Olympic Gymnasts

It is the dream of many young boys and girls starting out to become an Olympic gymnast. Olympic gymnasts are the ultimate goal, the pinnacle of a lifetime trying to become the best. Olympic gymnasts are the very best – particularly those who not only represent their country but also bring home a medal. In 2000, the Olympic gymnast medalists included team China (men) and team Russia (women). While Canada’s Karen Cockburn and Mathieu Turgeon took home silver medals in Trampoline, the United States team failed to win a single medal in any gymnastic event. The Olympic gold medalist gymnasts for the 2000 Olympics included Li Xiaopeng of China for parallel bars, Elena Zamolodtchikova of Russia for the women’s floor exercise and horse vault and Gervasi Deferr of Spain for the men’s horse vault.

In 2004, Olympic gymnasts for the Summer Olympic Games in Athens included a strong Romanian contingent. The United States men’s team included Paul Hamm. He won a silver medal in the horizontal bars. The team, overall, won silver in the team event. The American women’s team fared slightly better. Carly Patterson won a silver medal on the balance beam, Terin Humphrey a silver and Courtney Kupets a silver and a bronze medal in the uneven bars and Annia Hatch took home a silver for the horse vault. At this Olympics, Romanian women fared the best, winning three gold medals and a silver.

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The winners do receive momentary glory for their success. They also undergo many trials and tribulations to make it onto the team, let alone the podium. There are drug scandals, coaching problems and very public political and private fights. While male and female gymnasts suffer from similar problems of stress and are susceptible to comparable accidents – falls from the bars, running into the vaulting horse, pulled muscles, the sport impacts them differently. Male Olympic gymnastics is not the glamour sport that is female gymnastics. Amy Chow, a former Olympic gymnast, received greater media attention than any of the male team members. The reason Olympic gymnast Amy Chow received so much attention for her sport is the result of expectations and the ideal. Male gymnasts are older and perform with strength; female gymnasts are young girls who act with grace and underlying strength.

It is more dangerous to be a female gymnast than a male on one level. The prime time for the current ideal for female gymnasts is prepubescent. In order to remain young, light and flexible, many resort to binging, purging and diet drugs. Several Olympic gymnasts with reported disorders have had their career cut short. Other gymnasts have fainted or withdrawn from competition. Affected members include Nadia Comaneci, Christy Henrich, Cathy Rigby and Kristie Phillips. Some, but not all, recover. Records indicate at least one incident noted one Olympic gymnast dies from an eating disorder in 1994. She was 22 years of age and weighed less than 50 pounds.