Paris: Don't know your pommel horse from your uneven bars?
AFP Sport looks at the ins and outs of Saturday's artistic gymnastics competition at the Paris Olympics.
Men compete on six apparatus: floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal/high bar.
It's four for women: vault, uneven bars, beam and floor.
The competition, which runs from Saturday to August 5 at the Bercy Arena, is divided into four stages: qualification, team final, all-around final and equipment final.
In this weekend's selection, gymnasts compete as part of their country's team or as individuals with results used to qualify gymnasts for the team finals, all-around and apparatus finals.
Team results are based on the three highest scoring gymnasts on each apparatus.
The eight highest-scoring countries secure their ticket to the team finals, held across all instruments.
The top 24 qualifiers (a maximum of two per country) compete again for the all-around title, held on all apparatus and considered one of gymnastics' blue ribbon events.
The apparatus final consists of the eight highest scoring gymnasts in each apparatus (again a maximum of two per country).
For both men and women alike — magic on a 12m x 12m mat, performing inch-full tumbles diagonally to women-only music.
Men's equivalent for women's balance beam – emphasizing core and shoulder strength with only hands allowed to touch the foam and leather-clad horse and two handles.
At 'only' 5.75 meters from the ground, gymnasts need the help of their coaches to connect with them. A moment of stillness is followed by a display of strength and control like an iron cross: this is when the gymnast keeps herself still, with arms stretched horizontally, legs pointing downwards, every stretch of stretch.
The ultimate test of a gymnast's artistry, ability, athleticism and bravery – blink and you miss five or six seconds of high drama. Men's vaulting table is 10 cm higher than women's. Check out American superstar Simone Biles, who nailed her spectacular signature Biles II Yurchenko double pike vault in training on Thursday.
The controlled movements of swinging up and down the bars placed at about head height and shoulder width – a glue-like landing is what the beady-eyed judges will be looking for.
Or the high bar is what it says on the tin – terrifyingly high at around 2.78 meters off the ground. The solitary metal bar — the uneven and, in contrast, the parallel bars are made of fiberglass with a wood coating — is smaller in diameter than the parallel bars and gasps from the fans as the gymnast makes somersaults over the bar — hopefully catching it. after.
This equipment is for female gymnasts only and consists of two bars of different heights and widths that allow the gymnast to swing from bar to bar. The high bar is 2.5m (8.2ft) from the ground, the lower bar 1.7m. Watch Algerian teenager Kalia Nemour boast the most complex uneven bars routine as she tries to become the African continent's first gymnastics Olympic medalist.
The original concept comes from the 'grandfather of gymnastics' – Johann Guts Muth – an early 19th century German physical education professor. Olga Korbut stunned fans with her first backflip at the 1972 Munich Olympics. At just 10cm wide it requires pinpoint accuracy and nerves of steel. The rectangular beam provides female gymnasts with an excellent test of balance, tumbling, jumps and leaps, while at the same time trying not to trip over the deck.
Saturday, July 27 – Men's Qualification
Sunday, July 28 – Women's Qualification
Monday, July 29 – Men's Team Final
Tuesday, July 30 – Women's Team Final
Wednesday, July 31 – Men's All-Around Final
Thursday, August 1 — Women's all-around final
Saturday, Aug. 3 — Men's Floor Exercise Finals; Women's Vault Final; Men's Pommel Horse Finals
Sunday, August 4 – Men's Ring Final; Women's Uneven Bars Final; Men's Vault Final
Monday, Aug. 5 — Men's Parallel Bars Finals; Women's Balance Beam Finals; Men's Horizontal Bar Finals; Women's Floor Exercise Finals
