Women's Gymnastics

Women’s gymnastics arrived as an Olympic sport in 1928. Women gymnasts, however, could not compete in individual Olympic events until 1952. Today, women gymnastics is a star-studded sport, a popular series of events in the Summer Olympic Games as women compete in four separate gymnastic events: floor exercise, uneven bars, balance beam and vault.

Women gymnastics floor exercises, one of the more popular events, unlike male floor exercises, require music as accompaniment. The athlete must perform in time and tune to their chosen piece of music. As with all events, female athletes must perform with agility, grace and strength. Whereas male gymnasts must display great strength, women gymnasts must conform to this ideal of elegance with underlying strength.

Yet, over time, the definition of women gymnast, the ideal model, has altered. Back in 1956, Agnes Kelti of Hungary won three gold medals. She, at age 35, was clearly a woman. The same held true for Larissa Latynina of the Soviet Union. In 1964, when she won six medals at the Olympics, she was 29 years old and a mother. In 1968, Vera Caslavska, 26 years of age, standing 5’3” and weighing 121 pounds, won four gold medals at the Olympics for Czechoslovakia in floor exercise, vault, uneven and All-Around. Olga Korbut, when she stepped out on the floor in Munich, Germany, at the 1972 Olympics, stood 4’11” and weighed 85 pounds. She won two gold’s (beam and floor exercise) and a silver medal (uneven). At the next Olympics, in Montreal, Nadia Comaneci won two gold’s and a silver as well as a bronze and the all-around championship. Her weight and height matched that of Korbut. The new age of gymnasts had begun.

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After Korbut and Comaneci, women in gymnastics at all high and elite levels are tiny, extremely light and young. For example, the 1992 women’s gymnastics Olympic team for the United States included Shannon Miller – 4’ 9” and 76 pounds. Lu Li of China’s Olympic team in 1992 stood 4’5’ and weighed only 66 pounds. This alteration in the female gymnastic ideal resulted in younger and smaller athletes replacing women on national teams. Today, most female gymnasts conform to this ideal.

If you look at women’s gymnastic photos from before Korbut and up to today, you can see visually the definite modification of the female gymnast. The parade of famous women gymnast in these photos indicates clearly a decrease in overall height, weight and age from 1972 onwards. This is even true in other gymnastic competitions. If you are not petit and light, you may not obtain a spot on a team.

The Olympics is not the only outlet for female gymnasts. High schools and colleges have their own tournaments. The NCAA women’s gymnastics rankings, posted online, indicate what colleges excel in the sport. There is also the sport of women’s rhythmic gymnastics. This is a variation of gymnastics that incorporates had held apparatus into the movements.

Live women’s gymnastic, whether artistic or rhythmic, is well worth the price of admission. At the high school and college levels, you can catch the rising stars; at the world championships and the Olympic Games, you see the best of the best collide.