To the casual
spectator, the sport of gymnastics might seem elegant and simple
but this surface beauty and simplicity can be deceptive. As an
observer, you really need to understand physical challenges and
technical details to appreciate the artistic beauty and physical
power of gymnastics. Years of training, conditioning and practice
go into each brief performance. Each athlete has her own arduous
story about her personal journey and individual accomplishments.
She has likely had to sacrifice many tangible and intangible things.
Gymnastics isn't necessarily about winning or losing at competitions
. . . it is about the feeling of flying through the air, sticking
a perfect landing and the excitement of learning a new skill.
For many gymnasts, they love the sport of gymnastics because of
the person it has helped them to become.
Gymnastics
has been a sport of continuous evolution to increase the level
of challenge and complexity of physical accomplishments and components
of skills. While a young woman's performance might last roughly
the same amount of time as it did 20 years ago, the nature of
her skills, movements and difficulty has increased significantly.
On an ongoing basis, skills are replaced by newer, vibrant, original
and more challenging movements that may someday be viewed as standard
skills. The "bar" is continually being raised. Unlike other team
sports, one of the real joys of gymnastics is the emphasis on
personal challenge and the individual's evolving skills and improvement.
The Language
of Artistic Gymnastics
As with any
sport, there is a special language required when discussing the
movement of that sport. In gymnastics, we describe various skills
as the "elements" having substance and form. There are elements
of strength, holding, balance, flight, swing, flexibility and
transitional movements. Sometimes an element may combine several
qualities such as strength and balance. Other components of gymnastic
movements are directional changes, body waves, splits, amplitude
and extension. Artistic merits of the performance are judged on
elegance, appearance, bearing and the ease of grace of the gymnast's
movements.
Categories
of Athletes and Skills
Each athlete
is placed in a competitive category determined by her age, athletic
skill and ability. There is a code that the coaches follow in
preparing the athletes and routines for each event. The required
skills will vary greatly among the various levels of competition.
These skills are rated from simple to very difficult. In each
category, the gymnast is required to have certain complexity and
numbers of specified skills in her routine. Women compete in four
events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor).
EVENTS
Vault:
Women's vaults
are grouped into four categories which are determined by the body
positions and movements of that vault. When a gymnast selects
a vault, she must meet the requirements for that vault according
to the Code of Points. Some ingredients of a successful vault
include: strong, explosive run; feet going quickly up over the
head; proper body, shoulder and hand position when she pushes
off the table; and an instantaneous push-off. During the flight
phase it is important to ensure height and distance. Twists and
saltos are important in the higher-difficulty and more challenging
vaults. A steady and "stuck" landing is also critical.
Uneven
Bars:
The emphasis on this event is movement elements including swing,
flight and transition of elements. The gymnast must use both upper
and lower bars. There must be grip changes, releases and re-grasps.
There must be flight elements and she must change direction. The
gymnast must perform saltos and giant swings in a handstand position,
pirouettes and release elements in the higher difficulty routines.
She may perform only four elements in a row on the same bar. Her
routine should flow from movement to movement. She should not
pause or make any extra swings or falter and re-support herself.
Her dismount should have a "stuck" landing.
Balance
Beam:
This event is especially challenging as the athlete must combine
gymnastic, acrobatic and dance movements somewhat like the floor
exercise to create high points or peaks in the performance. The
added interest is that it must be executed on an apparatus that
is 1.2 metres off the ground and only 4 inches wide. There must
be flight elements, turning on one leg, leaps or jumps, acrobatic
elements and a gymnastics series. She must perform on the entire
16 ft length and there must be elements close to the beam. The
gymnast's effort to maintain balance should not be obvious and
her performance should be smooth and without hesitation. Her dismount
should have a "stuck" landing.
Floor Exercise:
This event is performed out in the open on a special 40 x 40 ft.
spring floor. The floor exercise is choreographed to music. The
gymnast must cover the entire floor, using acrobatic series, gymnastics
elements and pirouettes to create peaks in the routine. There
must be considerable height and distance of movement. It is most
important that the athlete blends all elements of her routine
smoothly and she should make level and direction changes harmoniously.
She must use her great athletic ability to make the performance
appear as effortless as dancing often appears. Her movements should
seem to be a single flow of motion matched to the movement, rather
than a calculated accumulation of skills and elements.
