When rhythmic gymnastic exercise made its Olympic debut at the Helsinki Games in 1952 , it was a women - only eventcalled“team portable setup ” that took plaza within the artistic gymnastics competition . essentially , each teamperformeda storey routine together using airscrew , or “ setup , ” chosen from a list of five : ball , clubhouse , basketball hoop , typewriter ribbon , or rope .
Artistic gymnastics — namedin the former 19th C to differentiate it from the less aesthetic gymnastic exercise used in military preparation — had been a fundamental part of theOlympicssince thefirst modern Gamesof 1896 , and pile of gymnastics event had been added and deduct during that time . “ Team portable setup ” showed up again during the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne , Australia , and then it disappeared .
But unlikerope climbing , club swinging , and other curt - lived gymnastics events , rhythmic gymnastics would n’t be go always . Thanks in prominent part to the sport ’s popularity in Eastern Europe , the International Gymnastics Federation officially recognized it in the early sixties . Global tournaments began soon after , and rhythmic gymnastics fall to the Olympics — this time separate from artistic gymnastics — in Los Angeles in 1984 . Though gymnast only competed as individuals , a group event was reintroduced for the 1996 Games in Atlanta .
Since then , rhythmical gymnastics has become a dear ( if a bit niche ) element of every Summer Olympic Games . It ’s much smaller in scope than artistic gymnastics in a couple ways . For one , men ’s artistic gymnasticscomprisessix event ( story exercise , pommel horse , ringing , vault , parallel bars , and horizontal legal community ) and woman ’s include four ( vault , spotty bars , beam , and floor ) . There are also freestanding competition for individual medals and team medals .
Rhythmic gymnastics , on the other hand , still sport just two events : the single performances and the group performances . And it ’s still only for women , though the Olympics websiteexplainsthat those two event “ make up for the two fewer apparatus in women ’s artistic gymnastics . ”
Because rhythmic gymnastics takes office on the trading floor , its closest counterpart in aesthetic gymnastics is the flooring practice . They ’re both set to music , they both contain element ofdance , and they both — like other events — arescoredbased on difficulty ( the technical side ) and execution ( related to performance and art ) .
But their differences go beyond the fact that rhythmical gymnast perform with portable setup and artistic gymnast do n’t . Anyone who ’s seenSimone Bilestake to the floor knows that flip , for artistic gymnasts , are passably much the name of the game . While rhythmic gymnasts can do walkovers , cartwheel , and similar skills with their props , aerial and other somerset are n’t a part of their program .
“ Rhythmic gymnastics is much more acrobatic dance or concert dance than artistic gymnastics — and their training is to a great extent into ballet,”Valorie Kondos Field , who won seven NCAA championships during her 29 - year term of office as drumhead coach of the University of California Los Angeles gymnastic exercise squad , tells Mental Floss . “ Their ability to equilibrise , and their turns — to be able-bodied to pull off five and six bend in all these weird positions — amount from leaden ballet training . They have very , very , very piffling gymnastic exercise training . ”
The manner of the sports was n’t always so unlike . Eastern European esthetic gymnasts did have gravid ballet breeding during the twentieth one C , and that vogue get on in the eternal sleep of the worldly concern . But as the 21st 100 draw closer , Kondos Field explains , “ aesthetic gymnastics became more trick - orient , and because you only have so many hours with your athlete during the day , the first thing to go was ballet . ”
It has n’t whole vanish , however . Kondos Field , a former ballet dancer herself , always kept it in the gyration , partly because artistic gymnasts will get a price reduction for un - pointed toe . The ankle and animal foot control and flexibleness get wind through ballet can help with found and landing tricks , too . But in ecumenical , ballet is much less fundamental to artistic gymnastics these days than it used to be .
The stress on tricks can also help explain why aesthetic gymnastics has a much broad fanbase than rhythmic gymnastics . “ in person , I palpate that it has a skillful crossover to people who love sport , ” Kondos Field says . “ Because the people that I bed that are sport fiend can apprize someone elevating in the line and doing multiple somersault and twists … artistic gymnastic exercise is more hard-core strenuosity . ” In unretentive , it ’s the same reasonfigure skatingand swim ( or diving , even ) are more popular spectator sports than ice dancing andsynchronized swim .
While rhythmical gymnastics pack a less punch , it offers something that aesthetic gymnastic exercise ca n’t : the possibility of grammatical gender disinterest . “ When you look at the absolute majority of sports , the taller , stronger , quicker [ athletes ] will always win , ” Kondos Field explicate . “ But you look at a sport like rhythmic gymnastic exercise where there really does n’t call for to be a separation [ between men and women ] . ” tractableness , balance , precision , and delicacy are n’t determined by someone ’s top or speed .
At this point , grammatical gender - indifferent rhythmic gymnastics competitions seem like a recollective shot . Though men ’s rhythmic gymnastics is pop in certain country — especiallyJapan and Spain — it ’s a very minor sport . In fact , it still has yet to be recognized by the International Gymnastics Federation . And if it were ever to merge with womanhood ’s rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics , it would n’t be anytime shortly . But still , in theory , there could be more sex inclusivity in rhythmical gymnastic exercise ’ future .
