There’s a new Discussion on Gymnastics Examiner.
Most of the arguments pro and con are included. Here’s my opinion:
Since there is no way to medically confirm chronological age, I’m against any minimum age rule for the Olympics.
If there were a way to confirm age, I’d still be against any minimum age requirement (though not quite so strongly). I’m not convinced the current rule has done much to protect younger children from over training. Younger athletes are often actually safer doing high difficulty routines than they are when old.
Read more on Examiner.com The Discussion: The great age debate
Wikipedia has a good history and summary of the issue.
29 comments ↓
Get rid of the age limit.
The argument is being made that having really young champions will damage the image of the sport in the eyes of the general public. There is an element of truth to that, but there does not seem to be any correlation between the popularity of gymnastics and the female age limit. If anything, WAG had a wider general audience during the days of the pixies.
The FIG should at least pick a limit that doesn’t exclude as much of the talent as does the current one. Grandi wants to raise it again. God only really knows why.
There should at least be a Junior Worlds.
Remind me again why there is an age limit? If a gymnast reaches their peak at 14 or 15, why not give them a shot to compete at a Worlds or Olympics?! Why make gymnasts wait? As Rick said it’s often safer to do many skills when you’re younger – your body hasn’t been through this demanding sport for as long and hasn’t suffered as many injuries. Waiting another 4 years for a shot at the Olympics, especially with the current code, means 4 more years of possible injuries.
I’m with you on this one Rick.
if there has to be alimit it should be 14 yrs of age… at least they are in their peak and worlds should be just below that age…
Diving, for example, had a 13yr old in Beijing. He got nothing but praise in the media, so far as I saw.
Developmentally there is a HUGE difference between 14 and 16. With the pressure of the Olympics ever increasing and more and more money on the line I don’t see a problem with an age limit.
I’m With JO on this on. Keep the age limit. If the trainers are smart, and right training practices, the girls will more than likely last.
One of my friends just posted this video on her facebook:
http://youtu.be/0NtmN4SW8M4
It’s an 8 year old girl dancing Odette/Odile from Swan Lake… I personally think this is way to young, not only because of how hard the role is, how demanding it is on a young body, but she does not have the maturity to understand the role and act it all that well. Not to mention, I think 8 is a little young to be en pointe.
If an 8 year old gymnast could throw big tricks, and there were no age limit, I still would be completely against letting them compete in the Olympics or Worlds.
These days, when many gymnasts have shown that female gymnasts can peak in their early to mid 20′s there is no longer the need to try to remove the age limit. After 16, there are still many years that women can compete at the international level. It is better to pace their development than to try to push them to have a high level of difficult at a young age and risk them developing psychological and growth problems from over training at a young age.
Ditch it. The Chinese are cheating out of their asses.
Athletes and coaches could choose to pace themselves even if the age limit were removed.
What was the age limit when Chuso started out, again?
Even if people are more mature at 16 than at 14, it does not follow that a 14 year old is incapable of competing at the Olympic level. It depends on the person.
The FIG will never get rid of the age limit entirely, but they could have picked a more sensible limit than the one they have now.
Let’s say for one minute that some random age minimum is best … for example: age-19.
How do you prevent totalitarian states from cheating?
I hate that some folks can get away with cheating if they want. But I think the age limit has been really good as far as making older WAG more accepted.
The FIG’s argument is that the age limit protects the gymnasts, right? But that’s not true. Many gymnasts are still doing the same skills at ages 10, 11, 12 that they’ll eventually compete at age 16. So I don’t see the point of an age limit!
An age limit just keeps many incredible gymnasts from ever going to the Olympics because they might only get one chance at age 18 or 19, especially since they keep decreasing the # of team members. Ugh! Not at all fair for these amazing gymnasts.
The age limit has never done anything to protect any girls or slow down any coaches’ training of those girls or created more girls repeating their participation at the Olympics or anything else. EVER!
The age rule was put into effect because of the attack on our sport through rumors, accusations, and often real reports of coaches over-training very young girls. Anyone who has coached for any amount of time in this sport can tell you that no one can predict which athletes will actually be elite, and then how fast that (elite potential) athlete will progress. Therefore, the training has to be at an intensity that gets everything possible out of those athletes as quickly as possible. No one knows what kind of injuries these kids will have down the road, so the work has to be done to put that athlete in a position to have a chance to compete at the highest level as early as possible. This type of training will never change regardless of what the age limit is. Period.
There have always been and will always be athletes at an older age who live and breathe the sport, that will do the sport up into their 20s and beyond. It’s called heart (and luck) and it was happening with girls like Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes, Kelly Garrison-Steves, and many others way before there was an age limit. This will never change as well.
The bottom line of the age limit was for an organization (individuals even) to try and put themselves in the light of trying to “stem the tide” of the wave of criticism that fell on our sport heavily and often. They were protecting their own reputations by instituting an, at the very least worthless, and at the worst damaging to the sport rule, that has no positive effect on the most incredible sport in the world.
The saddest part about the age limit to me is that every time I think of it, I am reminded how little actually was done to try to stop that small percentage of coaches out there that actually are damaging kids. There still is way too little in the way of requirements, training and certification for coaches, especially in the U.S. This is where the focus should be, and not on trying to enforce a mirage.
“Since there is no way to medically confirm chronological age, I’m against any minimum age rule for the Olympics.” – Coach Rick
Okay, suppose there were no age restrictions. What would happen then? Would elite gymnastics become a tween sport?
I’d say they were protecting the reputation of the sport.
……so a 13 year old, qualifies for the olympics and competes. Great…… But how would she get there?
let’s say, she starts gym when she is 4,
To peak that early, she would have to begins training 12 to 15 hours a week right from the start, and be training close to 30 hours a week by the time she was 8 or 9.
I know other countries with a centralized live in training probably do this, but many western countries don’t and shouldn’t have to. I know I wouldn’t want my 5 year old doing 5 to 6 days a week of gym. No matter how much potential they have.
Then there is the other argument. What happens to this child when the competition is over? What motivation does she have to stay in the sport for another 4 to 6 years? She has already reached the highest level of the sport. Chances are, most children would not have the motivation to stay training 30 hours a week for the next 4 years to achieve something they have already achieved.
For the overwhelming majority of elites, the major motivation of training all those hours & missing out on all the normal social activities is to finally “make it.” if they have already made it, then where will the motivation come from?
MOST (not all) Olympic athletes retire post competition. A 13 to 15 year old retiring is a bit ridiculous.
Then there is not to mention the pressures both inside and outside the gym, and the 15 mins of celebrity…. 16 year olds struggle with this side…
Troy said it best.
I second that Troy said it best.
Lowering the age limit isn’t going to force anyone to peak earlier.
If a gymnast retires at 13 instead of 17, so what? Considering the average female in the nations involved in gymnastics will live to be around 80 and will hopefully do something beyond gymnastics with those excess years…
WAG is a sport where the talent tends to peak young. That’s the nature of the game. Manipulating the rules so a specific type of athlete can succeed..well, why not change the rules of the Olympic Marathon so only those with BMIs over 25 can enter… give some other people a chance besides those scrawny East Africans.
The only solid reason for a age limit is to protect the safety of the gymnasts. I have yet to see real evidence that it does so.
Count me as number three – well said Troy. (especially like your note about coaching education)
“Okay, suppose there were no age restrictions. What would happen then? Would elite gymnastics become a tween sport?”
That’s assuming that without an age limit, younger girls usuall be able to beat slightly older ones.
And so what. There isn’t any BMI limit for distance running, so all the winners are really thin.
Distance running is a sport for thin people. The vast majority of elite sports are for young people not much out of their teens.
Having rules that allow the best people to win (safely) is part of what sports are all about.
That’s the way it is. Want to watch adults? Watch MAG.
Disregard, a detailed reading of the info says it establishes a 5 year range…
I deleted your comment, Quentin.
I feel like a lot of these posts that talk about kids training harder at a younger age, etc. if there was no age limit, are slightly out of touch with the way that training is in our sport.
It is already a game of get there as fast as you can (safely, in most cases, although not all), because a coach does not know what is going to happen in the future. Taking away the age limit isn’t going to change that. Are there people that really believe that the majority of coaches are going to see that there is no age limit anymore and think to themselves, “Hmm….I wasn’t going to train this 7 year old for 30 hours per week, but now that there is no age limit and she can be in the Olympics when she is 11, that changes everything!” It’s just not reality. Are there coaches who go to fast? Yes, yes, yes, and hell yes!! But those coaches are going too fast now…WITH an age limit. I can tell you with quite a bit of confidence that those coaches are not doing that because of any kind of timeline, but simply because they are uneducated, stubborn, egotistical, or all three. Changing the age limit will not change that.
In closing, I’m not necessarily for or against lowering the age limit, keeping it, or taking it away altogether. I simply think that the discussion and the process needs to take into consideration why it was done in the first place, whether it has accomplished anything, and what potential harm is created either way.
“That’s assuming that without an age limit, younger girls usuall be able to beat slightly older ones.” – Ono No Komachi
Yep. As legend has it, Nadia Comaneci destroyed her competition because the laws of physics were nicer to her than they were to everybody else. When it comes to acrobatics, pre-pubescent girls (i.e., tiny contortionists with boyish figures) have a physical advantage.
As long as artistic gymnastics rewards acrobatics more than artistry, the sport will be skewed towards youth. But once a better balance has been struck (and I’m assuming this will happen sooner or later), age is unlikely to be an issue, as the best athletes will tend to be artistic, and developing a flair for artistry takes time.
The problem is many people confusing peaking with burning out. Gymnasts who don’t improve after 16 are simply burnt out from over training at a young age. If managed properly a female gymnast will peak in her early 20′s and will have 3 (or ever more) chances at an Olympics. Of course, some coaches will never see the light. But already many are starting to realise that you don’t need to get 8 year olds training over 20 hours per week and are delaying the onset of serious training to a more appropriate age. However, it is only the beginning. It will take a long time for the stereotype to change, but it will change. The age limits needs to stay, and 16 is an appropriate age.
“The vast majority of elite sports are for young people not much out of their teens.”
One of the elite sports that I can think that is not true for this is elite equestrian sports. Yes, there are young people in the sport but they’re exceptions.
If you change the rules (NCAA for example) a gymnast like Courtney McCool can win, one of the bigger girls in College.
The rules reward a body 82lbs, 4′ 9″ right now.
That’s the disconnect between what Grandi wants and what the current FIG rules reward.
“The rules reward a body 82lbs (37kg) , 4? 9? (144cm) right now.”
Yea right, cause that’s the size of Nastia Liukin and Alicia Sacramone.
Leave a Comment