Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal muscle groups. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordinated. Rhythmic gymnastics is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FiG), which first recognized it as a sport in 1963. It became an Olympic sport in 1984, with an individual all-around event. The group all-around competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. At the international level, rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only sport. The most prestigious competitions, besides the Olympic Games, are the World Championships, World Games, European Championships, European Games, the World Cup Series and the Grand Prix Series. Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills, and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points. They perform leaps, balances, and rotations along with handling the apparatus.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics, three different gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline. The artistic gymnastics and trampoline events were held at the Sydney SuperDome on 16–25 September and 22–23 September, respectively. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at Pavilion 3 of the Sydney Olympic Park on 28 September – 1 October.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, three disciplines of gymnastics were contested: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. The artistic gymnastics and trampoline events were held at the Olympic Indoor Hall and the rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the Galatsi Olympic Hall.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics, two different gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Georgia Dome from July 20–25 and July 28–29. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at Stegeman Coliseum in nearby Athens, on the campus of the University of Georgia from August 1–4.
Ukraine competed in the Summer Olympic Games as an independent nation for the first time at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. Previously, Ukrainian athletes competed for the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. 231 competitors, 146 men and 85 women, took part in 148 events in 21 sports.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, two different gymnastics disciplines were contested. In addition to the fourteen artistic gymnastics events contested, for the first time at the Olympics, a rhythmic gymnastics event was contested–the women's individual all-around. All of the gymnastics events were held at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles from July 29 through August 11. Several teams who had qualified to compete were absent as a result of the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott, including the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, and North Korea.
At the 1988 Summer Olympics, two different gymnastics disciplines were contested: artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Olympic Gymnastics Hall in Seoul from September 18 through 25th. The rhythmic gymnastics events were held at the same venue from September 28 through 30th.
At the 1992 Summer Olympics, two different gymnastics were contested: artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. The artistic gymnastics events were held at the Palau Sant Jordi from July 26 through August 2. The rhythmic gymnastics event were held at the Palau dels Esports de Barcelona from August 6 through 8th.
These are the results of the rhythmic group all-around competition, one of the two events of the rhythmic gymnastics discipline contested in the gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The qualification and final rounds took place on August 26 and August 28 at the Galatsi Olympic Hall.
Women's rhythmic group all-around competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium.
These are the results of the rhythmic team all-around competition, one of the two events of the rhythmic gymnastics discipline contested at the 1996 Summer Olympics. These games marked the beginning of the olympic career of Almudena Cid from Spain who went to compete in another three more olympic games.
These are the results of the rhythmic group all-around competition, one of the two events of the rhythmic gymnastics discipline contested in the gymnastics at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
The women's rhythmic group all-around competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held at the Wembley Arena from 9–12 August.
The women's rhythmic individual all-around competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics was held at the Wembley Arena from 9–11 August.
The gymnastics competitions at the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur were held at MATRADE Exhibition and Convention Centre in Segambut.
The Women's rhythmic group all-around competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics were held at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan, with the qualification taking place at 7 August and the final on 8 August.
Yelyzaveta Luzan is a Ukrainian-born Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnast. As a member of the Azerbaijan group, she is the 2022 World 3 Ribbons + 2 Balls bronze medalist. She is the 2020 European group all-around silver medalist and 2022 European group all-around bronze medalist. She represented Azerbaijan at the 2020 Summer Olympics. As an individual, she represented Azerbaijan at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and won a gold medal in the mixed team event.
Lidiia Anatolyevna Iakovleva is a Russian-born Australian rhythmic gymnast who represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the individual all-around. She represented Australia at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal in the mixed multi-discipline team event. She won a silver medal in the team event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She will compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of Australia's rhythmic gymnastics group.
Gymnastics competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will be contested in three categories: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining. The artistic and trampoline events will occur at the Bercy Arena, with the rhythmic events staged at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from 8 to 10 August.
