Women’s artistic gymnastics is a sport that requires strength, flexibility and artistic skill. It tests athletes on four apparatus (Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise) in All-Around, Apparatus Finals and Team Competition within large-scale events like the Olympics.
The sport has a long history, dating back 2,000 years to classical civilization. Today, it is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of elite international competition.
A gymnast’s skills are judged based on the difficulty of their performance, their overall presentation and their execution. In international competition, female gymnasts are divided into juniors, under sixteen by their year of birth; and seniors, for those sixteen and over again.
Juniors are usually aged from five to fifteen by the time they compete at their first national or international competition, but some countries allow younger gymnasts to qualify. They may also be selected to represent their country in national or international events based on their performances at nationals.
Seniors are those who qualify for and compete at the world’s highest level of competition. The minimum age for senior gymnasts is eighteen and the maximum is thirty-five.
Although men’s artistic gymnastics has traditionally been dominated by the Soviet Union, the United States has produced some of the best gymnasts in world history. Among the greatest are Viktor Chukarin and Kato Sawao, who have won two Olympic all-around titles each. Other world-class male gymnasts include Vitaly Scherbo, who has won two Olympic all-around titles and a world championship title; and Viktoria Zaitseva, who has won six medals at the Olympics and three golds at the World Championships.
Biles, who began competing at the national level as a teenager, was able to win her first Olympic title in Rio in 2016. She is currently the most successful gymnast in history with nine Olympic golds and five World Championship golds.
Beam
The balance beam, or spring beam, is the most difficult apparatus for a woman to win a medal on. Routines on the beam are typically composed of combinations of leaps, dance poses, handstands and rolls, along with acrobatic skills such as a front and back handspring.
Many of the routines from the 1950s and ’60s require multiple movements to achieve perfection, such as a static hold and the Korbut Flip, which was performed for the first time by Olga Korbut in 1976. In recent years, many of these elements have been phased out.
Uneven bars
The uneven bars are a pair of parallel bars on a steel frame raised 2.5 m (8.2 ft) above the ground, allowing gymnasts to perform ‘giants’ (360-degree revolutions around the bars), release skills, twists and changes of direction. They are also used for spectacular dismounts, such as a triple-back somersault.
The bar routines are often set to music, which adds to the overall presentation of a gymnast’s performance. They can be incredibly beautiful, but they also require exceptional balance and flexibility to execute safely. Some of the most famous female gymnasts, including Nadia Comaneci and Simone Biles, have won multiple Olympic and world championship titles on uneven bars.
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