Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring strength, flexibility, balance, agility, endurance and control. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.

Most forms of competitive gymnastics events are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Each country has its own national governing body (BIW) affiliated to FIG. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic events. It typically involves the women's events of vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Men's events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

Other FIG disciplines include rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling, acrobatic gymnastics and aerobic gymnastics. Disciplines not currently recognized by FIG include wheel gymnastics, aesthetic group gymnastics, men's rhythmic gymnastics and TeamGym. Participants can include children as young as 20 months old doing kindergym and children's gymnastics, recreational gymnasts of ages 3 and up, competitive gymnasts at varying levels of skill, and world-class athletes.

The word gymnastics derives from the common Greek adjective γυμνός (gymnos) meaning "naked", by way of the related verb γυμνάζω (gymnazo), whose meaning is to "train naked", "train in gymnastic exercise", generally "to train, to exercise". The verb had this meaning, because athletes in ancient times exercised and competed without clothing. It came into use in the 1570s, from Latin gymnasticus, from Greek gymnastikos "fond of or skilled in bodily exercise," from gymnazein "to exercise or train" (see gymnasium).