Naked men exercising in open-air plazas. Stalwart bodyguards at Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration. Diminutive teenagers rocketing off of the ground into a dizzying sequence of flips and jumps. These images aren’t random—they’re all part of the history of gymnastics.

With the dominance of athletes like Simone Biles and Kohei Uchimura, the sport has become one of the Olympic Games’ most beloved. It hasn’t always included the uneven bars or balance beam—early iterations included feats like rope climbing and swinging clubs. But during its evolution from ancient Greek tradition to modern Olympic sport, gymnastics has always been closely paired with ideas of national pride and identity.

The sport has its origins in ancient Greece, where young men underwent intense physical and mental training for