Rhythmic Gymnastics or Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics is a sport where one or 5 girls handle an apparatus (Ball, Rope, Ribbon, Clubs, and Hoop) in a floor excercise routine consisting of leaps, turns, balance and flexibility. It is perfromed on a floor area of 13 square meters. Also, the routine should last for 75-90 seconds.

International Rhythmics is judged in two catergories Juniors for girls under 16, and seniors for girls 16 and over. It is also judged in levels 1-10.

The sport mainly consists of women but some men also participate in the sport. In mens rhythmic gymnastics groups do not use any apparatus while in solo they can use: rope, stick, double rings and clubs.

Rhythmic gymnastics began as asthetic gymnastics created by Peter Henry Ling, in which students expressed their feelings and emotions through bodily movement. The idea was then molded into a gymnastic program called Grace without Dancing by Catherine E. Beecher. In Switzerland during the 1880's Emil Dalcroze created a physical training program for Musicians and Dancers called Eurhythmics, and exercises to music designed to promote grace of movement, muscular flexibility, and good posture were created in France by George Demeny. All of these elements shaped and molded together to bring us the first rhythmic gymnastic school in Sweden; however RG began as a sport in 1940 in the former Soviet Union.

Apparatus:

Ball:

Made of rubber or synthetic material and 18-20cm in diameter must rest in the gymnast's hand and not against the wrist. The elements include rolling, throwing and bouncing. The gymnast must use both hands while showing continuous flowing movement over the whole floor area.





Ribbon:

The ribbon is six metres in length, used for large, smooth and flowing movements. Fundamental elements include swings, circles, 'serpents' and spirals. It requires a high degree of co - ordination to form the spiral as any knots that accidentally form in the ribbon are penalised





Clubs:

Characterised by rhythmical tapping, the clubs are made of wood or synthetic material. Fundamental elements include mills and small circles, with other elements such as swings, circles, asymetric movements, throwing and catching. The clubs must be used in both hands and one hand.





Hoop:

The hoop is made of plastic or wood and is 80-90cm in diameter. Fundamental elements include rotation around the body or hand and rolling. Other elements include swings, circles, figures of eight, throws, passes through and over the hoop.





Rope:

A light and supple rope usually made of hemp or synthetic material. Requirements include leaps over the rope and skipping, as well as swings, throws, circles, rotations and figures of eight.






Information from: wikipedia.org, www.afg-gymnastic.20m.com . . ., and pictures from google (sorry I dont know the exact photographers).

Thats very informative as Im not a huge rg fan.

Very well and nice presentation! And the history information is great!
Still one question: I knew the floor had 12 meters on each side, so in total 144 square meters or am I wrong?

It is 13 meters so it would be 169 meters square. When I said 13 square meters it means 13 squares of 1 meter by 1 meter which equals 169.

This post is very informative for people you don't know what RG is. I see you put a lot of effort putting nice pictures and explain exacttly what the clubs are etc. It will also cut down the number of "what is RG?" posts.

Great post! That's why I gave you karma.

omg i tried RG it is SO HARD
i admire rhythmic gymnasts they have so much work to do
and it all pays off
they make it look so easy
you should see me with a hoop

aine x

hey,
thanks for posting this i am a gymnast but i didnt really know that much about rg but i have a pretty good idea now. it almost looks just as fun as gymnastics, but i like tubleing so ill stick with my sport.
berlin

Hiya
Thank you for posting this
it was very informative

Love Martine

Why don't we make this topic a sticky? So people immediately know where to look for this kind of basic information?

^^Agreed GymLover

Here's links to videos , to illustrate this topic:
www.rsgvideos.com
www.rsgmann.com
lnx.ukraine-rg.com . . .
www.rhythmicdreams.com . . .

Another good site is

menrg.com

It tells you all about men's rg and has about 10 videos on it.

Enjoy!

*~Cadbury_Eater~*

Wherever there is Cadbury in this world it shall be eaten.

wow that was very informative!! thanks!!

by the way cadbury_eater i love your avatar!! i have a big bar of dairy milk by me right now.... actually i have less than half a big bar of dairy milk right by now!! lol

thanks so much!! well said. thanks for the wonderful photos too!!!

on the first that is how i tretch at my acro class

Thanks for the links.

Nice pics and a nice presentation.

I have learn a much.

Thanks for posting that.

i totally love the pictures!! thanks for the helpful information~

The floor size for individual gymnasts is 12 meters on each side, for a total of 144 squared meters. The size is increased to 13 meters on each side (or 169 squared meters) for RG group competitions. I hope this helps.

Thank you so much for this post! i thought i knew everything about rhythmic gymnastics but apparently i learnt a lot reading your post
Very informative

I'm a level 9 rhythmic gymnast. I was born and lived in Ukraine for 13 years, and now I live in USA. I'm 15, my name's Alex. You can ask me anything about RG =)

all i can say is sweet pics, i wish i could do that!

Very good description of Rythmic Gymnastics. The pics were especially descriptive.

The floor size for individual gymnasts is 12 meters on each side, for a total of 144 squared meters. The size is increased to 13 meters on each side (or 169 squared meters) for RG group competitions. I hope this helps.

The floor is 13x13 both for groups and individuals since mid-90's.

nothing is ever as east as it looks... im in color gyard and well my team got .2points deducted from our scre becuase one of our girls as showing that she was out of breathe by breathing hard... we have to stay composed always... i used to do rg... but quit to ride horses...