Gymnastics High Bar
Gymnastics High Bar or Horizontal Bar
Gymnastics is one of the top sports to watch at the Olympics. The men’s and women’s gymnastics are similar in that they both have floor routines and vaults, but differ from there. Men perform on even bars where women perform on uneven bars. Men also do the pommel horse and rings.
In this video, male gymnasts compete on a high bar also referred to as a horizontal bar. Here you will see some world class gymnasts put on a show on the high bar in Oklahoma City, 2008. They make it look easy, but it requires so much strength and control to do these skills.
The high bar is about 2 3/4 meters high including the height of the landing mats and measures almost 2 1/2 meters long. The width of the bar is less than 3 cm wide in diameter.
Gymnasts need to train many hours in the gym to build muscles, coordination and the skills on all the different apparatus. Many have been training from a very early age.
Gymnastics requires strength, flexibility, balance and daring. Gymnastics has been very popular around the world, especially in Russia, Romania, Germany and other countries. China has become a strong contender for gymnastics, with a long history of acrobatics.
There are other forms of gymnastics including trampoline, rhythmic gymnastics, acro gym and more. All of these disciplines require flexibility, determination and lots and lots of training to get really good.
If you are interested in gymnastics, check with your school, recreation centre or look for local private gyms that offer classes. Many of the athletes you see at the Olympics start training at a very early age – like 3 or 4 years old.
However, gymnastics is great exercise and really fun to do – even if you know you will never make it to that level. It will certainly give you a great appreciation of how hard it is to perform these skills.
The gymnasts in this video are Ivan Ivankov, Kevin Tan, Paul Hamm, Raj Bhavsar and Jonathan Horton. They are all very skilled and talented.