Research Paper

How old to Compete?

An Argument on the Official Age Limit for Women’s Olympic-Level Gymnastics Competitions.

Imagine a large empty basement. At one end of the room lies a tall stack of pillows with a mattress resting on the ground just behind it. Now imagine yourself at the opposite end of the room. Begin running full-speed towards the high-rise of pillows. As you approach the tower, jump high into the air, up and over the stack. You clear the pillows and gravity begins puling you back down. Heading for the mattress head first, you stick your hands out, tuck your head to your chest, and gracefully roll out of the leap.

That exhilarating moment could be considered the start of gymnastics in my family. All throughout my mother’s childhood and teenage years, she involved herself with gymnastics as much as possible, beginning with a basement full of pillows. She never had the opportunity to compete competitively in this sport she loved so much, but on special occasion she was able to develop her natural talent in the actual gymnastics facility. Her love for the sport never faded. So when the time came, she figured why not keep the sport around and put her daughters into it. As a toddler of only 3 years old, I began recreational gymnastics. By age 4, I was competing on a club team. Being at the lowest team level (level 4) of competitive gymnastics, I was determined to progress quickly. With this, I began to fall in love with the sport. The “gym” became my second home as hours upon hours were spent training on the apparatuses. Ever since then, gymnastics has been a huge part of my life, especially the Olympics and other high-level competitions.

Age limitations for upper-level gymnastics competitions, such as the Olympics, have been set. From the moment they were official, they have been debated. This paper considers whether the age requirements for Olympic level competitions should change by responding to the following questions:

            1.   How is the sport of gymnastics organized and what has resulted from it?

2.     What qualifies a gymnast for senior level competitions such as the Olympics?

3.     What are the disadvantages or harms of eliminating an age requirement from senior competitions?

4.     What are the benefits of lowering the age limit? How would doing so make the Olympics and senior level gymnastics more fair?

5.     What is the best solution to this debate for the world of gymnastics?

Understanding the advantages of being a younger gymnast and the extremely small chance of going to the Olympics in the year of one’s prime constitutes the argument of lowering the age limit to 13. By lowering the age requirement to 13, it protects young gymnasts safety and health, and also gives young girls capable of competing in high-level competitions a chance to compete at their physical peak and perform at their best.

How is the Sport of Gymnastics Organized and What has Resulted from it?   

In 1997, the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (International Federation of Gymnastics), or FIG set the minimum age requirement of 16 for all senior events, including the Olympics. Age requirement? Yes. Age cap? No.The Olympics and other praise-worthy senior competitions allowed gymnasts who turned at least 16 years old by the end of the calendar year to compete. On the other end, there was no age cap – although rarely seen, if a 30 year old has the desire and physical abilities to compete in such competitions and the country wishes them on the team, they are completely eligible. Those age standards instituted in 1997 still exist today (“Age Requirements in…”). Such regulation ignited debates all throughout the gymnastics world, including coaches, gymnasts, parents, trainers, and also the media.

Cases of age falsification have been seen ever since the age restrictions were set. One of the most well-known controversial issues dealing with the age limit and possible falsifications was during 2008 Beijing Olympics where more than half of the Chinese female gymnasts were questioned and tested to see if they met the age requirement. Although they passed all age investigations from multiple committees, the controversy brought about a huge dispute on high-level female competitions into the gymnastics world (Lawrence, Zuckerman).

What qualifies a gymnast for senior level competitions such as the Olympics?

           The biggest component in being able to compete in the Olympics and other senior-level competitions should be skill level and performance; however, age is the leading factor. The FIG only separates seniors and juniors by age, not by skill level. Most often, gymnasts competing as a junior, under the age of 16, perform skills of the same difficulty as seniors. When Jordyn Wieber, a member of the 2012 gold medal U.S. Olympic team, competed as a junior she performed skills of the same difficulty as the senior Shawn Johnson, the 2008 silver all-around medalist. 

Because of this tendency to see extremely talented underage gymnasts, many cases of age falsifications have occurred at high-level competitions such as the Olympics. The country wants medals, particularly gold, and often will do anything to earn those awards,

such as have their gymnasts lie about their true age. One case of age falsification presents itself as Romanian gymnast Daniela Silivas admitted in a 2002 interview that she was advanced two years in order to compete in the Olympics. She stated, “One of the officials of the Federation told me ‘Look at the passport, from today you’re not 13 years old anymore, but 15.’ I was just a child. They needed gold medals” (Silivas, 2002). The head coach sees the capabilities of underage gymnasts and their psychological fearlessness as a benefit to gymnastics. Gymnasts, as well, consider the factors that come along with being a younger competitor as beneficial. In the same interview where she admitted to age falsification, Silivas also stated, “I competed better at the age of 13 than at 17. I felt much better, physically and mentally” (“Age requirements in...”). This supports the statement that gymnasts feel stronger and perform stronger when they are shorter, lighter, more flexible, and still childlike – all benefits of being a young athlete (Eliot).

With juniors and senior gymnasts performing the same skills, countries committing age falsifications, and gymnasts feeling better in their younger state, many argue that the separation of the two age groups should be eliminated or the age limit should be lowered.

What are the disadvantages or harms of eliminating an age requirement from senior competitions?

            Although much of the gymnastics world wishes to ban or change the age limit, there are those, such as former USA gymnastics president Bob Colarossi, who are satisfied with the current age limit and express support towards the restriction (“Age requirements in...”).  These people believe that if the age requirement were to be banned then young gymnasts

would be pushed to their max and beyond, striving to be the best at too young of an age. They argue that the pressure to achieve such high level competitions already contains high-risk. Abolishing the age limit would possibly cause higher and more severe physical and psychological injuries as the athletes begin training harder and longer at earlier ages (Eliot).

            Many use Chinese gymnastics as an example of young athletes specializing in a sport at too early of an age. At the age of about three, the government examines children on their flexibility, physical condition, physique, and health. They then decide which sport to place them into. The parents often opt to allow their child to go to a specialized school thousands of miles from their home just to train in that sport. They do so, hoping that one day their child will be able to make a life better than the one they currently live.  The children placed into gymnastics facilities begin their training by the latest age of four, training eight hours a day, six days a week, year round (except for 2 specified times to visit home). This excessive training, although deemed successful in competitions, often causes injuries to the body and mind ("Chinese gymnastics kids:," 2012).

           Physically, the underdeveloped bodies are more prone to injury. In 2008, the journal Pediatrics published that gymnastics has one of the highest injury rates of all girl sports (Broderick , 2011). Bulimic and anorexic actions have also haunted the gymnastics world for years as girls feel the need to be the lightest to fly the highest. People use these two facts to argue that if gymnasts are already under such a high risk for injury and self-harm, lowering the age limit will require not only harder and longer training, but also more pressure to be perfect; the underdeveloped bodies will be unable to maintain healthy standards.

            The pressures of competing on the highest stage are considered too much for a child to bear. The same fearlessness that young athletes have to perform any skill their coach tells them to can cause them to take dangerous risks. Gymnastics deals heavily with the mind. Gymnasts who strive for the Olympics must be the best physically, which means they also must be top notch psychologically. The pressure of working towards the rare accomplishment of “perfection” in gymnastics and then not being able to succeed in doing so often causes psychological detriments. The feeling of disappointing a coach, parent, and one self is emotionally painful.  ("Sports psychology and," 2010).

What are the benefits of lowering the age limit? How would doing so make the Olympics and senior level gymnastics more fair?

            Whether the Chinese gymnasts competed illegally as underage competitors in the 2008 Olympics or not, they were good enough to perform with and even dominate their [older] competition. In the past decade of Olympic gymnastics, the females competing and winning are predominantly16 or 17 years of age, ("List of Olympic," ). This substantiates that the difficult skills required to compete at the highest stage are performed more easily and gracefully at younger ages. Being a younger female gymnast that has not gone through puberty constitutes performing skills with ease, height, power, grace, and without feat. This childlike state gives them short, light bodies, allowing them to fly higher on the highest difficulty level of skills. They are also more flexible because the joints and bones have not been fully developed into stiffer body parts, granting them the ability to execute their high-flying skills with grace, making them look effortless (Broderick , 2011). The team members of the Gold and Silver Women Olympic teams in 2008 and 2012 consisted of 89.1% 16 and 17 year olds. Most of the gymnasts good enough to compete in the Olympics are taking the chance at the youngest age they can, as they understand the risks of waiting longer and not having the chance again. In 2008, the Chinese Gymnastics Association took a team with an average age of 16.8 to the Olympics; that year they dominated the competition, winning the team gold. Moreover, in 2012, China took a team with an average of 19.5 years of age. China received no team medal. Not gold. Not silver. Not even bronze. They performed better with a younger team, showing that as a younger female gymnast, success is more accessible because of physical and psychological advantages.           

            Looking at the psychological side of gymnastics, one can see both advantages and disadvantages. A few disadvantages have already been discussed, so here we will look at the advantages. When gymnasts are younger they have less fear. They have so much passion for the sport and no physical inhibitions limiting their mind to slightly hold back. There is something in the gymnastics world known as a “block” or being “blocked.” This is where a gymnast cannot overcome the mind and perform a certain skill. Often this comes because of an accident, or some sort of mess up while performing the skill earlier. When a gymnast gets back to performing the skill, overthinking occurs and the skill becomes slightly harder because its not longer just physical, but also psychological. There are a few advantages of being younger: 1) the risk of injury at younger ages is much lower, 2) young gymnasts typically bounce back faster as all they want is to being competing again, and 3) often young gymnasts do not overanalyze or overthink skills as older gymnasts do. Young gymnasts just do what their coaches say without fear.

Becoming part of USA Gymnastics begins serious competitions where almost all the girl competitors dream about making it to the Olympics someday. The highest amount of females in the USA Gymnastics system ranges from ages nine to fourteen (Bodnick). This applies to other successful countries in Olympic gymnastics as well, such as China and Russia. This female age range shows that gymnastics is more enjoyable and easier on the body when a girl is in a pre-pubic, childlike state.

Eleven levels make up gymnastics, with elite, or Olympic level, being the eleventh.  Typically, in order to advance up a *competitive level in gymnastics it takes about a year. One must begin their competitive training at least by the age of four if they wish to perform at an elite level and get enough experience on the high stage competition floors for the Olympics. One example of this is a twelve-year-old gymnast located in Henderson, Nevada. Maile O’Keefe is competing at an elite junior level. She has participated in the highest of national gymnastics camps (those of which you must be invited to in order to attend) that have given her name much potential for the future.  In the Las Vegas Sun she was reported to be Nationally ranked as well as an Olympic prospect for 2020 (Brewer, 2011). As discussed earlier, there is hardly a difference between junior and senior gymnasts other than the age barrier. O’keefe falls right into this category. She is already performing skills capable of taking on competition in the Olympics. She already has proven herself well as a junior at National competitions, such as P&G Championships, Secret U.S. Classic, and the American classic (all elite level competitions).  Considering that O’keefe has now been training elite skills for two years now and has performed successfully, many see great potential in her. With two more years of training, she would me more than eligible to compete in the 2016 Olympics. Except for one problem. She will only be 14. Even though she will have had two more years of elite training (in which time she would be mastering and perfecting the highest difficulty skills), she will have to wait until the 2020 Olympics. She will be 18. That is considered old in the gymnastics world. From now until then, six years pass. She will undergo constant pounding on joints from training for so long and so hard. Her physical abilities will decrease as her body grows and develops. More injuries are likely to occur as

well as mental breakdowns. It will be more difficult for her matured body to gracefully execute the difficult skills associated with the elite level. Over 6 years, she will have passed her physical peak as a gymnast and may very well miss her shot at the very-honorable Olympics. Why not give her the shot she deserves when she’s ready for 2014? It seems unfair and this is happening all over the world as gymnasts’ birthdays are months, even days too late, preventing them from competing when they’re ready, missing a once in a lifetime opportunity. An opportunity only a few chosen people experience.

What is the best solution to this debate for the world of gymnastics?

            Completely eliminating the age limit from Olympic gymnastics would cause an immense amount of pressure and risk for injury, more so than already exists, to occur within the young girls striving for the Olympics. However, if girls continue having to wait until they are 16 to perform their difficult skills on a senior-level competition floor, their physical capabilities will have a high risk of decreasing due to maturation and development. The physical peak that occurs at a pre-teen age, enabling graceful performance will have passed. Most gymnasts compete at the junior level as an elite for a few years and master skills that seniors perform, showing that lowering the age requirement would not be harmful to the health of young gymnasts. Therefore, the best solution would be not to completely eliminate the age requirements, but just lower it.

A more specific solution: The age of 13 would be reasonable for the age requirement to be lowered to. It creates an opportunity for those who are ready to compete at their best level and protects the safety and health of the young gymnasts.