History
Gymnastics is one of the oldest sports in the world tracing back to about 2000 BC in ancient Greece. Athletes would compete in a events such as bull jumping which is similar to today's event called vault (described on the artistic gymnastics page). After Rome took over Greece, Romans used Greece's form of gymnastics and changed it so they could use gymnastics to train their soldiers in the legions of the Roman army. However, as Rome fell, interest in gymnastics decreased though tumbling remained for entertainment.
As time went on, gymnastics formed into what we know today. In 1774, a Prussian named Johann Bernhard Basedow, included physical exercises to his school in Saxony. This started the modernization of gymnastics. In the late 1700's, Fredrich Ludwig Jahn developed today's 3 types of bars, uneven, parallel, and horizontal bars. He also created the balance beam and jumping events. Gymnastics blossomed in Germany, and in Sweden, a more graceful form of gymnastics was developed by Guts Muth. In the U.S., the sport was introduced by Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent who taught gymnastics at a few universities in the U.S. and added 30 of his own pieces to the apparatuses during about the time of the Civil War. The sport grew greatly in th1880s. Clubs were formed and gymnasts were often called "turners" As gymnastics grew, some events like weight lifting were excluded to form what we know of gymnastics today.
As you can see, gymnastics has an interesting and rich history developed as time went on to what we know today. People from all over the world contributed what they thought gymnastics should be like without even knowing they changed history and effected our gymnastics world today. I hope you enjoyed learning about the history of gymnastics.
As you can see, gymnastics has an interesting and rich history developed as time went on to what we know today. People from all over the world contributed what they thought gymnastics should be like without even knowing they changed history and effected our gymnastics world today. I hope you enjoyed learning about the history of gymnastics.