Women's gymnastics at Olympics

[purplesequins]

Tokyo Olympics: German women's gymnastics team wears full-body suits

well done them. they look great!
I really hope other countries follow suit. and soon. and also on county level.

@Bryonyshcmyony

I actually find it odd that they wear full leggings tbh. It looks very hot!

Do you think the men in their slightly baggy stirruped trousers look odd?

If anything they look more odd to me than the unitard.

@KimikosNightmare

I don't see leotards as sexualised in the same way I don't see a ballerina's leotard as sexualised. I just see the strength and athleticism. (However, I DO understand why audience who do not often follow ballet/gym might feel that way)

I agree but actually having the legs covered emphasises the athleticism.

This is a matter of opinion and there is no one right answer. Many people feel you can see leg extension better with bare legs - I'm inclined to this view, but I still favour allowing unitards (and shorts) to promote athletes' choice.

I had the gymnastics on today - wasn't really paying attention until I realised how come the men wear baggy shorts / leggings!!
It doesn't make any sense!

I would imagine they'd all wear what track athletes wear tbh.

@MumofSpud

I had the gymnastics on today - wasn't really paying attention until I realised how come the men wear baggy shorts / leggings!! It doesn't make any sense!

The men have prescribed attire for different events - they cannot choose. The male gymnasts wear a sleeveless leotard and are required to wear particular bottoms for different events. For the running/very acrobatic events such as floor and vault they wear shorts and for the swinging events such as pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and high bar stirrup trousers

@JellyBabiesFan

Personally I think a better change to the rules would be to allow the women to wear shorts. This is starting in domestic competitions at the moment and I think many many more gymnasts would choose shorts over a unitard

I seriously doubt many many more gymnasts will pick shorts if they are allowed. At high and elite levels the margin of victory is often very small. Are these gymnasts going to put up with fabric flapping around their legs and increased aerodynamic drag? I highly doubt it. Shorts are allowed in athletics. You go and count how many sprinters and jumpers wear them at the big competitions.

Perhaps at low level stuff around the country but elite level competition? I highly doubt shorts will catch on.

The type of shorts that women gymnasts wear are not flappy - most elite gymnasts train in shorter shorts over a leotard like this picture of Simone Biles. I guess that leotards with built in shorts could also become a thing

I didn't mean flappy shorts 🤔

Whatever the track or field athletes wear would do for gymnastics I would have thought

I never took my dds to gymnastics when they were small because I was put off by the thick make up the little girls had to wear. Apparently it was to make their faces stand out more although this didn't apply to the boys!

I'm going to respectfully disagree here. The teams should wear what they chose but leotards display the moves far better than unitards and if a team or gymnast wants to wear them they should. I'm an ex gymnast and unitards are seriously uncomfortable.

Women have to dance and “sell” their floor routines. Men don’t.

Women have to have high cut leotards to see their “leg extension”. Men don’t. (Or they used to, seems they can wear long legs now)

This is the problem. You could solve some of it by making the men dance to music in their floor routines. Then it would be fine. It’s the difference in standards between the two that bothers me.

If they can see men’s leg shape and muscle definition and all the rest of whatever they are looking for in their stirrup trousers or shorts, then women should have similar options.

(See also the beach volleyball/handball with the men in vests/shorts and the women in bikinis. If it’s a genuine athletic sport then treat men and women the same.)

The “dance” part of the routine is so cringe. In the middle of a perfectly enjoyable display of athleticism they then have to worry about being graceful and attractive.

I am not a gymnast but even I can see the unitards look incredibly uncomfortable! Wear leotards but maybe lay off the bling/flirty moves/heavy make up? I mean those women are seriously ripped, no need to have to simper their way to a medal

Women have to dance and “sell” their floor routines. Men don’t

Women have to have high cut leotards to see their “leg extension”. Men don’t. (Or they used to, seems they can wear long legs now)

If they can see men’s leg shape and muscle definition and all the rest of whatever they are looking for in their stirrup trousers or shorts, then women should have similar options.

^ This! 100% - why not make a unisex type dress code for gymnastics? After all, it is about body strength and movements.

Thank you @MoaningMeowing I assumed PP was talking about gymnastics specifically since this thread is about that. Thanks for the links.

I remember doing athletics at school - big knockers and a teensy skirt. And a T-shirt that looked like tea bag material. Uncomfortable (sand in your pants tin the long jump) and flipping cold (Scotland).

We weren’t allowed to wear joggers - I rebelled and wore them after falling on the ash doing the hurdles and having the evil sports teacher go at my knees with a scrubbing brush and carbolic soap.

I love watching the gymnastics (saw Simone at an exhibition where she leap, soared, twisted, fell
on her face, bounced up, finished her routine and exploded into goggles (I love her). And yes, the woman’s has become a bit of a lap dance - then an explosion of gravity defying leaps and bounds. The men don’t do that!

*knickers! Although I did have big Knockers too!

I think it's great there is an option for dress.

There should always be an option to decide how much body you expose.

I don't agree with the over sexualisation. There is undoubtably been issues with inappropriate coaching in the past and I know gymnasts are speaking out.

But many prefer the leotard and should have the option to continue to wear it.

Same as athletes should have the option to chose shirts or bikini style race shorts.

Just this week we've had the handball team wear shorts because they want to (I support this) but also the para Olympian complain because she was told to consider a fuller brief to run in.

Personally I find it horrifying that in 2021 we are still commenting and putting limits on what woman wear.

I saw a photo of a male triathlete in a white unitard - which was see through (thankfully he was wearing speedos), and the sweat pattern looked like he had lees himself.

No howls for them to change to males outfit (only to sack the designer).

So it’s ok for the boys?

@Bryonyshcmyony

I am not a gymnast but even I can see the unitards look incredibly uncomfortable! Wear leotards but maybe lay off the bling/flirty moves/heavy make up? I mean those women are seriously ripped, no need to have to simper their way to a medal

But what if gymnasts like bling and heavy makeup? That’s a matter of taste rather than moral judgement. Personally I like very simple clean leotards but I don’t hope that people dress themselves to suit my taste. I hope that they wear what makes them feel happy and comfortable and they have the freedom to choose that.

But what if gymnasts like bling and heavy makeup?
Wear them outside of gymnastics maybe? Bling and heavy makeup don’t add anything to the technique of the sport.

@Lessthanaballpark

The “dance” part of the routine is so cringe. In the middle of a perfectly enjoyable display of athleticism they then have to worry about being graceful and attractive.

I like the dance part and the music. The sport is called artistic gymnastics, so artistry plays a role as does athleticism. Most people I know prefer to watch the women’s floor exercise to the men’s because it’s more of a performance, despite the men’s on the whole being more athletically impressive. They don’t have to worry about being attractive though, don’t worry that’s not in the Code of Points for either sex.

@Lessthanaballpark

But what if gymnasts like bling and heavy makeup? Wear them outside of gymnastics maybe? Bling and heavy makeup don’t add anything to the technique of the sport.

They don’t take away from it either. Literally the gymnastics is the same regardless of whether they are in a million sparkles or a grey unitard. Surely the point should be that gymnasts should have the freedom to wear what they are comfortable in.

@KittenKong

I saw a photo of a male triathlete in a white unitard - which was see through (thankfully he was wearing speedos), and the sweat pattern looked like he had lees himself.

No howls for them to change to males outfit (only to sack the designer).

So it’s ok for the boys?

I think there would be much the same comment about any white item going see-through in normal use.

Yes, this is a design fault, and the designer/manufacturer should have chosen a better fabric.

Tri--suits are pretty much the same for the sexes, I expect we'll see similar in the women's event, and the same calls for the designer to the can

@Lessthanaballpark

The “dance” part of the routine is so cringe. In the middle of a perfectly enjoyable display of athleticism they then have to worry about being graceful and attractive.

You are obviously free to take issue with the Code of Points if you want to, as are other posters. Some gymnastics fans who strongly prefer the tumbling agree that the dance should be secondary! But there are many others who love the dance and feel it's been sidelined in the past couple of decades, especially after the 'perfect ten' scoring system was replaced by what we have now (i.e. open ended scoring, which rewards very difficult tumbling).

@BareBelliedSneetch,

There should be no dance (for either sex) in a sports competition.

If you want a pure sports competition (with no sexism), take out all the ‘style’ elements and keep it just about what the athletes can actually achieve.

[quote TheReluctantPhoenix]@BareBelliedSneetch,

There should be no dance (for either sex) in a sports competition.

If you want a pure sports competition (with no sexism), take out all the ‘style’ elements and keep it just about what the athletes can actually achieve.[/quote]
The name of the sport is artistic gymnastics. If you have no interest in artistry, no one is forcing you to watch it.