Gymnastics: the history of the emergence and features of this sport

Rhythmic gymnastics is a popular sport among women. It consists in performing combinations consisting of dance and sports exercises with an object under musical accompaniment. Next, we will consider how gymnastics (the history of its origin ) appeared in Russia.

Contribution to the development of rhythmic gymnastics

The French teachers Francois Delsart and Georges Demeni were engaged in the scientific substantiation of the expediency of active physical education of the beautiful half of mankind. Modern artistic gymnastics is very reminiscent of the improvised dances of Isadora Duncan, based on the principles developed by Delsart.

Stages of the formation of rhythmic gymnastics

So, today we are interested in artistic gymnastics, the history of the origin of this sport. It is commonly believed that it appeared as a result of the merger of several sports areas:

• Aesthetic gymnastics;
• Rhythmic gymnastics;
• Dance gymnastics;
• Free dance.

Features of the directions of gymnastics

At the beginning of the XIX century, a great contribution to gymnastics was made by the vocal teacher Delsart. He developed the principles of expressiveness of the body, marked the connection between the movements and emotional state of a person. It was this Frenchman who first stated that the body has its own unique language. With his light hand, the winged expression "body poetry" arose. So there was aesthetic gymnastics.

Emil Jacques-Delcroze, the teacher of singing and music, suggested using rhythmics as an improvement not only in the mental, but also in the physical state, as well as for the harmonious development of the personality. Thanks to this teacher, a kind of sport appeared, like rhythmic gymnastics.

The dance gymnastics was invented by the teacher Georges Demini. He substantiated the need to use dance exercises to develop flexibility, smoothness and proper posture. Such intensive steps developed gymnastics, the history of which will be examined by us today.

The founder of free dance theories was the legendary dancer Isadora Duncan. She managed to shake the dogma of the traditional ballet. The girl's movements combined both sport and the real art of dance. It was in the hands of Duncan during the dance developed a beautiful scarf, so reminiscent of the ribbon in modern rhythmic gymnastics. Her movements included smooth walking, running. The dancer was the first who was not afraid to perform in front of the public barefoot and without a corset.

According to experts, it was the merger of these four directions that gave rise to modern rhythmic gymnastics. This insanely elegant and beautiful sport today still combines aesthetic, graceful dance and hard gymnastic exercises.

Sports gymnastics: the history of origin in Russia

Female gymnastics became widespread in the USSR almost immediately. So, in 1941 the first large-scale championship was held in Leningrad.

After this event, the development of rhythmic gymnastics in the Union was suspended because of the Great Patriotic War that had begun.

But already in 1947 the First All-Union Competition was held. Three years later, Kiev held the first USSR championship.

In 1950, the Soviet gymnasts learned the whole world. They began to be sent abroad regularly with demonstration performances. In 1960, the women's rhythmic gymnastics teams from the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria first met in Sofia.

The Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics of the USSR was established in the autumn of 1963. In the same year, the International Gymnastics Federation officially recognized artistic gymnastics as a full-fledged independent sport. After this, the first world championship was held in the history of this sport.

Outstanding gymnasts

Considering the theme "The history of the emergence of gymnastics" briefly, it is impossible not to mention the first gymnasts who entered history with their high achievements. In 1963, L. Savenkova was awarded the title of absolute world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. In 1969 G. Shugurova became the owner of two gold medals at the World Championship in Varna. The sportswoman became the absolute champion of the USSR four times.

In 1977, the whole world learned about the legendary gymnast I. Deriugina. Athlete five times held the high status of absolute champion in the USSR, won the USSR Cup in rhythmic gymnastics, and also became the champion of Europe and the world in certain categories of exercises.

In 1985, the absolute champion in the USSR became G. Beloglazova.

Rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics

For the first time at the Olympics, artistic gymnastics, the history of the origin and development of which we consider today, was presented in 1984. At the Games in Los Angeles, then won the athlete from Canada, L. Fang. It should be noted that athletes from the USSR were the main competitors of the gymnast, however, because of the boycott of the Olympic Games by the Soviet leadership, they did not take part in large-scale competitions.

In 1988, at the Olympics, held in Seoul, the championship was won by the Belarusian M. Lobach. In 1992 in Barcelona, the title of champion was Ukrainian T. Timoshenko. In 1996, in Atlanta, the first in artistic gymnastics was Ukrainian E. Serebryanskaya.

Artistic gymnastics, the history of which was discussed above, managed to win the world love within a short period of time. It is difficult to find a country in which there is currently no such beautiful sport. Meanwhile, in every corner of the planet you can find a large number of excellent gymnasts.