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John Millen

Beauty, strength and skill
Olympic gymnastics is an addictive mix of strength, skill and beauty of movement. Even people who say they don't like watching sport admit that top-class gymnastics is thrilling, edge-of-the-seat stuff.
Over the years, gymnastics has become one of the most watched events of the Modern Olympic Games. People remember the names and achievements of Olympic gymnasts when other athletes are long forgotten.
Gymnastics is all about the strength and beauty of movement that the human body can achieve. We all wish we could move like that as an Olympic gymnast springs gracefully over the vaulting horse or twists and turns magically on a horizontal bar. Gymnastics is one sport that everyone from sports fanatic to sports hater can watch with fascination.
Questions
1 Something that is 'edge of the seat' is ....
a) very funny
b) very exciting
2 A vaulting horse is ....
a) the winner of an equestrian event at the Olympics
b) a wooden box-like structure that athletes jump over
I'll see you at the gym
Gymnastics has a long history  as a sporting discipline. The word 'gymnastics' comes from the ancient Greek adjective 'gymnos' which means 'naked'. In ancient Greece, when the Olympics first started, athletes didn't bother wearing clothes. Cities in ancient Greece often had a 'gymnasium', a centre for cultural and sporting activity. Men went there not only to do sport but also to learn music, government and philosophy. The Greeks believed that the mind and the body could only work perfectly together when physical exercise was practised alongside intellectual activity. When the Olympics started again in Athens in 1896, gymnastics was at the top of the organisers' list of events for the new, improved Games.
Questions
3 What is 'philosophy'?
a) a gymnastic discipline
b) the study of ideas
4 What is 'culture'?
a) the appreciation of art, music and literature
b) a type of gymnastics done on a horizontal bar
Is it or isn't it gymnastics?
Olympic gymnastics is made up of a selection of skills undertaken by both male and female athletes.
Questions
Which of the following skills are NOT part of the Olympic gymnastics programme? Cross out the events that are not gymnastics.
1 boxing
2 floor exercises
3 judo
4 horizontal bar
5 parallel bars
6 vaulting horse
7 marathon
8 balance beam
9 synchronised swimming
10  100 metres
11 rings
12 javelin
13 discus
14 dressage
Olympic Fact File
Write the following statements in your Olympic Fact File, putting True / False in brackets after each one.
1 Gymnastics was first introduced at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (F)
2 Not many people watch the gymnastics programme at the Olympics. ( )
3 Gymnastics was a sport for male athletes at the ancient Olympics. ( )
4 Speed is the most important element in modern gymnastics. ( )
5 A 'gymnasium' was a type of ancient Greek temple. ( )
6 Gymnastics is a team and individual sport. ( )
7 Gymnastics events are always a high-profile part of the Olympics. ( )
8 Russia has never won an Olympics gold medal in gymnastics. ( )
Answers:
1. b, 2. b, 3. b, 4. a
2/ 4/ 5/ 6/ 8/ 11 are gymnastics disciplines
Olympic Fact File: F/ F/ T/ F/ F/ T/ T/ F



Graceful gymnastics