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Gymnastics evolved as a sport in the 19th century, and around this time, the sport witnessed the formation of International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) in 1881. The IGF remains as the oldest sporting federation in the world. read more
 "Gymnastics - history, rules, defending champions")
Simone Biles of the USA will be one of the exciting prospects to watch in gymnastics at the Paris Olympics. Reuters
Gymnastics has a long history in sport that goes back to centuries of years ago in ancient Greece. The name “gymnastics” is derived from the Greek word gymnazien, which means “exercise naked”. As the name suggests, gymnasts in the past took part in activities like running, swimming and weightlifting while being unclothed.
Back then, ordinary citizens of Ancient Greece were banned from taking part in gymnastics, and that practice was restricted military soldiers as they saw gymnastics a way to prepare themselves for war, both physically and mentally.
Paris Olympics Complete Coverage: Click here for news, schedule, explainers and more
Gymnastics evolved as a sport in the 19th century, and around this time, the sport witnessed the formation of International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) in 1881. The IGF remains as the oldest sporting federation in the world. It was also around the same time when artistic gymnastics became increasingly popular, in order to differentiate between the freestyle way of gymnastics and the kind that was employed by military personnel.
What is gymnastics’ history at the Olympics?
Artistic Gymnastics has been an Olympic sport since the very first edition of the modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece. It has been part of every edition of the Olympics ever since. Only men competed in gymnastics competitions for 32 years, until the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, which saw women take part for the first time.
During the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, women’s gymnastics expanded further, with seven events being introduced. That was later tweaked to six events, and it has been so since the 1960 Olympics in Rome. The men’s programme, on the other hand, have eight events in total.
What are the rules?
In artistic gymnastics, several kinds of apparatus are used for athletes to compete. Individual competitions are held on different apparatus, whereas gender-specific apparatus is used for team competitions. And each apparatus comes with different challenges and skills. While men compete on parallel bars, pommel horse, horizontal bar, rings, vault and floor exercise, women’s events include uneven bars, vault, balance beam and floor exercise. Strength and precision are a couple of the most crucial aspects in gymnastics.
Until the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the gymnastic routines’ results were declared on the basis of points, with the maximum being 10 points. However, a scoring controversy erupted during the 2004 Games and the points system was then changed to a company of D (Difficulty) and E (Execution) scores.
The difficulty scores are based on the athletes’ performance of their most difficult moves, whereas in execution, points are deducted for incidents like falls, taking multiple steps or bent arms. In terms of difficulty, eight difficult elements are taken into account for women, whereas 10 are taken into account for men.
The difficulty scoring system starts from zero and is an athlete is awarded points regarding the level of difficulty he/she has overcome. In execution scoring, the scores start from 10 and points are deducted for any errors or fouls committed. The difficulty and execution score in the end are combined to determine the final score of a gymnast, which ranges between 11 and 16 points.
Who are the reigning champions?
Artistic gymnastics
Men
Team all-around: Russian Olympic Committee
Individual all-around: Daiki Hashimoto (Japan)
Floor exercise: Artem Dolgopyat (Israel)
Pommel horse: Max Whitlock (Great Britain)
Rings: Liu Yang (China)
Vault: Shin Jea-hawn (South Korea)
Parallel bars: Zou Jingyuan (China)
Horizontal bar: Daiki Hasimoto (Japan)
Women
Team all-around: Russian Olympic Committee
Individual all-around: Sunisa Lee (USA)
Vault: Rebeca Andrade (Brazil)
Uneven bars: Nina Derwael (Belgium)
Balance beam: Guan Chenchen (China)
Floor exercise: Jade Carey (USA)
Rhythmic gymnastics
Group all-around: Bulgaria
Individual all-around: Linoy Ashram (Israel)
Trampoline
Men’s individual: Ivan Litvinovich (Belarus)
Women’s individual: Zhu Xueying (China)
How many athletes have qualified for gymnastics at Paris Olympics?
A total of 20 athletes (12 men and eight women) will compete in gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Who are the athletes to watch in gymnastics?
Simone Biles (USA): A household name in gymnastics, Simone Biles will be aiming further glory in France. She won two medals at the Tokyo Olympics, a team silver and a bronze in balance beam, before opting out of multiple events to focus on her mental health. Gold will be her aim this time around
Sunisa Lee (USA): During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Sunisa Lee had become the fifth consecutive American woman gymnast to win the all-around title, and despite fighting health issues recently, she will remain a strong contented for gold, thanks to her never-say-die attitude.
Daiki Hashimoto (Japan): Daiki Hashimoto enjoyed success at home when he won gold in the Olympic all-around segment at the Tokyo Olympics, and he will be a strong favourite to not just defend that title, but potentially win more medals.
Fred Richard (USA): Fred Richard is just 20 years old but has been making waves in gymnastics. He recently became the first American gymnast in 13 years to clinch an all-around medal at the World Championships when he won bronze medal in October last year.
When and where will gymnastics take place at the Olympics?
The artistic gymnastics competition will take place at the Bercy Arena from 27 July to 5 August, whereas the trampoline events will take place at the same venue on 2 August. The rhythmic gymnastics competition will take place at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena from 8 August to 10 August.
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English (US) ·