How long has trampoline been in the olympics

Since Trampoline became an Olympic sport in , the Olympic Games have become the height of the four-year world Trampoline Gymnastics calendar. Trampoline Gymnastics individual routines is also part of the Summer Youth Olympic Games, first held in First held in with 12 countries - and held biennially from —98 - the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships are now held annually with the exception of Olympic years.

The World Championships in the year prior to the Olympic Games serve as an important Olympic qualifiers. Organised by the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, the first Junior World Championships are slated for and will be held as a trial event with possible permanent inclusion on the FIG calendar. Following the Olympics, World Championships and continental events, the FIG World Cup competitions are the most popular events on the international calendar.

On Friday, Chinese women scooped the top two medals in their competition, with Zhu Xueying taking gold and Liu Lingling silver. Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox.

More from Reuters. Together they incorporated the trampoline into space training at NASA and developed a game called Spaceball which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. His relentless sales pitch paid off. By the late s, trampolines were an American sensation, like a Skip-It for the Boomer generation.

The first ever Trampoline World Championships were held in London in , but soon after, enthusiasm for the sport began to cool. Too many kids were suffering concussions and getting injured. Brenner blamed inadequate training. Others thought the trampoline was inherently dangerous. Either way, it took almost another 40 years for the trampoline to be embraced by the Olympics. Of course, once it was, spectators were quick to catch onto its appeal. Trampolinists shoot into the sky, their bodies straight as pencils, then cascade through a series of mind-boggling somersaults on their way down.

Although there are only two trampoline events in the Olympics — the women's competition and the men's competition — other competitions have events like synchronized trampolining or double mini-trampoline that sadly are not in the Olympics. But then, trampoline is still a relative newcomer to the Olympics. The first Olympic trampoline events were held in Sydney during the Summer Olympics, making Rio only the fifth time they've been held.

And they still strike many as an oddball sport. But if you enjoy watching people perform mid-air acrobatics, it is definitely worth checking out.