I know this sounds awful but I feel bad for the female gymnasts

[Anonymous]

I think there's a certain amount of self-selection that goes on too. I'm 5'8" and my daughter is a fairly big kid for her age. We figured out pretty quickly that gymnastics was not going to be her sport, and ballet wasn't either. There's a reason gymnasts aren't 5'8" and ballerinas aren't at 95% of the curve for weight.

I think most of these athletes have amazing bodies. My friends and I were watching the sprinters the other night, and as a runner, I was pretty excited and inspired to see these strong, amazing women who are not twigs kicking ass and taking names.

[Anonymous]

Gymnastic trainings stunts physical growth. How many tall men gymnasts do you see? and ladies? That 5'6 gymnasts is consider tall!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastic trainings stunts physical growth. How many tall men gymnasts do you see? and ladies? That 5'6 gymnasts is consider tall!

Here's a good summary of a 2004 study of growth and skeletal maturity of elite male and female gymnasts age 13-23 published in a respected, peer-reviewed journal.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/467605-the-effects-of-gymnastics-on-childrens-growth/

And a link to the journal article: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2003-031864

The important take-aways:

--Both male and female artistic gymnasts were shorter and slimmer than their non-gymnast counterparts.
--Both male and female artistic gymnasts exhibited a significant delay in skeletal maturation; this growth delay was also more pronounced in males than in females.
--Both male and female gymnasts exhibited catch-up growth once their gymnastics careers ended.
--For both sexes, genetic predisposition to final height, although altered, was not disrupted. However, for both sexes, final height falls short of genetic predisposition.
--No definite conclusion on growth characteristics of both sexes can be made without considering the possibility of a preselection bias. Female gymnast's target height score (based on genetic predisposition) was well below the 50th percentile.

IOW, overall, elite female gymnasts have a genetic predisposition to be short; their training does appear to delay skeletal maturation (although less in female gymnasts than in males); when they stop training so much they tend to "catch up" in their growth, but sometimes not all the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastic trainings stunts physical growth. How many tall men gymnasts do you see? and ladies? That 5'6 gymnasts is consider tall!

When you are shorter you have a lower center of mass which makes beam and overall balance much easier.

Some of the greatest female gymnasts are all short - mary lou retton, nadia, kerri shrug, k miller, kim zmeskel, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gymnastic trainings stunts physical growth. How many tall men gymnasts do you see? and ladies? That 5'6 gymnasts is consider tall!

Here's a good summary of a 2004 study of growth and skeletal maturity of elite male and female gymnasts age 13-23 published in a respected, peer-reviewed journal.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/467605-the-effects-of-gymnastics-on-childrens-growth/

And a link to the journal article: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2003-031864

The important take-aways:

--Both male and female artistic gymnasts were shorter and slimmer than their non-gymnast counterparts.
--Both male and female artistic gymnasts exhibited a significant delay in skeletal maturation; this growth delay was also more pronounced in males than in females.
--Both male and female gymnasts exhibited catch-up growth once their gymnastics careers ended.
--For both sexes, genetic predisposition to final height, although altered, was not disrupted. However, for both sexes, final height falls short of genetic predisposition.
--No definite conclusion on growth characteristics of both sexes can be made without considering the possibility of a preselection bias. Female gymnast's target height score (based on genetic predisposition) was well below the 50th percentile.

IOW, overall, elite female gymnasts have a genetic predisposition to be short; their training does appear to delay skeletal maturation (although less in female gymnasts than in males); when they stop training so much they tend to "catch up" in their growth, but sometimes not all the way.

^^And recall that the 50th percentile for height in American 20-year-old women is 5'4". The 5th percentile is 5'0" and the 95th percentile is 5'8.5". That means that you will find as many 20-year-old women who are 5'0" and under as you will those who are 5'9" and over. But somehow we think of 5 feet tall as being so much more unusual than 5'9".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now we're body shaming and feeling "bad" about our record breaking amazing female gymnasts?? Seriously???

+1

Pretty disgusting comments. These girls work their asses off because THEY want this! No one has done this to them. I think they're beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you OP. Some of them are more extreme.

Nobody wants to be 4-9 as an adult.

Except those who live in countries where small stature is the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you OP. Some of them are more extreme.

Nobody wants to be 4-9 as an adult.

None of those women would be much over 4'8 to 5'0 as adults anyway. They excel as gymnasts because they are tiny.