When gymnasts hit puberty, it throws off their center of balance, which then screws with all the flipping and such they have to do. They have to relearn everything.
Same thing happens in most sports. Skating jumps feel really different with and without hips.
I think that this is a large part of the reason why the very young Olympians (from before the minimum age of 16 was put in) tended to not have a second Olympics, while a bunch who had their first Olympics around age 16 or 17 ended up going to a second and sometimes even a third. It's much easier to go through the body changes if you're not trying to keep your world title at the same time. If you get to that level after you've gone through puberty, you just have to work on staying there with pretty much the same body.
Oh, interesting. Really a combination of reasons. The puberty body changes/having to relearn moves isn't something I'd have thought about. Makes sense.
Svetlana Boginskaya was a rare gymnast to perform in 3 Olympics. She competed in her first Olympics at 19. I remember she looked like a GIANT next to the others in 1996, her final Olympics, but was only 5'4".
Okay, really going to bed now.
Puberty is also a time of huge numbers of knee injuries for girls. My orthopedist explained it to me that, as the hips grow, the angle of the muscles and tendons holding the kneecap in place changes, and it takes a few years for the body to adjust and strengthen the muscles that hold it in. (I had one actual kneecap dislocation and several near-dislocations in middle school and the first year or so of high school, but that's calmed down by now to just twisting weirdly every once in a while and sometimes sliding precariously when I'm wearing heels for too long.)
Dominique Dawes was also in three Olympics. She was almost 16 at her first. (She was there in 1992, 1996, and 2000.)
Was convinced one person there detested me,
At more than one F2F, I was pulled aside by more than 1 person (though not more than 1 at a time) and asked if I was avoiding them and why. And all I could say, in my flabbergasted state was, "It's an F2F! There's so many of us, and such a limited amount of time!" and then flap my hands feebly in an attempt to convey that no, I really wasn't trying to avoid them.
Grump. I put a document from work on my thumb drive to finish at home, and DUH. Forgot to save it as .doc instead of .docx.
Sufficient epithets do not exist to convey my deep and utter loathing of .docx files.
signed,
Mac user with Word 2004 for Mac who edits articles created in Word 2008 (or, at least, *tries* to edit articles created in Word 2008)
Had brunch with some bayistas then shopped some more and drove around the bay with java. Later, Perkins and javachik stuffed me with sushi and java dropped me at the airport.
When I called DH he told me that all weekend, whenever they would get into the car, Owen would say, "Now we're going to San Prancisco to see Mommy!" Ooof. I have have a fabulous time but am missing my kids.
At more than one F2F, I was pulled aside by more than 1 person (though not more than 1 at a time) and asked if I was avoiding them and why. And all I could say, in my flabbergasted state was, "It's an F2F! There's so many of us, and such a limited amount of time!" and then flap my hands feebly in an attempt to convey that no, I really wasn't trying to avoid them.
See, Cass could've come up with something like this, but no...
(though not more than 1 at a time)
Ha! Can you imagine... a whole posse!
"Now we're going to San Prancisco to see Mommy!"
Aw.
I do not know how the gymnasts concentrate on their event with music blaring for the floor exercise event.
I wondered that aloud today and a coworker who used to participate in baton events where lots of people are competing at the same time says you are concentrating so hard that you don't even hear the other music. Unless you're emu-lemon-face, I guess.
