What is Gymnastics?

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Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, power, agility, coordination, grace, balance and control. Internationally, all of the competitive gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Each country has its own national governing body (BIW) affiliated to FIG. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic sports. It typically involves the women's events ofuneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, and vault. Men's events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.

Other gymnastic disciplines include: rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining, Team Gym, tumbling, aerobic gymnastics and acrobatic gymnastics. Participants can include children as young as 20 months old doing kindergym and children's gymnastics, recreational gymnasts of ages 5 and up, competitive gymnasts at varying levels of skill, and world class athletes.