Gymnastics factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS (Reuters) -- Factbox on artistic and rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Gymnastics is one of the oldest Olympic sports. It formed part of the ancient Olympic Games and has always featured in the modern editions. The term "gymnastics" derives from the Greek word "gymnos," meaning naked.

In 1881, Belgium, France and the Netherlands formed a gymnastics federation which expanded into a European federation in 1897 and into the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) with the admission of the United States in 1921.

Artistic gymnastics is a popular sport in Eastern Europe, with the former Soviet Union dominating the sport for many years. United States athletes have also proved to be strong competitors in recent years.

Romania's Nadia Comaneci changed the face of artistic gymnastics during the 1976 Montreal Olympics when she scored the first perfect 10.

Rhythmic gymnasts became an Olympic discipline in 1984 in Los Angeles and trampoline was added to the Games in Sydney in 2000.

EVENTS

Artistic gymnastics and trampoline for men and women, rhythmic gymnastics for women.

Artistic:

Men: Team competition, individual all-round, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, pommel horse, floor exercise, rings.

Women: Team competition, individual all-round, vault, floor exercise, balance beam, asymmetric bars.

Rhythmic: Team, individual

Trampoline: Individual, men and women

2000 CHAMPIONS

Artistic

Men

Team: China (Yang Wey, Zheng Lihui, Li Xiaopeng, Xing Aowei, Huang Xu, Xiao Junfeng)

All-round: Alexei Nemov (Russia)

Vault: Gervasio Deferr (Spain)

Parallel bars: Li Xiaopeng (China)

Horizontal bar: Alexei Nemov (Russia)

Pommel horse: Marius Urzica (Romania)

Floor exercise: Igors Vihrovs (Latvia)

Rings: Szilveszter Csollany (Hungary)

Women

Team: Romania (Andreea Raducan, Maria Olaru, Simona Amanar, Loredana Boboc, Andreea Isarescu, Maria Presacan)

All-round: Simona Amanar (Romania)

Vault: Elena Zamolodchikova (Russia)

Floor exercise: Elena Zamolodchikova (Russia)

Balance beam: Liu Xuan (China)

Asymmetric bars: Svetlana Khorkina (Russia)

Rhythmic

Team: Russia (Irina Belova, Elena Chalamova, Natalia Lavrova, Maria Netessova, Vera Shimanskaya, Irina Zilber)

Individual: Yulia Barsukova (Russia)

Trampoline

Men: Alexandre Moskalenko (Russia)

Women: Irina Karavaeva (Russia)

OLYMPIC PROGRAM

Artistic gymnastics:

August 14: Men's qualification

August 15: Women's qualification

August 16: Men's team final

August 17: Women's team final

August 18: Men's all-round final

August 19: Women's all-round final

August 22: Men's floor exercise final

Women's vault final

Men's pommel horse final

Women's asymmetric bars final

Men's rings final

August 23: Men's vault final

Women's balance beam final

Men's parallel bars final

Women's floor exercise final

Men's horizontal bar final

Rhythmic gymnastics

August 26: Individual all-round qualification

Team all-round qualification

August 27: Individual all-round qualification

August 28: Team all-round final

August 29: Individual all-round final

Trampoline

August 20: Women's competition

August 21: Men's competition

VENUES

Artistic gymnastics and trampoline will be held at the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens main Olympic complex, which has 17,500 seats.

Rhythmic gymnastics will be staged at the Galatsi Olympic Hall in northern Athens, which has a capacity of 6,400.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.fig-gymnastics.com

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