Olympics watched so far

[vsp]

Originally Posted by Cyber Wolf

Show me 30-35 year old, 140 lb women consistently doing gymnastics on par with or much better than 15-20 year old, 110 pound girls/women and I'll show you some paradigms being shifted.

Is the inherent flaw with the older/heavier women, or with the judging requirements that essentially require gymnasts to be prepubescent pixies, more so with every passing year? I mean, Mary Lou Retton wasn't exactly a big girl, but she could eat most recent Olympic-caliber gymnasts as an appetizer.

About the only other sporting profession I can think of where growth spurt == retirement is being a horse-racing jockey.

[Cyber Wolf]

Don't ask me, I'm no gymnast. I don't know how their politics work. I just know that the 'best' ones are very young, meaning they're going to be easier to be very nubile and are more likely to weigh less and the less weight you have on your body, the easier it is to hold it up on one arm or one hand while balancing. Of course there's the side note that young skinny females in leotards are societally more attractive than older heavier females.

Also, if you'd call professional dancing a sport, professional ballet has fairly strict height and weight restrictions too. I guess it could fall under a similar 'sport factor' that ice ballet has.

[vsp]

Originally Posted by Cyber Wolf

Also, if you'd call professional dancing a sport,

I wouldn't.

It's not that I'm petitioning for Rosie O'Donnell to join the US Women's Gymnastics Team; by nature, it's a sport designed for agile and lithe bodies. But like its cousin (women's figure skating), it's a sport with highly subjective judging, based on aesthetics as much as on technical skill, both weighed towards a ridiculous pixie ideal.

There's now a lower age limit of sixteen on the Olympics and other international competitions, which will help somewhat, though it won't stop little girls from starving themselves, attempting progressively more dangerous routines and spending umpteen hours per day in the gym. If you're competing at the top level at sixteen, you're beginning your training at what, 6? 8? That's a training schedule in place of a childhood -- one that seems designed to catch gymnasts "at their prime" at a point before their immature bodies start growing fully at puberty.

But at least there's a market for aging figure skaters, or at least those who make at least some name for themselves. Stars on Ice, Champions on Ice, Ice Wars, Ice Capades, dressing up in a furry costume and doing Disney on Ice, whatever...