Gymnastics is a 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.
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon or 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.
Eva Serrano was an individual rhythmic gymnast. She was the 1999 European All-around bronze medalist and is France's most decorated and successful rhythmic gymnast. She is also a 6-time French National All-around champion.
Russia, officially known as the Russian Federation, has competed at the modern Olympic Games on many occasions, but as different nations in its history. As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, as the Soviet Union at the 1952 Summer Olympics. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992, and finally returned once again as Russia at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Cape Verde competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Their participation marked their fourth Olympic appearance. Two Cape Verdeans competed in the Olympic games: Nelson Cruz participated as a marathon runner, and Wania Monteiro participated in gymnastics. Another athlete, Lenira Santos, was selected to compete in athletics but was forced to pull out due to injury. Monteiro was selected as the flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. Neither of the Cape Verdeans progressed beyond the first round.
The Gymnasiade, or World Gymnasiade, is an international multi-sport event which is organised by the International School Sport Federation (ISF). It is the largest event among many other sport events held by the ISF.
The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup is a competition for rhythmic gymnastics sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the few tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics officially organized by FIG, as well as the World Championships, the gymnastics competitions at the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympics, and the rhythmic gymnastics events at the World Games. The World Cup series should not be confused with the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix series, which is neither officially organized nor promoted by FIG.
The rhythmic gymnastics competitions at the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin took place between 29 June and 30 June at the Mersin Gymnastics Hall.
Gymnastics competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto were held from 11 to 20 July at the Ricoh Coliseum; due to naming rights the venue was known as the Toronto Coliseum for the duration of the games. The competition was split into three disciplines, artistic, rhythmic and trampoline. Women competed in all three disciplines whereas the men only took part in the artistic and trampoline competitions.
Bulgaria competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Bulgaria made their official debut at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Bulgarian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1924, except for three occasions: the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, and the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles because of Bulgaria's actions in WW2, the worldwide Great Depression and the Soviet boycott, respectively.
Cape Verde competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. The nation's participation in Rio de Janeiro marked its sixth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1996.
Yukari Murata is a Japanese individual rhythmic gymnast.
Susanna Marchesi is a former Italian individual rhythmic gymnast. She represents her nation at international competitions.
Kiana Eide is an American group rhythmic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2015 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. As part of the American group rhythmic gymnastics team, she won a gold and two silver medals at the 2015 Pan American Games and competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Romania participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 6 October to 18 October 2018.
Israel competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Israel's debut in 1952, Israeli athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, other than the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which it opted not to attend because of the nation's support for the US-led boycott. This is Israel's 17th appearance at the Summer Olympics.
Nilufar Shomuradova is an Uzbekistani group rhythmic gymnast who will represent Uzbekistan at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's rhythmic group all-around.
Huang Zhangjiayang is a Chinese rhythmic gymnast. She qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's rhythmic group all-around.
Kseniia Aleksandrova is an Uzbekistani group rhythmic gymnast who represented Uzbekistan at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
