Apparatus in Artistic Gymnastics

 

It is the essence of gymnastics. The skill of an athlete can be deduced with sufficient certainty from his way of performing the exercises, from the mastery of the elementary movements, from the acrobatic series and the complex elements, static positions of strength and balance and from the expression and personality shown in the artistic jumps, on an area of 144 square meters, without music.

 

 

 

It is a unique piece of apparatus. The exercises are quite distinct from those of the other five. The hand walks, from the neck to the back, between scissors and swirls, with a grip on the saddle or the handles, cannot fail to evoke instinctive duels between man and animal. All the strength is in his arms, even if his legs seem to draw indelible geometric mouvement in the air.

 

 

 

At a height of 2.50 meters, a gymnast's dreams hang on a pair of 18 cm diameter wooden slats. The crosses, the swallows, the upsurge, and the supports represent a balanced picture within a mobile frame that offers no stability. Therefore, in addition to controlling his own body, the athlete must dominate the movements of the apparatus, for just enouch time to convince the public and the jury that it is child's play.

 

 

 

Run-up, jump, beat, first flight, hand position and push, second flight and arrival: eight frames of a single movie, where power and gracefulness take turns on the platform before the athlete turns into a bird. Running and flying make this specialty the closest to the world of athletics.

 

 

 

Among the great pieces of apparatus of men's gymnastics, the parallel bars represent technical completeness. In fact, the gymnast can move on his stances, varying in width between 42 and 52 cm, continuously changing position and changing his body attitude in order to make every evolution spectacular.

 

 

 

Without a doubt the most compelling piece of apparatus: a 2.40 meter steel bar placed between 255 and 275 cm from the ground. The exercises are composed exclusively of upsurge movements and when the gymnast's hands leave the iron bar to go against the laws of gravity and centrifugal force, the heart stops in the throat until his hands tighten the bar again. Coordination and technique are indispensable components that do not disdain a pinch of madness.

 

 

It differs from the male sector only by virtue of the different height of the table: 125 cm against 135 of the male sector.

 

 

 

They originated from the corresponding male apparatus and made their first appearance at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Strength, mobility, control and coordination, orientation, courage, and decision: these are the qualities needed to fly between the stages. Combination of different elements, the grips, supports, impulses and turns, the entrances and exits mark moments of infinite emotion.

 

 

 

Balance and concentration power in a challenge 105 cm above the ground. Acrobatic movements and harmony on a 10 cm-wide axis. A 5-meter long walk towards your destiny. Here are the characteristics of the apparatus most feared by gymnasts, where a sligth loss of ballance can mark the border between the dust and the stars.

 

 

 

Covering an area of 144 square meters, the gymnast has one minute and thirty seconds time to paint a masterpiece of music with her own body. A set of acrobatic elements, artistic jumps, static actions and force movements, harmoniously connected by choreographic parts, constitute the pieces of a large mosaic whose design remains engraved in the hearts of the judges and spectators more than in any other specialty.