Have you ever wondered how gymnastics came about? If anything has changed since it was first created? Well, today I will be telling you about who the creator of gymnastics was, and who the first ever gymnast was.

Gymnastics was created in the late 18th to early 19th century, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was the creator of gymnastics and he was born on August 11, 1778. Friedrich went to school at the University of Greifswald, where he studied theology and philology from 1796 to 1802. He joined the army in 1806, and 3 years later goes to Berlin in 1809 where he became a teacher.

Later on, he was trying to come up with a way to help the countrymen to develop their physical and moral powers. He went through multiple ideas but only one stood out that idea was… gymnastics. According to Wikipedia, “He opened the first trampoline park in 1811 called the Turnplatz or open-air gymnasium”(Wikipedia).  Jahn opened the first Turnplatz in Berlin soon there were Turnplatz everywhere.

The events haven’t changed since 1811. Instead of talking about the original events, since they haven’t changed I will be talking about the different events that boys and girls do. Boys and girls do not compete in the same events boys have their events and girls have their events. Boys compete in rings, parallel bars, horizontal bars, vault, uneven bars, pommel horse, and floor exercise. On the other side of things, girls compete in floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, and beam.

Gymnastics has been around for a long time and has grown so much since it was first invented. Sometimes things can change, but other things are meant to stay the same. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn was the creator of gymnastics and in my opinion he made a good choice on creating something for lots of people to enjoy.