Balance beam

Several companies manufacture and sell beams, including AAI (USA), Janssen-Fritsen (Europe) and Acromat (Australia).

While learning new skills, gymnasts often work on floor beams with the same dimensions and surface of regulation apparatus but are set a very short distance from or on the ground.

In the early days of women's artistic gymnastics, beam was based more on dance than in tumbling.

Even at the elite level, routines were composed of combinations of leaps, dance poses, handstands, rolls, and walkovers.

In the 1960s, the most difficult acrobatic skill performed by the average Olympic gymnast was a back handspring.

Olga Korbut and Nadia Comăneci pioneered advanced tumbling combinations and aerial skills on beam; other athletes and coaches began to follow suit.

The change was also facilitated by transitioning from wooden beams to safer, less slippery models with suede-covered surfaces and elastic padding.

[2] By the mid-1980s, top gymnasts routinely performed flight series and multiple aerial elements on beam.

Today, balance beam routines still consist of a mixture of acrobatic skills, dance elements, leaps, and poses, but they are significantly more difficult.