introduced in 1906 in the U.S. but it was not so popular then. In 1962, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) recognized rhythmic gymnastics as a sport. The First Rhythmic World Championship was held in Budapest and attracted athletes from 10 countries. In the 1984 Olympics gymnastics competition in Los Angeles, the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-round competition was held for the first time.
Olympic Gymnastics
Olympic gymnastics has always been the corner stone of strength and agility coupled with style that has provided many a breathtaking spectacle for viewers. Nadia Comaneci’s perfect 10 scores at the Montreal Olympics remains a legendary score on the Olympic gymnastics circuit. There are 14 events in the artistic gymnastics category of Olympic gymnastics. There are separate events for men and women gymnasts as well as an all-around event. Two panels of judges judge the Olympic gymnastics. The difficulty judges give each routine a difficulty rating on a scale of 10. The execution judges rate each performance at the Olympic gymnastics events on the form and technical execution. Points are deducted from the score determined by the difficulty judges for possible flaws in the performance.
Six Execution judges rate the gymnasts individually and the average of four scores is considered the final score. The highest and lowest scores are eliminated. To prevent accidents at the Olympic gymnastics, spotters are allowed to stand near by but the contestants lose points if they need help.
The first large-scale gymnastics competition was the 1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Germany was the dominant team sweeping almost every medal. Five countries participated in this event. During the 1924 Olympics in France, men began to compete for individual Olympic gymnastics titles for each event. Women gymnastics teams made a debut in the 1928 Olympics.
Gymnastics World Championship
The first international event following the 1896 Olympics was held in 1903 in Antwerp, Belgium. Gymnasts from Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands competed in this event. This saw the birth of the first World Championship. The first men's team competition was added and held in 1904 Olympics at St. Louis. Since then many other gymnastic competition events were added to the Gymnastics World Championship. The gymnastics World Championship 2003 was held in Anaheim, California from 16 – 24 August. The Men’s team from China took first place while the USA scored in the Women’s team. Paul Hamm of the USA was the all-around winner in the man gymnastics category while Svetlana Khorkina of Russia was the Woman gymnastics winner in the all-around category.
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