Getting There

No matter how you slice it, nobody "gets lucky" and makes the Olympics. This post doesn't really have an explicit lesson because I thought I'd talk simply about how one gets to the Olympics.

Most exceptional gymnasts start training before they start learning. That is, they start gymnastics before they start school. In turn instead of school being priority, sometimes gym is. Plenty of elite gymnasts are or were actually home schooled. Many start at the age of 3-5. They never burn out and quit (which is a fairly regular phenomenon within this sport), and grow up to become elite gymnasts.

At the stage of college is when things become messy. I can recount a number of times I've asked someone why they quit before the end of high school, and if they were exceptional gymnasts the most common answer in distinctly, "I got bored." 

Now, I know it is wrong of me, but I get this urge to hit people like this. Gymnastics is a sport where repetition is everything, but the variety and scope it entails is incredibly large. One consensus among most gymnasts is that the sport of gymnastics is actually 6-in-1 for males and 4-and-1 for females. Each event is tied to the next, yet it is distinctly different in so many other ways. This is why we have event competitions instead of purley an all-around competition! And there's always a new skill to work! It's like track and field. You can't consider jumping, throwing, and running the same sport. It may be under the same name, but they are distinctly different competitions, and in some cases combined to form new competition styles.

Those who stick with it, the dedicated and talented, are the few who stand out. Talent can only take one so far. Some even deferred college for later years, if not down right declining until a later date. Plenty move on to good jobs and respected universities, but there are also a fair amount who remain in the sport. Once you're in gymnastics for long enough to make that level of ability the sport has unquestionably become part of you and there's no escaping that.

For many gymnastics was there life, and not only was it theirs but also their families. You find many Olympians who have family ties to the sport, whether through past success's or gym ownership. Rarely is one not tied to the sport through familial ties. Nastia Liukin's father was an Olympic gymnast for the Soviet Union and co-owner of a gym called WOGA, one of the nation's best. Paul Hamm's father was a diver (a sport many gymnasts go into for purposes from scholarships to still wanting to slip and twist without as much joint pain) and even made them equipment to train on. His twin brother, a co-Olympian in the same year, and his sister competed for the University of Iowa. And these are only two accounts of popular, Olympic gymnasts.

Ultimately many Olympic gymnasts show exceptional talent young, are surrounded by support that is both experienced and strong, begin upper level competitions by the time high school roles around, and then show extreme dedication. This isn't to say those who didn't make the Olympics, didn't have this, or did, simply that these are the trends. 

Not getting hurt helps as well...

Gymnastics Background: Although our equipment has generally been the same, slight differences have occurred. There are accounts of balance acts (like for balance beam) being performed in the 1800's on tree trunks! The high bar is metal, while women's bars are wood. Floors are becoming more and more springy. Even our vault table changed completely. The vault used to look like the pommel horse (minus the handles of course) for almost 200 years, but as vaults became increasingly more difficult it turned into a much more square piece of equipment.

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Question of the Day: Do you were tights? They aren't technically tights... They are annoying as hell, and most of us don't appreciate having to wear our uniforms, but we do it anyway. It's for the show!

Skill of the day: a backhandspring layout stepout. She's seven...