Gymorphism In Gymnastics

Gymnastic is a sport in which players must move smoothly as they performed acrobatics movements such as flips, handstands, and leaps etc on a special apparatus. Although there are many skilled gymnasts from all over the world such as Japan, Russia, Switzerland, and China etc, the greatest gymnast of all time is Simone Biles. At the age of 18, Biles already won four world championship gold medals which included the beam and the floor apparatus finals.“Biles has now won more world championship gold medals than any other U.S. gymnast”(slate.com). Simone Biles also holds the record for being the first woman to win three consecutive world titles. “That haul, with a bronze medal for five total at the event, made her the first woman to win 10 career

For centuries, there has been a perception that sports and athletics are associated with masculinity hence gaining domination by the male gender. This has over the years led to women sports being regarded as inferior to the male sports. As a result, the stereotyping of women and the female gender in sports has resulted in most ladies avoiding and shunning from taking part in various sports. However, since the 20th century, women have started accompanying their male counterparts to certain sporting events and also taking part in activities that involved mid exercises like ice skating and dancing. This led to the female gender securing an opportunity to venturing into sports more so the organized sports.

As the Olympics begin this week in Rio de Janeiro, I thought about how I’ve always wanted to be a gymnast. I remember watching Dominique Moceanu, an Olympic gold medalist, execute a flawless floor routine, and I wanted nothing more than to do the same.

Gymnastics can be a difficult sport in its self, let alone with all the extra added issues included. The judging system they have in this sport is pretty disgraceful which can sometimes push athletes to the edge. But also the positive changes that the gymnasts can make if they work as a team in the gymnastics community is what the sport is really about. This is shown in

Ericsson, K. A. (2012). Training history, deliberate practice and elite sports performance: An analysis in response to Tucker and Collins review--what makes champions? British Journal of Sports Medicine, 47(9), 533-535. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2012-091767

During the Train to Train stage (females 11-15, males 12-16), young athletes need to build an aerobic base and consolidate their sport- specific skills. Towards the end of the stage, they need to focus on strength and the anaerobic alactic energy system. Increased training hours are needed at this stage to develop each athlete’s long-term potential.

People often wonder why top athletes are so good? A lot of people believe that most of their talent or strength comes from the genes that their parents passed on. Just like Jim Afremow said: ‘raw talent isn’t everything’. Nature could be a very good reason why these athletes are so great. A study taken proves that not everyone could be a top athlete or good at something by the same amount of practice. An average chess player got to the master level with only 3,000 hours of practicing, while others weren’t even close to that level after more than 25,000 hours of practice. This proves that not everyone can do the same skill with the same amount of practice time. But does that mean that we can only be good at something if we have the right genes? Scientists want to answer this

Nadia Comaneci created inspiration to gymnasts all over the world. “When Nadia was about 14, she scored the first perfect 10 at the Olympics in Women’s gymnastics”(“Nadia Comaneci,” 2001). Nadia continued to succeed throughout her experience. “ She won the American Cup in New York City in 1976, becoming the first woman to perform a backward double salto as a dismount from the uneven parallel bars”(“Nadia Comaneci Romanian Gymnast,” 2015). Girls from all around the world were inspired by Comaneci’s accomplishments. They wanted to be like her, scoring perfect 10s or winning medals. So they decided to join gymnastics.

For this research paper, I will be researching the gymnastics scoring system, the controversy that the scoring has created over time, and the general history of the sport. Gymnastics started out as just an exercise program of different moves in Greece. The modernization of gymnastics began in the late 1700s, its been around for about 2,000 years. This is one of the oldest forms of exercise in the world. The scores are completely different not only because the system changed, but because the level of difficulty was also higher. In the sport of gymnastics ‘the perfect 10’ scoring system was changed the most.

The American woman’s Gymnastics team is deemed to be unbeatable on the world stage holding their third consecutive world title and placing in the top three at every Olympics since 1996 including the prestigious all around title at the 2004, 2008, 2012 (Roenigk, 2016) and 2016 Olympics (Rio 2016, 2016). Unfortunately, the resources regarding the Coach Education system which implements the team’s success on the world stage is limited. USA Gymnastics University is the main education provider for gymnastics coaching and Judging offering the school of Competitive Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics, n.d.) which offers four levels of certification and the School of Judging (USA Gymnastics, n.d.). Both schools show no signs of formal or importance placed on informal mentoring as part of the education pathway. National team coordinator Martha Karolyi highlighted it was important for her to find a way to guide the

Nature does play a part in weather you are a good athlete or not because of your genes passed down from you parents. According to SIOWfa14 Science in Our World article “Athleticism in Genetics” genes play a big part in how good

What attributes allow elite athletes to reach such high levels of success in their respective sports? Does an elite athlete reach this level of athleticism due to his or her genetics, environment he or she is raised in, or simply because of practice? The role of genetics and practice, as well as the nature versus nurture debate, has dominated the fields of both biology and sports for decades. As more elite athletes rise to the surface, and monetary success positively correlates with extraordinary athletes, parents, coaches, and athletes themselves are on a quest to find the characteristics which mold the “perfect athlete”. Although some people may become elites in their particular fields due to practice, rarely do elite athletes reach levels of mastery

The outcomes of the study were inconclusive. The weaknesses in this study outweigh the strengths. Even though the study was double-blinded and placebo-based, the study was not randomized and only included a small population of Flemish track trained male athletes between the age of 18 to 28 years. The

Ever since the creation of the ancient Olympic Games, held in Olympia, Greece, in the 8th century BC, there has been athletic competition between different nations, groups, tribes, and individuals. Today, elite athletes participate in a wide variety of athletic pursuits, competing in differing events throughout the world. What makes an elite athlete become highly competent and possess a higher level of performance than other individuals? This is the essential question that has driven multiple specialists to explore individual’s athletic ability thru a look into the genetic disposition of those individuals. For while training, exercising, planning, nutrition, motivation, patience, etc. all have an important role upon an individual’s

It is a fact that there are exceptional athletes all across the globe. America withholds the astounding Michael Phelps. Jamaica is home to the quickest man on Earth- Usain Bolt. Each and every day, new athletes are being bred for competition. Students and adults alike spend hundreds of hours training. They limit themselves to strict diets. Athletes have been known to do the craziest things. Have we ever thought that we were just born inheriting something to make one stand out above the rest? Is that even possible? Instead, must we train to reach such a level of sufficiency? Can sports change our body and its genetic makeup? In recent studies, scientists have found that different sports have created different bacteria in different locations of the body which they believe contributes to specific and astounding athletic abilities.