The Uneven Bars

Gabby Douglas- 2012 Olympic All Around Champion

History Of the Uneven Bars.

The uneven bars, also known as the assymetric bars, originally consisted of mens parallel bars set at different heights. This meant that the two bars were very close together.
Routines of the early 1950's were mainly made up of moves that involved swinging around each of the bars, and moving from one bar to another. 
In the late 1950's, the design of the bars was changed, moving them further apart. Many of the moves popular before then, such as beats (bouncing the body off the low bar while hanging from the high bar), and wraps (wrapping the body around the low bar while hanging from the high bar) , were no longer possible.
Release moves and dismounts were introduced, and the difficulty was raised.  In 1972 Olga Korbut pioneered the Korbut flip, the first high bar release move. Nadia Comaneci continued the trend with her original Comaneci salto at the 1976 Olympics and advanced handstand elements four years later. The giant swing, was also adopted into the Code of Points, and quickly became a basic uneven bars skill.

Routines.

Routines start very simply, and the easiest bars routines are performed on a single high bar, and involved swinging back and forth. Routines develop into very complex performances, and include release moves from one bar to another, and dismounts of twisting somersaults.
International level routines must include:

• Flight element from high bar to low bar and vice versa
• Flight element on the same bar
• At least two different grips, and a close bar circle element
• Non flight with a turn on the bar, for example turning handstands
• Dismount



Origins Of Gymnastics

Gymnastics first originated in Ancient Greece, and the name originally came from 'Gymnos', A Greek word meaning naked. It was so called because gymnasts would usually compete naked.
The Ancient Greeks developed the sport because they believed that gymnastics was the perfect balance between mind and body.
Gymnasts not only trained in physical Gymnastics, they also recieved training in Music, Literature and Philosophy. Gymnastics was used for many different things by the Greeks, including skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and circus performance skills.
Roman Soldiers training for battle also followed a gymnastic-like training regime.

The phrase 'Artistic Gymnastics' was not used until the 1800's. It was coined to differentiate between the type of gymnastics we know today, and the gymnastic techniques that were used in the military to train soldiers.

The governing body of Gymnastics around the world, The Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, also known as FIG, was formed in 1881 to write up a set of internationally recognized rules. Each country has its own national governing body affiliated to FIG.
For example, in Ireland, it is known as 'Gymnastics Ireland.'
 Link to the website is here -->   http://www.gymnasticsireland.com

The Gymnastics we know today was slowly formed and developed over the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, and by 1954 the international rules regarding apparatus and skills grading, 
had been standardized and modernized. 
The sport continues to evolve, with new moves and skillsets being changed and added.