Transformations and contradictions in elite aerobic gymnastics

Abstract

Since 2016, aerobic gymnastics has been in continuous creative effervescence, promoting a new trend, namely that of acrobatic elements, to the detriment of implementing structures specific to this discipline, which it would need in its aspirations to the Olympic gates. In search of solutions for dynamism, attractiveness and the accumulation of additional points to climb the world rankings, the 2017-2021 and 2022-2024 FIG Codes of Points have become the most effective tools through which acrobatic elements, as non-specific structures of this sport, have been accepted in the contents of aerobic gymnastics exercises in different formulas for various events. The quantitative and percentage study of this presence was based on the determination and analysis of the acrobatic content of all exercises performed in the finals of the 2019 European Championships. In this scientific approach, only the results for Individual Woman (IW) are exemplified as a reference system attesting to the significant numerical presence of acrobatic elements in exercises, which oscillate between 4 and 9 elements per routine. The arithmetic mean of 6.2 elements reveals the considerable effort of each finalist to introduce this large number of acrobatic elements in the combinations of an exercise lasting 1 minute 20 ± 5 seconds. Besides the exaggerated presence of acrobatic elements in the elite exercises of this beautiful discipline, the current study has also identified important transformations and contradictions that take it away from the specificity, crystallisation and especially the identity that deserves to be emphasised.