Gymnastics learning is characterized by imitation and reference, and a teaching model combining optical sensors and image simulation systems may have promising results in college gymnastics courses. Based on the introduction of the meaning of college gymnastics teaching, the article sorted out the value performance of the image teaching mode and also established an optical three-dimensional imaging system based on optical sensors for gymnastics movement to obtain gymnastic images. In the optical 3D imaging system, the acquisition error of gymnastics images is reduced by using the finite distance image measurement method, and the quality of gymnastics images is enhanced by adaptive bilateral filtering and adaptive threshold selection of the Canny operator by the OTSU method. The enhanced gymnastics images are then inputted into a panoramic graphic imaging simulation system, and a gymnastics image simulation teaching model is established for colleges and universities. The effectiveness of the gymnastics image simulation teaching model is analyzed through a teaching comparison test conducted during simulation verification for optical imaging. In the optical imaging system, when the measurement distance is about 150m, the measurement error range is between [15″and 30″], and the MSE value of the gymnastic enhanced image obtained by the improved Canny algorithm decreases by 46.97% compared with the MSE value before the improvement. The students’ handstand score against the wall improved by 22.63 points compared to before the experiment, and more than 90% of the students were satisfied with the gymnastics image simulation teaching method. The teaching mode is constructed with the optical sensor to obtain the image characteristics of gymnastics movement, and the simulation system is innovative, which effectively promotes students’ interest in learning gymnastics courses and enhances their gymnastics training level.