The World of Gymnastics

The dictionary definition of gymnastics is: A competitive sport in which individuals perform optional and prescribed acrobatic feats mostly on special apparatus in order to demonstrate strength, balance, and body control. An apparatus is the floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, parallel bars, high bar, balance beam, pommel horse, and still rings. Gymnastics is not just a sport, but also an art. Gymnastics is an art because of the dance moves and a gymnast has to be very graceful during the dance. Gymnastics is all over the world now, but where did it first start? In ancient Greece, gymnastics was taught to the children at school because the Greeks thought it was important to train the body and not just the mind. Warriors and athletes in ancient Greece used gymnastics to train. Gymnastics first appeared in the Olympics in 1896. They were held in Athens, Greece. Some of the best gymnasts come from the U.S.A, China, Russia, Japan, and Romania.