Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastics
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Where Sport and Art Meet
Rhythmic gymnastics is an Olympic sport that combines
the coordination, power and athleticism of sport
with the musicality, grace, and elegance of dance.
Rhythmic Gymnasts can compete individually or in a group.
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There are 4 official apparatus used in competition.
HOOP
BALL
CLUBS
RIBBON
Younger athletes also compete
a Free routine with no apparatus.
Free routines offer children under 12
a chance to focus completely on their body
without the distraction of apparatus.
Individual
At the national and international levels, athletes compete 4 routines that are each 90 seconds long.
They are required to show a variety of apparatus handling, body skills (leaps, balances and pirouettes), tosses and catches.
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The entire routine must be lead by an expressive story carried by the music.
Group
At the national and international levels, 5 athletes compete 2 routines that are each 2.5 minutes long.
They are required to show a variety of apparatus handling, body skills (leaps, balances and pirouettes), tosses and catches as well as collaborative lifts, formations and exchanges.
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The gymnasts must partner to create images and an expressive story carried by the music.
History of Rhythmic Gymnastics
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While some proponents of Rhythmic Gymnastics date
themselves back to ancient Greece,
RG was first recognized as a sport in 1963.
It became an Olympic sport in 1984.
The Group competition was added to the Olympics in 1996.
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Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills,
and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points.
They perform leaps, balances, pivots, along with tossing, catching,
rolling and otherwise manipulating the apparatus.
