Wheel gymnastics (German: Rhönradturnen) is a form of

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

that originated in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Wheel gymnasts do

exercise Exercise or workout is physical activity that enhances or maintains fitness and overall health. It is performed for various reasons, including weight loss or maintenance, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardio ...

s in a large

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

or hoop known as the Rhönrad, gymnastics wheel, gym wheel, or German wheel, in the beginning also known as ayro wheel, aero wheel, and Rhon rod.

Wheel design

The large wheel consists of two circles in parallel, which are framed together with six spokes. Two are simple tubes, two are equipped with a handle and two have a footrest. The diameter of the wheel depends on the length of the gymnast, so that the gymnast can hold themselves on the grips when fully stretched. The wheels are available from a diameter of 130 to 245cm. The wheels weigh between 40 and 60 kg. They are available in several depths and colors.

History

The wheel was invented in 1925 by

Otto Feick Otto Feick (4 July 1890 in Reichenbach-Steegen, Reichenbach – 17 October 1959 in Schönau an der Brend) was a German people, German inventor and gymnast. Biography Feick was born in 1890, the son of a cooper. He worked as a locksmith a ...

Schönau an der Brend Schönau an der Brend (, ) is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality with 1,378 inhabitants located in the district of Rhön-Grabfeld in northern Bavaria, Germany. The municipality comprises two villages: Schönau an der Brend and Burgwallbach. ...

. The grandson of a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, Feick was inspired by the memory of an event from his childhood in Reichenbach, when he had tied sticks between two hoops that his grandfather had made and rolled down a hill. He filed for a patent as "wheel-gymnastic and sports equipment". He had invented the wheel in

Ludwigshafen am Rhein Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...

1920–1922, on the grounds of the VSK Germania, a sports club, of which he was the founding chairman. The patent was issued on 8 November 1925; the name "Rhönrad" has been registered and protected since 1926 (" Rhön" is the name of the mountain region where the wheel was invented). The Rhönrad was featured at the

GeSoLei The GeSoLei () was the largest trade fair in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It attracted 7.5 million visitors. The name was constructed from an abbreviation of abbreviations of the German words for public health (Ge), social welfare ( ...

trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...

held in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

in 1926. In 1936, this sport was shown at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, but was not presented as an Olympic discipline. The focus of wheel gymnastics remains largely in Germany, but there are wheel groups in several countries and every 2 years the International Wheel Gymnastics Federation holds a World Championships competition. Former world champion wheel gymnast Wolfgang Bientzle moved from Germany to Chicago and runs his own company WHEEL JAM to educate and train people of every age to do Wheel gymnastics.

Disciplines

* Straight-line: In straight-line, the wheel is set in motion on both rims. The imaginary lines traced by the rims in contact with the floor are parallel. Straight-line can be performed with or without music. At the world championships the seniors (older than 18 years old) perform with music, while the juniors perform without music. * Spirale: The wheel is set in motion on one rim and for most skills the wheel rim in contact with the floor traces an approximately circular path. There are 3 categories of elements in spirale. In the "big spirale" the path of the wheel is bigger than the diameter of the wheel and the angle between the wheel and the floor is bigger than 60° degree. In the "small spirale" the angle is less than 30° and the path of the wheel on the is smaller the diameter of the wheel. In the "vertical spirale" the wheel moves in an almost upright position. The path of the wheel on the floor is extremely small. The wheel rotates around the longitudinal axis. * Vault: The gymnast sets the wheel in motion. After a run-up the gymnast mounts the wheel, from where he/she performs can perform various dismounts on to a landing mat. Examples of dismounts are tuck/pike/straight front sommersaults.

Code of points

In the code of points is exactly described how the routines are judged. At the world championship 2022 in Sønderborg the IRV presented a big update for the code of points. The score of each discipline (except straight-line with music) is calculated in the following way. In straight-line with music the average of the execution and the artistic impression is added instead of only the execution: Difficulty (max 10,0) + Execution (max 10,0) - Neutral deductions = max 20, Points The difficulty score consist of max 8,0 (8 most difficult elements count) for the difficulty of the elements and 2,0 for fulfilling structure groups. The execution score is calculated by deducting 0,1 (minor deduction), 0,3 (medium), 0,5 (major) or 1,0 (fall / assist of coach) from the 10,0.

International Wheel Gymnastics Federation (IRV)

The International Wheel Gymnastics Federation (short IRV), respectively original Internationale Rhönradturnverband is a federation for the sports

cyr wheel The Cyr wheel (also known as the roue Cyr, mono wheel, or simple wheel) is an acrobatic apparatus that consists of a single large ring made of aluminum or steel with a diameter approximately taller than the performer. The performer stands insid ...

and gym wheel. It was created 1995 in Basel by the members Germany, Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands.

Members

Members are the national federation of the following countries. There are 4 Types of members (Entry Member, Bronze Member, Silver Member and Gold Member). The higher the level the more the country has to pay and the more they can profit from the IRV. * (since 1995, Gold Member) * (since 1995, Gold Member) * (since 2009, Gold Member) * (since 1995, Bronze Member) * (since 1995, Bronze Member) * (since 1997, Bronze Member) * (since 2003, Bronze Member) * (since 2011, Bronze Member) * (since 2012, Bronze Member) * (since 2015, Bronze Member) * (since 2024, Bronze Member)

Activities

The IRV organizes all international competitions like the World Championship. The federation is also responsible for developing scoring regulations, competition concepts and training programs. Larger projects of the various members are sometimes partly supported financially and announced on the website. The mission of the IRV is to spread the gym wheel and cyr wheel more around the world.

Athletes' Commission

The purpose of the Athletes' Commission (short AC) is to gather and filter ideas, interests, comments of the wheel gymnastics community (athletes, coaches, judges, etc.) and forward the important ones to the IRV. The Athletes' Commission consists of a of maximum 2 cyr athletes, 2 gymwheel athletes and 2 coaches, who are elected from the delegations at the World Championships. The mandate lasts until the next World Championship. 2024 - 2026: Simon Rufener, Achim Pitz, Malena Kernacs, Cyrus Luciano 2022 - 2024: Simon Rufener, Katja Homeyer, Isabel Pietro, Kanai Shigeki 2020 - 2022: Simon Rufener, Katja Homeyer, Svea Hünnig, Yasuhiko Takahashi, Tammi Livni

World championships

The IRV (Internationaler Rhönradturnverband) organizes every two years a world championship. Between these world championships the IRV organizes a team world championship, where the best 4 countries (qualified at the normal world championship) compete as a team against each other. Previous World Championships: * From there on the IRV organized the world championship at even years. ** The world championship was canceled, because of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

World champions

Senior Men

Senior Women

Junior Boys

Junior Girls

Team

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , first = Thomas , last = Jaedicke , title = Patent für zwei Reifen und sechs Sprossen , trans-title = Patent For Two Hoops and Six Cross-bars , date = 2015-11-08 , website = Deutschlandfunk , language = de-DE , url = http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/rhoenraderfinder-otto-feick-patent-fuer-zwei-reifen-und.871.de.html?dram:article_id=336201 , access-date = 2016-02-01 {{cite web , title = Wir in den wilden Zwanzigern – Goldene Jahre , trans-title = We in the wild Twenties - Golden Years , date = 2016-04-22 , website = wdr , language = de-DE , url = http://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/video/sendungen/doku-am-freitag/video-wir-in-den-wilden-zwanzigern---goldene-jahre--100.html , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160425063237/http://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/video/sendungen/doku-am-freitag/video-wir-in-den-wilden-zwanzigern---goldene-jahre--100.html , archive-date = 2016-04-25 , access-date = 2017-04-21 {{cite web , title = 2020 World Championships , website = International Wheel Gymnastics Federation , language = en-EN , url = https://rhoenrad.com/event/2020-world-championships/ , access-date = 2020-02-28 {{cite web , title = Chicago Wheel Jam , website = Chicago Wheel Jam , language = en-EN , url = https://www.chicagowheeljam.com/ , access-date = 2020-02-28

External links

Home

Zimmermann Rhönradbau

Rhonrad.eu: home
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