History Of Gymnastics

Gymnastics History

Gymnastics has an ostensibly long and celebrated history, and variations on gymnastics have been around for about 7000 years. Female acrobats performing for pharaohs and Egyptian nobility are depicted on artifacts dating back to 5000 B.C.E. A fresco created around 2700 B.C.E., which was found at the palace at Knossos in Crete, depicts men and women from the ancient Minoan Civilization participating in what has been termed as “bull vaulting.” Essentially, the participant would run at a charging bull, grab the bull’s horns, propel themselves into the air while performing twists, turns, and flips, and would land on the bull’s back. Quickly following this act, the gymnast would make a graceful dismount, and land on their feet. As far as the early history of gymnastics, by 800 B.C.E., it is evidenced that Greece, China, Persia, and India were using gymnastics for military training.

Olympic Gymnastics History

In 776 B.C.E. the Greeks held their first Olympic games, which was dedicated to the king god, Zeus. Generally, gymnastics was a series of track and field events and acrobatics. The history of gymnastics in the Olympics is a tad vague, as many of the gymnastic events performed would not be considered gymnastics by today’s standards. However, the importance of physical fitness was extremely important to ancient Greece. The word “gymnastics” is derived from the ancient Greek word “gymnos,” which means “naked.” This is not surprising, considering Greek men trained and competed in the Olympics in the buff. Women, thereby, were not allowed to participate in such events. The Greeks built extensive gymnasiums to house their physical and mental training. Eventually the Romans adopted the art of gymnastics—however, in 392 C.E. Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished gymnastics, which did not resurface in Europe until the 16th century.

Modern Gymnastics History

The history of gymnastics is a long and complicated one, however, modern-day gymnastics do not really resemble the gymnastic activities of the days of old. Although gymnastics was in practice around the world on and off since 5000 B.C.E., the modern history of gymnastics did not start until just over 100 years ago, when in 1881 the International Gymnastics Federation (now known as the Bureau of the European Gymnastics Federation) was established. The first gymnastic events were reintroduced into the Olympics after thousands of years in the 1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Progressing quickly over the years, men and women’s gymnastics has quickly become one of the most popular sports in the Summer Olympics.