Leisure Kicks - The essencial sport and leisure guide

The Ancient Greeks were big on health and fitness and many of the movements and equipment used in modern gymnastics originate from this period. The Romans introduced the wooden horse, an early prototype for the vault and were the first to develop it into a true sport. Much of the training was to make better horsemen of the Romans, which is why a lot of gymnastics moves involve mounting and dismounting. 

The modern version of the sport wasn’t fully developed until the 18th century when German exercise instructors created a series of exercises for young males to perform on apparatus they had designed. The sport was developed and refined over the years and soon enough the Federation of International Gymnastics was created in 1881. Naturally, it was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 – though the events are quite different from the ones you see in competition today, those were standardised by the 1950s. It has since grown into one of the most popular sports at the Olympics, exploding particularly after incredible performances from the likes of Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci – who achieved the first perfect score.

There are three Olympic disciplines now: artistic, rhythmic and trampoline. Scores are based around the difficulty of routines, the execution of the moves and in the case of the rhythmic discipline, artistry. 

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A display from the 1908 British women’s Olympic gymnastic team
Wikimedia Commons