History of Gymnastics

Gymnastics is one of the oldest sports and first originated from the ancient Greeks.  From as early as the year 800 BC, the military used to include gymnastics in their training programmes in countries such as Greece, the Middle East, China and Italy.  The use of gymnastics helped to improve the overall strength, balance and flexibility of the soldiers. The Romans are responsible for adding the pommel horse to gymnastic practice.  It was a part of the cavalry training, allowing soldiers to practice getting on and off a horse quickly and with ease.  The word gymnastics comes from the Greek word "gymnos" which means naked.  In ancient Greece they used to perform the sport naked which has obviously now changed as in the modern day leotards are worn.  Gymnastics was also originally performed outside which you can see from the photo I have attached from the 1936 Olympics.  This is something which would never happen these days, all performances are in fully equipped gymnasiums and gymnastics would definitely never be considered an outside sport which just shows how much the sport has developed and changed over the years (See picture 2).  The International Gymnastics Federation was formed in 1881 and from there gymnastics became an international competition.  The Olympic Games were started up again in 1896 and gymnastics was a part of that competition and every one since.

1936 Olympics

2008 Olympics