What is Artistic Gymnastics?
Introduced in 1894, artistic gymnastics was one of the original disciplines in the modern Olympic Games. Artistic gymnasts are challenged to perfect their skills across a range of equipment, such as the beam and performing on the floor.
By whom, where and when was Artistic Gymnastics invented?
Plato, Aristotle, and Homer heartily advocated the strengthening qualities of gymnastic activity. The Ancient Greek civilisation more than two thousand years ago believed symmetry between the mind and body was possible only when physical exercise was coupled with intellectual activity.
The term "artistic gymnastics" emerged in the early 1800s to distinguish free-flowing styles from techniques used in military training. Gymnastic competitions began to flourish in schools and athletic clubs across Europe, and made a fitting return at the first edition of the modern Olympic Games were revived in Athens in 1896.
Between 1896 and 1924 the sport evolved into what we recognise as modern gymnastics. Among those disciplines discarded were club swinging, rock lifting and even swimming, which appeared in 1922.
In the early days of artistic gymnastics at the Games, participants often had a background in ballet, and would reach their peak in their 20s. Nadia Comaneci’s and Nelli Kim's perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Montreal Games, at the age of 14, heralded an era of younger champions, trained specifically in gymnastics from childhood, although gymnasts must now be 16 to compete in the Olympic Games.
What are the rules of Artistic Gymnastics? How is Artistic Gymnastics scored?
Gymnasts are awarded a D score for difficulty and an E score for execution.
- The difficulty score is based on the performed moves, earning between 0.1 and 1.0 points per move.
- The top eight moves are counted for women, and top 10 for men, to give them their final D score.
- For the vault, it’s simply the score associated with the vault move.
- For their E score, every gymnast starts with the perfect 10.0 score, with points deducted for any mistakes.
- The gymnast with the highest combined D and E score wins.
- The gymnast with the highest combined score from all events wins the all-around event.
Artistic Gymnastics and the Olympics
Artistic gymnastics was introduced at the very first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, and has been present at every edition of the Games since then. At the beginning, it comprised disciplines that are difficult to qualify as “artistic”, such as climbing and acrobatics.
The foundations of the Olympic gymnastics programme were laid at the 1924 Games in Paris, when the men’s apparatus individual and team competitions appeared. In 1928, women were included in the Amsterdam Games. It was not until 1952 that the women’s programme was developed, with seven events, and then stabilised at six events as from the 1960 Games in Rome.
Best Artistic Gymnasts to watch
Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles could not repeat her Rio 2016 heroics at Tokyo 2020 after her well-documented struggles with mental health at the Games, however she did walk away with a silver and bronze medal. Her French coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi announced on a Facebook Watch discussion that Simone Biles is “thinking of Paris 2024”.
French hope Melanie de Jesus dos Santos will also be a one to watch. The 2019 European all-around champion flew to the USA in April to train with Cecile and Laurent Landi, as well as Simone Biles, to prepare for Paris 2024.
The USA’s Sunisa Lee, winner of the Tokyo 2020 all-around title, will also be a strong contender, as will Belgian Nina Derwael, who won the uneven bars title at Tokyo 2020.
On the men's side, Japan’s Hashimoto Daiki will be a strong favourite having won two gold medals, including the all-around and horizontal bars titles at Tokyo 2020. The 20-year-old, who also won silver in the team event, has shown he is more than capable of leading the Japanese team after the retirement of sporting legend and seven-time Olympic medallist Uchimura Kohei.
Britain’s Max Whitlock, who won a second pommel horse title in as many Olympics at Tokyo 2020, is also well worth keeping an eye on, as is Artem Dolgopyat, who became the first gymnast from Israel to win an Olympic medal when he clinched gold in the Floor exercise.
Artistic Gymnastics Competition Rules at Paris 2024
In total, 192 artistic gymnasts will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics: 96 men and 96 women. This is four less in total than Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
Team events will feature 12 teams of five athletes each in the men’s and women’s events, whereas at Tokyo 2020 teams were composed of four athletes.
For NOCs that don’t win a team quota, a maximum of three individuals per NOC will be able to qualify.
The men will compete on six apparatus with women competing on four.
Male athletes born on or before 31 December 2006 (17 years old at Paris 2024) will be allowed to compete in the men’s event, with female athletes born on or before 31 December 2008 (15 years old at Paris 2024) will be eligible to compete in the women’s competition.
