PARIS: Can't tell the difference between a pommel horse and an uneven bars?
AFP Sport looks at the details of the artistic gymnastics competition that kicks off on Saturday at the Paris Olympics.
Men compete on six events: floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar.
For women there are four: vault, uneven bars, beam and floor exercise.
The competition, which will take place at the Bercy Arena from Saturday to August 5, is divided into four phases: qualifications, team final, all-around final and apparatus final.
In this weekend's qualifiers, gymnasts compete as part of their country's team or as individuals; the results are used to qualify gymnasts for the team final, the all-around, and the apparatus final.
Team results are based on the three gymnasts with the highest scores on each apparatus.
The eight nations with the highest scores secure their ticket to the team final, which will be played on all apparatus.
The top 24 finishers (maximum two per nation) will compete for the all-around title, contested on all apparatus and considered the highlight event in gymnastics.
The apparatus finals consist of the eight gymnasts who achieved the highest score on each apparatus (again, with a maximum of two per nation).
Identical for men and women: magic on a 12m x 12m mat, with perfect one-inch diagonal somersaults and music just for women.
The men's equivalent of the women's balance beam, where the emphasis is on core and shoulder strength, as only the hands are allowed to touch the foam- and leather-covered horse and two handles.
At 'only' 5.75 m above the ground, the gymnasts need a hand from their coaches to catch them. A moment of immobility is followed by a demonstration of strength and control like the iron cross: this is when the gymnast holds himself still, with his arms stretched horizontally, his legs turned downwards, every tendon tense.
The ultimate test of a gymnast's skill, ability, athleticism and courage, you blink and miss five or six seconds of high drama. The men's vaulting table is 10cm higher than the women's. Watch out for American superstar Simone Biles, who nailed her spectacular double somersault Biles II Yurchenko in practice on Thursday.
Controlled movements that swing over and under the bars, positioned roughly head height and shoulder width apart, a sticky landing is what keen-eyed judges will be looking for.
Or high bar is what it says on the tin: insanely high, about 9 feet off the ground. The lone metal bar (the uneven and parallel bars, by contrast, are made of fiberglass with a wood veneer) is smaller in diameter than the parallel bars and causes gasps from the fans as the gymnast prepares to somersault over the bar, hoping to catch it later.
This apparatus is for female gymnasts only and features two bars of different heights and widths to allow the gymnast to seemingly swing from one bar to the other. The high bar is 2.5 m (8.2 ft) off the floor, while the low bar is 1.7 m (5.6 ft). Watch out for Algerian teenager Kaylia Nemour, who boasts the most complex routine on the uneven bars as she seeks to become the first Olympic gymnastics medalist from the African continent.
The original concept came from the “grandfather of gymnastics,” Johann Guts Muth, a German physical education professor in the early 19th century. Olga Korbut stunned fans at the 1972 Munich Olympics with the first-ever back flip. Just 10 centimeters wide, it requires pinpoint precision and nerves of steel. The rectangular beam challenges gymnasts with a supreme test of balance, somersaults, leaps and bounds, while trying not to hit the floor.
Saturday, July 27 — Men's Qualifiers
Sunday 28 July — Women's Qualifiers
Monday 29 July — Men's Team Final
Tuesday, July 30 — Women's Team Final
Wednesday 31 July — Men's Individual Final
Thursday 1 August — Women's Individual Final
Saturday, August 3 — Men's Floor Final; Women's Vault Final; Men's Pommel Horse Final
Sunday, August 4 — Men's Rings Final; Women's Uneven Bars Final; Men's Vault Final
Monday, August 5 — Men's Parallel Bars Final; Women's Balance Beam Final; Men's Horizontal Bar Final; Women's Floor Exercise Final
