Gymnasts have it tough in the hair department. Their first priority is to keep that shit out of their faces in order to do all of those crazy circus moves. Hence, the gymnasty hair trends that won't die.
Like the infantilizing Goody StayPut barrette:
Not to mention that iconic symbol of 90's fug and suburban mom fatigue, the scrunchie.
The worst hairstyle of the sport on the women's side has got to be the man-cut. 33 year-old gymnast Oksana Chusovitina--formerly of Russia, Uzbekistan, and now Germany--has this unfortunate 'do, which I fear detracts from the awesomeness of her story.
The men's side of things is even more dismal, with most male gymnasts opting for a short, clean cut. Snooze! I'm still waiting for a dashing, hirsute, Bjorn Borg-type to crash the international gymnastics scene. But until then...
Everyone's talking about China and Japan in men's gymnastics this Olympics because they're both favorites for team gold, finishing one-two in the qualifying round. China won gold in 2000 and Japan took it in 2004, and their current teams are led by Yang Wei and Hiroyuki Tomita, respectively, veterans of those winning teams. But what happens when these two go, er, head-to-head?
Now y'all don't get all nationalistic on this one like my grandmother would (she pretty much hates everything Japanese after living through the Occupation). It's only hair, people.
