A perfect fusion of athletics and aesthetics, gymnastics ranks among the defining sports of the Olympic Games. Mixing strength and agility with style and grace, the high-flying acrobats have provided many of the most breathtaking Olympic spectacles of the past quarter-century.

Nadia Comeneci's perfect 10 score at the 1976 Montreal Games, the first ever awarded, remains the high-water mark for most gymnastics fans. The 14-year-old Romanian achieved the seemingly impossible seven times in Montreal, a feat so unexpected that the scoring technology was set up for only three digits. Her 10.00s were displayed as 1.00.

Gymnastics has a long, proud history. The sport can be traced back to ancient Greece, where such skills featured in the ancient Olympic Games. Ancient Rome, Persia, India and China practised similar disciplines, mostly aimed at preparing young men for battle. The word itself derives from the Greek word gymnos, meaning naked - dress requirements for athletes in those days were minimal, to say the least.

据专家研究，我国古代体操有两类：一类是强健筋骨预防疾病的体操，其中，最有代表性的是古代药学名著《内经》中的“导引养身术”。出土的导引图，距今已有2100多年之久，不仅年代早，而且内容非常丰富：有肢体运动、呼吸运动、器械运动等。另一类存在于古代乐舞、杂技、戏剧和流传于民间的技巧运动中。现代体操的正式名称是竞技体操，它是体操的一分支，而又简称为体操。这是一项在规定的器械上，完成复杂、协调的动作，并根据动作的分值或动作的难度、编排与完成情况等给予评分的运动。

器械及项目名称
体操 gym, gymnastics
屈体跳 piked jump
鞍马 buck
高杠 high bar
肩倒立 shoulder stand
吊环 hand ring
规定动作 required routine
蹦床 bounding table
双杠 parallel bars
单杠 horizontal bar
高低杠 uneven bars
平衡木 balance beam
体操凳 gym bench
艺术体操 artistic gymnastics
自由体操 floor exercise
圈操 hoop exercise
绳操 rope exercise
哑铃操 dumbbell exercise
棒操 exercise with clubs
带操 exercise with ribbons
跳马 vault
跳板 vaulting block技术动作
后手翻 back handspring
前手翻 front handspring
侧手翻 cartwheel
屈体 body bent
后空翻 back flip
跳下动作 dismount
自由腾空 free flight
换握 grip change
倒立转体 handstand turn
摆动倒立 handstand with swing
挺身向后翻 fish flop
足尖跑　running on toes
助跑 running approach
小步跑 skips and hops
徒手 free hand
大回环 giant swing
马步跳 gallop leap
分腿跨越 stride vault
落地不稳 unbalanced landing
足尖站立 stand on tiptoe
跨越 stride leap
空翻 airspring
直体后空翻 back somersault
原地跳 jump in place
旋转 spinning
单臂倒立 one-arm handstand

托马斯全旋Thomas circle