Учебное пособие: Gymnastics
6. What actions do the judges award bonus points for?
7. How many judges are there in the men’s gymnastics competitions?
8. What are the head judge’s duties?
9. How does a gymnast get an average mark (score)?
10. When is the head judge’s own score used?
11. How is the team score determined at the international competition?
12. How many judges are there in the women’s competition?
13. How is the final score in the women’s gymnastics competition produced?
Ex. 2. Say what instruction you would give to a would-be judge.
Ex. 3. Say what you know about:
• judges in gymnastics competitions
• the evaluation of routines
• possibility for former gymnasts to become judges
Task VIII. a) Skim the text to understand what it is about. b) Time your reading. Its good if you can read this text for 75 words per minute.
Gymnasts And Their Training
The ideal body type for gymnastics is short and light. Gymnastics skills require great strength and flexibility, as well as balance and explosive power. Ages and sizes of competitive gymnasts have been decreasing progressively as their selection and training has become more demanding. The two top female gymnasts in the 1992 Olympics were 15 years old, 137 centimetres (4 feet, 6 inches) tall, and one weighed 31.7 kilograms (70 pounds) and the other 31.3 kilograms (69 pounds).
To produce the strength, flexibility, and power essential for competitive gymnastics requires long hours of strenuous practice, and training procedures are designed to develop not only these physical qualities but also the great courage required to perform intrinsically dangerous movements (1).
In socialist societies such as the former Soviet Union, other Eastern European countries, China, and Cuba, young children selected on the basis of body type and other physical attributes were given opportunities to develop into competitive gymnasts through participation in state-supported training facilities (2) and special schools. In countries such as the United States, the development of young gymnasts has been carried out in schools and organisations such as Turners, Sokols, and YMCAs. However, the intensity and level of work required to produce elite gymnasts today is available only in private training facilities, usually paid for by parents. Recognising the financial cost of these private facilities, USA Gymnastics initiated a programme of stipends paid to a small number of the most talented young gymnasts to offset their training costs. Male gymnasts tend to maintain and even improve performances beyond the peak age for female gymnasts, and their training may continue during college years with the support of athletic scholarships. Collegiate gymnastics is also available for females, but today college-age women are generally considered too old to be involved in the highest level of the sport. One of the most important contributions to the development of gymnastics in the United States was the establishment of the USGF Junior Olympics programme, which provides compulsory exercises and guidelines for several levels of age-group competition for both girls and boys.
Notes
(1) intrinsically dangerous movements – связанныесбольшимриском
(2) state-supported training facilities – государственныеспортивныебазы
с)Answer the following questions. If necessary, look through the text again:
1. What is the ideal body type for a gymnast?
2. What quality do gymnastics skills require?
3. Why have age and size of competitive gymnasts been decreasing?
4. How are the strength, flexibility, and power, essential for competitive gymnastics, produced?
5. How were young gymnasts selected in socialist societies?
6. How are young gymnasts selected in the USA?
7. Where are elite gymnasts trained in the USA?
8. What was one of the most important contributions to the development of gymnastics in the United States?
9. What does the USYF Junior Olympic programme provide?