What are the differences between the artistic gymnastics apparatus disciplines?
Before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Olympics.com offers an insight into the nuances that exist between artistic gymnastics apparatus.
Artistic Gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics tests every sinew, and challenges composure under the most demanding conditions, all while showcasing personality and joie de vivre through artistry.
The competition format that tests each skillset consists of four apparatus for women and six for men, which have morphed over the years to keep up with increasingly complex routines.
The birth of the Modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 saw men compete in five of the six apparatus on which they compete today – high bar, parallel bars, rings, pommel horse and vault. Instead of the current floor exercise there was a rope climb.
Women's events, meanwhile, were included for the first time at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam with apparatus including flying rings, parallel bars, and various methods of vaulting... including over teammates.
The change in apparatus for women has been somewhat more dramatic, now featuring vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. The skill level, too.
At the 2023 World Gymnastics in Antwerp, Belgium, Simone Biles performed a double pike Yurchenko, or Biles II if you will, on vault, eponymously named after being the first woman to compete the super difficult vault, which only a few men have performed such is its complexity.
Apparatus solely for women today are balance beam and uneven bars. Vault and floor overlap with men, so let's start there.
Artistic gymnastics apparatus – Vault
Men and women both compete on vault, the apparatus that is over in the blink of an eye.
The men's vaulting table is 1.35m (4.4ft) high, lower by 10cm (3.9 inches) for women, but form, complexity, power, distance and control are all elements required of the gymnasts on vault for both.
Check out the example of Britain's Jake Jarman whose expression when he landed a super difficult 3.5 twisting vault at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp said it all.
Artistic gymnastics apparatus – Floor exercise
Floor exercise is the same apparatus for both men and women; a 12m by 12m slightly sprung matted area that helps propel gymnasts toward the rafters, while also providing give to prevent injuries.
The main difference between the men's and women's routines is that women perform to floor music, while men do not.
Both perform between three and four tumbles across the diagonal but women incorporate dance moves and leaps with their incredible tumbling while men perform more strength moves throughout.
Artistic gymnastics apparatus – Bars
There are three types of bars apparatus in artistic gymnastics – uneven bars, parallel bars, and high bar (also known as horizontal bar).
Uneven bars and parallel bars are made of fibreglass with a wood coating while high bar is of a smaller diameter and made of steel.
Uneven bars are solely the domain of women, comprising two bars of different heights and widths to allow the gymnast to transition from bar to bar.
The high bar is 250cm (8.2ft) off the ground, the low bar 170cm (5.6ft) with the diagonal distance between the bars adjustable to the gymnast's preference. Taller gymnasts often have the bars on a wider setting.
Sixteen-year-old Kaylia Nemour, who represents Algeria, currently has the most difficult bar routine in the world despite her young age.
Parallel bars and high bar are purely pursuits for the men.
Parallel bars comprise two bars positioned roughly head height and just more than shoulder-width apart (the bars can be altered according to a gymnast's preference). A routine consists of balance elements, controlled movements and swinging above and below the bars, with a 'stuck' dismount the money shot at the end of the routine for the judges.
High bar is as it sounds, and as dramatic as it sounds. Approximately 278cm (109in) off the ground, the solitary metal bar has a smaller diameter than parallel bars – 2.8cm compared to 4cm (the latter the same as uneven bars) – and enables gasp-inducing wind-up moves into huge somersaults above the bar – hopefully to catch again.
Artistic gymnastics apparatus – Pommel horse
Much like the women's balance beam, the men's pommel horse is one apparatus from which falls come easy, so focus is key. The fall is not so stark, though, with the apparatus 115cm tall.
Shoulder and core strength is imperative as the whole routine is performed with just the hands allowed to touch the foam and leather-clad horse, and two handles.
The routine begins with a gentle entry onto the horse from standing, with the first swing of the legs quickly getting the gymnast into the all-important rhythm needed on this apparatus.
The handles can be altered minutely for each gymnast's preference and must be used throughout, for increasingly complex hand movements and leg swings both along the horse and by staying on one spot.
Artistic gymnastics apparatus – Still rings
The still rings, competed on just by men, are so high off the ground (5.75m/18.8 feet) that gymnasts need lifting onto the apparatus by coaches. The gymnast must hang super still before launching into the routine.
The term 'still' rings come from the fact there used to be a 'swinging rings', but those days are well gone with stillness of the essence as the gymnast flows through a series of strength moves.
One is called an iron cross, in which the gymnast holds themself still, with arms outstretched horizontally, legs pointing downward, straining every sinew to make it look easy. A cheeky nod to judges has been known to occur to emphasise how 'easy' it is for the gymnast.
They're not fooling anyone.
Schedule for artistic gymnastics at the Olympic Games Paris 2024
(All times CEST)
Saturday 27 July
11:00–13:30 Men’s qualification session 1
15:30–18:00 Men’s qualification session 2
20:00-22:30 Men’s qualification session 3
Sunday 28 July
09:30-13:20 Women’s qualification session 1
14:50–16:30 Women’s qualification session 2
18:00-19:40 Women’s qualification session 3
21:10-22:50 Women’s qualification session 4
Monday 29 July
17:30–20:30 Men’s Team Final
Tuesday 30 July
18:15-20:30 Women’s Team Final
Wednesday 31 July
17:30–20:15 Men’s All-Around Final
Thursday 1 August
18:15–20:25 Women’s All-Around Final
Saturday 3 August
15:30-18:00 Women’s/Men’s Apparatus Finals
Sunday 4 August
15:00-17:25 Women’s/Men’s Apparatus Finals
Monday 5 August
12:00-15:15 Women’s/Men’s Apparatus Finals