Tammy Steimel, age 13, of Phoenix, Ariz., for her question:
HOW DID GYMNASTICS ORIGINATE?
Nadia Comaneci, a 14 year old from Romania, won three gold medals in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and continued building world wide interest in gymnastics that had started to mount when a 13 year old Russian girl by the name of Olga Korbut thrilled large audiences in the 1972 games in Munich. Gymnastics has become a favorite spectator sport.
We don't know exactly when the first gymnastic routine was performed, but it most likely happened in ancient times. For hundreds of years young men and women as well as boys and girls have been performing difficult acrobatic exercises.
A German schoolteacher by the name of Friedrich Jahn receives credit for building the first modern gymnastics equipment. He came up with his contribution in the early 1800s, and almost immediately there were people in many countries who became competitors. When the first modern Olympics were held in 1896, gymnastics was part of the program.
Men take part in six events: floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, long horse vault, parallel bars and horizontal bars. Women have four events: balance beam, side horse vault, uneven parallel bars and floor exercise.
Most women are all around gymnastic competitors and perform both compulsory routines and optional programs in all four events. Some men elect to only enter several events and they also perform both compulsory and optional routines. Only all around men gymnasts, however, compete in international meets where they must take part in all six routines.
A perfect gymnastic score is 10.00 with the judges taking off tenths of points for each flaw they see.
Bonus points are often awarded for original or especially difficult movements.
Romanian gymnastic star Nadia Comaneci became the first in Olympic Games history to earn a perfect score of 10 from the judges. She actually earned seven perfect scores during the preliminary competition and at the finals at the 1976 games in Montreal.
Balance, endurance, flexibility and strength are the attributes necessary to perform well in gymnastics. Most top women reach their peaks during the teen years while men champions have an average age of 21.
In the United States, the U.S. Gymnastics Federation oversees all major amateur events. The organization is a member of the International Gymnastics Foundation, the body which handles all world wide competition. Regional championships are held in most states with the winners moving up to national and international competition.
It takes dedication and hundreds of hours of work to become a gymnastics champion.