Exercises in Artistic Gymnastics

The men's events consist of 6 different events including 1 compulsory routine and 1 optional routine.

The men's events are as follows:-

The floor exercise is a routine done on a mat with area of 12m sq(39.4ft sq).The entire area must be covered. The routine consists of tumbling, with at least 1 forward and 1 backward without repeating the series; leaping; balancing on a leg or arm held for 2 seconds with a minimum of "B" value; doing 180-degree splits to demostrate flexiblility. Transitional skills which are gymnastics movements performed in between tumbling and acrbatic passes should end with a display of control, which is solid landing with little or no movements. The whole exercise must last between 50-70 seconds.

Vitaly Scherbo of the Unified Team performing on the pommel horse during the gymnastics finals in Barcelona. The Unified team won the gold.

The pommel horse requires apparatus such as vinyl- or leather-covered, about 44 inches(112cm) high, the horse is 35cm wide x 160 cm long; with2 wood pommels between 40-45cm apart. 33 areas of the horse namely the middle and both ends must be covered by the gymnast. Exercises should be continuous and fast, with circular movements and swinging throughhandstand position. The only part of the body which should touch the apparatus is the hands. The contestants would chalked their hands to prevent friction yet ensuring a good grip.

The still rings requires apparatus such as 2 wooden rings suspended from strap and cable about 8.5ft (2.6m) from the ground, supported by stands 575cm tall. Gymnasts must demostrate balance and strength in skills while grasping the rings. The skills consists of swings, handstandsand crosses. The rings must remain still while exercising.

The vaulting is exercising on a horse vault which is 1.6m(5.2ft) long and 1.35m(4.4ft) high without pommels. A spring board is included. The horse vault is placed length-wise in the vaulter's path. The vaulter starts running inorrder to gather speed, bringing both feet together on the springbpoard and takes off, the places both hands on the horse and complete the flight with an acrobatic exercise before a firm and solid landing which should be inline with the horse, springboard and runway.

Great Britian's Neil Thomas shows his mastery of the parallel bars.

The parallel bar involves exercising on a single steel bar suspended 2.57m(8.4ft) above ground. The bar is 240cm long and 2.8cm in diameter. The routine consists of continous swinging called giant swings and vaulting motions around the bar, applying changes in grip, direction and body position. The gymnast do highflying dismount soaring through the air with somersaults and twist before a stable landing.

The women's events consists of 4 events with 1 compulsory and 1 optional routine.

Henrietta Onodi of Hungary, one of the world's strongest performers in the floor routine, shows elegence and poise in this exercise.

For the floor exercise, no apparatus is required except for a floor mat 12 sq metre(39 sq feet). The routine consists of dancing and tumbling using music. Basic skills like cartwheels, handstands and somersaults are performed in mid-air.

Korea's Kim Gwang Suk, one of the greatest performers on the asymmetric bars , won the gold medal on the bars routine in the 1991 World Championships.

The uneven bars or asymmetric bars uses 2 wooden or fiber glass bars, with high bar 2.3m(7.5 ft) from the floor and low bar 1.5m (4.9 ft) from the floor. The gymnast swings and vaults continously over, under and between the bars and dismounts to show creativity.The gymnast must may dismount only from swinging movements and not from a stationary position.

The horse vault had the "horse" lowered to a height of 1.2m (3.9 ft) and placed as a sidehorse. There is a runway of 23m (77 ft) long , inclusive of springboard. The gymnast will perform two vaults.

Perfectly balanced...Lilia Podkopayeva of the Ukraine

The balance beam involves doing routines on a single wooden beam 4 inches (10cm) wide. The routine is similar to that of floor exercise routine, it requires continous tumbling, turns, jumps and leaps. There should be a formal dismount.

Go on to Rhythmic exercises