Gitcher legs out
The shock, the outrage, the scandal – a gymnast actually wore clothing at a competition.
She did not break any rules, but Sarah Voss’s full-body suit at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Switzerland defied convention.
What convention is that exactly? Is there a convention that gymnasts compete naked?
Until now women and girls have only covered their legs in international competition for religious reasons.
Ohhhhh that convention – the one where men wear clothes and women wear bathing suits. Let’s not just rush ahead, let’s talk about that. Why is that a convention? Why does the same convention apply in figure skating competitions? Why do men wear clothes while women wear bathing suits? What the hell is that? The women aren’t there to get sexual attention or leers or gropes, they’re there to compete in their sport, so why is that the convention? I’ve never understood it, and I’ve never understood why people don’t object to it and make it stop.
Voss – from Germany – was supported by her country’s gymnastics federation and said she was proud of her decision.
“We hope gymnasts uncomfortable in the usual outfits will feel emboldened to follow our example,” she said.
Better yet the convention should just change. The existence of the convention makes it look as if the women – and the women only – are competing partly on hotness as well as on sport. It’s irrelevant, and it introduces an element of unfairness.
The convention could be changed by going the other way, by the way – having the men wear bathing suits. There’s something to be said for being able to see the muscles on the legs that do those vaults and flips, but then show us all the muscles.
The German federation (DTB) said its gymnasts were taking a stand against “sexualisation in gymnastics”, adding that the issue had become all the more important to prevent sexual abuse.
Yes but even without sexual abuse – why should it be sexualised at all? Why can’t it just be gymnastics?
Much, much better.
Of course many woman’s sporting costumes are about sexuality. Gymnasts are one example, field sports another, and it’s hard to go past beach volleyball.
I was going to mention beach volleyball but it just makes me grind my teeth too hard.
I’ve noticed the shrinking of women’s track uniforms, college and Olympics. They’re like briefs and sports bra. Yuck.
The thing with “women’s gymnastics, unlike men’s, is that the competitors are all still young girls.
For example, the 2016 US Olympics team ranged from 16 to 22 years old, and to get to the Olympics takes a long period of practice and achievement.
I have often thought of women’s gymnastics as a playground for pedophiles. And surprise, surprise, it is.
Well….
But I think the Greek referred to there is ancient Greek, so that was a long time ago.
And back then, only the men competed.
Men usually wear a very tight tank top that covers less than a leotard and shots for vault and floor so you do see their legs.
The nature of the sport of women’s gymnastics greatly favors younger competitors. There have been many national and international champions under the age of 18, including 14-year-old Nadia Comăneci. The minimum age for international competition was first set in 1971 to 14, then 15 in 1981, and 16 in 1997. There is an effort underway to raise the minimum age to 18 in the wake of the many sexual abuse scandals.
The men’s sport benefits from more mature bodies, and male gymnasts tend to be several years older than female gymnasts, on average.
My stepdaughter did gymnastics until she was too injured. (Not an abusive injury, just cumulative stress in her vertebra). She told me that they would be penalized for adjusting their costumes, and that to keep them in place they used glue.
Male gymnasts seem to have a choice between shorts and full length trousers. These new suits though, look like they’d obscure the athlete’s movement. But that can be solved by choosing less murky coloring. Plain white stirrup-pants like the men wear would be fine.