Sports Series: The sophisticated sport of gymnastics

Gymnastics – the beloved sport of the Olympics – originates from ancient Greece. According to smithsonianmag.com, "the ancient Greeks practiced gymnastics as a part of a slate of activities designed to promote physical and mental health." 

Eventually, gymnastics spread to all of the Greek city-states. According to David William Cheever, writer for The Atlantic, "the Athenians wisely held that there could be no health of the mind, unless the body were cared for – and viewed exercise also as a powerful remedial agent in disease."

In comparison to this, the "hardy Spartans, who valued most the qualities of bravery, endurance and self-denial, used the gymnasia only as schools of training for the more sanguinary contests of war." 

As Greek civilization declined and the Roman Empire rose, gymnastics began to evolve into a formal sport. According to Cheever, the Roman viewed "gymnastics only as a means of increasing his efficiency." 

There's evidence that gymnastics also existed in other ancient civilizations. The Smithsonian has found artistic records of individuals leaping over a charging bull in Crete, Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting people doing backbends and engravings from the Han dynasty show people practicing juedixi.  

These are examples of modern vaulting,  acrobatics and an early version of gymnastics, respectively. 

However, around when the Middle Ages began, gymnastics saw a decline. According to Medievalists.net, the Europeans neglected physical activity due to "the strongly ascetic sentiment of early Christianity." 

Gymnastics became popular again during the Enlightenment, occurring in 1685. This is also the year modern gymnastics began. 

According to Georgia Cervin, a sports scholar and the author of Degrees of Difficulty: How Women's Gymnastics Rose to Prominence and Fell from Grace, the Enlightenment refers to when Europe experienced "a shift toward [re]emphasizing physical education and mental education." Gymnastics was the perfect sport for this movement. 

Additionally, gymnastics also served a nationalist purpose. According to Cervin, the activity offered an "education program for citizens geared [at] having a population that was both healthy and able to serve the country and the military." 

Just as the ancient Greeks utilized the sport, gymnastics once again became a way to exercise the mind and body while also preparing participants for war. 

In 1881 the Bureau of the European Gymnastics Federation – now known as the International Gymnastics Federation – was established as the governing body for the sport. 

At the 1896 Athens Olympics – the first modern Olympics – male gymnasts competed in six individual events and two team events. Thirty-two years later, at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, female gymnasts were welcomed to the competition. 

The United States began to dominate gymnastics in the 1980s. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the U.S. men's team won a gold medal in the all-around, the country's first in this category. 

In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the U.S. women's team continued this legacy, winning the country's first women's all-around title. 

According to pledgesports.org, gymnastics holds the title of the most popular Olympic sport and "reigns supreme" over other sports. Considering the sport can be traced back to the beginning of civilization, it's no wonder it's the Olympic favorite. 

Gymnastics is both incredibly physical and mental. It requires a perfect blend of a strong body and mind. More impressively, though, an activity that began over 2,000 years ago remains just as popular – if not more popular – now as it did then. There's no doubt in my mind this popularity will only continue to grow.