Behind The Beauty-Test Post

"I'm waiting for the judge to raise her arm and nod her head, signaling to me that it's my turn. Her polyester royal blue suit with the crest makes her appear pathetically regal, like a homeless women who use to be a traffic cop, still wearing her uniform with faded pride. Glory days. I whip my head around when the audience gasps. Hope Spivey has fallen from the balance beam. The unthinkable has happened. Opportunity. She was the only true challenger left, and now she's on the ground, no longer perched high on the beam. She stands on the blue chalky mat, both hands on the plank, surely wondering how in the hell she ended up there. Her face is set with determination, but she is fighting tears. Her mouth is tightly pursed to control the tremor, which, if allowed to erupt, I know only too well would lead to hysteria. Tears have not yet spilled, but they are there. They pool behind her eyes, wet with disappointment, kept at bay with the sharp prick of her teeth into her lower lip. She must finish, despite the impossibility of winning. Despite the shame of falling, she must climb back up and continue. But for the moment, she wonders how she ended up on the ground." [1] This is, behind the beauty of gymnastics.

Gymnastics is about flexibility, strength, talent, and grace. It's about hard training, dealing with pain, tears, sacrificing family, coaches becoming second parents, team mates becoming sisters, early mornings, and late nights. It's about chasing perfection, but never quite reaching it. Gymnastics is an ambition that pushes one through more then they could normally, and usually shouldn't, handle. Competitive gymnastics often causes several problems such as eating disorders, a feeling of never being good enough, and lasting physical injuries. All of which you will see come from striving to fit the mold and perfection gymnastics demands.

Gymnastics is physically abusive. While gymnasts can quit they often don't because gymnastics has become their whole life. "Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association prohibits teams in all sports from practicing more than 20 hours a week, most elite gymnasts, some of them 10 years younger than college athletes, train twice as long each week." [2] Coaches usually become second parents and consequently gymnasts want to please them in whatever way possible. One person even comments "They're like God sometimes to the gymnasts, and what they say is like gospel to the gymnasts." [2] Gymnasts will keep pushing even if that means continuing to work through and cause more damage to a injury. Gymnasts are told to suck it up like Ashley Berry-age 7-who broke her ankle in practice and still competed compelled by her parents telling her to suck it up. [2] "Nine out of every ten gymnasts interviewed said that they had continued to train on injuries that resulted in broken bones or surgery or that they had resumed training without getting clearance from a doctor." [3] "How much pounding? Consider this: A gymnast can reach a height of 10 feet on her dismount from the uneven bars. Imagine standing on a basketball rim and jumping onto a mat less than 8 inches thick, several times a day, seven days a week." [2] One may think that these injuries are just temporary and most are. However, "Three out of four retired gymnasts interviewed continue to experience health problems related to gymnastics." [3] Even I, who didn't get very far in gymnastics, still have lower back pain when I exert myself.

One reason (the most common to me) gymnasts develop eating disorders is because their score is dependent on the way they look. "A runner's achievement, for example, relies completely on speed and endurance. Even though a lean physique is important for performance in this sport, it does not determine which person is awarded first or second place. Instead, the winner is chosen according to the exact time they reach the finish line. Judging a gymnastics routine, however, is not as objective. Each judge assigns a score according to his or her own beliefs. Thus, the appearance of the performer may actually influence their perceptions and affect their ultimate decision." [4] Some gymnasts have even died from eating disorders. For example, "Christy Henrich died in 1994 from multiple organ failures stemming from her eating disorders. Shortly before she died, the 4-foot-11 Henrich weighed 47 pounds." [3]

Gymnastics is also mentally abusive. The pressure to be perfect is overwhelming and it not only comes from themselves, but their coaches pointing out every bobble and imperfection. If you watch the CNN documentary "Pursuing The Perfect Ten" (Which I encourage you all to. It can be found here) you can hear things yelled at the girls like "...way to give up." and "Was that a try what you just did? What kind of a try? Is there such a thing as a quitters try like lackadaisical?" along with "Oh my gosh! What the heck was that?" [2] One of the two head coaches at Parkettes, where these comments took place, thinks the sport is good for the girls. "Maturing them beyond their years." [2] However, I think that it's robbing them of their childhood-forcing them to be professionals when they should be running around outside having fun. 75 percent of children drop out of organized sports by the age of 12, because, they say, it's not fun anymore. [2] One gymnast named Annie comments, "When I finished it, I just said thank God I'm done." [2]

I'm not saying all gymnastics is bad. These seem to be reoccurring trends in competitive gymnastics though. I agree with Rosenfeld who said, "If your goal is to be perfect, you always will be inadequate. And you always will have a problem with your self-esteem." [2] Coaches seem to be getting too caught up in winning and parents in living their dream through their children. We have to remember, that even though their amazing athletes, they are also little girls.

[1] An excerpt from Jennifer Sey's "Chalked Up"

[2] Excerpts from the CNN documentary "Pursuing The Perfect Ten"

[3] Excerpts from an article by Scott M. Reid

[4] Eating Disorders and Gymnastics by Ana Cintado