Who is the best gymnast in the world? You are engaged in gymnastics if you can sprint, swing, jump, and move your body with incredible form and magnificent physical coordination. To keep their bodies flexible and healthy and achieve great control, nude men in ancient Greece engaged in several physical activities. After 2500 years, gymnastics is still one of those games that one can enjoy without knowing the rules. It is an Olympic event today.
The gymnasium, where people join to participate in a variety of physical activities, is where it all began. Combat games and exercises with objects like rope and rings were also a part.
1. Gymnastics and Greeks
The word gymnastics comes from a Greek word that means โexercising naked,โ which is exactly what was done in ancient gymnasiums because everyone in Greece back then wanted to be physically fit. The gymnasium served the Greek communityโs music, art, philosophy and athletics needs. As they felt that these activities might balance the mind and body, they served as a cultural place.
2. International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is in charge of overseeing the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committeeโs mission is to โBuild a Better World through Sport.โ
The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the worldโs greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics.
3. Who Is the Best Gymnast in The World? 12 World Champions
3.1) Simone Biles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzNIuqr2GY
One of the most accomplished artistic female American gymnasts is Simone Arianne Biles. Biles, born on March 14, 1997, is regarded as one of the greatest and most powerful female gymnasts of all time and the most decorated gymnast in the globe.
In 2013, at 16, Biles won two gold medals at the World Championships, including the all-around crown. She then won medals in 2014 and 2015, four more gold medals at the World Championships in 2014 and four more in 2015. She holds the record for the most world championship and gold medals in world championship history.
She is the first female gymnast who won 3 straight world championships. When her first Olympics, Rio 2016, rolled around, she was already a superstar and one of the hottest favorites to win. Biles did not disappoint; she won the gold medal in almost every event, including the all-around, team, vault, and floor events, and the bronze medal on the balance beam.
Her domination is based on a complete grasp of gymnastics fundamentals. She is built to be the best gymnast possible with her tiny 4 foot 8 frames, commendable athleticism, and low centre of gravity. She is practically unbeatable when you combine her extreme work ethic, creative craft and dazzling personality.
3.2) Kohei Uchimura
The worldโs second-best and greatest gymnast, Kihei Uchimura, popularly known as โSuperman,โ is an extremely talented Japanese artistic gymnast well-known for his all-around, team, and floor exercises. He has won seven Olympic medals, including three gold and four silver medals in the all-around, team, and floor exercise events. Moreover, Uchimura is the first gymnast to win every all-around title in an entire Olympic cycle.
He was born on January 3, 1989. He has won a remarkable twenty-one world championship medals at the world championship level in events including all-around, team, floor exercise, horizontal bar, and parallel bars. Heโs won nine consecutive national titles in Japan and also against the rest of the world as a six-time World all-around champion. He attributes his success to practice and hard work.
Due to shoulder problems acquired during the 2019 All Japan Championships, he could not qualify for the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Before this, he had participated in each global championship since 2009.
He called the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gymnastics a โonce-in-a-lifetime chanceโ and stated that he anticipated Tokyo 2020 to be very different from his previous Olympic Games appearances in 2008, 2012, and 2016. He decided to concentrate solely on the horizontal bar for Tokyo since he had been bothered by shoulder issues.
He announced his retirement from competitive artistic gymnastics in January 2022.
3.3) Sam Mikulak
American artistic gymnast Samuel Anthony Mikulak holds the position of one of the best gymnasts of all time. He received the 2019 Longines Prize for Elegance in recognition of his outstanding abilities. Sam has also won the U.S. national all-around competition six times, from 2013 to 2016 and 2018 to 2019. Mikulak is the only person to accomplish it since Blaine Wilson won five straight races from 1996 to 2000.
Additionally, Mikulak has won eight NCAA championships. At the 2011, 2013, and 2014 NCAA Menโs Gymnastics Championships, he won medals in the team, individual all-around, and multiple individual even titles. As with his Twitter presence, he generated a buzz on social media for winning four gold medals at the Pacific Rim Championships.
3.4) Dipa Karmakar
Even though Dipa Karmakar, a gymnast from Tripura, is barely 4 feet 11 inches tall in bare feet, she is one of the most successful gymnasts in Indian gymnastics. Dipa Karmakar, the first female gymnast to represent the nation at an Olympic Games, made history in Rio 2016 and inspired many with her courageous efforts that put her just one place short of the podium.
Indiaโs very own โSmall Wonderโ has always fought to overcome the obstacles in her path and defy expectations despite being born with a flat foot. This postural abnormality is thought to be a major disadvantage for any gymnast.
Karmakar began her formal gymnastics instruction at the age of six. She spent her childhood training in ill-equipped gyms, but by the time she was 14, she had won the Junior Nationals and was focused on competing on the world stage.
As a member of Indiaโs gymnastics team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Karmakar, then in his adolescent years, got a close-up glimpse of Ashish Kumarโs performances, which helped India win its first-ever gymnastics medals there.
3.5) Shang Chunsong
Shang Chunsong, the best gymnast and an artist from Zhangjiajie, China, comes in at number five. Chuong, a senior elite gymnast, born on March 18, 1996, competed for China in the World Championships in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Chunsong has won the Chinese national all-around championship for two straight years (2015 & 2016). Chunsong, who stands 1.42 m tall and weighs 34 kg, has challenged the U.S. women competing on the podium with her incredible skills.
She took part in the 2016 Olympics and earned bronze for her team in Rio de Janeiro. Additionally, Shang has participated in international championships such as the World Championships, Asian Games, Asian Championships, and Pacific Rim Championships.
She has competed internationally for China and earned four gold medals, five silver medals, and three bronze medals. Although the Chinese gymnastโs age was a problem when she first joined the Olympic team in 2012, it was resolved, and she performed brilliantly.
3.6) Donell Whittenburg
Donell Whittenburg isย a former rising male artistic gymnast in America.ย He won a bronze medal at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He was born on August 18, 1941, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Donell has also competed in events like the FIG World Challenge Cup, Pan American Games, World Championships, FIG World Cup and more. In these years, he has quickly risen, winning two gold, seven silver, and two bronze medals. In addition, a triple-piked dismount on stationary rings, a gymnastics maneuver, is named after Whittenburg.
3.7) Oksana Chusovitina
Chusovitina, born in Uzbekistan in 1975, won the USSR Junior National Championships 13 years after her birth before moving up to the senior divisions the following year. Her Olympic debut was in 1992 in Barcelona, where she represented the Unified Team and took home an Olympic medal: a team gold medal in the team competition. But this was only the start of her endless tale.
She currently has no less than two Olympic medals (team gold in Barcelona in 1992 and vault silver medal in Beijing in 2008), 11 medals from World Championships (three gold medals, four silver medals, and four bronze medals), two medals from World Cups (one gold, one bronze), eight medals from Asian Games, four medals from Asian Championship, and four medals from European Championships in her trophy cabinet.
At 46 years old, Ms Oksanand and Aleksandrovna Chusovitina became the oldest female gymnast to compete in the Olympics. She is the first gymnast and the moreover first athlete in history to compete in seven Olympics while representing three separate nations: the Unified Team (Soviet Union), Germany, and Uzbekistan. In addition, she is on track to surpass her previous mark for the most Olympic Games a gymnast has participated in.
3.8) Danell Leyva
Former gymnast Danell Johan Leyva is a Cuban-American who is 1.7 metres tall. Leyva participated for the United States as a three-time Olympic medalist and two-time Olympian (2012, 2016). (2 silver, one bronze). Similarly, he gained the moniker D.J. in 2009 after joining the U.S. senior national team at 17. Despite his recent lack of international gymnastics success, he is still one of the best male gymnasts, performing well on parallel and high bars.
3.9) Manrique Larduet
A Cuban artistic gymnast is Manrique Larduet Bicet. Manrique is renowned for performing well overall and for his high bars. He was born and raised in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, and won a silver medal in the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships that made history. He was the first Cuban to appear as an Olympian since 2004.
He poses a threat because he has a good chance of surpassing all previous records for Cuban gymnast success, if not becoming the best in the world. He is the most successful Cuban gymnast. At 25, Manrique is contending for Cuba in world competitions with twelve gold, twenty silver, and four bronze medals.
The โLarduet,โ a double somersault with a twist as the concluding element, was named after him by the International Gymnastics Federation, FIG, in 2016.
3.10) Gabby Douglas
American artistic gymnast Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas, born on December 31, 1995, made history by winning gold medals in the team and individual all-around competitions.
Additionally, Gabby made Olympic history by becoming the first African American gymnast to win Olympic medals in the all-around competition in London in 2012. The same year, Douglas took home the silver medal for the world all-around. She was given the nickname โThe Flying Squirrelโ because of her amazing ability to leap to high heights in the air as she released from the gear on the uneven bars.
Furthermore, in 1996, Douglas and her teammates Wieber, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross won the first gold medal for the American womenโs team. In London and Rio de Janeiro, Gabby won gold medals at the Olympics: two for the team and one for the all-around.
She has won ten gold and silver medals while competing for the USA in international competitions, not counting the Olympics. Gabby is one of the best gymnasts in the world right now, standing 1.57 m tall and continuing to dominate the sport after experiencing great success in the past.
3.11) Murakami Mai
Japanese female athlete, and gymnast Murakami Mai, born on August 5, 1996, is now retired. She participated in the Olympic competition twice, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. She won a bronze medal in the floor exercise in Tokyo, becoming the first female gymnast from Japan to do so. She also won the World Floor Exercise Championship in 2017 and 2021, a first for Japanese women.
Her challenging and creative routines have made her a fan favorite. She is one of the few gymnasts who can complete a double-twisting double layout on the floor, a triple-twisting double back, and a quadruple spin on the balance beam. She also won the World All-Around Silver Medal in 2018 and five times won the Japanese National All-Around Championship (2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021).
In October, the World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, served as Murakamiโs farewell competition. She only participated in the floor exercise and balancing beam competitions, qualifying for both. She finished third on the balance beam, behind German Pauline Schaefer and her fellow countrywoman Ashikawa Urara.
She was the clear favorite to win the gold in the floor exercise. She gave a fantastic routine but was only a tenth of a point behind Russiaโs Angelina Melnikova on the scoreboard. Following an investigation by her coach, her score was increased by one-tenth, earning her the gold medal. She made her gymnastics retirement announcement after winning the gold medal.
3.12) Nina Derwael
Belgian Nina Derwael is a two-time world (in 2018 and 2019) and European (in 2017 and 2018) champion on uneven bars. She won the balancing beams title and the all-around gold twice for Belgium at the 2019 European Games (2015 & 2018). She was born on March 26, 2000, and is, undoubtedly, the first and most successful gymnast from Belgium. She has had a significant international influence.
Nina also won five gold, one silver, and one bronze medal while competing for Belgium in international competitions. And thatโs a wonderful beginning for someone just starting in gymnastics. Being short is good in gymnastics; therefore, being tall for a gymnast at 1.65m was rare.
Also check out, Dos and Donts in Cuba
Last Updated on by Laveleena Sharma