Women's Artistic Gymnastics Research Articles

Learning and Transfer in Women's Artistic Gymnastics

The scientific argument is to highlight the methodological aspects of learning and transfer in women's artistic gymnastics. Purpose of the paper: to present the effectiveness of using transfer and biomechanical analysis in learning technical elements in women's artistic gymnastics. This approach led to the organization of a study of case in School Sports Club no.7 Dinamo Bucharest. Methods . The study was conducted during the period (11.03.2011- 10.04.12), applied to only one female gymnast 10 years old, Junior IV and III level. Gymnast's evolutions throughout training and competition preparation stages were monitored by means of video method of biomechanical analysis (World in motion), statistical-mathematical method and graphical representation. Results. The study points out the influence of transfer and biomechanical analysis in learning and perfecting the technical elements. Comparative analysis highlights the dynamics of technical elements learning on each apparatus, the relationship of transfer achievement, the detection and correction of technical mistakes and the performances obtained in competitions. The results of statistical-mathematical calculations in terms of dynamics of technical elements learning on apparatus show significant differences between tests at p<0.05, p<0.01 and not significant differences at p>0.05, while the results achieved in competitions emphasize the increase of A1 score mean (difficulty), improvement of B score mean (execution) and of final score and the achievement of good performances both in all-round finals and apparatus finals. Conclusions. The efficient use of transfer and biomechanical analysis in learning technical elements in women's artistic gymnastics contributes to improving the preparation level and getting better performances in competitions.

Macro-methods of Learning the Technical Elements of Junior Female Gymnasts in the Stage of Sports Training basic Specialization

Abstract This paper presents the application of the macro methods of learning the gymnastics exercises in the stage of sports training basic specialization in women's artistic gymnastics. The methodology of research aimed at recording the dynamics of the indicators of sensorimotor development, physical and technical training, biomechanical video analysis, development of algorithmic programs for learning and the performances achieved in competition. The results of the study confirm that the development of the algorithmic programs for learning gymnastics exercises based on optimum relationship between the level of sensorimotor, physical and technical training development with the biomechanical video analysis of the key elements of sports technique have influenced the sports training in the basic specialization stage in women's artistic gymnastics.

Panorama da ginástica artística feminina brasileira de alto rendimento esportivo: progressão, realidade e necessidades

Os resultados das atletas brasileiras da Ginástica Artística feminina nos últimos 10 anos, refletidos principalmente nas competições de nível internacional, apontam para uma expressiva evolução do esporte no país. Assim, este artigo tem o propósito de apresentar dados acerca desta transformação, principalmente a partir da participação das ginastas em Jogos Olímpicos (desde 1980), e estabelecer reflexões em relação ao desenvolvimento da modalidade no país. A partir de uma pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, estes dados foram obtidos, reunidos e contextualizados com outras informações já disponíveis na literatura. Ao analisá-los foi possível não só apontar com especificidade como se deu esta evolução, como também apresentar uma realidade deflagradora de um processo ainda imaturo de desenvolvimento do esporte no país, que não condiz em grande parte com o que é posto pela mídia (de que a modalidade está em pleno avanço e de forma estruturada).

Centro de excelência e ginástica artística feminina: a perspectiva dos técnicos brasileiros

Durante o período de 2001-2008, a Confederação Brasileira de Ginástica implementou o sistema de seleção permanente concentrada no Centro de Treinamento (CT) de Curitiba. Através de um formato semelhante às escolas-internato esportivas da antiga União Soviética, as ginastas passaram a treinar juntas sob o comando de um renomado técnico estrangeiro. Este artigo visa apresentar e discutir o contexto deste CT e o sistema de seleção permanente da ginástica artística feminina (GAF) brasileira, a partir da opinião dos técnicos que desenvolvem a modalidade no país. Procedemos a um estudo de campo e entrevistamos 34 treinadores de 29 instituições. Dentre os aspectos positivos da seleção permanente, os sujeitos relacionaram principalmente a infraestrutura disponível às ginastas. Sobre os aspectos negativos, foram citados problemas relacionados ao rigor do treinamento, à polarização e a consequente monopolização das atletas, o que revela que, provavelmente, não houve uma adaptação do modelo soviético às características da GAF desenvolvida no Brasil.

Talent Identification and Development in Sport: International Perspectives

Preface 1. Identification & Development of Sport Talent: A Brief Introduction to a Growing Field of Research and Practice Steve Cobley, Jorg Schorer and Joseph Baker Section One: Theoretical and conceptual models for understanding talent identification and development 2. Do genes predict potential? Genetic factors and athletic success Joseph Baker 3. Building talent development systems on mechanistic principles: Making them better at what makes them good AineMacNamara and Dave Collins 4. Environmental influences on early development in sports experts Sean Horton 5. What skill acquisition and expertise research tells us about talent identification and development Damian Farrow 6. Dynamical systems theory as a multi-disciplinary framework for understanding expertise and talent development in sport Ian Renshaw, Keith Davids, Elissa Phillips and Hugo Kerherve Section Two: International case studies of talent identification and development 7. Talent Identification and Development in Women's Artistic Gymnastics: The Talent Opportunity Program (TOPs) William A. Sands 8. Who are the superstars of tomorrow? Talent development in Dutch soccer Marije T. Elferink-Gemser and Chris Visscher 9. Talent identification, selection and development in UK Junior Rugby League: An evolving process Kevin Till, Chris Chapman, Steve Cobley, John O'Hara and Carleton Cooke 10. Back to the future - A case report of the ongoingevaluationprocess of the German handball talent selection and development system. Jorg Schorer, Dirk Busch, Lennart Fischer, Jan Pabst, Rebecca Rienhoff, Peter Sichelschmidt, and Bernd Strauss 11. Explaining African dominance in running Yannis Pitsiladis 12. Applying Talent Identification Programs at a System Wide Level: The Evolution of Australia's National Program Jason Gulbin 13. Lessons learned: The future of research in talent identification and development Joseph Baker, Jorg Schorer and Steve Cobley

Study of Biomechanics Characteristics of Tsukahara Vault in Women's Artistic Gymnastics

Problem statement The main emphasis in the methodology to optimize the Tsukahara vault is to achieve ideal flight paths, to increase height and length of flight II, to extend the flight time which contributes to increased difficulty manifested in the number of rotation degrees of the body on a longitudinal axis or the number of rotations made by the athlete on a transversal axis to landing. The video analysis is an important method of recording direct observation and helps to share the stage film moments, allowing technical improvement and knowledge of kinematic and dynamic characteristics of motion parameters with the possibility to compare and evaluate the differences between athletes or the same athlete performance in time. Method and Procedure In accordance with the principles of biomechanics and technical rules of execution of the vault, the study aims to define the biomechanical aspects of Tsukahara vault tucked, performed by a representative junior gymnast. Based on these criteria, providing quantitative and measurable indicators, the correct and scientific conduct of the technical preparation process becomes more accurate and localized. The gymnast BR had the best results in the National Championship within CSS 2 Bucharest, aged 11.6 years, H=145cm, W=37.8kg, 182cm height in handstand. Results Detailed knowledge of kinematic and dynamic characteristics of Tsukahara vault allow intervention of specialist in sports training objective, technical training by converting quantitative information of motion parameters in precise exercise instructions that mark the exercise basic methods. Conclusion By applying the quantitative analysis of video-technical training in gymnastics, especially in juniors, they made premises that technical training should be based on biomechanical recommendations, making the training objective scientific and implemented in practice.

Performance score variation between days at Australian national and Olympic women's artistic gymnastics competition

We determined the inter-day variability in elite-standard women's artistic gymnastics competition scores. National (50 gymnasts for up to three days) and Olympic (24 gymnasts for up to five days) competition scores published in the public domain (‘Giant poster pull-out’, 2010; Gymnastics Australia, 2008) were evaluated using three statistical measures. Analyses of the inter-day differences in the mean scores as a percentage (MDiff%), coefficient of variation percentages for the mean score across both days (CV%), and Pearson correlation coefficients for the inter-day score (r) were interpreted using thresholds from trivial to large. National-class gymnasts' two-day performance variation was trivial for vault, small for floor and beam, and moderate for bars. When senior gymnasts competed for a third day the performance variation increased to moderate for vault. Across five days of Olympic competition there were trivial (e.g. CV%: vault = 0.8) to small (e.g. CV%: bars = 2.0) variations in performances between days on all apparatus. Olympians' performance score consistency is superior to senior, national-class competitors. The performance score consistency required for gymnasts who aspire to participate at the Olympics as a top-24 competitor is better than 3%.

Update on Artistic Gymnastics

Gymnastics continues to be one of the most popular and injury-prone sports in the United States. The National Collegiate Athletic Association cites women's artistic gymnastics as second only to spring football in its rate of injury during practices, and fourth overall when combining competition and practice injury rates. Because of the physical demands of the sport of gymnastics, a wide variety of injuries occur. This article reviews some of the most recent literature on the sport of artistic gymnastics. A broad differential may be required to diagnose correctly a presenting injury in a gymnast.

Reliability and validity of judging in women's artistic gymnastics at University Games 2009

The aim of our research was to analyse the reliability and validity of judging on all women's apparatuses and all sessions (qualification, all round finals and apparatus finals) at the World University Games-Universiade 2009 in Belgrade. For validity assessment, mean absolute and rank deviations of judges’ execution scores were calculated. For consistency and reliability assessment, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, intra-class correlations, Armor's theta and Kendall's W coefficient were calculated. Vault and floor exercise finals were the sessions with the highest scores and the lowest score dispersion. The overall highest individual judge average absolute deviation was 0.34 point and the largest mean rank deviation was 0.88 with most values well below this. A correlation matrix for between-judge correlations identified three judges (out of 20) in the apparatus finals sessions with remarkably inferior correlations with others. Except for vault and floor finals, the results in terms of consistency (Cronbach's alpha mostly above 0.95) and reliability (Armor's theta mostly above 0.94, intra-class correlation for single and average measures above 0.87 and 0.94, respectively) were satisfactory. In conclusion, overall high values of reliability and consistency indices were found. Sessions where the variability between competitors is low (such as vault and floor finals in this competition) should be inspected with special care in future judging analyses.

Ballerinas and Pixies: a Genealogy of the Changing Female Gymnastics Body

Until the late 1960s, women's artistic gymnastics consisted of mature women performing gentle ballet-type exercises that were emotionally expressive and graceful. During the 1970s, however, the gymnasts' performances and bodies changed dramatically. Young and sexually undeveloped gymnasts began to execute acrobatic- and risk-driven routines that consisted of complex air-bound combinations of gymnastics elements. The trend to acrobatics emerged in the former Soviet Union. Within this specific political context, a highly competitive, ambitious and ingenious sporting atmosphere fostered the development of the acrobatic trend in the Eastern Bloc countries and later in the West. Analyses of the 1964 and 1975 International Code of Points (Code) and specific descriptions of the physical appearance and winning floor routine of Czechoslovakian Vera Caslavska at the 1968 Olympic Games and that of Romanian Nadia Comaneci at the 1976 Games, demonstrate the differing gymnastics styles. Interviews, academic literature, popular texts and Internet sites help explain the developments. Michel Foucault's genealogical research methodology and ‘analytic’ of modern relations of power assist in this pursuit, revealing a particular history of social change.

"They Must Be Working Hard": An (Auto-)Ethnographic Account of Women's Artistic Gymnastics

This article includes narrative excerpts compiled from field notes the author collected observing six Australian women's elite artistic gymnasts and their two coaches. Using creative nonfiction and auto-ethnography, the stories' plots describe the gymnasts' daily training realities and include personal reflections on the author's gymnastics experiences and reactions to what she saw during the observations. The stories illustrate how, despite differing levels of authority, the coaches', gymnasts', and parts of her own identity and behaviors are shaped by a dominant gymnastics model. This ideal coerces the coaches and gymnasts to regulate their selves and behaviors according to its dominant characteristics. Although potentially beneficial and satisfactory, the training model's discourses and practices can have debilitating effects.

Classification options touchdowns in the women's artistic gymnastics

Classification options touchdowns in the women's artistic gymnastics

Strategies in preflight for an optimal Yurchenko layout vault

An optimal Yurchenko layout vault of an elite female gymnast was identified by Koh et al. [2003. A predicted optimal performance of the Yurchenko layout vault in women's artistic gymnastics. Journal of Applied Biomechanics 19, 187–204] to require a combination of an increased body angle at horse contact and increased angular momentum for postflight than was recorded experimentally. However, the individual effect of each of these variables to producing the optimal vault is not known. The purpose of the study was to determine an appropriate strategy to teaching the optimal Yurchenko layout vault. Separate optimisations were carried out to investigate how each of these variables would change in order to produce the optimal vault identified by Koh et al. (2003). A combined optimal parameter selection and optimal control approach was used. The results suggest that when the body angle of attack at horse impact was kept low, pre-flight angular momentum had to be increased, with further gains during horse impact, to produce an optimal vault. This strategy of increasing solely the level of angular momentum needed for optimum postflight may not be attainable realistically. On the other hand, employing a larger body angle of attack required an increase in angular momentum during impact but which was attainable. Both optimisations show that increasing the vertical CM horse takeoff velocity is essential for postflight height and distance. The strategy to enhance performance should thus focus on maintaining an appropriate CM pre-flight velocity, a high level of angular momentum during pre-flight and to contact the horse with a large body angle of attack.

In pursuit of an identity: A qualitative exploration of retirement from women's artistic gymnastics

Objectives This study examined factors that might facilitate or hinder self-identity formation and adaptation to athletic retirement among a sample of competitive athletes. Designs As adjustment to retirement problems can be pronounced in women's artistic gymnastics due to the young ages at which participants begin and end their competitive careers, the experiences of five former female gymnasts were studied. Methods Respondents participated in retrospective, semi-structured interviews yielding transcripts that were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results and Conclusions Results revealed that participants had been encouraged to dedicate their lives to gymnastics and were, as a result, left feeling lost and helpless when they retired. After prematurely adopting an identity based solely on their role as a gymnast, many of the participants knew little about who they were and what they wanted to do with their lives, and were consequently forced to distance themselves from their past in order to establish a new identity apart from gymnastics. For those whose felt a constant external pressure to strive for excellence during their career, this process was particularly challenging and has lasted, in some cases, for the duration of their retirement. Distress can be avoided by engaging in pre-retirement planning from a very young age and subsequently maintaining control of the transition out of gymnastics by reducing participation gradually and finding a meaningful replacement.

The Margin for Error When Releasing the Asymmetric Bars for Dismounts

It has previously been shown that male gymnasts using the "scooped" giant circling technique were able to flatten the path followed by their mass center, resulting in a larger margin for error when releasing the high bar (Hiley and Yeadon, 2003a). The circling technique prior to performing double layout somersault dismounts from the asymmetric bars in women's artistic gymnastics appears to be similar to the "traditional" technique used by some male gymnasts on the high bar. It was speculated that as a result the female gymnasts would have margins for error similar to those of male gymnasts who use the traditional technique. However, it is unclear how the technique of the female gymnasts is affected by the need to avoid the lower bar. A 4-segment planar simulation model of the gymnast and upper bar was used to determine the margins for error when releasing the bar for 9 double layout somersault dismounts at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The elastic properties of the gymnast and bar were modeled using damped linear springs. Model parameters, primarily the inertia and spring parameters, were optimized to obtain a close match between simulated and actual performances in terms of rotation angle (1.2 degrees), bar displacement (0.011 m), and release velocities (<1%). Each matching simulation was used to determine the time window around the actual point of release for which the model had appropriate release parameters to complete the dismount successfully. The margins for error of the 9 female gymnasts (release window 43-102 ms) were comparable to those of the 3 male gymnasts using the traditional technique (release window 79-84 ms).

Dynamic optimization: inverse analysis for the Yurchenko layout vault in women's artistic gymnastics

The use of dynamic optimization to compute the trajectory of joint torques is not popular due to the large amount of computation required, the choice of initial “guesstimates” of torque values and the mathematical sophistication required to understand the technique. Modern optimal control algorithms circumvent most of these objections to the method. It is our aim to demonstrate that the dynamic optimization technique is feasible for complex movements, using the Yurchenko layout vault as an example. A dynamic optimization method to compute joint torques so that the histories of the angular orientations of the model segments closely approximate the corresponding observed angular coordinate histories is demonstrated with the Yurchenko layout vault using an optimal control package. The objective function used is a measure of distance of fitted segment angles to the data, plus the distance of the fitted whole body centre of mass (CM), from the whole body CM computed from the data. Including the CM into the objective function, facilitates the optimization process so as to obtain a set of torques which reproduced the data. The paper shows that the approach works well for the task examined, that is, where the dynamics of the system change during a movement (impact to postflight).

Energy and Nutrient Intakes of the United States National Women's Artistic Gymnastics Team

The nutrient intakes and dietary practices of elite, U.S. national team, artistic female gymnasts (n = 33) were evaluated using 3-day food records. The gymnasts' reported energy intake was 43.4 kcal/kg (total 1,678 kcal/day), which was 20% below the estimated energy requirement. The contributions of protein, fat, and carbohydrate to total energy intake were 17%, 18%, and 66%, respectively. All reported vitamin intakes, except vitamin E, were above the RDA. The reported mineral intakes, especially calcium, zinc, and magnesium, were less than 100% of the RDA. The overall nutrient densities of the subjects' diets were higher than expected. Eighty-two percent of the gymnasts reported taking nonprescription vitamin and mineral supplements, and 10% reported taking prescription vitamin and mineral supplements. Forty-eight percent of the gymnasts reported being on a self-prescribed diet. Compared to NHANES III, the reported nutrient intake of these gymnasts was different from that of the average U.S. adolescent female. In summary, certain key nutrients such as calcium, iron, and zinc should be given more attention to prevent nutrient deficiencies and subsequent health consequences.

Efficacy Expectations, Training Performance, and Competitive Performance in Women's Artistic Gymnastics

This paper reports on a study examining the relationships between self-efficacy, training performance, and competitive performance in women's artistic gymnastics. Data were collected during normal training sessions from 16 female competitive gymnasts. Efficacy expectations were somewhat more accurate than were previous competition scores in predicting competitive performance, although training performance was the most accurate predictor. The tracking of performance and efficacy for six gymnasts during the weeks prior to a major competition illustrated the development and interaction of skill level and efficacy expectations. Efficacy measures may provide information on gymnasts' states of readiness for competition, and can be assessed without interfering with normal training.