Acrobatic
gymnastics may not be quite as popular as the NFL, but no one can deny the brilliance of perfectly executed gymnastic performance by graceful and bold athletes. When we see such routines, what we are actually seeing is the final product made up of years of untold hours, self-sacrifice, and personal failures.
The sport is also brutal on an athlete’s body, as many gymnastics talks about injuries to just about every part of the body you can imagine. And then there’s the soreness these folks must feel day after day as they wake up early in the morning to put themselves through hell day after day.
It’s just almost impossible to imagine how anyone could do acrobatic gymnastics and not have a passion for it. As for the sport itself, it’s earliest origins seem to date back to ancient Greece. However, the modern version that we see today started in the Soviet Union around the 1930s.
The sport became popular in America 40 years later in the 1970s, when a few gymnasts started putting on performances on Muscle Beach in California. A few years later, in 1975, the United States Acrobatics Federation (USSAF) was formed. Since that time, the organization changed its name to the United States Sports Acrobatics (USSA) in the 1990s.
Some people may wonder what the difference is between acrobatic gymnastics and similar sports such as cheerleading. This can be a bit confusing since acrobatic gymnastics also mixes dance with acrobatics. But, while there are a few things borrowed from acrobatic gymnastics that are used in other sports, athletic skills by these gymnasts are often on a much different level.
Keep in mind, many of these athletes train from a very early age, whereas in a sport like cheerleading, they may train for a couple of years when they are older.
If you’re looking for the best example of how athletic these gymnasts are, you’ll find no better one than in this viral video from the Finals of 2010 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Competition that was held in Wroclaw, Poland. The video features three female teen gymnasts from the Ukrain who are all incredibly athletic and highly-skilled. These girls execute some of the most mind-bending and painful-looking gymnastic moves you’ll ever see.
They execute plenty of fancy flips, but the crown jewel of their performance has to be the insane balancing display that left my joints aching for a week after I first saw it.
But don’t take my word for it, check out their performance in the video below.
