Loving (and Loathing) Gymnastics

I fell in love with gymnastics 12 years ago. Watching the Atlanta Olympics--the heroics of Kerri Strug landing on one leg to win the first team gold for the US, Dominique Dawes' infamous choke during the all-around, and Svetlana Khorkina's balletic 'Carmen' on floor exercise--I transfigured from casual viewer to hardcore fan. The drama, the glitter, the unforgiving once-every-four-years pressure, the politics, the quest for perfection: it was my very own reality tv (before 'reality tv').

Kerri Strug, 96 Olympic Champ

After Atlanta, I immediately joined an online gymnastics tape trading club and exchanged VHS tapes with friends from Kansas City to Paris. (I now have 600 tapes, with my oldest competition being Munich '72) I studied the Code of Points and can calculate start values for the women. I learned the sport's history and saw how much world politics is indeed inscribed in gymnastics (e.g., Protesting the Soviet Union's invasion of her country, Czech Vera Caslavska turned her head down on the medal stand while her Soviet rival Larissa Petrik's national anthem played in '68). I even developed a "country crush" on Romania from all the stories of how the small, Catholic, underdeveloped Eastern European nation pinned its hopes and dreams every four years on their young (also: abused, overtrained, and deeply talented) gymnasts, trying so hard to keep the legacy of Nadia Comaneci alive. And, yes, just a few years ago, well above the average gymnast age, I even tried to do it myself at the Rizal Sports Club. On my first day, I fell ON the parallel bars, coming home black-and-blue on my upper arms as I crashed on the bars attempting my dismount. And I loved the sport even more after that.

Me, at the Athens Ancient Olympic Stadium

Unlike sports such as tennis, gymnastics' one and only grand slam is the Summer Olympic Games. Even gymnastics' (now-)annual world championships get hardly any attention. Among gymnasts, the drama and mystique of the Olympics is indescribable. (Some of the most talented gymnasts fail to even make the Olympics due to injuries, choking, and politics. My fave example of politics is 1988 Seoul, where USSR left out their World Champion from the team just to prove a point how good they are to rival Romania.) And among gymnastics fans, the Olympics become huge 'media events' too.

'Ecstatic news' and 'high holidays', the Olympics are when I have heightened experiences of space-time. It's when I skip Friday gimmicks to go home early, stay up late to check updates, and assign our maid to human-TiVO duty. It's also when I get to share the sport that I love with many other casual viewers either a) enthralled with pointed toes and triple twists, or b) enraged by the twisted judging and cheating (?) that they see so rampant and blatant in the sport.

I for one am an apologist. Yes, the judging sucks. And yes, the death of the 10.0 system is inexcusable (fans and even Nadia Comaneci herself were against changing the system). Yes, there are falsified ages and backroom deals (Aussie judge to Russian judge: "I'll score you higher if you score mine higher"). And yes, there are whiny coaches who are less mature about losing than the kids 1/3 their age.

Marta Karolyi, bitchy US Women's Team Coordinator

But we love gymnastics because, occasionally, there comes a gymnast who reminds us of what the sport is really all about. Artistry, beauty, liquid grace. And power too. Grit, determination, inspiration.

In Beijing, we had the tightest women's all-around competition since Miller versus Gutsu 1992. For some reason, the all-arounds of 96, 00 and 04 were splatfests, with the best gymnasts making mistakes, with the merely-good-but-consistent ones winning. Thank goodness then for the beauty of Nastia Liukin, herself a throwback to Soviet-era elegance in an age when power and explosiveness is rewarded more. She is the most elegant Olympic champ in decades.

And, most significanty, we also had the best Chinese women's team in history win team gold for the first time. For years, Chinese women have always been compared to porcelain: "beautiful but breakable", reputed for their innovation and artistry as well as their being major headcases who choke under pressure. This year, we finally had their most complete squad compete, taking risks and looking near-perfect doing it. We've predicted it before: if China hits perfectly, they'd be unstoppable. Thank God, or thank Prod (!), they finally did.

Unfortunately, however, this had to be shadowed by allegations of age falsification. And this upsets me and many gym fans more than anything because it hits not only the credibility of the sport but also affects the stunningly talented gymnasts themselves.

crowd favorite Jiang Yuyuan

First, these gymnasts competed last year at the World Championships and were deemed eligible to compete THEN. How come protests over their ages were not lobbied last year? Is it because they merely won silver to the US last year? To have this IOC-sanctioned inquiry come at this time alerts one to who might be behind the move politically. The Beijing Games have been scrutinized more than any Olympics I have known in my lifetime (I was too young to remember the Soviet protest of 1984 Los Angeles), and of course to see China and its government shamed (whether it be by fake fireworks or dubbed singing girl or ineligible gymnasts) will no doubt please quite a few parties. One needs to do a cursory discourse analysis of news about the Beijing Olympics to see how much othering and essentialism and Orientalism there is.

Second, age falsification is nothing new to gymnastics. Outspoken US coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi are no strangers to this tactic when they were back in their native Romania. Post-Karolyi regime Romanians Daniela Silivas, Gina Gogean and Alexandra Marinescu all admitted to being underage in '88, '92, and '96 respectively, but they were never stripped off their titles. That is why I am especially curious what might the sanction be if ever the Chinese gymnasts are indeed proven underage.

Third, even if the Chinese gymnasts are proven to be underage, I don't think anyone will believe them anyway. The 'scandal' discourse has just completely taken over and have taken on the 'status of truth'. Counter-essentialist discourses about Chinese girls being naturally smaller than Caucasians and that the Americans are just being sourgrapes are no use.

I'm just sad because women's gymnastics did look amazing in this Olympics. Way better than it did in Athens 04. Too bad about all these allegations.

One more reason I love gymnastics? Umm, the men of course. To end on a happy note, let's end with my fave gym boys.

surprise bronze medalists US Men

High Bar medalists Fabian Hambuechen and Jonathan Horton getting tooclose

first-ever French all-around medalist Benoit Caranobe

commie-tastic Xiao Qin saluting China

Dutch high bar specialist (and nudie model) Epke Zonderland