Gymnastics - Artistic gymnastics

Artistic Gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which competitors perform short routines (ranging from approximately 30 to 90 seconds) on different apparatus, obviously less for vaulting (see lists below).

Artistic gymnastics is one of the most popular spectator sports at the Summer Olympic Games, although it is not a particularly popular participant sport, as performing at even a basic level requires very high levels of fitness and skill which take more training than many people are prepared to commit. In addition, in many nations, gymnastics is an expensive sport. However, the discipline of general gymnastics is geared more towards participation for fun and fitness, rather than competition, and attracts a respectable number of participants including retired gymnasts.

The apparatus used in Men's Artistic Gymnastics (MAG), and Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) differ, with the unique men's apparatus particularly emphasizing strength requirements and the women's apparatus emphasizing artistry, balance and agility.

The sport of gymnastics is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, or FIG. The FIG designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite competition. Within individual countries, gymnastics is regulated by national federations, such as BAGA in Great Britain and USA Gymnastics in the United States.

History
Gymnastics as a system of harmonious sports training originated in the Ancient Greece more than 2,000 years ago, although gymnastic exercises and even some sort of apparatus were used in the ancient China and India for medical purposes much earlier. The system was mentioned in works by ancient authors, such as Homer, Aristotle and Plato. It included many disciplines, which would later become separate sports: swimming, race, wrestling, boxing, riding, etc. [1] and was also used for the military training. In its present form gymnastics evolved in Germany and Czechoslovakia in the beginning of the 19th century, and the term "artistic gymnastics" was introduced at the same time to distinguish free styles from the ones used by the military.[2] A German educator Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, who was known as the father of gymnastics [3], invented several apparatus, including the horizontal bar and parallel bars which are used to this day. Two of the first gymnastics clubs were Turnvereins and Sokols.

In 1881 International Gymnastics Federation was founded and remains the governing body of international gymnastics since then. It included only three countries and was called European Gymnastics Federation until 1921, when the first non-European countries joined the federation, and it was reorganized into its present form. Gymnastics was included into the program of the 1896 Summer Olympics, but women were allowed to participate in the Olympics only since 1928. World Championships, held since 1903 also remained for men only until 1934. Since that time two branches of artistic gymnastics have been developing – WAG and MAG – which, unlike men's and women's branches of many other sports, are much different in apparatus used at the major competitions, in techniques and concerns.

Gymnastics, Beijing Olympic 2008

Source: Wikipedia.org