If you want to watch ballet, watch ballet. If you want to watch gymnastics, watch gymnastics. If you want to watch a combo of the two, watch rhythmic gymnastics.

Anonymous wrote:I was a gymnast. Gymnastics used to emphasize dancing much more. We had to take ballet weekly once we started competing. I noticed that the American’s dance portions at this Olympics look like they received no thought. As mentioned, the Russians clearly have much more dance training. Floor exercise isn’t just about doing the most flips. It’s also about being graceful. Dance portions also give you a chance to breathe before your next tumbling run.

Agree with you. The US gymnasts don’t know how to dance, which is why it looks like weird afterthoughts movements between powerful tumbling passes. Personally, I prefer the gymnastics style of the previous decades over today’s style. Even if today’s contain more rotations, higher flips, etc. it just isn’t as enjoyable to watch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is what we AARP candidates remember. Olga Korbut had such personality on the floor and such a great connection to her music. I get that the skills aren't like 2024, but her dance skills were amazing. This routine inspired a whole generation of girls to try gymnastics.

This feels like an entirely different sport. Not saying it’s better or worse, but I understand it had to evolve to leave less room for interpretive judging/scoring.

Here's a side by side from the 50s. It doesn't even resemble modern gymnastics

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is what we AARP candidates remember. Olga Korbut had such personality on the floor and such a great connection to her music. I get that the skills aren't like 2024, but her dance skills were amazing. This routine inspired a whole generation of girls to try gymnastics.

This feels like an entirely different sport. Not saying it’s better or worse, but I understand it had to evolve to leave less room for interpretive judging/scoring.

Olga Korbut was one of the first to introduce acrobatic moves. Google her bar routine - they banned some of her stunts. I listened to an analysis that said she was the first gymnast where you feared she could harm herself.

Anonymous wrote:

This is what we AARP candidates remember. Olga Korbut had such personality on the floor and such a great connection to her music. I get that the skills aren't like 2024, but her dance skills were amazing. This routine inspired a whole generation of girls to try gymnastics.

This feels like an entirely different sport. Not saying it’s better or worse, but I understand it had to evolve to leave less room for interpretive judging/scoring.

Yes, the hand twirling and little leg jumps. What in the bloody hell do they add to anything? It's so unnecessary. Just do the flips and tumbles. Literally who ever cares about a little hand waving and small dancing moves and rolling on the ground for a gymnastics routine? Just jump and tumble already.

Anonymous wrote:As a former elite gymnast the dancing gives you a quick second to breathe. In between the dance elements are leaps and turns. Both of which require significant athleticism. While men don’t dance, they do have several required non-tumbling elements that highlight both flexibility and (extreme) strength. On the beam the moves help you move back and forth on the beam in smaller increments. Also, the leaps and turns on beam can have the same difficulty score as some of the tumbling moves. One of my most serious injuries was the result of a missed turn on beam.

I think we all recognize the but many of us would prefer they just stood there for a minute to catch their breath between the tumbling sequences.

This is what we AARP candidates remember. Olga Korbut had such personality on the floor and such a great connection to her music. I get that the skills aren't like 2024, but her dance skills were amazing. This routine inspired a whole generation of girls to try gymnastics.

It's because female gymnasts are supposed to be pretty and graceful. Male gymnasts are supposed to be strong and virile.

I said something similar during the womens all around final -- that the little dance moves just don't look very good and in my opinion undermine the truly amazing tumbling and other skills they are doing. I said I might like it better without the music and choreography.

But my DD (who is 7) immediately said that she felt the music and dancing made it more fun and that men's gymnastics isn't as enjoyable to watch because you don't really get a sense of their personalities and they don't seem to be enjoying themselves as much.

I see what she is saying. While the music and dance moves don't really add anything to the athletic aspect of the sport they kind of spice it up. Like on floor in particular they are all often doing very similar skills if not the same skills and often even in the same order. Without the music and choreography the men's floor routines are very monotonous -- if you've seen one guy do that crazy handstand with the super wide hands you've seen them all.

And especially in the all around where the gymnasts are competing as individuals I did get a good sense for each of the top gymnasts' personality and style. Way more so than for the men.

So I guess the music and (bad) choreography is a bit more about letting the gymnasts express themselves and have fun at this point. It's of a piece with the wild makeup they wear or the glittery leotards -- it's just fun.

I actually thought the Brazilians did a great job with the dance elements. And I agree that the college teams are doing a beautiful job with this!

Previous highschool and USAG coach....I think the dance is ridiculous now...but here is what happened. Gymnast/coaches discovered how to use the point system to rack up points, who cares if it's sloppy because you get more points from difficulty. I will say this helps with subjective vra objective scoring but in my mind they should do real dance and it should be worth points as well. Artistry was and always has been a gymnastics req.There used to be a limit on skill points now there is none so the artistry will leave because you don't really need it to win...also you don't have to be a feminist artist.... There are lots of male artist and art doesn't have to be cutesy. You guys realize the sport is called artistic gymnastics right?

I heard the commentators note that Pasha from DWTS helped choreograph Simone Biles' routine. The choreography seemed pretty ordinary to me. It does perhaps have less of the "cutesy" stuff .

Anonymous wrote:I also think this is throwback and is related to outdated thinking that women must be graceful, not powerful.

Do away with thee dance moves. Let women be strong powerful gymnasts.

I agree with this a feminist, in principle.

However, on the practical side, as a former gymnast, for whom endurance was never my strong suit, the stupid dance moments are when you get to catch your breath!! So key. We always felt so bad for the guys who had to go right from tumbling pass to tumbling pass. I was absolutely happy to stand there doing some stupid jazz hands to get a few breaths in. Worth it!

Anonymous wrote:I watched Mykayla Skinner being taught her choreography for floor, and what I realized was that the choreographer was just a MUCH better dancer than she is. They made it look great - and Mykayla just had this way of watering it all down and taking it from electric to blah. She's a gymnast, not a dancer.

Um, right. She's an athlete, not a dancer, moron.

You know figure skaters also do ballet training, right? As do some football players. But the triple axels and agility on the field are RATHER THE POINT.