Gymnastics

• History of Gymnastics:
  

To the Ancient Greeks, physical fitness was paramount, and all Greek cities had a gymnasia, a courtyard for jumping, running, and wrestling. As the Roman Empire ascended, Greek gymnastics gave way to military training. The Romans, for example, introduced the wooden horse. In 393 AD the Emperor Theodosius abolished the Olympic Games, which by then had become corrupt, and gymnastics, along with other sports declined. Later, Christianity, with its medieval belief in the base nature of the human body, had a deleterious effect on gymnastics. For centuries, gymnastics was all but forgotten. [2]
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, however, two pioneer physical educators – Johann Friedrich GutsMuth (1759 – 1839) and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778 – 1852) - created exercises for boys and young men on apparatus they designed that ultimately led to what is considered modern gymnastics. In particular, Jahn crafted early models of the horizontal bar, the parallel bars (from a horizontal ladder with the rungs removed), and the vaulting horse.[2]

• The skill needed:
  

Men's rhythmic gymnastics is related to both Men's Artistic Gymnastics, Wushu martial arts, and Women's Rhythmic Gymnastics and emerged in Japan from stick gymnastics taught and performed since long ago with the aim of improving physical strength and health. The technical rules of this version of the gymnastics came around 1970s. Only four apparatus are used: the rings, the stick, the rope, and the clubs. Athletes are judged on the some of the same physical abilities and skills as their female counterparts such as hand/body-eye co-ordination, but tumbling, strength, power, and martial arts skills are the main focus, as opposed to flexibility and dance of women's rhythmic gymnastics. The sport has a growing number of participants, competing solo and on a team, and is most popular in Asia, especially in Japan where high school and university teams compete fiercely. On November 27-29 2003 five countries from two continents participated in the 1st Men's RG World Championship - Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Canada and USA. The latest World Championship included Russia, Korea, Malaysia, Canada, USA, Mexico, and Australia.

• Clothing:
  

Clothing is defined, in its broadest sense, as coverings for the torso and limbs as well as coverings for the hands (gloves), feet (socks, shoes, sandals, boots), and head (hats, caps). People almost universally wear clothing, which is also known as dress, garments, attire, or apparel. People wear clothing for functional as well as for social reasons. Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. Every article of clothing also carries a cultural and social meaning. Human beings are the only mammals known to wear clothing, with the exception of human pets clothed by their owners.