Sport

Feature

Here’s the A-Z of Gymnastics ahead of Glasgow 2018

The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships take place in August 2018.

Find tickets here

August 2018 will see the great and the good of European gymnastics descend on Glasgow for the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Running across eight days of competition, 600 stars will perform at the SSE Hydro during the action-packed multi-sport Glasgow 2018 programme.

With fans able to access men’s, women’s, and junior events, running from the 2 – 12 August 2018, we’ve pulled together an A-Z rundown of facts and figures from the world of gymnastics.

For the unmissable opportunity to see Europe’s elite gymnasts showcase their rage of talents, find Glasgow 2018 tickets now at Ticketmaster.co.uk.


A

Artistic Gymnastics is the most common discipline and a popular summer Olympic sport. Athletes at Glasgow 2018 will compete for medals in events including all around team, individual all-around and apparatus finals.

B

The Balance Beam event, or simply “Beam,” will be on the women’s schedule in Glasgow next summer.

C

Claudia Fragapane is one of British Gymnastics’ brightest stars and made history when she won four gold medals for Team England at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. She is a three-time silver medal winner at the European Championships and will be hoping to go one better at Glasgow 2018.

D

British gymnast Dan Keatings, who retired earlier this year, collected an impressive medal haul at European level during his career. He clinched seven medals overall including two golds – at Birmingham 2010 and Moscow 2013 – both on the Pommel Horse.

E

Teenager Ellie Downie made headlines when she was crowned the 2017 Women’s All Around European Champion in April this year, becoming the first ever British gymnast to take all around gold in any major international championship.

F

Floor is one of the apparatus featuring in the Women’s Artistic event next summer. Competitive floors usually measure 39 feet by 39 feet.

G

Glasgow is no stranger to hosting major Gymnastics events having staged Gymnastics during the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Both events received worldwide acclaim with many remarking on the noise and passion of the Glasgow crowds.

H

Hundreds of the biggest names in Gymnastics will descend on the SSE Hydro at Glasgow 2018, as they battle for a place in one or more of 26 medal events.

I

Inverted cross is a strength pose on the still rings, where the gymnast’s arms are outstretched in a ‘T’ position and the body is in a handstand.

J

Junior gymnasts from across Europe will stage gravity defying performances in Glasgow for the chance to become European champions. This event is often a chance to spot future stars before they’ve made their big breakthrough – Olympic medallists Max Whitlock, Nile Wilson and Amy Tinkler all impressed at junior level before their achievements at senior level.

K

Kip. This is a basic skill on the uneven bars, it is used as a way of getting on the bar in a front support position or a handstand from a hanging or standing position.

L

Larisa Iordache is a Romanian gymnast who has won 12 European Championships medals and was part of her country’s Team champions in Brussels 2012 and Sofia 2014.

M

Glasgow 2018 European Championships Sporting Ambassador Max Whitlock was a double gold medal winner at last summer’s Olympic Games in Rio and clinched three gold medals at the SSE Hydro during the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He’s a three-time European Champion and is defending World Champion on the pommel horse.

N

Noisy! Max Whitlock described the crowds at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow as some of the loudest he’s ever experienced. Expect the volume levels to be cranked up once more at Glasgow 2018.

O

23-year-old Ukrainian gymnast Oleg Verniaiev is the current European and Olympic Champion in the Parallel Bars.

P

Parallel bars. Scot Daniel Purvis rounded off the Glasgow 2014 competition by winning gold on the men’s parallel bars. This element will also be on show at Glasgow 2018.

Q

Qualifying. Around 600 gymnasts from across Europe will qualify to compete at Glasgow 2018.

R

This year’s European Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca. Marian Dragulescu (men’s floor) and Catalina Ponor (women’s beam) both clinched gold medals on home soil.

S

24-year-old Sam Oldham is one of Great Britain’s brightest prospects. Winning the high bar title at the Youth Olympics back in 2010, he showed his intent. Following more success, including at London 2012, Sam took European silver on high bar for a second time in three years in 2015.

T

Team. The European Gymnastics Championships Team event takes place every second year (including Glasgow 2018). Great Britain’s men won the Team event in 2012 and the women’s team have finished second in the past two events.

U

The uneven bars, or asymmetric bars, are an artistic apparatus, used only by female gymnasts. It is made of a steel frame and will be used by the athletes going for gold at Glasgow 2018.

V

Vault is another of the features that will make up the Gymnastics programme at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, the vault is an apparatus used by both men and women in artistic competition.

W

The 2015 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships took place in Glasgow, the first time the event had ever been staged in Scotland. Britain’s men won silver in the team all-around while Britain’s women won bronze in the same event.

X

Fle-x–ibility. Gymnasts show an incredible ability to twist and turn their bodies in ways that would be impossible for the average person. This is built up with years of training, often from a young age.

Y

The Yurchenko loop is a balance beam skill, in which the gymnast stands sideways on the beam, dives backwards into a back handspring, grasps the beam, performs a back hip circle and ends up in a front support position, resting on the hands. It is named after 1983 world champion Natalia Yurchenko.

Z

The 6th Gymnastics World Cup Final was held in Zagreb in 1982.


Glasgow 2018 will also host exciting aquatics, cycling, golf, rowing, and triathlon events, as well as men’s, women’s and junior gymnastics.

Tickets for all are available now through Ticketmaster.co.uk.