1 GET TO KNOW GYMNASTICS Bang bang bang The sound echoes throughout the arena It is the sound of hands and feet hitting wood and leather Simone Biles is tumbling on the balance beam It’s another of her breathtaking passes She’s spinning down a 4-inch 10-cm plank 4 feet 1 2 m above the ground But the world’s top gymnast doesn’t hesitate for a millisecond As her feet hit the edge of the beam Biles launches herself skyward She appears to take flight She does two backflips with a full twist Simone Biles is famous for her brilliant routines on the balance beam 4 4
Judges closely watch a gymnast’s every move Then she lands gracefully on the ground The crowd showers her with applause Biles has everything needed to be successful in gymnastics She’s quick strong and flexible Most of all she loves what she does 6
Gymnastics combines performance art and intense athletic competition No two routines are the same in gymnastics Champions are determined by a panel of judges The judges score routines based on the difficulty of the skills gymnasts perform They also look at execution or how well each skill is done Artistry is important too Gymnastics has been around for more than 2,000 years It is one of the most popular sports at the Olympic Games Today approximately 5 million children in the United States practice gymnastics Fans enjoy watching top-level competitions such as the World Championships and the Olympics They want to see the best athletes compete for glory and gold medals SIX TYPES Artistic gymnastics is the most popular form of the sport It dominates the airwaves during the summer Olympics But there are five other types of gymnastics They are rhythmic trampoline acrobatic aerobic and Gymnastics for All There’s much more to gymnastics than what we see in the Olympics But that’s really where gymnastics got its start 7
