Why do female gymnasts always look like that?

[LovelyBitOfHam]

I’m sure you know what I mean.

Hair tied back in a big scrunchie - the kind of scrunchie you last wore when you were 9 years old.

Glittery make up.

Plaits, braids and hair clips.

I understand a lot of sports have a uniform but ultimately, if you take a track and field athlete, a swimmer and a tennis player just before they perform, you wouldn’t really be able to tell which sport they play just by looking at them. But you can identify the gymnasts from a mile away.

It isn’t just at Olympic level either. Even the little girls in weekend gymnastic clubs have the same sort of style.

Is it some kind of male gaze thing? Or is there a “type” of girl who grows up wanting to be a gymnast? I’ve always associated gymnasts with the sort of girls who didn’t really grow up, but I’ve now realised just how wrong that is.

I think what they can do is incredible, and Simone Biles is great. But there’s something about the “look” of gymnastics that’s always bothered me, and I can’t put my finger on what it is. Anyone else?

The scrunchie for my gymnast is to hide the several smaller headbands underneath required to in order to ensure her copious amounts of hair stays put.

Gymnastics is one of the very few sports that evolved to showcase what female bodies are better at as well as male. The female events focus on balance, flexibility, artistry as well as acro. The male events are much more about strength (particularly upper body strength) and power.

Gosh, some people on this thread are absolute c**ts.

I used to compete in gymnastics from a young age. During an average training session where my hair was up in a simple pony tail or bun, I probably redid my hair an average of 50 times per session. The running and the movements really cause your hair to move. When you're competing you can't have hair moving about, you really do need it french plaited or sprayed back so that nothing is in the way when trying to balance on a beam etc. The glitter for us was something that signified "competition hair" and made the hairspray more fun. It was harmless.

I'm sure if enough men wanted to be more 'creative' and 'artistic' with their bodies then they would.

John Curry - a very successful figure skater in the 1970s 'broke the mould' by raising his arms above his shoulders - men just didn't do that sort of thing.

It takes time for people to adjust - I'm just really happy that within my own lifetime several impediments to individual growth are now cast aside.

Perhaps I should have said haven’t changed sufficiently to be comparable/the same. I’m talking specifically about the floor event.

It’s not running the same 400m track or diving from the same board. So for women there is the expectation of a more artistic element. Men are expected to travel smoothly and athletically between positions; women need to add an element of dance to that as well.

Can’t be arsed reading this thread, commented on the other one and this one seem like a really weird version of it. What on earth is this?

“I’ve always associated gymnasts with the sort of girls who didn’t really grow up, but I’ve now realised just how wrong that is.”

That’s nice, excellent - been on a learning curve back to a normal thought process and I’m happy for you.

I don’t socialise as much as I used to and stuff like this reminds me why.

Haven’t RTFT or the other one so it may well have been said already: I agree OP. It’s unsettling watching these women dressed to look like little girls. Add on puberty blockers and the scandal around sexual abuse in the USA coaching squad (I live in the US) and it’s all quite discomforting.

This generation of gymnasts has done a lot to break away from that and look closer to the ages they are. But those Jojo (?) big bows and ribbons etc are plain weird.

They’re absolutely incredible sportswomen. I wish their appearance wasn’t so much of a thing.

It's not about expectations it's about what the female and male physiques can do when pushed to the limits.

Maybe soon there will be a male physique that can also do the flexible gymnastics associated with the female physiques - just like John Curry did and won Gold.

No one is stopping anyone from pushing these 'higher' boundaries - thankfully most boundries are overcome during training and not by us sideline commentators.

I'm very short, just over 5 feet and hated my muscular legs especially calves. I do a lot of Zumba, yoga and Pilates.Then I watched Simone and realised I'm quite lucky as my legs are like hers!

As the mother of a competitive gymnast even starting this thread op makes me furious. As for the comments about them not growing up etc disgusting. Why does anyone even need to think about this or raise this. Why can't you just watch vans appreciate the sport. Why does your mind even go there. So strange.

The absolute strength and power that these people have is mind blowing. Is superhuman and that is what you should think about nothing else

Very few of these women wear ribbons and bows. Those who do, choose to. Ribbons and bows are not, historically, only for children or even only for women and girls.

Puberty increases both flexibility and ability to build muscle and is now well understood to be an advantage for women in gymnastics. This is one explanation for the rise in average age in recent years.

@masomenos It’s unsettling watching these women dressed to look like little girls.

This is an extremely strange comment. In what way are gymnasts dressed like little girls? They aren't; they are dressed like professional athletes. That is the uniform that a professional athlete wears.

Anyone who thinks they are more "grown up" by dressing like an old man or old woman in boring clothes is delusional, because ultimately, most of us are fat, flabby, ugly, and not capable of doing anything that is even close to what those women can do.

This is the weirdest thread!

Any time someone on mumsnet gets the bright idea of critiquing other women's clothing, it always becomes really weird.

Have you seen Simon Biles

The women gymnasts at this Olympic games have been absolutely phenomenal. Brilliant athletes, raising each other up. And the thread is wittering on about scrunchies.

YES!!

I didnt imagine what my daughters ballet teacher told me. I have no knowledge so took her word for it, if she was lying and I believed her, blame her not me.

God what a disgusting thread to start. I am ashamed of women who promote this kind of toxic feminism which involves belittling anybody who wears glitter or likes traditionally feminine things. Vile. Immature. Unfathomably stupid and ill informed
One of many, I'm afraid.

It's the Olympics... it's a massive event... like the sporting equivalent of the Oscars right? They have cameras and TV crews and spectators all around. So why should they just wear a plain leotard? They want to feel special, it's a special event.

There's not many women that would walk the red carpet in a plain outfit with no make up on.

Obviously swimmers and runners are going to sweat it off, but if that's not an issue for gymnasts then they can do as they like. Hair is just practical. The bun is less distracting and more secure than a ponytail.

I did not fully agree with the OP, but I saw nothing in the posts to warrant all those extreme descriptions.

I think the people who enjoy watching women's gymnastics are mainly other women so I don't know what the 'male gaze' is question is about.

For certain movements, a leotard is the easiest and least invasive clothing to wear. Even Callan Pinckney wore a leotard and I doubt very much, there were many men doing callanetics! The Olympics is such a huge event, why wouldn't they wear their favourite jazziest leotard to compete?

I find it depressing that the main thing some people see when watching these incredible, strong, disciplined, hardworking athletes doing one of the most difficult sports in the world, is their hairstyles

They remind me of those little pageant girls. The track and field athletes, the soccer players, windsurfers, tae kwon do competitors, swimmers, fencers, cyclists, surfers, sailors, triathletes, heptathletes, climbers, skateboarders - all totally unremarkably dressed. Beach volleyball and gymnasts, not so much. It’s not the glitter or makeup and eyelashes and nails - whatever, to each their own. It’s the little girl look (for gymnasts) and the beach babe look (for beach volleyball).

I think it’s to do with the culture of a sport. Again, I’m in the USA so this maybe doesn’t translate into the British gymnastics federation (sorry, don’t know the term). Here, there’s a definite reference to little girl looks - or rather there used to be because I think Simone Biles and her peers have done a lot to move things away from that. Their courage in dealing with the disgusting abuse that was endemic is as much of an achievement to me as their sporting prowess: generations of young girls entering the sport have hopefully been protected from the worst but their actions and that’s a legacy that will never be outdone. But it was definitely there and to a small extent (and definitely at the non-Olympic level) still is. Cheerleaders have cornered the teen-girl look, and gymnasts the little girl look.

Please show us pictures where this year's gymnasts had "Jojo bows" and women dressed like little girls?

Rugby players wearing bows

Do you want to go and tell them they're dressing as "little girls" too?