the.com/balancebeam
Ten centimeters of wood where gymnasts defy physics and gravity files a complaint.
means A narrow horizontal beam, about ten centimeters wide and raised off the floor, on which gymnasts perform balancing routines, leaps, and tumbling.
from A plain compound of "balance" and "beam." "Balance" comes through Old French from Latin "bilanx" — "having two pans," from "bi-" (two) and "lanx" (a plate or scale-pan), the image of a weighing scale finding equilibrium. "Beam" is solidly Germanic, from Old English "beam," which originally meant "tree" (a sense still alive in "hornbeam"); only later did it shift to a worked piece of timber. So the name is literally a "balancing tree" — fitting for a sport that asks you to stay upright on a sliver of wood.
- width
- Just 10 centimeters wide, about a smartphone
- height
- Raised 125 centimeters above the floor
- olympic since
- Women-only event since 1952 Helsinki Games
- original form
- Started as plain unpadded wood, brutally unforgiving
- routine length
- Must last between 70 and 90 seconds
simone biles beam routine — olympic gold medalist, perfected multiple skills including the biles ii move on 4-inch wide apparatus
nadia comaneci balance beam — romanian gymnast scored perfect 10.0 on beam at 1976 montreal olympics, first ever in competition
beam final tokyo 2020 — suni lee won gold with 14.866 score, featuring full twisting dismount on 4-meter-long apparatus