Perspective areas of the content of women's all-around programs in artistic gymnastics

The competition rules in artistic gymnastics make it possible to perform a large number of elements and their combinations; however the number of elements for one structural or classification group and the time for performance of one combination is currently limited, therefore a detailed analysis of the content of gymnastics programs is required. The purpose of this paper is to determine the perspective content of gymnastic combinations in the current Olympic cycle (2017-2020). To achieve this purpose, the following tasks were accomplished: we carried out a comparative analysis of the results of the XXX and XXXI Olympics, and the World Championships 2013 and 2017, which were the first ones in the Olympic cycles; we analyzed the results of winners depending on the types of all-around competitions in gymnastics; and we revealed the qualitative composition of combinations of the most skilled gymnasts. To deal with the determined tasks we used the methods of analyzing official documents and video materials, expert assessment and mathematical statistics. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the composition of gymnastic programs at the XXX and XXXI Olympics demonstrated decrease in the total number of performed elements along with their increasing complexity. Thus, there is a tendency to increase the performance of more energy-intensive vaults. The supreme trend on bars is the mastering combination of three flight elements between the bars. As for the balance beam exercises, there is a decrease in the number of acrobatic backwards elements and an increase in the more "expensive" forward elements, and combinations of them. When observing the content of floor exercise programs, we revealed a decrease in the number of combinations and an increase in the number of elements of difficulty of 0.5 or more points. The results of the research make it possible to simulate competitive combinations, which provides a basis not only for predicting possible results at the upcoming Games in Tokyo 2020, but also for developing innovations and making necessary adjustments to the mandatory programs of gymnasts of mass ranks.

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