Some of you might be wondering just how long gymnastics has been around. It has been around for over 2,000 years. But as a competitive sport it is a little more than a 100 years old. The word gymnastics comes from the Ancient Greek word 'gymnos' which is translated to mean 'to train naked'.
The Ancient Greeks used gymnastics as a training for war. The Romans followed the Greeks and they made gymnastics a compulsory for their soldiers as part of their training. They had the ambition to conquer and they thought gymnastics could make their fighting forces supremely fit.
Gymnastics is one of the oldest Olympic sports. Artistic gymnastics was introduced at the very first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, and has been present at every Olympic Games since then.
At the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, the basis of modern Olympic gymnastics competition was firmly established. The athletes (men) began to compete for individual Olympic titles on each event, as well as the combined team score. In 1928, women were included in the Amsterdam Games and the U.S women first competed in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany.
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