Dr. Szabó Lajos: Nők a magyar sportban (A Sportmúzeum Kincsei 3. Budapest, 2003)

WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS With physical education becoming a mandatory subject at the various school types in the 19th century, girls also had access to gymnastics and other sports. Open-minded educators, mainly philanthropists and later the supporters of Swedish gymnastics wrote more and more essays on the bad posture of young girls, pointing out that this deficiency would be deteriorated further by their adult work (like sewing). A French captain of the guards, Ignacio Clair established the Gymnastics School of Pest in 1833 which offered courses for both boys and girls. Still there were opponents of the increasing popularity of women's sports. They were afraid of manly characteristics becoming dominant in women in general, voicing their opinion in the press as follows: "We have to respect girlhood and the original characteristics of women" (1837). Supporters had an answer to that, although it took them a few decades to deliver it: "Those who educate women towards cripple beauties with torn nerves instead of helping them to become adult women and mothers with a healthy and strong commit a shameful crime, not to mention the fact that exercising is not only useful, it has good impact on beauty, too" (1864). These disputes calmed down after the I870's and women's gymnastics became a fundamental element of physical education at schools. 1881 was the year when the first female physical education teachers graduated. Around the turn of the century, gymnastics was mainly a team sport, putting the emphasis on the harmony of simultaneous movements as opposed to the development of individual acrobatic skills. Only team contests were organized at the Olympic Games at the time, singles contests for each apparatus became general only after 1945. Hungary's female gymnasts accomplished outstanding results in both team and singles in the I950's. The gymnast team's gold medal in 1952 was a praise of team spirit, while the singles at the same Games were won by Agnes Keleti and Margit Korondi. Just like in women's swimming, the next major accomplishment took several decades to come (Henrietta Onody, Barcelona, 1992, on vaulting horse). Nevertheless, several outstanding gymnasts (Ilona Békési, Márta Egervári) contributed to keeping Hungary's women gymnastics in a world-class position. A forced version of gymnastics was the politics-influenced MHK (Ready to work and fight) movement launched in the I950's. It was followed by jazz gymnastics and aerobic in the I970's, where exercise was combined with modern music. Since then, this has been a popular form of sports for tens of thousands of Hungarian women and girls.