If you're watching gymnastics during the 2024 Paris Olympics, you will likely come across the pommel horse routine.
The pommel horse is one of the six apparatuses men use during a gymnastics competition. The others include floor exercises, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bars.
Standing at 3 feet, 9 inches, a modern pommel horse is made of metal and covered with foam and leather. Original pommels were designed with a wooden body. They are mounted on an alloy base with a rubber coating so athletes can have good grips.
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The apparatus looks like an old wooden horse that ancient Romans used to practice mounting and dismounting in military training.
Pommels come from the French word pomel, which means “knob”, or “hilt of a sword.” It traces back to the Latin word pōmum, meaning apple or fruit, the same root in the word pomegranate.
