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What was the Turnplatz at Hasenheide in Berlin?
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gymnastics
Simone Biles performing on the balance beam at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (delayed until 2021). She won a bronze medal in the event.
The Turnplatz at Hasenheide was an outdoor playground and training field established in 1811 by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the "father of gymnastics," on the outskirts of Berlin.12
It served as the birthplace of the turnverein (gymnastics club) movement and was the site where modern gymnastic competition can be traced. The playground featured a wide variety of apparatus designed to build physical strength and courage, including:1
- Parallel bars (invented by Jahn)
- Pommel horse
- Horizontal bars
- Balance beams
- Climbing ropes and poles
- Immense towers and areas for pole vaulting12
Beyond physical training, the Turnplatz was a center for indoctrination, where Jahn promoted his vision of German unification, national defense, and the removal of French influence from Prussia. Due to these nationalist sentiments, the Prussian government eventually closed the site in 1819 following political unrest.12