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No one is really sure where or when gymnastics started, but about 2500 years ago, it became apparent in Greek civilization. The Greeks were the first to use the sport of gymnastics for physical fitness. In the city of Athens, they held tournaments which became extremely popular. So popular did they become, that the Olympic Games were founded. When the Romans conquered Greece, they found the sport of gymnastics to be excellent training for their military men. However, once the Roman Empire fell, gymnastics was forgotten about for hundreds of years.

The sport found its way back into popular culture in the 1700’s in Germany when gymnastics clubs started to form. In 1896, the first modern Olympics were organized and held in Athens. Gymnastics was one of the seven sports in these games, consisting of the horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, rings and vault. Interestingly, only men participated in gymnastics during this time. Women did not start competing until the 1928 Olympic Games, and women from the United States did not compete until the 1936 Games in Berlin, Germany. Even at this time, gymnastics was still considered a minor sport, but in the 1970’s people all over the world began to show quite an interest in it. In fact, in the U.S. it became one of the fastest growing sports.

Today it’s a known sport worldwide. It’s one of the most popular sports of the Olympics and hundreds of thousands of young people are studying it. Perhaps you are too, and maybe some day you’ll make it to the Olympics too!