Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When did gymnastics become an Olympic sport?
Gymnastics events have been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. For 32 years, only men were allowed to compete. Beginning at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, women were allowed to compete in artistic gymnastics events as well. Rhythmic gymnastics events were introduced at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and trampoline events were added at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
Romania holds a long tradition in artistic gymnastics, especially in the ladies competition. Gymnastics is responsible for the majority of Romania's Olympic medals, gold, silver, and bronze. The most famous Romanian gymnast is Nadia Comăneci, who was the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games, during the 1976 Summer Olympics. She also won three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze, all at the age of fourteen. Her success continued in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals. At the 1976 Olympic Games, Teodora Ungureanu did very well too, but did not receive as much fame as Nadia. Other famous gymnasts include: Daniela Silivaş, Ecaterina Szabo, Lavinia Miloşovici, Gina Gogean, Simona Amânar, Andreea Răducan, Maria Olaru, Cătălina Ponor and Sandra Izbaşa.
Boys' artistic gymnastics qualification at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics was held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre on August 17. The results of the qualification determined the qualifiers to the finals: 18 gymnasts in the all-around final, and 8 gymnasts in each of 4 apparatus finals.
The South African Gymnastics Federation is the overall governing body of the sports of gymnastics in South Africa. Established in 1931, the body is affiliated to the International Federation of Gymnastics, the African Gymnastics Union and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), and recognized by Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA).
The only summer sports that have never been absent from the Olympic program are athletics, aquatics (the discipline of swimming has been in every Olympics), cycling, fencing, and gymnastics (the discipline of artistic gymnastics has been in every Olympics).
Romania continued their success into the 2000s and won another Olympic gold in 2004. However, since then, they have not finished higher than third at the Olympics or Worlds. Their run as one of the sport's top countries ended when they did not qualify for the 2016 Olympics team competition.
Erzsébet Balázs-Baranyai (October 15, 1920 − November 24, 2014) was a Hungarian gymnast who competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where she won a silver medal in the women's team competition after replacing an injured Ágnes Keleti. Born in Budapest, she was introduced to gymnastics at the age of 18 and competed out of Postás SE while earning a degree in physical education from Semmelweis University. From 1952 through 1971 she worked as a coach with Budapest Honvéd, becoming the head gymnastics coach in 1960. From there she spent two years at the Debreceni Városi Sportiskola (Debrecen School of Sport) prior to becoming a coach for Hungary's delegation of women gymnasts to the 1976 Summer Olympics and retiring in 1977. She was married to László Baranyai, who won a bronze medal in the men's team competition at the same Olympic Games. She died on November 24, 2014, at the age of 94.
In the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, Gaylord led the gold-medal-winning U.S. men's gymnastics team, becoming the first American gymnast to score a perfect 10.00 in the Olympics. He also won the silver medal in vault, the bronze in parallel bars and the bronze in the rings. In addition to his individual accolades, Gaylord led the US men's gymnastics team to a gold medal in the team competition for the first and only time in Olympics history. The moment was heralded as a significant upset over the teams from China and Japan. After the 1984 Olympics he and his fellow Olympic gymnasts went on a six-month promotional tour across the US, selling out arenas in about two dozen American cities. He also wrote his first book during this period, centering on using gymnastics exercises to train. He was also named by President Ronald Reagan as a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in November 1985.
Girls artistic gymnastics qualification at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics was held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre on August 18. The results of the qualification determined the qualifiers to the finals: 18 gymnasts in the all-around final, and 8 gymnasts in each of 4 apparatus finals.
While there was some criticism of Davydova's victory in the general press this was mainly by reporters who did not know how gymnastics was scored < International Gymnast Magazine, IG, September 1980, p. 29>. Within the gymnastics community itself there was little doubt about the validity of Davydova's win: Nadia Comăneci herself acknowledges "That day, Yelena just performed better"; John Goodbody wrote that Davydova was successful because of her "consistency and her willingness to take risks"- over 3 days of competition her lowest score was a 9.8; Glenn Sundby, then editor of the International Gymnast (IG) magazine, and founder member of the "United States Gymnastics Federation" and the "International Gymnastics Hall OF Fame" and the first "Gymnastics World Cup"; Zacharias Nikolaidis, editor of the Greek Gymnastics magazine "Dynamiko"; Ursel Baer, a British judge at the 80 Olympics,"Davydova richly deserved to be Olympic champion"; Elisa Estape, a Spanish coach who had all the routines filmed and evaluated praised Davydova's routines in the highest terms and said she should have won by more; Paul Williams, another British judge there,"Davydova fully deserved her gold medal, with a brilliant display of high quality work"; Maxi Gnauck's coach Juergen Heritz; Lyn Moran, assistant editor of IG and author of the book "The young Gymnasts"; Jeff Cheales, an Australian judge; Tom Ecker, author of "Olympic Facts and Fables"; Peter Shilston, columnist, British Gymnast magazine; John Rodda in his book "The Olympic Games";The Sony guide to Who's Who in The 1984 Olympics,1984, p. 125, Edited by Dick Emery; Frank Taylor, 16 years President of the World Association of Sports Writers and author of "The Comaneci Story"; Karen Inskip-Hayward, "The Golden Decade : women's gymnastics in the 1980s; Tony Duffy and Paul Wade Winning Women : The Changing Face of Women in Sport, p. 96,1982; C. Robert Paul, Jr, first sports information Director and Director communications for the United States Olympic Committee, United States Olympic book 1980, p. 140–141 ; The Book of Olympic Lists 2012 p. 96 David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky ; The Complete Book of the Olympics 2012 Edition p. 784–5 David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky ; The Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC Athens to London 1894–2012 p. 235 David Miller .
The time Rhythmic Gymnastics was officially added as an Olympic Sport at the 1984 Olympic Games. The gymnasts from USSR and Bulgaria were considered the favored to win Rhythmic Gymnastics in Los Angeles but Eastern led Boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics put Stăiculescu the highest rank gymnast to compete in the Olympics, Canadian Lori Fung ( ranked 23rd ) at that time trained together with Stăiculescu who would eventually upset Stăiculescu for the gold medal. She won the silver medal in All-around at the Olympics. She is the only Romanian to win a medal in Rhythmic Gymnastics.
The FIG responded to this trend by raising the minimum age for international elite competition to 16 in 1997. This, combined with changes in the Code of Points and evolving popular opinion in the sport, led to the return of older gymnasts. While the average elite female gymnast is still in her middle to late teens and of below-average height and weight, it is also common to see gymnasts competing well into their 20s. At the 2004 Olympics, both the second-place American team and the third-place Russians were captained by women in their mid-20s; several other teams, including Australia, France, and Canada, included older gymnasts. At the 2008 Olympics, the silver medalist on vault, Oksana Chusovitina, was a 33-year-old mother. She received another silver medal on vault at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo, when she was 36. At the age of 41, Chusovitina competed at her 7th consecutive Olympics at the 2016 Olympics, a world record for gymnastics.
Prior to 1981, the minimum required age to compete in senior events sanctioned by the FIG (including the Olympic Games) was 14. The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion while pregnant with her daughter. Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.
The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s, and most had studied ballet for years before entering the sport. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 22 and her second at 26; she became the 1958 world champion while pregnant with her daughter. Věra Čáslavská of Czechoslovakia, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals.
Prior to 1981, the minimum required age to compete in senior events sanctioned by the FIG was 14. The earliest champions in women's gymnastics tended to be in their 20s; most had studied ballet for years before entering the sport. Hungarian gymnast Ágnes Keleti won individual gold medals at the age of 35 at the 1956 Olympics. Larisa Latynina, the first great Soviet gymnast, won her first Olympic all-around medal at the age of 21, her second at 25 and her third at 29; she became the 1958 World Champion while pregnant with her daughter. Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská, who followed Latynina to become a two-time Olympic all-around champion, was 22 before she started winning gold medals at the highest level of the sport, and won her final Olympic all-around title at the age of 26.
The time Rhythmic Gymnastics was officially added as an Olympic Sport at the 1984 Olympic Games. The gymnasts from Bulgaria and USSR were favored to win in Rhythmic Gymnastics but the Eastern led Boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics meant the top gymnasts were absent. Fung then trained with Romanian rhythmic gymnast Doina Stăiculescu but Fung would eventually upset Stăiculescu and be the first recipient of a gold medal the sport of Rhythmic Gymnastics.
Before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Soviet gymnasts dominated both men's and women's gymnastics commencing with the introduction of the full women's program into the Olympics and the overall increased standardization of the Olympic Gymnastics competition format which happened in 1952. From 1952 to 1992 inclusive, the Soviet women's squad won almost every single team title in World Championship competition and at the Summer Olympics: the only four exceptions were the 1984 Olympics, which they did not attend, and the 1966, 1979 and 1987 World Championships. Some of the famous Soviet gymnasts were from the Russian SFSR, or of Russian origin born in the former SSR.
On her journey to become an Olympic Champion, Hikari will meet a number of people, some friends, some rivals that will impact her life greatly. She will become friends with people that will help her become a better performer and a better rhythmic gymnast, while developing feelings for a young school mate who she befriends. He becomes very devoted to her in helping her achieve her goals, but is unaware of her feelings for him. And while she competes, Hikari will become a friend of a young, beautiful, artistic, woman who is a competitor in rhythmic gymnastics and like her also dreams of becoming a great gymnast. They become rivals in both sport and in the matters of love as both share feelings for the same person.
Before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Soviet gymnasts dominated both men's and women's gymnastics, commencing with the introduction of the full women's program into the Olympics and the overall increased standardization of the Olympic gymnastics competition format which happened in 1952. Soviet Union's success might be explained by a heavy state's investment in sports to fulfil its political agenda on an international stage. They had many male stars, such as Olympic all-around champions Viktor Chukarin and Vitaly Scherbo, and female stars, such as Olympic all-around champion Larisa Latynina and World all-around and Olympic champion Svetlana Boginskaya who contributed to this tradition. From 1952 to 1992 inclusive, the Soviet women's squad won almost every single team title in World Championship competition and at the Summer Olympics: the only four exceptions were the 1984 Olympics, which they did not attend, and the 1966, 1979, and 1987 World Championships. Most of the famous Soviet gymnasts were from the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR.
Ross was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the rest of the U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team in the July 18, 2012 "Olympic Preview" issue. It was the first time an entire Olympic gymnastics team had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
It participated at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and finished second in gold medals (20) and third in total medal count (53). Almost a quarter of all the medals and 25 of the gold ones were won in gymnastics, with Nadia Comăneci becoming the first gymnast ever to score a perfect ten in an Olympic event at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Romanian competitors have won gold medals in other Olympic sports: rowing, athletics, canoeing, wrestling, shooting, fencing, swimming, weightlifting, boxing, and judo. At the Winter Olympic Games, Romania has won only a bronze medal in bobsleigh at the 1968 Winter Olympics.
Gymnastics is a popular sport in Italy. At the turn of the millennium, Italy showed a growing quality in the discipline, with Susanna Marchesi finishing 9th at the Individual All Around competition, as well as the team winning 6th place in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. The Italian team won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and came in at 4th place at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. They also collected a string of medals throughout the 2005–2008 Olympic cycle. At the 2009 Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in Mie, Japan, the team soared to first place, winning the gold medal and becoming the new queens, a feat they achieved again at the 2010 Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in Moscow. The celebration of the Italian team is because they're among the best squads in the world, facing competitions against the Eastern European block of nations: Belarus, Russia, and Bulgaria.
The 1996 Summer Olympic programme featured 271 events in 26 sports. Softball, beach volleyball and mountain biking debuted on the Olympic program, together with women's football and lightweight rowing.In women's gymnastics, Lilia Podkopayeva became the all-around Olympic champion. Podkopayeva also won a second gold medal in the floor exercise final and a silver on the beam – becoming the only female gymnast since Nadia Comăneci to win an individual event gold after winning the all-round title in the same Olympics. Kerri Strug of the United States women's gymnastics team vaulted with an injured ankle and landed on one foot. The US women's gymnastics team won its first gold medal. Shannon Miller of the United States won the gold medal on the balance beam event, the first time an American gymnast had won an individual gold medal in a non-boycotted Olympic games. The Spanish team won the first gold medal in the new competition of women's rhythmic group all-around. The team was formed by Estela Giménez, Marta Baldó, Nuria Cabanillas, Lorena Guréndez, Estíbaliz Martínez and Tania Lamarca.
Gymnastics is governed by Irish Gymnastics which was formed in 1999, following the merging of the Irish Amateur Gymnastics Association and the Irish Sports Acrobatics Federation. There are 83 registered gymnastics clubs in Ireland (including Northern Ireland). Gymnastics includes four Olympic disciplines, women's artistic gymnastics, men's artistic gymnastics, trampoline gymnastics, and rhythmic gymnastics, and four non Olympic disciplines, acrobatic gymnastics, tumbling gymnastics, gymnastics for all, and sports aerobics.
In early 2008, Yang Yun, an artistic gymnast who won two bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics, admitted on state-run television that she was 14 when she had competed. Consequently, there was frequent speculation that members of the Chinese women's gymnastics team were 14 years of age or under, violating the minimum age requirements of International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG), the governing body of the sport, that requires gymnasts to be 16. Younger gymnasts are lighter and more supple than adult gymnasts, and have also been said to be more fearless when performing difficult manoeuvres.
The New York Times claimed that official media and some official Web sites in China, including that of the State General Administration of Sport, listed Chinese gymnasts' details which indicated that He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin may have been as young as 14. During the Olympics, media focused their attention on He, Yang, Jiang, and Deng. In response, Chinese officials claimed the discrepancies for He Kexin were caused by paperwork errors when the gymnast switched teams. Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that they were 16 years old as of 2008. Chinese coach Lu Shanzhen explained that Chinese competitors had for years all been small. "It is not just this time. It is a question of race. European and American athletes are all powerful, very robust. But Chinese athletes... are by nature that small." Sportswriter E.M. Swift criticised the IOC for "spend[ing] millions of dollars trying to ferret out drug cheats [while ignoring] allegations of institutionalized cheating" by the Chinese government.