ABSTRACT
Rhythmic Gymnastics is an Olympic sport which belongs to the group of acyclic technical-compositional sports with the main purpose ‘to perform the movement of the own body with involvement of apparatus and perhaps partners according to the norms’ (Kirchner and Stöber, 1994). According to the former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch it is the ‘most charming and feminine sport of the world’ (Welkow-Jusek and Labner, 2011). Individual and group competitions are characterised by ‘numerous, difficult movement structures and choreography compositions including the apparatus rope, hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon’ (Schwabowski et al., 1992). Body movement elements can be grouped in pivots, jumps, flexibilities and balances. Rhythmic Gymnastics links high athletic performance with body control, concentration, sense for space and time, aesthetic, grace, creativity, and artistic skills on a very high level. Therefore, it combines culture of movement, art and sport, which makes it a very complex athletic performance (Figure 32.1).
