Unusual Olympic Sport of the Day:
The trampoline, an apparatus found primarily in the backyards of
suburban family households, has carved its way into the Olympic
Games over the past several years. Since its introduction to the
Olympics in 2000 at Sydney, the trampoline has gained popularity
amongst men and women gymnasts from around the world. Sixteen men
and 16 women competed in this year’s trampoline event. The
competition consisted of two phases- the qualifications and the
finals. During qualifications, participants performed two routines
and during finals they performed one routine. A panel of nine
judges evaluated the competitors’ routines based on difficulty and
execution. Germany’s Anna Dogonadze took home the women’s gold
medal, while the Ukraine’s Yuri Nikitin took home the men’s gold
medal. For more information about gymnastics trampoline, visit
http://www.athens2004.com/en/Trampoline.
Quick Facts:
-The trampoline dates back to 1800.
-The term “trampoline” was first used in the early 1800s by
Hughes Circus in London, who called one of its attractions “the
trampoline jump”.
-The trampoline began to achieve worldwide popularity around
1900.
-In the early 1900s, University of Iowa gymnast Larry Griswold
devised the first ever competition format for a trampoline. This
was a big step toward legitimizing the trampoline as an actual
sport.
-In 1964, the International Trampoline Federation was
founded.
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