Going for Gold The Olympics is the greatest sporting event on Earth Thousands of competitors called Olympians flock to one city every four years to compete over 17 days of unforgettable action The very best athletes win an Olympic gold silver or bronze medal China’s Li Xiaopeng flies high above the parallel bars during the 2008 Olympics Xiaopeng won this artistic gymnastics event and Yoo Wonchul from South Korea came second Modern Games The modern Olympic Games began in 1896 in Athens They revived the sports contests held by the ancient Greeks at Olympia from 776 BC Today the summer Olympics are held every four years The host city and nation welcome 4 thousands of spectators while hundreds of millions more watch on television Skill and Strength Gymnastics has been a part of every modern Olympics for men and since 1928 for women Gymnasts perform great feats of strength balance flexibility and poise They need high
No one has won more Olympic medals in any sport than Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina She competed at the games in 1956 1960 and 1964 and won an (cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:70)(cid:85)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:76)(cid:69)(cid:79)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:191)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:15)(cid:3) and four bronze medals Superstar levels of coordination in their movements and explosive power for some leaping events such as vaulting At the 2012 Olympics a total of 324 gymnasts will compete in the different medal competitions Three Types There are three different types of gymnastic events held at an Olympics artistic gymnastics rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining Rhythmic gymnasts make graceful flowing moves to music They perform on a large mat using objects such as a ball and large hoop In artistic gymnastics competitors often perform spectacular routines or moves on equipment called apparatus Trampolining gymnasts bounce high above a trampoline where they twist and turn in somersaults Games Age In the past medal-winning Olympic gymnasts have ranged in age from ten to over thirty In 1997 the International Gymnastics Federation FIG the organization that runs world gymnastics decided that gymnasts must be 16 years or older to compete in major championships including the Olympics Dong Fangxiao was a bronze medalist at the 2000 Olympics with the Chinese team When she became an official at the 2008 Olympics an investigation found that she was only 14 years old in 2000 two years below the minimum age She and the rest of her team lost their medals 5 Simeonova Seredova performs with the hoop during a rhythmic gymnastics competition in Italy in 2009 Rhythmic gymnasts must keep the hoop moving as they perform
Artistic Gymnastics Artistic gymnastics are the most popular and well-known gymnastics events at the Olympics Gymnasts perform on different pieces of equipment and their routines are scored by a panel of judges The judges watch carefully as Jiang Yuyuan of China performs a somersault during her vault She came in third in this 2007 World Cup competition with a score of 14 412 Different Events At the Olympics male gymnasts compete on six different pieces of apparatus and women on four Both men and women perform floor exercises and vaults on the vaulting table Women also perform on the uneven bars and the balance beam Only men compete on the parallel bars high bar pommel horse and rings Reaching the Final Gymnasts arrive at an Olympics knowing that they must perform incredibly well in the first competition called the preliminary Only the eight highest-scoring gymnasts in this enter the final on each piece of apparatus Scores from the preliminaries don’t count in the final Gymnasts start all over again with the highest 6
At the 2008 Olympics China’s Li Shanshan qualified for the final in first place She was one of the favorites for a gold medal but then fell from the beam She scored 15 300 so she didn’t win a medal 7 score winning gold In the 2008 men’s floor competition Chinese gymnast Zou Kai qualified in sixth place and the Brazilian Diego Hypólito in first yet in the final Kai took the gold medal and Hypólito ended sixth Scoring Systems A gymnast’s score used to be marked out of ten This was changed after the 2004 Olympics Now the scores are a total of two marks The first reflects the difficulty and technical demands of the gymnast’s routine The second score called the execution or B score is based on how well the gymnast performs the routine A panel of six judges marks the execution score out of 10 00 taking marks off for mistakes or falls Elite gymnasts usually score more than 15 5 points At the 2008 Olympics Shawn Johnson of the United States scored 16 225 to win the balance beam gold medal Superstar At the 1980 Olympics Russian Alexander Dityatin won an Olympic medal in all six (cid:68)(cid:83)(cid:83)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:88)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:191)(cid:81)(cid:68)(cid:79)(cid:86)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:93)(cid:72)(cid:3) (cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:192)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:74)(cid:82)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:82)(cid:81)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:86)(cid:15)(cid:3) and silver in the other four events A gymnast makes a perfect dismount from the uneven bars Her feet are together and her back is arched with her head up and arms and hands stretched out A good dismount helps artistic gymnasts gain higher scores
