Gymnastics originated in ancient Greece as exercises without clothing. It later developed as a sport under the Romans to train for warfare. Gymnastics competitions began in the late 19th century at the Olympics, and only included women's all-around competition until later. A key turning point was Olga Korbut's 1972 routine which combined strength and grace, changing perceptions of women's gymnastics. Formal competitive gymnastics continues to evolve through changes in scoring and uniforms.

1. HISTORY OF
GYMNASTICS By Lauren Cheney

2. WHAT IS GYMNASTICS?
Gymnastics combines physical
skills such as body control,
coordination, flexibility,
gracefulness, and strength with
tumbling and acrobatic skills all
performed in an artistic manner.
The word gymnastics is derived
from the ancient Greek word for
disciplinary exercises. This activity
is performed by both men and
woman at all levels, from local
clubs and universities to elite
competitions such as the
Opympics.

3. THE BEGINNING
Gymnastics was introduced by the Greek civilization
for the purpose of facilitating bodily development
through physical activity such as running, jumping,
swimming, throwing, wrestling, and even weight
lifting. Many people actually used to practiced the
developing sport in some form even before the Greek
introduced their gymnazein which literally translates
“to exercise naked”, which is exactly what they did.

4. ROUGH START
After conquering Greece,
the Romans turned their
form of exercise into a
more formal sport with the
ideal purpose of their
routines preparing
participants for warfare.
Although, when the threat
of war was no longer so
threatening, the popularity
of the sport dwindled and
tumbling stuck around only
as a form of entertainment.

5. COMPETITION Gymnastics has existed for
more than 2,000 years, but
its development as a
competitive sport began just
a little more than 100 years
ago. Men's gymnastics was
first scheduled for the
Olympic games in 1896, but
Olympic gymnastic
competitions for women did
not start until 1936. The
competition for women only
included an all-around
competition; female
competitors had to wait until

6. For a long period of time, the
sport of gymnastics was
considered a strength sport for
men and a grace sport for
women. However, in 1972,
that double standard changed
when a Olga Korbut burst onto
the gymnastic routine no one
would have expected to see at
the time. She was the first
woman to combine strength
and power with the grace
changing the way people
evaluated the competitors of

7. GYMNAST UNIFORMS
The purpose of gymnastic uniforms have drastically changed.
Women's leotards were originally intended to cover up as much
of their body as possible, and as one can see in the picture
above, men used to perform in pants! In today’s modern
gymnastic competition, both men and women wear leotards.
The uniforms in today’s gymnastics are meant to improve
aerodynamics as well as bend with the competitor’s body as
they move.

8. SCORING
Gymnastic competitions are judged and scored on both
individual and team performances. Each competitor must
perform and execute a specific set of moves on each piece of
equipment. Judges use a 0-10 scale. There are usually four
judges and the highest and lowest scores are always dropped to
provide a more objective evaluation.

9. NADIA COMANECI
Nadia was the first
female gymnast to
be awarded with a
perfect score of 10
in an Olympic
gymnastics event.
She also won two
gold medals in the
1980 Summer
Olympics.

10. SOURCES
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/history-gynastics-ancient-
greece-modern-times
https://usagym.org/pages/home/gymnastics101/history_artistic.htm
l?prog=pb
http://gymnastics.isport.com/gymnastics-guides/history-of-gymnastics