Artistic gymnastics and down’s syndrome

Abstract

Women's artistic gymnastics is one of the oldest existing sports, present in the Olympic program since 1896. It involves the use of four large apparatus: floor exercise, uneven bars, balance beam and vault. Down's syndrome is a pathology that falls within the intellectual-relational disabilities of genetic origin, characterized by the presence, in the genetic kit, of an additional chromosome, the number twenty-one, which is why the syndrome is now recognized as "trisomy of chromosome 21". The objective of this study is to verify, through a type of research called case study with ethnographic approach, whether the athlete with Down's Syndrome finds, in the practice of this discipline, benefits from the personal point of view, particularly with regard to self-esteem and social inclusion and verify, through the monitoring of a year's work, whether or not there is an improvement from the technical point of view. The case is represented by Carlotta Sanna from Cagliari, a 23-year-old gymnast suffering from Down's Syndrome, who follows the Special Olympics program; the study made use of the point of view of the gymnast's coach, Greca Rossi. The results, obtained through unstructured interviews and a logbook with a technical evaluation of the 2018/2019 sporting year, have shown how the practice of this discipline has enriched the personal and social background of the gymnast and how he is able to expand his technical skills thus allowing her to compete both nationally and internationally with great results.