A great sport for those wanting to look great and to do things that many find hard or impossible to do. It takes determination and commitment. And can be rough on the hands, which is why we use these for high-bar...  ...and slightly different ones for the rings. For parallel bars we employ wristbands but your hands just have to take their chance, along with a little honey and chalk. OK. Admire the dedication to training, and the skills being developed. And check out how it affects that all-important body image. For many of the images which follow, we are pleased to acknowledge a men's artistic training camp at Salerno, Italy, which has recently taken place.A few others are mixed in at random. Saluti Salerno!  

"I love gymnastics because I can do things that ordinary boys can't!" Recently, a lad who had just mastered swing to handstand on the parallel bars said that to me. I think that sums up gymnastics: build not only self confidence and pride, but muscle, strength, flexibility and endurance more successfully than in most other sports - training the body with a  purpose .  So, another salute to the 'men's artistic' branch of gymnastics today, with both performance and training on show. And the younger they start, the better!