What was it like training in Japan in the late 1960s? How many hours did they train? How was the Japanese gymnastics system set up? Did they use spotting belts?
Let’s take a look…
Author: Gymnastics History
What was it like to train in the Soviet Union in the 1960s? At what age did they start? What were their gyms like? What did their training manuals look like?
Let’s take a look at some documents from the archives to find out…
From October 15-19, 1967, Mexico City held the Third Pre-Olympic Gymnastics Meet. It was part of the Little Olympics. (Nowadays, we’d call it the Olympics Test Event.)
Almost all the stars of gymnastics competed. The most notable exceptions: Věra Čáslavská and Mikhail Voronin.
Let’s take a look at what transpired in Mexico one year before the actual Games.
Věra Čáslavská’s performance was the big news out of Amsterdam in 1967. But it wasn’t the only story.
15-year-old Karin Janz had an incredible international debut. In fact, she was just hundredths away from stopping Čáslavská’s gold medal sweep at the 1967 European Championships.
Let’s take a quick look at her performance…
The 1967 WAG European Championships are a crucial moment in the history of artistic gymnastics. Let’s take a look at why this competition matters…
If you’re reading this site, you’re a big, ol’ gym nerd at heart. Now, it’s time to see just how much of a gym nerd you are. Take the quiz below to find out.
Gym nerds have heard of a magical 12-page Code of Points. But few have seen it.
Well, good news: We, the gymternet, now have the very first Code of Points in our possession thanks to Kathi-Sue Rupp and Hardy Fink.
So, with no further ado, here’s the very first men’s Code of Points.
By the way, if you’re looking for the very first women’s Code of Points, you can find it here.
Most gym nerds know about Věra Čáslavská’s political stance on the podium at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. (If you don’t, Google it. There’s plenty that has been written about it.)
But did you know that some saw tension between Čáslavská and the Soviet gymnasts already at the 1966 World Championships?
On October 1, 1966, the Feuille d’avis de Neuchatel published a column called “Le sport vu par une femme” (“Sports as Seen by a Woman”), chastizing Věra Čáslavská for her actions on the podium. Here’s what it said…
The World Championships are a long slog for judges. The 1966 World Championships in Dortmund were no exception, and, at the time, many believed that the length of the competition impacted the judging.
Recap: Doris Brause’s uneven bars routine created quite the sensation at the 1966 World Championships. When she received a 9.766 on bars, the crowd stopped the meet for over an hour, hoping to coerce the judges into raising her score.
The judges didn’t budge.
But uneven bars would never be the same again.