History of gymnastics

The first gymnasts were

acrobats who performed in
ancient Egypt. In the 2nd
millennium BC, men and women
of Crete (Krti) during the age of
Minoan culture developed the
art of bull.
In bull leaping the performer
would run toward a charging
bull, grab its horns, and, upon
being tossed into the air,
execute various midair stunts
before landing on the bull's
back, then dismount with a flip.
In ancient Greece, three distinct
programs of gymnastic exercise
were developed: one for the
maintenance of good physical
condition, another for military
training, and a third as part of
the conditioning regimen for
athletes.
The early Greek teachers of
physical fitness were the first
to design systems of physical
activity for both athletes and
for the general citizenry.
Such programs, which included
gymnastics, were considered
central to the formal education of
children. The Greeks believed that
the unity of mind and body could
only be realized through
participation in physical exercises.
Such programs, which included
gymnastics, were considered
central to the formal education of
children. The Greeks believed that
the unity of mind and body could
only be realized through
participation in physical exercises.
History of Gymnastics
The term gymnastics was used
as early as in ancient Greece.
The word was formed by joining
the words gymnos=naked and
gymnaszein=to exercise.
It however cannot be
understood
literally as mere exercising
using ones naked body.
Gymnastics meant much
more in ancient Greece.
It was an
overall cultivation of the body. It
developed harmony
between physical athleticism
and mental balance.
 There was
the ideal of kalokagathia the
harmony of body and mental
beauty (Grexa, 2007).
At the turn of the 1tand
19thCenturies, Christian
GutsMuths, a German
philanthropist, laid the
foundation of international
gymnastics.
His set of exercises
included also apparatus
gymnastics.
In the early 1800s a form
of gymnastics developed in
Germany as a defined set
of skills performed both
with and without specific
kinds of apparatus.
German educator Friedrich
Ludwig Jahn, known as the
father of gymnastics, planned
exercises using pieces of
stationary apparatus to develop
self-discipline and physical
strength.
The Swedish system, devised by
gymnast Pehr Henrik Ling,
emphasized, on the other hand,
rhythm and coordination
through routines practiced with
hoops, clubs, and small balls.