The Body of a Gymnast

[Sk8n Mama]

Let's not forget to factor in genetics and nutrition. The Chinese are a small people with poor nutrition. I remember watching an NBC profile of Lu Chen when she was World Champion. She lived in an apartment the size of my bathroom and ate meals that were mostly rice and very little protein.

As for Svetlana, I think there's a problem there. She's just too skinny.

I don't think I could have my daughter doing gymnastics. Their growth is just way too stunted. Do they grow after they quit gymnastics or will Carly Patterson always stay that small? A profile I saw on the CBC said the average is under 4'10" and 85 pounds.

 

[jesslily]

Most Asian girls start puberty late and have smaller chests. The Chinese gymnasts at the Summer Game all are about their age they claimed. They have very flat chests. If you watch carefully, they are young Asian ladies' chests, not little girls' chests.

 

[kappa_1]

Daiane Dos Santos has the body of a hip-hop dancer in a rap video
Sometimes I have to believe that she's what Surya would have become had she stuck with gymnastics and reached the Elite level.

Sorry, just had to seize the opportunity to gush after Daiane

 

[Grgranny]

I wish Rgirl would post here what she thinks of Svetlana's shape. Looks to me like she is anorexic.

 

[Rgirl]

This is an excellent topic for an RGirl consult. RGal where is your twin?

I wish Rgirl would post here what she thinks of Svetlana's shape. Looks to me like she is anorexic.

Of course I made a beeline to this thread, although I must say I was disheartened to find the emphasis was on the women and not on drooling over the men. Lord a'mighty! Those male gymnasts have some of the most perfect (I know, you can't have most perfect, but I'm changing the rules) bodies on earth. I've watched Alexei Nemov through three Olympics and ever time I watch him mount that pommel horse......I'd better stop there.

As for the ever-constant disagreements over what is aesthetically thin, what's scary skinny, what's chunky, etc. in the women, I don't have time to make too many comments now (though you know I'll manage to say a boatload), However, I will say the following:
--I think Khorkina is genetically predisposed to that kind of ultrathin, flexible, long-boned body, ie ectomorph, and gymnastic training only enhances it. If she didn't train, Sveta would probably look like a very short Kate Moss, the model, when she was about 16. Plus, for everyone, cameras and lighting add about 5 to 10 pounds to the look of the body.
--Courtney Kupets and Carly Patterson are definitely NOT chunky. If you saw either of them in person in street clothes, I swear they would look muscular but thin. When I was in grad school we worked on a study following weight and percent body fat in the #1 university gymnastics team in the country. The percent body fat among the top gymnasts on the team ranged from less than 1% (when it's that low, it's hard to measure it accurately because we couldn't factor in bone density--or at least it was difficult in 1984) to 14%. The 1% girl was quite unique, but among the 6% to 14% girls, there was no signifcant differences in their gymnastics abilities, injury rates, or aesthetic appearance. Of course some people are going to have strong opinions regarding body appearance, which is their right. However, when you start predicting what people are going to look like as they mature, I would not bet any money on it. Thin at 16 doesn't mean thin at 36, nor does compact and muscular at 16 mean the same at 36. Carly Patterson could grow six inches in height between now and age 36 and turn out very slender. The only thing gymnasts tend to keep are their broad muscular shoulders, which may be more a function of the LACK of upper body work most young girls get rather than the amount of work gymnasts get.

For example, how many of use would have predicted that the Soviet Union's 69-lb Tatiana Gutsu of the '92 Olympics would, by 1996, be unrecogniziable as her '92 gymnast self. She looked more like a weight lifter than a gymnast. Of course she had grown 4 to 6 inches, but she also looked as if she had gained at least 50 pounds. I would classify her body as chunky, and she seemed happier at this weight and not doing gymnastics than she did in '92. IIRC, she described how it was a constant battle to keep her body from growing the way it was supposed to and function at the highest of elite gymnastic levels.

Contrast Gutsu with Mary Lou Retton of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics team. Because it was a Soviet and Eastern Bloc boycotted Olympics, it was basically the US, Western Europe, Africa, Japan, and certain Asian and South American countries that competed. The point is, Mary Lou was described as very "different" from the typical gymnast. She was certainly not thin and svelte. She was very short and muscularly packed solid. Certain members of the media said she looked like a bowling ball--which was pretty accurate. Other journalists said it was great that a new kind of gymnast had reached the top, that they didn't all have to look like Nadia Comenici or Olga Korbut.

At the time, I figured that once Mary Lou quit gymnastics and started growing, she would "fill out" ("blimp out"; choose your adjective). But the years went by and while Mary Lou did grow a couple of inches, she actually became quite a bit slimmer. Without the bulk of the musle mass, Retton had and has a slender though still slightly stocky body. In any case, she looks beautiful.

The point is that with athletes, it's guesswork in terms of trying to predict whose body is going to change in what ways once they've matured and stopped doing gymnastics. Genetics is also a huge contributing factor.


Final words: I think it's great that we are seeing so many different body types among the women doing top level gymnastics. Of course elite gymnasts still need to be relatively short, low body weight, and low percent body fat. But in '96, the USA's "Magnificent 7," which was the heaviest team of all the teams there in terms of weight and percent body fat won the team gold over the other top teams, which were significantely slimmer and leaner. The US also won a good deal of individual medals. And if Carly is so "chunky" and if that's hurting her gymnastics, she seems to be doing something right since she won the individual all-around.

The fact is, different bodies perform at their maximal at different weights and percent body fat. Yes, there is a bell curve of body size and lean mass that is ideal for a female gymast. But some are going to function best at one far end of the curve while others will do best at the other, with most doing best somewhere within the 66% middle curve. And I'm just talking about the ones who make it to elite level gymnastics.

IMO it's fine not to like a certain gymnast's body for aesthetic reasons. But to take a gymnast who fits right in the midst of the bell curve for an ideal body of an elite gymnast seems to me unfair. Carly Patterson got the job done in most of the team apparatus and the all-around over gymnasts who apparently many think had better gymnastic bodies. Fine to prefer one body over another, fine to argue judging, but I think the trend in gymnastics (and figure skating) toward different body types, especially among the women, is just great and I hope to see more of it.
Rgirl

 

[eliza88]

Rgirl--

If you have the time (and inclination) I would love to hear your explaination on how Alexie Nemov, from the tip top of his head alllllllllllll the way down to his toes is the sexiest, most yummy looking man in the world! It's a droolfest everytime I see him!

eliza88

 

[hockeyfan228]

Rgirl--

If you have the time (and inclination) I would love to hear your explaination on how Alexie Nemov, from the tip top of his head alllllllllllll the way down to his toes is the sexiest, most yummy looking man in the world! It's a droolfest everytime I see him!

eliza88

Nemov is cute, but I'm sorry, Popov is cuter (Did you see him in that suit giving out medals in his role as IOC member?) And then there's Despatie, with those beautiful brown eyes, and the Irish flagbearer, whoever he was ...

 

[diver chick]

Irish flag bearer was Niall Griffin - member of the equestrian team, 3 day eventer

While Svetlana Khorkina is a little too skinny for my tastes I do believe she has a natural disposition to being slim. Some people when they exercise cause their muscles to bulk up giving the impression of chunkiness a la Carly Patterson or Irina Slutskaya (who in real life is absolutely tiny) Others have naturally lean muscles and without the 'benefits' of the fat levels of their non athletic counterparts they lean towards the emaciated look.

 

[eliza88]

Hockeyfan,

Popov is indeed dreamy! He and Nemov top my All-Hunk Olympic team. Add Despatie to that list too--I hope I get to see him in many Olympics! I didn't see the Irish flagbearer

eliza88

 

[equestrianguy]

Here is a website you ladys might enjoy..and a few of you men.. Go to www.hotolympians.com....Enjoy!!!!

 

[mpal2]

Here is a website you ladys might enjoy..and a few of you men.. Go to www.hotolympians.com....Enjoy!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

 

[Rgirl]

....While Svetlana Khorkina is a little too skinny for my tastes I do believe she has a natural disposition to being slim. Some people when they exercise cause their muscles to bulk up giving the impression of chunkiness a la Carly Patterson or Irina Slutskaya (who in real life is absolutely tiny) Others have naturally lean muscles and without the 'benefits' of the fat levels of their non athletic counterparts they lean towards the emaciated look.

Very well (and succinctly) put, Diver Chick. Really, that's it in a nutshell.
Rgirl

 

[Rgirl]

Rgirl--
If you have the time (and inclination) I would love to hear your explaination on how Alexie Nemov, from the tip top of his head alllllllllllll the way down to his toes is the sexiest, most yummy looking man in the world! It's a droolfest everytime I see him!
eliza88

Hey Eliza,
While I have more than enough inclination, I just don't have the time to investigate this question, which in all seriousness has always fascinated me. I did a Google search on "anthropological male beauty." http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=male+beauty+anthropology&btnG=Search and while I only had time to skim a few, there seemed to be some pretty interesting ones. Of course you could always specify "anthropological male beauty Alexei Nemov." Hmm, I might do that myself....

Regarding women, I saw a documentary on the Discovery channel some years back on female beauty in which they said that throughout the world, no matter what race or background, certain standards of beauty were the same. For example, full red lips, wide set eyes, symmetry in facial features, high cheek bones, and a certain balance in size between the nose and the chin. They used an example where they had a police sketch artist draw the "ideal beauty" features for a caucasian woman's face. Then they put a clear mat over those basic features and colored each face with a specific make-up and hair style, one a blonde, the other a brunette. The blonde was made up to look like a 25-year-old Marilyn Monroe while the brunette was made up to look like a same age Liz Taylor. You knew that underneath, the eyes, nose, cheekbones, all the major features of the face had been drawn exactly alike. The difference was in how the see-through cover sheet was made-up to make the eyes, cheekbones, lips, etc. look a certain way. It was amazing to see how different their faces were when they were all made up and how exactly alike they were when you took away all the make-up and hair-stying.

Of course not every "great beauty" has the same underlying features. But take away the make-up and everything else, most of them from the same race sure look a lot alike.

Anyway, I suspect there are similar standards for men, but my guess is that there's probably a wider range of types that women find "gorgeous." One Romanian gymnast, Marian Dragulescu, is a new one who did it for me big time.

But IMO, Nemov is in a whole 'nother class. He's like the equivalent of Michelangelos's "David," that is, the gold standard. Those full lips, the high cheekbones, wide set eyes, strong jaw--and that's just the face! People have their personal favorites, but true hotties are pretty much agreed upon, even if they're not everyone's absolute favorite. In various sports, Joe Montana had it football, IMO; figure skating, Ilia Kulik; tennis, Andre Agassi (especially when he had the hair); and many others I can't think of off hand. I'm not saying these guys are the gold standard; I'm just saying they would be on 99% of "hottie" lists for that sport, whereas most other guys would at best be on 90% of "hottie" lists. And even though this doesn't count, it sure helps that Nemov has such a great personality.

Whew, what a topic! I better go see if my batteries are working...on my TV remote of course. Cold shower, here I come!
Rgirl

 

[soogar]

Rgirl:
Some man on man action involving Alexei:
http://www.dansgymvideos.ca/jean/web/bondy/pics/5.jpg

Sorry, I like Alexei's gymnastics but I have seen hotter Russian gymnasts:
http://www.gymn-forum.com/bios/men/artemov.html

 

[IceAngel2007]

Svetlana Khorkina is wayyyy tooo tall

 

[soogar]

Svetlana is only 5'4. It's everyone else who is too short.

 

[Piel]

Svetlana Khorkina is wayyyy tooo tall

I think she looks more like the rhyhthmic gymnists. I thought they looked very elegant with their longer lines. Also loved some of their costumes. A very interesting sport IMO. Maybe not the risk of the beam and bars, but the apparatus adds the risk elemant. Sasha Cohen would make a wonderful rhythmic gymnist.

 

[soogar]

I don't think Sasha would be scored well as a rhythmic gymnast. There is a definite preference for taller girls with long legs in rhythmic. Sasha is short and even though she has nice lines on ice, I don't think her lines could compare to those of a rhythmic gymnast.

 

[hockeyfan228]

What's good for the goose...

There was a 14-year old Malaysian diver, Bryan Nickson, who finished 19th in the Men's 10M Platform prelimaries, just missing a place in the semis. He looked somewhere between 8 and 10 years old.

 

[hockeyfan228]

Forget about the guys -- did anyone see the women's mountain bike podium? I'll avoid spoilers with the results, but all three women were gorgeous.