Gymnastics was invented by the Greeks and comes from the word meaning disciplinary exercise, body control, gracefulness and strength with tumbling and acrobatic skills. When the Greeks first invented the sport men and women performed in the sport and did so naked. In ancient Greece, gymnastics was mainly for exercise, as fitness was highly valued. Then the Romans took over the sport and turned it into a more formal sport for preparations for warfare.

 

       In the 1700s Gymnastics became very popular in Germany after Friedrich Lugwig Jahn invented the parallel bars, high bar, and balance beam. The sport then moved to Sweden and England in the 1800s and then spread to the United States and finally the world.

 

      The first Olympics for Women was in 1936.