Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, 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.
Tatiana Gutsu, rarely Tetiana Hutsu, is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast from the Soviet Union and the winner of the all-around title in the 1992 Summer Olympics. She was renowned for performing some of the most difficult routines in the sport. She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2022.
Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic sport in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward and/or backward somersaults and twists. Scoring is based on the difficulty and on the total seconds spent in the air. Points are deducted for bad form and horizontal displacement from the center of the bed.
Kimberly Lynn Zmeskal Burdette is an American retired artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach and the 1991 World All-Around champion. A member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team from the 1991 World Championships, she was the first American woman to ever win the all-around title at the World Championships, as well as the first to win a world championship medal of any color in the all-around. A three-time United States national all-around champion (1990–92), Zmeskal is also the 1992 world champion on both balance beam and floor exercise, and was a member of the bronze medal-winning U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, the first U.S. team medal won at a fully attended Olympic Games. She also posted the highest optional all-around score in the qualification round in Barcelona.
Dominique Margaux Dawes is a retired American artistic gymnast. Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome', she was a 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion, a three-time Olympian, a World Championship silver and bronze medalist, and a member of the gold-medal-winning "Magnificent Seven" team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She is also the Olympic bronze medalist on floor exercise from the Atlanta games.
Karen Cockburn is a Canadian trampoline gymnast. She won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the individual event. She won a gold medal at the 2003 Trampoline World Championships in Hannover, Germany in the same event and a bronze in the team event. At the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics, she won a silver medal in the individual event.
George Peter Nissen was an American gymnast and inventor who developed the modern trampoline and made trampolining a worldwide sport and recreation.
Vanessa Marie Atler is an American former elite gymnast. She is the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion, the 1998 Goodwill Games gold medalist on the floor exercise and vault, and a four-time national champion in the individual events of vault, balance beam, and floor exercise. She is also the 1996 junior national all-around and floor champion. At the 1999 American Cup, Atler became the first female gymnast to successfully perform a Rudi vault.
Oksana Omelianchik is a retired Soviet gymnast and the all-around gold medalist of the 1985 World Championships. Omelianchik was most known for her enthusiastic showmanship, difficulty and originality, including pioneering back-to-back tumbling.
Jaime Halsey is a British former Olympic trampolinist. She represented her nation at the 2000 Summer Olympics, the first time the event was recognised by the competition. After a twenty-year career, Moore retired from gymnastics in January 2010 to focus on coaching.
Irina Vladimirovna Karavayeva is a Russian trampoline gymnast, competing at an international level since 1990.
Newton C. Loken was an artistic gymnast and coach of gymnastics, trampolining and cheerleading. While a member of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team, Loken was NCAA all-around gymnastics champion in 1942 and the Big Ten Conference all-around champion in 1941 and 1942. He was the coach of the University of Michigan gymnastics team for 36 years from 1948-1983. Loken's gymnasts won the NCAA championships in 1963 and 1970, as well as 12 Big Ten championships. His record as Michigan's gymnastics coach was 250-72-1. Loken also coached the Michigan trampolining team to NCAA championships in 1969 and 1970.
Kiara Nowlin is an American gymnast, World Champion power tumbler and an internationally ranked Cheerleader. She was a part of the 2007 World Age Games held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (WAG) Gold Medalist in Tumbling, the 2008 and 2009 USAG Winter Classic First Place Tumbler, and the 2009 USASF Gold Medal Young Athlete Merit Scholarship Recipient. She was at the 2009 World Age Games held in St. Petersburg, Russia, gold medalist in tumbling and gold medalist in double-mini trampoline. Nowlin also competed for the California Allstars in the Small Senior Co-Ed division (Smoed) and competed in the Unlimited Co-Ed division, and has won three U.S. All Star Federation Cheerleading Worlds Gold medals with her team. She was on the acrobatic gymnastics team at Baylor University from 2013 to 2017.
Kayla Rose Williams is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2009 vault world champion and 2009 vault national champion.
Dmitri Vladimir "Dima" Poliaroush is a Belarusian gymnastics coach and former competitive trampolinist. He is a six-time World Champion, seven-time European Champion, and twenty-time World Cup winner. He competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics, finishing fifth and fourth respectively. He was the first man to perform a “Double Full In – Double Full Out” on trampoline and the skill is named after him. He is the only person who has been an active trampolinist and trampoline coach at the Olympic Games.
Kalon Curtis Ludvigson is an American trampoline and tumbling champion. Ludvigson has become the most decorated U.S. athlete in trampoline and tumbling history by winning 20 World Cup and World Championships Medals in Tumbling and Double Mini Trampoline.
Amelia Magdalena Hundley is a former American artistic gymnast. She won a gold, silver, and bronze medal at the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She also won team gold medals competing for the United States at the 2012 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships and the City of Jesolo Trophy.
Frank K. Schmitz was an American trampoline gymnast who won four individual NCAA titles and a silver medal at the 1965 Trampoline World Championships.
Yelyzaveta Merenzon is a Ukrainian-born American group rhythmic gymnast. She was the alternate for the 2020 United States Olympic team. She won the 5 hoops event final with the American group at the 2017 Pan American Championships and won two silver medals at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Jia Fangfang is a Chinese gymnast who competes in tumbling. She has won five world championships in tumbling, a world record. She was noted for both the difficulty and execution of her tumbling passes. Jia also competed in the floor exercise of artistic gymnastics in the 2018 and 2019 Chinese national competitions. Jia withdrew from the 2019 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships.
