Gymnastics: What is it and how do you bet on it
Artistic gymnastics is an Olympic sport that originated in the USSR and still attracts a lot of attention mainly in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Colossal successes of domestic gymnasts gather box office popularity of this discipline in these countries, and bets on artistic gymnastics are in high demand during the Summer Games. In this material, we tell about the main and main thing that is worth knowing if you decide to bet on artistic gymnastics.
Ballet at the origins of rhythmic gymnastics
At the beginning of this relatively young sport were the stars from the ballet of the famous Mariinsky Theatre. Artistic gymnastics was born in 1934 when the Higher School of Art Movement was opened in Moscow, where former ballet dancers were taught.
Artistic gymnastics has become a kind of association of the experience of the first teachers and contained works from France, Switzerland and the USA, combining aesthetic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, dance gymnastics and free dance.
The Great Patriotic War slowed down the development of this discipline a little, but in the late 40s, the rules of scoring and competition rules for the first USSR championship were developed. The debut international tournament took place in 1963, later it received the status of the World Cup.
In the early 1960s, the International Gymnastics Federation (the oldest sports federation in the world, which includes more than 130 countries) recognized artistic gymnastics as an official sport. The geography of this sport was long confined to the Warsaw Pact countries until in 1980 artistic gymnastics was granted the status of an Olympic kind.
Although gymnasts from Russia and neighbouring countries still take most of the medals of the Olympic Games and World Championships, the sport of artistic gymnastics has serious schools in Spain, Canada, Italy, France, Japan and other countries.
Major Tournaments
The calendar for rhythmic gymnastics competitions is not rich in big tournaments, and bets are usually accepted only for two - for the World Championships and the Olympic tournament.
The World Championships are held every year, with the exception of the Olympic season, at the end of August and September. Nine sets of medals are played for in individual exercises, team competitions and group exercises.
In personal and group competitions the medal is all-around and performances on individual subjects, in personal - hoop, ball, mace, ribbon, in groups - ten maces and three balls plus two ribbons.
The Olympic tournament takes place every four years as part of the Summer Games. It is considered more prestigious compared to the World Championships and attracts the attention of neutral fans interested in gymnastics only every four years. Only two sets of medals are played for at the Olympics - in personal and group all-around.
Types of bets on artistic gymnastics
To win. The real chances of final success in a large tournament are usually shared by no more than 3-4 gymnasts, so the odds for the bet are working. At the World Championships in addition to the all-around category, bets can also be offered for individual competitions.
To get to the top. For gymnasts whose chances of success aren’t high, you can see the coefficient of getting into a certain place in the tournament. It can be top 3, top 5, top 7 and so on, depending on the athlete's chances for competitive performance.
Who will finish higher. The line offers several pairs of participants, and you make a choice – which athlete between any two participants will finish in a higher place than the other by the end of the competition. This bet allows you to ignore the outcome of the tournament as a whole and follow only the performance of two selected gymnasts.
On the total of points. For each competition, the judge's rate performances on a 20-point scale, and the average score is calculated between their grades. In all-around, the scores of subjects are summed up, so the maximum score on four subjects is 80.
How to bet on artistic gymnastics and what to consider in the forecasts
Before betting on major tournaments, pay attention to how athletes generally perform during the season. It is advisable to study the calendar on the websites of the International Gymnastics Federation and the European Gymnastics Union. Gymnasts have a lot of chances to show their level at smaller tournaments, for example at the World Cup or Grand Prix, so these results will give you the necessary material to analyze the condition of athletes.
It is also necessary to be aware of the latest news of rhythmic gymnastics. It is sometimes very difficult to do this because the origin of most gymnasts is from the former Soviet Union, and the domestic media will not showcase specials on them, however, the internet is a great place to look.
Also, you can gather important data from the news or interviews about the performance that the gymnast is going to bring to the tournament. The fact is that in rhythmic gymnastics it is considered bad to perform the same routine from season to season – and it can lead to negative scores from referees and penalties.
On the other hand, it takes some time to work out a new program, especially when it comes to debugging interactions in group exercises. If gymnasts go to a big tournament with a new program, then evaluate the level of their performance at past tournaments instead, even if it was a national competition.
Artistic gymnastics is in many ways a subjective form, so do not lose sight of the compositions of the judge’s teams. Judges are divided into three teams: the first evaluates artistry, the second gives an evaluation of the performance, and the third group assesses the level of complexity of the routines performed.
The team evaluating the technique consists of two judges and has the highest value - more errors are made in the technique of execution. In order to assess the situation and make a careful choice of the bet, it is necessary to seriously examine the modern rating system introduced in 2013 and the rules of the tournament.
