Gymnastics

Gymnastics — page 1 — GYMNASTICS

Gymnastics — page 2 — CONTENTS Introduction 4 Gold Silver Bronze and Wood 6 The Lost Apparatus 8 For the Motherland 11 Pigtails and Backﬂips 15 Nadia’s 10 18 Béla the Bear 22 Skip to Mary Lou 25 Magniﬁcent Triumph 28 A Low Horse and Lost Gold 33 Tarnished Medal 36 The Chinese Takeover 40 The Games of 2012 44 Endnotes 46 Resources 47 Index 48 SUMMER OLYMPIC LEGENDS

Gymnastics — page 3 — INTRODUCTION Throughout human history people have always sought to challenge themselves to compete against others and to discover the limits of their capabilities Such desires can turn destructive leading to war But the ancient Greeks also recognized the good in these human traits and it was because of them that the Olympic Games featuring running races jumping contests throwing competitions and wrestling and boxing matches began more than 2,700 years ago The ancient Olympics ended in a d 393 but the Games were revived in 1896 in hopes of promoting world peace through sports Fittingly the ﬁrst modern Olympics were held in Athens Greece but they moved around the world every four years after that In 2009 it was announced that the Games would be held in South America for the ﬁrst time going to Rio de Janeiro Brazil in 2016 Every 1896 Olympian received a medal reading International Olympic Games Athens 1896 4

Gymnastics — page 4 — Gymnastics a set of exercises showcasing athletes strength agility balance and grace fulness was practiced by the ancient Greeks and Romans In more modern times the sport was revived in Germany in the early 1800s as a movement called Turnverein Much of the credit for this movement went to physical educators Friedrich Jahn known as the Father of Gymnastics in Germany and Johann GutsMuths who wrote Gymnastik für die Jugend Gymnastics for Youth a textbook that showed how to work gymnastics into school curriculum By the time the ﬁrst modern Olympics were held in 1896 athletes all across Europe were participating in gymnastics so the sport was featured in the Games of Athens Indeed gymnastics is one of just ﬁve sports the others being swimming track and ﬁeld cycling and fencing that have appeared in every modern Olympiad Featuring events that demand a wide range of physical maneuvers from demonstrations of extreme upper-body power to near impossible body arches to aerial ﬂips and spins gym nastics has long been among the Olympics most popular competitions And the sport has produced its share of legendary athletes and classic moments From America’s George Eyser to Romania’s Nadia Comaneci to China’s Yang Wei gymnasts male and female have thrilled sports fans for more than a century And although gymnastics has also faced low points in the form of apparatus problems and judging controversies such incidents have added their own unforgettable moments to the history of this elegant Olympic sport INTRODUCTION 5 A stamp honoring German Friedrich Jahn famed for his many contributions to gymnastics

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