I hadn’t realized that gymnastics started so long ago in South Africa. I didn’t realize that at some point that they were interested in the sport. Surprisingly, the first gymnastic club in South Africa was was the Port Elizabeth gymnastics club founded in 1876. The formation of this gymnastics club was followed by the formation of Cape Town gymnastics in 1880, and the YMCA gymnastics academy which is also in Cape Town. I personally didn’t think that they would have equipment for the sport so they probably used leftover objects to make it. In addition British soldiers used the sport for training. I bet that this intense training helped them as a soldier. Gymnastics in South Africa started off pretty small then the sport gained momentum in the Kimberley region. During this momentum Kimberley gymnasium was formed in 1884 and also the Pirates gymnastics club in 1886. This is when gymnastics in South Africa started to be seen. The first provincial gymnastics body was the Transvaalse Gimnastiek Verbond (Transvaal gymnastics Association, which was proclaimed in December 1898 in Johannesburg. Later there was a death of this association they think that this is because the lack of interest and the outbreak of the first world war. At a time South Africa competed in the Olympics and world championships. The competed in the Olympics from 1952-1960 and the world championships from 1954-1966. The reason that they stopped is because of boycotts which were for racial policies. Even though they stopped competing in these competitions the FIG was never suspended and the FIG is the Federation of International Gymnastics. After a while South Africa started to go national again in 1991, and competed for the first time in a while at the Artistic World Championship. South Africa was gone for 44 years from the sport of gymnastics! They decided to compete in the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. Sadly, this country didn’t win any medals in gymnastics. Why do you think that South Africa stepped away from being competitive in gymnastics for so long?
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ReplyDeleteKianna, your blog has many good things to it. The title and the first sentence made me want to read more. I never knew that gymnastics started so long ago in South Africa. South Africa probably stepped away from being competitive because over the years they didn't win any medals. If that reason is true, I believe it should be the experience and effort that is important and not the medals. In my mind they are still winners. Why is your thought that South Africa stepped away from being competitive in gymnastics for so long? Do you agree that the gymnasts are still winners?
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