Salon.com > Aly Raisman

Does gymnastics derail puberty?

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:40:00 +0000

When Aly Reisman yesterday mistakenly tweeted everyone a direct message about how nervous she was to go clubbing with the male gymnasts, it reminded us that she really is a teenager. Because it's easy to wonder, watching these tiny dynamos hurl themselves through the air and hug the balance beam, what years of gymnastic training does to their physical development.

Luckily, there's a professor who has studied our exact rude question.

“The evidence is not clear at all,” said Dr. Robert M. Malina, professor emeritus in the department of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Malina has studied the growth of young athletes for decades, including at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Last year, he was part of a committee organized by international governing body Federation Internationale de Gymnastique to address the effects of training on gymnasts’ growth, particularly sexual and skeletal maturation.

Malina’s team analyzed numerous studies conducted over the past four decades hoping to draw some conclusions. Instead, they realized that most studies were confusing or inaccurate, often neglecting to consider age and genetic factors.

No one cries for Lolo Jones

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 11:03:00 +0000

Jim McKay used to say that every day at the Olympics gave you something to cheer and to cry about. I don’t know if Lolo Jones cried last night after failing to win a medal in the 100m hurdles, and I’m fairly certain that none of her U.S. teammates cried for her, but there’s something about her whole story that is very sad.

You’ll remember that she lost in Beijing when she hit the next-to-last hurdle – and how weird, the next-to-last, not the last when you expect your energy to give out – and just missed out on the gold.

It’s fairly safe to say that of all the American athletes who had yet to win a gold medal, Lolo is the most hyped, making the cover of Time, a spread in Rolling Stone, a semi-nude shot in ESPN magazine, a guest spot on Jay Leno. In fact, she probably received more press than all other U.S. athletes except our swimmers, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Kvelling for Aly Raisman

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:38:00 +0000

By the time American gymnast Aly Raisman started tumbling for a medal in the individual floor exercise event yesterday, she was being propelled along by quite an Olympic narrative. Raisman’s story isn’t Oscar Pistorius or Michael Phelps-level operatic, but over the previous nine days she’d put together a pretty compelling arc. The 18-year-old captain of the American team first upset Jordyn Wieber last Sunday night, unexpectedly securing a spot in the individual all-around and introducing audiences to her panicked, anxious mom and dad, still positioned to take the gold in the games’ very competitive “Most Intense Parenting” event. Raisman then anchored the American team as they won the group all-around, finishing her routine with tears in her eyes, only to lose out on a bronze in the individual all-around on a tie-breaking technicality.

Gymnastics gets joyful

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:21:00 +0000

Since women’s gymnastics started at the Olympics on Sunday night, there has been lots and lots and lots of crying. Of the major gymnasts competing, which, if one is to rely on NBC’s broadcasting judgments, comes down exclusively to Americans and Russians, we have seen almost every single one shed tears. Jordyn Wieber and the entire Russian team from sadness and disappointment, Aly Raisman and Kyla Ross from relief and happiness, and there even seemed to be a fleck in McKayla Maroney’s eye for a few seconds after the team all-around victory. The only gymnast we haven’t seen cry is Gabby Douglas, who has been too focused, composed and fundamentally unhistrionic to go in much for sobbing, and has been blessed with the sort of charismatic, overpowering smile it would be a waste not to use.

When Gabby finished up on her floor routine last night, all but ensuring she would win the individual all-around, she broke into that mega-grin of hers. It was a joyful moment, one made even more joyful against the backdrop of all those other tears. Finally, someone making happiness look happy.

Aly deserved fourth

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:45:00 +0000

Does anyone this side of Tim Daggett, actually understand gymnastics scoring? On Thursday in the women’s all around, it became clear that sometimes not even the competitors do.

Gabby Douglas showed remarkable composure in winning the women’s all-around, putting enough distance between her and her competitors to keep any potential scoring controversy at bay. That fell to the bronze medal battle between Douglas’ teammate Aly Raisman and Russian Aliya Mustafina. There was a long awkward moment as the two finished in a tie for third. It only got more awkward as Raisman lost because of a new, and rather convoluted tiebreaker system. To add insult to injury, Raisman found out that she had lost, not from an official or from her coach, but from a member of the media.

Tears, guts, gold!

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 11:50:00 +0000

A few seconds before it was really over, Aly Raisman raised her arms and started to tear up. Having finished her last tumbling pass on the floor exercise without an error, Raisman knew that the U.S. women’s gymnastics team would win the gold in the team all around, the few remaining arm flourishes in her routine beside the point. Over on the sideline, Raisman’s teammate Jordyn Wieber broke into a huge, uncontained smile, one Raisman would echo in a few minutes. But before then, still on the floor, Raisman’s tears didn’t yet look like the ones of joy and happiness they soon would — they looked like tears of immense relief.

The proximity of elation and sadness, relief and disappointment is what makes the Olympics so rousing to watch. Over and over, the games come to down to teeny-tiny numbers, not just the split-seconds or tenths of a point that separate winners and losers, but the brief moment in time that separates athletes who have nailed their routine, entered the water cleanly, left all the hurdles standing, and those who have not. As the Russian gymnastics team demonstrated so completely on their floor routines, a tumbling pass can fall apart in an instant. When Raisman raised her arms, she knew she had survived the ghosts of all those possible errors.