The Russian gymnasts beat the tar out of the American gymnasts in the 1960 Olympics for one reason -- they were better. They were better trained, better looking, better built, better disciplined -- and something else -- they were better dancers. Our athletes are only just beginning to learn that they must study dance. The Russians are all trained as dancers before they start to study gymnastics.

But why gymnastics at all? And is the sport really important? After all, we did pretty well in some other areas of the Olympics competition. But if it is important, what can we do to improve ourselves? It is more than just lack of dance training that is our problem, for just as gymnastics can learn from dance, dance has some very important things to learn from gymnastics.

Taking first things first, let's understand the sport called gymnastics. It is made up of tumbling, which might be said to start with a somersault, run through such stunts as headstands, handstands, cartwheels, backbends, and culminate in nearly impossible combinations of aerial flips and twists and apparatus work. The apparatus used by gymnasts was once a common sight in American gyms, but about 1930 it was in favor of games. The parallel bars, horse, buck, springboard, horizontal bar, rings, and mats formerly in the school gyms were replaced by baseball, volleyball, basketball and football.

But the Russians use gymnastics as the first step in training for all other sports because it provides training in every basic quality except one, endurance. The gymnast must develop strength, flexibility, coordination, timing, rhythm, courage, discipline, persistence and the desire for perfection. In short, gymnastics uses every part of the body and requires a great deal of character as well. The addition of endurance training later, when the body is mature enough to benefit from it without danger of injury, provides that final quality that makes the top athlete, soldier or citizen.