Dvora Meyers weighs in with the most nuanced analysis of the media blowup after one stupid remark by Carlotta Ferlito — Unorthodox Gymnastics – Racism in Gymnastics: Simone Biles Edition
There is some racism in Artistic Gymnastics. Much less than in the real world, but some.
Pretty much every coach, however, is interested to train athletes of different genetic heritage.
It was Hideo Mizoguchi who first pointed out to me that the USA is the greatest melting pot of the races. Sooner or later, that mixing will result in some of the best athletes that ever lived.
___UPDATE:
Jason got me to research my assumption. Check this map of the world’s most ethnically diverse nations. Canada is more diverse than the USA, for example.
That may not matter, in any case. Stephanie notes that the entire concept of “race” is being challenged in recent years. And that the greatest genetic variation is between individuals of the same local ethnicity.
My melting pot theory might be complete hogwash.
___
Kyla Ross, for example, is of is of African American, Japanese, Filipino and Puerto Rican descent.
Tiger Woods refers to his ethnic make-up as “Cablinasian” (a syllabic abbreviation he coined from Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian).
There is racism in Gymnastics. But it’s not nearly one of our biggest problems.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 