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Early History of Gymnastics
Spite the fact that gymnastics has become a sport for the very young, the sport itself is very old. The earliest evidence of gymnastics can be found in the art of ancient Egypt, where female acrobats performed for the Pharoahs and the Egyptian nobility. ... Gymnastics was introduced in early Greek civilization to facilitate bodily development through a series of activities that included running, jumping, swimming, throwing, wrestling, and weight lifting. ... Basic gymnastics events were practiced in some form even prior to the introduction of "gymnazein" which means literally, "to exercise naked. ... The Greek philosophy portrayed the human body as a temple housing the mind and the soul, and the practice of gymnastics contributed to the health and functionality of the temple. ... The Romans, after the conquest of Greece, adopted gymnastics as their own, and developed it into a more formal sport. The gymnasiums were used to train their legions for warfare, but with the decline of Rome, interest in gymnastics also dwindled.
Gymnastics in the 19th Century
Physical activity regained respectability during the Renaissance, but gymnastics experienced no true rebirth until the late 18th century. At that time a handbook of gymnastics was published by the German, Guts Muth, and was translated into several languages. In the decades that followed, two distinct branches of gymnastics began to develop. ... This type of gymnastics placed somewhat of an emphasis on brute strength. In Sweden, however, Pehr Ling took Muths general principles and developed a type of gymnastics which accented grace and the free flow of movement. ... As a result, gymnasiums and gymnastics clubs sprang up all over Europe.
Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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