Artistic gymnastics 31.05.2010

Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics which is a popular spectator sports at the Summer Olympic Games, and in numerous other competitive environments.

Gymnastics was included into the program of the Summer Olympics1896, but women were allowed to participate in the Olympics only in 1928.

Artistic gymnastics appeared in Russia

Peter I and Alexander Suvorov were very interested in artistic  gymnastics as an applied discipline. The great Russian commander Alexander Suvorov described all the gymnastics exercises in the «Regimental establishment”, which contains his views on education and troops training.

Originally gymnastics was mainly cultivated in the Russian military sphere. In the 1870s a famous Russian scientist and professor Petr Lesgaft opened a two-year gymnastic course (which is known now as the Institute of Physical Culture named after Lesgaft) in St. Petersburg. The first Russian gymnastics competition, organized by the Russian Gymnastics Association, took place in 1885 in Moscow. 11 athletes participated in that competition.

In 1889 artistic gymnastics was included into the program of male education. In the late 19th – early 20th century gymnastics clubs were formed in many cities of Russia, regular country championships starting to appear.

In 1912 the Russian gymnasts took part in the Olympics for the first time. The first national championship was held in 1928 (under the Games of All-Union). In 1932 the second absolute national competition was organized. At that time women participated in the competitions as well. The first absolute champion was Tatyana Voshchinina. The awards for individual events at the national championships appeared in 1939.

Soviet gymnasts made their world debut in 1937 – on the third Labor Olympics in Antwerp. Our men and women teams won the team championship, and Nicholas Gray and Marie Tyszka won the title of absolute champions.

Soviet gymnasts participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1952. The debut was successful: our athletes became champions in the team (men and women teams) and individual classification (Victor and Maria Chukarin Gorokhovskaya). The same was their debut at the World Championship two years later: they became the winners in the team classification and got the men and women titles of the absolute world champions (Victor Chukarin, Valentin Muratov and Galina Rudko (Shamray).

In total, Soviet gymnasts won more than 300 awards at the Olympics: about half of them were gold. And in 14 world championships our athletes won over 400 medals, quite a number of them were gold.

Nowadays Russian gymnasts are still considered to be the strongest on the international arena. Nemov was the absolute Champion of the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and also won gold in the exercises at the bar. Svetlana Khorkina is the absolute two-times World Champion and three-time Champion of Europe. She is also the Individual Apparatus Olympic Champion and the World Champion. Nikita Kryukov is the absolute champion of the world; Bondarenko is the absolute champion of Europe. Elena Zamolodchikova is the World Championship and Olympic Games winner in individual events.

Russian Pride

Vladimir Artemov was born on December 7, 1964 in Vladimir, graduated from the Vladimir State Pedagogical Institute, where he was teaching later. He played for the local Burevestnik Voluntary Sports Society of the Soviet Union.

Vladimir Artemov is the absolute champion of the Olympic Games (1988), the champion of the Olympic Team Championship (1988), in the bar exercises (1988), on the bars (1988), a silver medalist in floor exercises (1988).

He is the World Champion in the team competition (1985, 1987, 1989), on the bars (1983, 1987, 1989), the silver medalist (1985), in the team competition (1983), in floor exercise (1987, 1989), in the exercises on the horizontal bars (1989), bronze medalist in the multiathlon (1987), in the vault apparatus (1989).

Gymnastics in Kazan

Gymnastics and Acrobatics Children and Youth Sports School

Gymnastics at the Universiade

Gymnastics has been a mandatory sport of the World Summer Universiade since the Universiade 1961 in the city of Sofia. The Soviet Union national team took the first place in the overall team classification.

Universiade Events

Men

The Individual Multiathlon

The Individual apparatus:

• Floor exercise competition
• Rings (gymnastics)
• Vaulting horse
• Circles
• Parallel bars
• Crossbar

The team

Women

The Individual Multiathlon

The Individual apparatus:

• Floor exercise competition
• Circles
• Balance-beam
• Uneven bars

The number of possible applications – 10 per team
The number of medals – 66