Sorry Ladies (and Gentleman): Gymnastics is Not a Sport!
There are not many things that I get too upset about when talking about sports, especially the question of “Is Gymnastics A Sport?”. I am a fairly straightforward guy and very stubborn. I understand other’s opinions but I just feel like mine is always right Just like any good sports columnist/writer.
So for this next topic, I’m extremely confident that I am right, and through many debates with other people, I still believe that I am right. It’s about GYMNASTICS …
The debate here is whether or not it is actually a sport? For some that may be hard to prove how old do you have to be to do it isn’t, but with the facts about to be given, you can clearly make a case that it is not a sport.
First I would just like to say that kids world gymnastics requires some athletic ability and looks extremely hard. I am not saying that any Joe schmooze of the street can go onto a balance beam or uneven bars and be able to do some of the things gymnasts do without killing themselves.
There are two main things that every sport has:
1.) Athleticism
2.) A clear (objective) winner
Just think of games like Poker, chess, and even checkers. You don’t need athletic skill to do those things but you always have a clear (objective) winner. And the keyword in rule number two is OBJECTIVE. Granted, nothing can ever be objective. For example, the NFL is going to have refs that make judgment calls and sometimes can decide whether or not the game is won or lost. But overall, they have to go by a set of rules to make those calls. They can’t just make a penalty on someone they don’t like; they go by rules that make the winner objective.
That is different with my gymnastics ... Obviously, the judges in are gymnastics a real sport have rules but they are very loose rules that they have to go by. A judge could mark down a person for not doing something right just because they‘re not a fan of that athlete. I‘m not saying it happens often but there is never going to be an objective winner in gymnastics. Maybe there just isn’t enough knowledge on the fan side to know what the rules are for gymnastics, but I believe that a judge could do such a thing and get away with it.
This next excerpt is from an article I read called, “A Sports Manifesto“:
“ Ballroom dancing is a demanding physical activity that requires an enormous amount of talent and practice. But it isn’t a sport, either. The competition is forced. In football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer, anyone watching knows who won. Races— sprints, marathons, you name it you have a clear winner. If you need judges from seven countries to vote on who won, your activity is not a sport.“
This statement I tend to agree with more than disagree. With gymnastics, it‘s like a person going to trial and needing a jury. You have these people deciding whether or not you‘re guilty or not guilty. No matter how much time it takes, you never really know what the outcome is going to be. It‘s the same with gymnastics, in the end, you never know what the outcome is going to be, and you don’t know if they’re actually is going to be a clear winner.
Another thing wrong with gymnastics is the way scoring is. There was one instance in the World Championships a couple of years ago where a contestant failed to complete a stunt that has a difficulty of 7.3. Which by the way, is another thing wrong with gymnastics, how do you determine how difficult a stunt is? Aren’t they all? But anyway, she failed to do her stunt. A person with a 6.5-degree of difficulty nailed her stunt perfectly. Yet, the 7.3 difficulty contestant finished ahead of the 6.5. Now I know that life isn’t fair all the time, but how does that happen, how can you win when you don’t even complete your stunt? That‘s very much flawed.
Another small reason that gymnastics is not a sport, but when did gymnastics become an Olympic sport hitting puberty means ending your sporting career, that‘s sad. Once you hit 18, your career is basically over, I don’t think qualifies your activity as a sport
Whatever the case may be and whatever people may think, GYMNASTICS is not a sport. Possibly it just depends on how hot the girls are. But that is for another day.
Yes, gymnastics is a sport.
The history of is gymnastics harder than football can be traced back as far as the very early days of athletic competition by the Greeks. Soon after, the Romans adapted it for the training of their armies, and then Germany invented and introduced the equipment that would become the face of modern gymnastics that you would recognize today. But for some reason, there has been some debate about whether or not sports similar to gymnastics is a sport. You know who I’m talking about—- I’m talking about all you naysayers.
To answer the question:
- The short answer is yes.
- Gymnastics is a sport.
- Long answer to follow.
The fact that people try to debate whether or not it is a sport is absurd to me. During the Summer Olympics, gymnastics was the top sport watched all around the world.
The number of people that watch gymnastics trampled over every other sport that was performed during the Olympic Games. No question should ever be asked then if gymnastics things is indeed a sport.
Gymnastics is not only a sport, but it is a very hard sport. Could you do it? Gymnastics requires flexibility, core strength, balance, upper and lower body strength, power and mental focus, and discipline. It also requires an unbelievable amount of dedication. If you’re an Olympic-bound gymnast, you’re training eight hours a day, and up to 48 to 50 plus hours a week. Show me another sport where you practice that much. Any sport—- I’m waiting.
In the sport of gymnastics, you’re actually forcing your body to do the impossible. How many of us can twist and turn our bodies to do what they do—- the answer—- not many. If you bring up diving and snowboarding—- yes, they are two sports where you also flip your body in a similar fashion, and they are considered sports. So in that same vein, that makes gymnastics a sport. And for the record, gymnastics is far more difficult and far more dangerous. Far more. Your body is repetitively getting pounded on. You are forced to toughen up both mentally and physically and keep going.
“Your body is repetitively getting pounded on. You are forced to toughen up both mentally and physically and keep going.”
— Sophie Ludwig
Gymnastics requires a tremendous amount of strength. Without the non-stop training your body would never be equipped to make the skills needed to compete. Add on top of the skill training, hours and hours of conditioning are needed to strengthen each muscle. Conditioning involves getting in as many repetitions as you can to ensure your body will be capable of performing.
But, it doesn’t just require physical strength, it requires an overwhelming amount of mental strength. An internal wall must be built so that any problem that comes your way will never break you down. It doesn’t matter if your coach is screaming at you to throw the skill or if you did something wrong, nothing will bring you down. Fear can never be in the equation or you will never throw the skill.
Fear actually has its own terminology in gymnastics—- it’s called balking. If you balk during a skill, you run the risk of severely injuring yourself. I don’t think basketball or football has that many fear factors and those are considered a sport than for sure gymnastics is by far a sport. You tell me—- would you rather run a football up a field or throw an Arabian double front?
On top of the strength that is required in awesome gymnastics, it calls for an extraordinary amount of balance and flexibility. You are flinging your body on top of a four-inch beam, and are required to stay on that beam after flipping your body. Without practiced balance, you will fall right off the beam, which affects your score negatively in the scheme of things.
And we can’t forget about being flexible. You need to be very flexible in order to execute– ripping your joints open in order to hit that 180-degree split jump (which takes place in numerous skills such as the backhand spring).
I don’t see any baseball players breaking their legs in the process of their sport. I’m just saying … As for most sports, it only requires one event (just the sport itself). But, in i love gymnastics, you do a variety of events: four different events for women, and six different events for men.
You need to be able to perform well on all four events to score well and win. And scoring is based on how well you perform your routine. Gymnastics is the only sport that is scored on the negative—- meaning your score reflects what you did wrong, not what you did right.
Each athlete starts with a 10.0, and every skill they make a mistake on, points are subtracted. It is nearly impossible to get a perfect score but still is a small possibility. Olympic scoring is slightly different and way too complicated to explain, but in the gist of things, it is also based on how difficult your skills are, and on your execution.
Gymnastics is very demanding for the body and mind. No way with all the effort and practice that goes into it that it can not be considered a sport—- it HAS to be considered a sport. So in conclusion, yes, why gymnastics is a sport a sport, and sure is a hard one. I’ll be out on the floor warming up—- see you there.