Female Gymnastics Is Always About Child Abuse

China's been caught cheating by breaking the age rule in female gymnastics. That's unforgiveable.

But frankly the 16-year age rule is irrelevant. All females who eventually become world-class gymnasts have been exploited while they are children. I think that competitive female gymnastics is really child abuse and the practice goes on in every country in the world.

This is because, for females, developing Gold Medal skills is a race against puberty. So little girls, as young as four or five, are recruited and spend their childhoods in gyms raised by coaches, some of whom behave like Svengalis. These kids are brainwashed into attempting dangerous tricks, accepting injuries and pain. These gyms always have a psychologist on staff to goad or guilt these kids. Parents often don't know what goes on because they are usually banned from the gyms. This is as true in the United States as it is in China.

The reason female gymnastics is a race is against puberty is because once maturity happens the female body adds 5% body weight which adversely limits their strength and endurance. By contrast, male gymnasts can only be developed after puberty because that is when they acquire sufficient strength to do their tricks. This also means that their careers are not only post-puberty but last longer into adulthood.

A 20-year-old female gymnast is an oxymoron. Doesn't exist.

My guess is that most of the female gymnasts in Beijing are either under 16, despite rules, or are physiologically under 16 because they have a regimen, or hormones, that postpone puberty's onset.

It is inhumane to most of the children involved, and should be banned along with other forms of child labor and abuse.

Read more HuffPost coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Comments

[Savetheworld]

06:49 PM on 08/21/2008

I think this article would be a lot more relevant were it written in 1996 when the Magnificent Seven won their team gold at the olympics. You want to talk about abused gymnasts, there were several on that team. Case in point: Dominique Moceanu, who was only 14 when she competed and later detailed the "training practices" of Bela Karyoli; the book "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" written around that time also details the tough training characteristic of 90s gymnastics. Judging from their lack of curves, if you look at that team, it's hard to believe that any of them were over the age of 13, but several (Amanda Borden, Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, and Kerri Strug) were over 18. Gymnasts today do not look the same as those girls, largely because training nationwide has changed. Shawn Johnson, for example, works out only 4 hours a day and attends a regular high school. In addition, if you were to line up this year's team with the Magnificent Seven, this year's olympic team has noticeably more breasts and hips, perhaps to their competitive detriment. As someone who has trained as an elite gymnast, I worry that your post is too much of a blanket statement about a sport that has several great programs that put children first. In terms of injuries, how many children fall off skateboards and bikes without a helmet on? If you ask me, that's the greater abuse.

[SPARKYSMOM]

01:53 PM on 08/17/2008

OK, I'm sure there is some abuse. Just as there is in ballet. However, no reputable gym bans parents. My son started gynastics at 6. The gym had a "moms" room with fancy one-way glass, set up about a half-story above the floor. We were invited to view the whole session,
The real story here is what happens when parents abandon their parental responsibilities and leave the kids at the gym, while they go off and get their nails done. A good parent doesn't let their child go any where where the parent can't go. I don't leave my dog alone at the groomer, why would I leave my child alone at the gym ? or the dentist, or the barbers, or anywhere else?
A friend of mine had a daughter who suddenly started skipping school. After trying everything else he could think of (and finding nothing that worked) , he took a week off work, and went to school with her everyday, all day, for 5 days. He walked her to school, walked her to every class, sat in the back and watched everything. And it worked. For one thing, it impressed the girl with how important it was to her father. How many parents would be willing to do something like that?

btw- alicia sacramone, U.S. Olympic gymnast, silver medal, 2008 Beijing, 20 years old.

[spirit8]

01:39 PM on 08/16/2008

Although this is a passionate rebuke of the gymnastics world, it is not well researched or based on fact. You could make the same argumnent about many sports - should we ban all young female sport participation? There have been some abusive practices, I will not dispute that claim, but all of these athletes have the desire and passion to succeed and you cannot force anyone to that level of dedication. There is a lot of joy, laughter and of course, tears, in any gym, but these young women have given themselves the gift of self discovery, self discipline and the knowledge that they are capable of incredible achievements. I would not take that away from any of them.

[tlgeiger62]

07:47 AM on 08/16/2008

Abuse doesn't mean physical beatings. I agree that girls involved in gymnastics are passively abused. My daught began at 4 and went once a week for 1 hour. By the time she was 6, they wanted a commitment of 2 hours and it goes up from there. It is simply ridiculous to put children into such a mindset at such a young age. The abuse comes in when parents go along with this insanity.

[Diane Francis]

11:01 PM on 08/15/2008

good comments.

but the olympics and other competitions are creating a new, elite form of child abuse. In gynmastics the injruies are pretty horrendous and that's never talked about. It is abnormal for a kid to work 6 to 8 hours a day in gym, plus school, and be injured repeatedly.

I really think it should be banned or gymns, at the very least, inspected regularly and audited for injuries.

[ButImNotSureAboutU]

05:56 PM on 08/15/2008

While the Soviet/China style factories might be considered "child abuse", I dare you to look at the gyms here around the US and say that. Come to WOGA, the gym Carly Paterson and Nastia Liukin train. They don't abuse the children for as many Nastia's and Shawn Johnson's there are in this country, there are thousands that walk away While it's true that younger female gymnasts have some advantages, the nearly 19 year old Nastia Liukin is a stark counterpoint to your abused prepubescent gymnast. She and Shawn Johnson have somewhat normal lives outside the gym and their parents and coaches are hardly the kind of people who would brainwash these kids. Every gymnast at some point has to take their gymnastics into their own hands and decide how far they can go. No amount of brainwashing is going to provide them the mental toughness needed to compete at such a high level.

You do make some good point and have some facts on our side but that doesn't mean you know what you're talking about.

[bluechao]

05:15 PM on 08/15/2008

"A 20-year-old female gymnast is an oxymoron. Doesn't exist."

Oksana Chusovitina, 33 years old, is competing in the Olympics for Germany (she first competed in the Olympics for the CIS).

Svetlana Vasilievna Khorkina of Russia won the individual Gold in the uneven-bars in the 2000 games at the age of 21 and was a World All Around Champion in 2003 at the age of 23.

It's not impossible, it does happen but it is also rare.

[CintiBlue]

10:11 AM on 08/16/2008

I miss Svetlana!!

She was wonderful to watch with all her skill and diva attitude. And, I say diva with all respect.

[RevMetheus]

05:10 PM on 08/15/2008

You need to also change the word 'gymnast' to 'competitive cheerleader' and think about all those little girls that start going to practices and being thrown around. It may not be an olympic sport, but its still child abuse if gymnastics is.