Time For The End Of The Teen Gymnast

[Klaralven]

efore discovering gymnastics, Kathy Johnson ran track and was quite good at it. She was so good, in fact, that for a time she thought she might become a track and field Olympian.

It’s not unusual for athletes to explore other hobbies and interests before settling on their specialty. But for most elite gymnasts, the period “before gymnastics” isn’t long enough to do much else. They typically start very young and specialize very soon — as early as 4 years old, with more advanced training and competition around age 7 — and devote all their time outside school to the sport, to the exclusion of essentially everything else.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gymnasts-age-olympics/

[underpants]

1. That age is perfect for performing at the peak level. Divers often are older gymnasts

Who were quite that good or outgrew being a gymnast.

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. There's a big difference

between "elite" gymnasts and college gymnasts. If you get the SEC Network or the PAC-12 or Big 12 Network, watch their gymnastics coverage sometime. These young women (and men) often started later and may have played other sports. And I think you may have a slightly distorted idea even of the elite gymnasts....they're getting older too. Did you look at the ages of the Olympic gymnasts this time around? 18-24 in the case of the US.

BTW, my favorite name for a gymnast was one who was on the LSU squad a couple of years ago---Ashleigh Gnat. And she was just about that big.

[Disaffected]

3. Smaller gymnasts

have an build in physical advantage over their larger counterparts (which applies to practically all creatures). Hence the younger gymnasts tend towards better performance. It has to do with muscle strength varying as the square of the size and mass varying as the cube (higher strength to weight ratio for smaller folks).

IIRC Olga Korbut (one of the best ever) was very petite.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. Well of course

gymnasts are small, just as basketball players are tall. Duh. There are sports for people of all sizes. Hurdlers can't have short legs either. But that said, have you taken a good look at just how muscular these young women are? Olga Korbut was a skinny kid who frankly looked like she either was a VERY late developer or had been fed puberty blockers. She admits herself (and she has a gymnastics training center in Florida) that she couldn't do what today's gymnasts do. Today's gymnasts are much more along the "power pack" lines inspired by Mary Lou Retton, whether they follow the elite track or the collegiate track. Grace McCallum looks tall next to Simone Biles, but Simone is only 4'8. Grace might be all of 5'4, but she has muscles. Lots of them.

[MiniMe]

6. Gymnasts are small until they hit puberty

Then they start growing and usually aren't as good anymore.

[Jilly_in_VA]

7. Not all of them

Did you know that you can tell approximately how tall your child will be by the time they are 3? My pediatrician told me this years ago. You measure their height and double it....girls at 30 months, boys at 36 months. It was true for all 3 of my kids within an inch. And I have a granddaughter who is going to be over 6 feet tall. Her parents have already bought her one of those Fisher-Price basketball goals, a soccer ball, and started her in swim lessons because she won't stop moving.

Kids who are going to be short are going to be short, even if they grow at puberty. It's a given. They learn to work with it if they have a good coach. It's the coaching that counts. And some country, I think it may be Sweden, has one who's nearly 5'10.

[abqtommy]

5. And it's way past time for the end of sexual predators who prey on teen gymnasts.

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. That was my whole point. n/t