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Balance Beam
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The balance beam is a rectangular artistic

What is Balance Beam? gymnastics apparatus and an event
performed using the apparatus. Both the
apparatus and the event are sometimes
simply referred to as "beam". The English
abbreviation for the event in gymnastics
scoring is BB.
Who invented the 3
Balance beam?
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852) was

the founder of the Turner movement in
Germany. He believed in the importance of
complete mental and physical fitness,
which could be achieved if a person
were educated in both book studies and in
physical exercise (called "Turnen").
He developed the side bar, the horizontal
bar, the parallel bars, the balance beam,
and jumping events..
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History of Balance beam
• This apparatus is rather lately used in competitive gymnastics.
However, as apparatus for balancing it is actually as old as
later body exercises. It might started with a "horizontal laying,
totally round pine tree trunk..." to balance on. Jahn called it
later "Schweben" (engl.: floating) which is the origin of the
present name still used in Germany.

• The lower part of the long "Schwedenbank" (Swedish bench)

still integrates the balance beam. 1934 the balance beam was
part of the world championships in Budapest for the first time.
That was also the first time actual women's international
championships took place. The beam was only 8 cm wide.

• Nowadays, this discipline is not only a demonstration of

feeling for balance but also of acrobatic of highest difficulty in
the artistic area.
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The International
Gymnastics Federation
establishes the universal
dimensions of the balance
beam; they are 4 inches
wide and 16 feet, 5 inches,
long and they sit 4 feet off
of the floor, supported by
a leg or stand at both
ends.
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1814: Gymnastics on Jahn's "Schwebebaum"

9/3/20XX
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1913: Gymnastics
Festival in Leipzig,
Gymnastics at
the "Schwebekante"

Presentation Title 9/3/20XX

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WHO IS ERIKA
ZUCHOLD?

  Zuchold being the first

woman in the world to
perform a back flip on beam
(1964).
 Erika Zuchold was an East
German gymnast who
competed at the European,
World, and Olympic level
from the mid-1960s to early
1970s
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DANIELA
SILIVAS
• Daniela Silivas, whose total of nine individual
World and Olympic titles is a record in the sport
of gymnastics, is one of the most popular
gymnasts in history. The spritely Silivas first
earned fame at the 1985 World
Championships, where she took the gold medal
on balance beam with a perfect 10.00
performance.
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REFERENCES:

https://www.gymmedia.com/Anaheim03/appa/beam/history_be.htm

https://gymfinity.com/2011/10/11/the-history-of-balance-beam/

https://www.sportsrec.com/6537339/what-are-the-dimensions-of-a-
balance-beam