Sarah Baldwin : Gymnastics
The era of the waif in gymnastics, epitomised by the sprite-like form of Nadia Comaneci and a chorus line of other Tinkerbells, could be over. The world championships in Lausanne this week are the first at which female competitors will have had to have turned 16 during the year of competition.
The sport is divided as to the merit of the new rule. Gymnastics’ governing body, the FIG, say it is designed “to delay the onset of intensive training for at least one year and to lengthen the competitive career of the senior elite gymnasts”.
Those concerned over accusations of starvation diets and oppressive coaching of pre-pubescent girls will be comforted, perhaps, but better-informed voices will bemoan the exclusion from top-class competition of those young athletes who bring such unique grace and courage to the mat and bars.
The Russians and Italians support the new rule, saying it is a welcome return to the days when “women” really meant women. Sceptics claim that it is too late to turn the clock back and that, instead of lengthening careers, it will merely shorten them by removing the first year of competitive experience.
Outsiders might not appreciate that younger girls are so good at gymnastic disciplines because of genetics. Those born small excel because of their light feet, their adroitness. The best are also courageous and dedicated.
As competitors grow, their centre of gravity shifts towards their hips, making the sport more difficult for them; they cannot throw their legs about that centre of gravity so easily, and you will see older girls eliminating the more complicated routines from their programmes.
We may have to wait until at least the 2000 Olympics before any significant conclusions can be drawn about whether we are going in the right direction. It has been an interesting journey so far, though.
The age limit has been 15 since 1981, before which there was no age restriction. Olga Korbut was 17 when she set the gymnastics world alight at the Munich Olympics in 1972, but it was the 14-year- old Romanian Comaneci whose charm and dash gave the sport an even higher profile four years later in Montreal.
It is a consistently high-rating attraction at the Olympic Games and has the enthusiastic backing of the IOC ahead of less family-friendly sports such as boxing. In Atlanta, while boxing was given the graveyard slot on television – a few minutes of highlights after midnight – millions tuned in to watch Dominique Moceanu who, at 14, was the youngest member of the US gold-medal-winning team.
But her Romanian background and link to Comaneci (they had the same coach, Bela Karolyi) did not help her in the heat of competition and she finished out of the individual medals. Fortunately for her, Moceanu is 16 next month and will be in Lausanne.
Some specialists argue that the decision to raise the minimum age was an easy option taken by the FIG in reaction to negative reports that surrounded women’s gymnastics in the four years after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
At the time, serious allegations were levelled at the sport, mostly by the American media in reference to their own gymnasts, who did not fulfil vastly over- hyped expectations.
These girls were being over-trained in their quest for Olympic medals, they claimed; they were on a crash course to early burn-out and crippling injuries later in life. Although these problems were almost confined to the US, there were repercussions across the globe.
In an attempt to be seen to be doing something positive to counter these allegations, the FIG voted to raise the minimum age.
They also undertook a medical survey into the effects of intensive training upon growing girls. The report, published in 1995, concluded that “gymnastics as an elite-level sport does not influence at all the biological and somatic development of young gymnasts”.
In which case, say the sceptics, why introduce the rule?
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