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 individually or in groups 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 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.
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.
The men's rings competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 18 at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium. The eight competitors with the highest scores in qualifying proceeded to the men's rings finals. There, each gymnast performed again; the scores from the final round determined final ranking. There were 70 competitors from 25 nations that competed on the rings, with nations in the team event entering up to 5 gymnasts while other nations could enter up to 2. The event was won by Chen Yibing of China, the nation's first victory in the rings since 1984. Yang Wei, also of China, took silver. Bronze went to Oleksandr Vorobiov, the nation's first medal in the event.
The men's parallel bars competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 9 and 19 at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium. The eight competitors with the highest scores in qualifying proceeded to the men's parallel bars finals. There, each gymnast performed again; the scores from the final round determined the final ranking. There were 75 competitors from 27 nations that competed on the parallel bars, with nations in the team event entering up to 5 gymnasts while other nations could enter up to 2. The event was won by Li Xiaopeng of China, the first man to win three medals in the parallel bars as well as the first man to win two non-consecutive gold medals in the same apparatus. Yoo Won-Chul of South Korea took silver. Anton Fokin won Uzbekistan's first parallel bars medal in its debut as an independent nation.
The Artistic Gymnastics World Cup is a competition series for artistic gymnastics sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the few tournaments in artistic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the World Championships and the gymnastics competitions at the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympics. Beginning in the 2017-2020 quadrennium, the All-Around and Individual Apparatus World Cup series are used to qualify a maximum of seven spots to the Olympic Games.
The 2018 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 10 to 16 September 2018 at Arena Armeec. The top three countries in the group all-around, Russia, Italy, and Bulgaria won the first three spots for the 2020 Olympic Games. Russia was the most successful nation of the competition with seven of the nine gold medals, and Bulgaria and Italy each won a title.
The women's artistic individual all-around event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was held at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on 29 July 2021. Approximately 80 gymnasts from 49 nations competed in the all-around in the qualifying round.
The Women's rhythmic individual all-around competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, Japan, with the qualification taking place on 6 August and the final on 7 August.
Ekaterina Olegovna Vedeneeva is a Russian-born Slovenian individual rhythmic gymnast.
The 9th European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships were held from 21–25 April 2021 at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland. The 2021 European Championships were an Olympic qualifying event, with two individual spots available for both disciplines. Russia earned a non-nominative quota spot in both disciplines, while Turkey's Adem Asil and Romania's Larisa Iordache qualified nominative berths for themselves in men's and women's artistic gymnastics, respectively.
Australia is competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Australian athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, alongside France, Great Britain, Greece, and Switzerland. As Brisbane will stage the 2032 Summer Olympics, Australia and the United States, the next nation to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, marched before the homebound French team entering the Place du Trocadéro during the parade of nations segment of the opening ceremony.
The Women's rhythmic group all-around competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France, with the qualification taking place on 9 August and the final on 10 August.
Bulgaria is competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Bulgarian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics from 1924 onwards, except for three occasions: the 1948 Summer Olympics in London because of the nation's instigation in World War II, and the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of the worldwide Great Depression and Soviet boycott, respectively.
The People's Republic of China is competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. It is the nation's twelfth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1952. However, China did not participate in the next seven games: 1956; the nation was absent in 1960 and 1964 over a dispute with Taiwan; 1968; 1972 due to issues with GANEFO; 1976 due to Republic of China boycott; and 1980, joining the US led boycott. The nation has participated in every Olympics since the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Romania is competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024, celebrating the centenary of the team's official debut in the same venue. Although the nation's participation started in 1900, Romanian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games from 1924 onwards, except for two occasions: the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles during the period of the worldwide Great Depression, and the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
Hungary is competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Hungarian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except two: Antwerp 1920 because of the country's role in World War I and Los Angeles 1984 as part of the Soviet-led boycott.
The 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sportpaleis, from 30 September to 8 October 2023. Antwerp hosted the event for the third time; previously the city hosted the first ever World Championships in 1903 and again in 2013.
