The Olympic Games are a gathering of countries around the world in order to compete and celebrate the greatest athletes. This celebration includes artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, but not power tumbling. Although, Power tumbling is a form of gymnastics, it is different from artistic and rhythmic gymnastics. In power tumbling individuals perform tumbling skills on a long floor. Power tumbling requires just as much dedication, athleticism, talent, and skill as any other sport in the Olympics. .
Many people believe that power tumbling is too much like artistic gymnastics to be an Olympic sport on its own. Power tumbling is essentially tumbling, which is a major component of the floor exercise in artistic gymnastics. Adding another activity to the gymnastics portfolio could potentially confuse the TV audience. Power tumbling is not as popular as artistic gymnastics, but has been growing a much larger fan base over the years. Since profit margins determine which sports gain or lose their Olympic status, power tumbling may not produce enough revenue to appease the IOC. Power Tumbling was a demonstration event at the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000. According to takraw-association.org, in order for a sport to be an Olympic sport it has to be popular and meet a certain list of criteria. To be in the Olympics a sport must have a strong, organized, and international federation to properly administer the sport, a strong campaign to convince the IOC executives that the sport will be well received. In power tumbling, athletes run at top speed down a 120 foot spring mat including the run up to perform a series of up to eight skills such as full twist, double somersaults, handsprings and layouts. Some lower-level skills are executed from a standing start. .
Power tumblers typically begin at one end of the floor, take a running start, then complete a series of specific skills as determined by USAG.
