Olympic gymnastics humiliates and infantilises grown adult women

[Thebellofstclements]

The ridiculous leotards, the twee hairstyles. Having to do the ridiculous flicky "dance" moves (artistic expression, ha!) and grinning inanely (insanely) in between moves and when presenting...
Arguably the best athletes in the world but these grown adult women have to present themselves in a ridiculous, almost grotesquely infantile manner, looking fairy cheap and tacky.
The men do not.
My family argues that the gymnasts choose to do this.
We know that historically female gymnasts have been abused with no voice, so I'm not convinced this is all what they would necessarily choose given the option. AIBU?

Why are you hating on athletes who are incredibly talented and extremely dedicated to their profession? They’re athletes nonetheless, they just wear leotards. Male cyclists wear tight Lycra ?

Someone posted on here a while ago that their daughter was doing gymnastics and these were the dress rules. She (the mother ) didn’t like it either.

I am open to the argument that the artistry requirements should be a lot higher for men.

why do yo think that? The Code of Points makes zero mention of the athletes undergarments. it's fake news

and mentioned to the point of exhaustion, but a high cut leotard is not required, a low cut leotard is fine, as it a full unitard

They ARE allowed to wear unitards and leggings. Misinformation on this thread is at its best today.

As pointed out numerous times already, they are allowed to wear a full body leotard and some teams do this

No, I disagree, I think OP is quite correct. The men are showing skills and the women have to wiggle about between moves and wear silly costumes.

If clubs impose such rules, they can certainly be challenged. They're not in the international/ Olympic rules which is what seems to have triggered OP's post.

How are the men's costumes less "silly" than the women's?

"pandering to the male gaze" ...a concept of which some posters here seem to be completely unaware.

So you don't think the women show skills? 😵‍💫

@TheKeatingFive "As pointed out numerous times already, they are allowed to wear a full body leotard and some teams do this"

Yes-some teams do. But most, currently, do not. The German team have addressed this issue for the reasons some of us have set out on this thread.

Odd choice of words, and not even correct.

The dance and artistry portion on floor isn't any more an added layer to the sport for one sex than, say, men doing pommel horse and women not.

And secondly, as a point of fact women do not have to do that because they don't actually have to do floor. Gymnasts can and do specialise, there is no requirement to do all 4 events. There were even specialist only routes to the Olympics. You could qualify through your performance on just one event if you liked.

It's also worth looking at the history of the sport. The dance and artistry actually has a longer history in the modern sport of artistic gymnastics than the acrobatic elements that you've decided constitutes the purely gymnastics part. It's fine to prefer one aspect over the other, but as others have pointed out, the inherent assumption that the men's version is the more authentic, better way is sexist in itself.

"Tell me you don’t know much about gymnastics without telling me you don’t know much about gymnastics"

Robinhood, you beat me to it!

Elite gymnasts train for over 20 hours a week (often considerably more). As a result, quite strong sub cultures develop, including fashions. There are trends not only in training and competition gear, but in hair styles and accessories. FIG (the world governing body) have quite broad rules based on clothing being tight enough so the line of the body can clearly be seen (e.g shoulders, hips and toes form a straight line) and modest (e.g leotards not being g-strings). The rest typically is driven by gymnasts and trends they start. A relatively new trend, taken up in some countries and not others (yet, I expect they'll follow), after presenting, instead of walking to your starting position on the floor, to do a mini dance routine to get in to position. This trend was started by gymnasts not coaches or FIG.

Gym training is pretty gruelling with lots of strength, stamina and flexibility work. Then there are lots of reps (drills) - doing the same sets of movements over and over. Once you have a new routine, you practice this over and over.

Competition is the fun bit, the bit where all this training comes together. The goals is to perform and entertain. Gymnasts want to wow the audience - it is what they have worked for. If they didn't want to do this, they would not commit to all that it takes to get into an elite squad.

Gymnasts could choose sports that are simply about being the fastest or strongest. They could choose sports that involve team work, but they have chosen a sport with a strong artistic component (the clue is in the name!). It's ludicrous to suggest they have to endure this element of the sport.

They have to wear the team leotard, I have no idea who decides the team leotard design and whether the gymnasts get any say in it.

The only thing I thought was some of those leotards look very itchy with all the glitter.

It's not about how strangers want to dress themselves. It's about the rules they are being made to perform under - elegant outfit.

I went on a search on the beach volleyball I can find stuff about the Norwegian team in skin tight shorts.
But i can't find anything about the team in pants 2cm too big. But I did find out it was max 7cm at the side seam not 8cm. But I know it happened. Thankfully the max 7cm has been dropped in 2024 - partly the Norwegians and partly Muslim inclusiveness.

Men's and women's artistic gymnastics are different sports. You don't see men on balance beam either. That's okay.

There are issues within sport and women's uniform. It is nice that Germany have the long unitards and in my opinion all gymnasts should have the choice.

The size of uniforms has been an issue in other sports. In a previous Olympics pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw had a massive battle to get an appropriate athletics kit, she doesn't feel comfortable in knicker shorts or cropped tops (and the baggy distance shorts available wouldn't work on PV) . In the end they allowed her to wear the rowers uniform.

My daughter quit gymnastics as she felt it was too dance orientated and hated that part of the sport was smiling. She noticed at a young age the difference between men and women and what's expected. She does climbing instead where you can wear what you like, no smiling expected and just about the sport and not looks.

it's a timing thing I think, the rules change was relatively recent. Those who were training but uncomfortable in a traditional leotard probably left the sport at 12 or so. The German women being visible in the unitard will help show the younger athletes that this style is an options for them and hopefully retain those who may have left, at this point everyone at a competitive level probably is happy in a leotard - I think it's telling that of the three Germans the youngest is the one who choose the leotard. I think in 4years or so we will see more athletes choosing the unitard.

No of course not. Simone Biles doing a triple twisting double back somersalt is just silly wimmin wriggling, and not real like the men. Especially the men who can't actually do that skill.

If the gymnasts from all countries had the choice of wearing leotards, leotards with cycling shorts and full unitards then it would be fine wouldn't it? They could all choose.

Women in athletics are getting better at talking about periods and how they manage them in competition. I imagine it causes a lot of anxiety for gymnasts too, especially the 16/ 17 year olds in the team. A option of a longer shirt would help this.

God the language here. 🙄

Go look up a floor routine by Omelianchik. Then come back here and talk about 'silly wimmin wiggling' I dare you.

The Brazilian team design their own. The US team vote on theirs. The glitter is on the outside only (I presume!) No coach or federation wants gymnasts to be itchy!

After team events, gymnasts wear their own choice of leotard. They don't tend to be radically different from what they wear for teams, though.

@TheKeatingFive how many of the teams in the Olympics actually give their gymnasts the choice to wear a unitard?

It's not really any help if the authorities allow a certain uniform but the management choose not to offer it to the athletes.

Just checking, you know I'm on your side right?