1995 Gymnastics talk show-little girls in pretty boxes p 8

[quelita28]

What os the minimum weight that competitive senior gymnasts

can have to train and compete? I would appreciate it of someone

can help me with this question.

[tmwalkerm]

@quelita28 you can't compete as a senior until you're 15 I believe, and aren't eligible for Olympics or Worlds until age 16.

[ruhstorferfamily]

Lots of gymnast these days are developed. Look at Alicia sacramone and there are even more that have scholarships... I wonder if some of the girls they talked to just burned out and are pointing blame wherever to make them feel better.

[NYCBlonde]

This was 15 years ago.  Things have changed, in large part due to the book. Please try to apply some historical perspective.

[Lara3385]

how can they have McDonald's add?? at 1:50

[rapturerogue]

@Lara3385 At the time, McDonald's was the main sponsor of USA gymnastics, so their logo was everywhere in the gym.

[therealnicknervies]

Im a gymnast and I have boobs and every other body part and i eat all i want and only train 30 hours a week...I have a scholarship and not every girls dream is to be in the olympics...These girls lie on tv and in the press to make themselves look like they have been tortured because they failed to make a team that only 7 girls every 4 years makes. PAY NO ATTENTION to the stupidity.

[NYCBlonde]

This is insulting to their experience. You are one person. You do not speak for them; you have no idea what they went through.

[BoraBoraGirl2001]

@therealnicknervies You are an idiot. These girls did not make anything up. Hundreds of girls from America - and even some from Bela's old Romanian team - have spoken out about his abusive methods. Wake up.

[silentfrwy]

where can I get the rest of the 60 Minutes interviews?

[Polecatz]

The culture needs to change. As Ryan says in the book, there is no such thing as women's gymnastics. The sport as it is today can only be performed by girls who have not gone through puberty. Pre-Korbut and Comaneci the performers were more mature but of course the difficulty was not there. We cannot have both and the only solution would be to change the emphasis. That isn't going to happen though.

[adventuregirl76]

Are you people high? Did you read the stories in the book? The people she interviewed were adults, not children. No one put words in their mouths. There are very, very real problems in this sport ad they are leading to a legion of young women being injured, emotionally stunted or dead. Wake up.

[NYCBlonde]

Exactly. I have no idea why so many people take the book so personally. She's not saying all gymnastics are bad; she's addressing specific examples of abuse and exploitation. And it is manifestly apparent that the US Gymnastics & FIG (I swear, I keep typing FUG :) took this criticism seriously, with the changes they've made (raising the age limit, the change in the vault).

[apluskel]

I can't remember the author's name of the book but she's way off. She ONLY sees the negative aspects of gymnastics and gushes over the failure stories. Their have been plenty of success stories, from Olympic champions to kids who can finally do a backward roll. With anything in life, there are good AND bad sides, don't just write on the bad stuff and try to influence people not to do it

[NYCBlonde]

But the books is not about the good and the bad--it's not intended to be a comprehensive look at gymnastics, it's trying to address what she sees as abuses that can be corrected, in order to make the sport better for everyone.

[audie83]

I did read the book-and I got the sense the author was just trying to profit out of a few bad apples. Totally negative. jmo

[mka800]

I read the book and it was informative, but VERY slanted. Ryan had an axe to grind, and grind it she did.

[audie83]

Agreed.

[mka800]

I wonder how many interviews of innocent kids Satan and her staff had to go through to get the kids to say exactly what they wanted them to say?

[gymgirly1]

ok this is stupid ther tring to give the to best sports the worst rep

[dreamissbehaved]

the book is very informative.

gymangels, thanks for uploading this! you're a gymnastics fan...i wonder what you think of this documentary/book. like, what's your opinion about it?

[Billabong0110]

They just took away the kids dreams away

[mka800]

Yeah, and now those kids can become like everybody else and maybe even get a job working for Oprah for like eight bucks an hour. Your comment is right on.

[audie83]

What I'm getting out of this show is that Oprah's trying to sensationalize a few exceptional cases-and giving gymnastics and figure skating-but especially gymnastics-a bad rap.

[Starlight697]

i got the same idea.

[benrobinson77]

@audie83 ... Oprah is right on point. I was a gymnast for 15 years, only until my second year in college but when i finally quit i experienced a similar but milder form of depression as these women. And mens gymnastics is a bit different because we peak at an older age so there is less sense of urgency. Women have it much harder. To train gymnastics is expensive and its a huge let-down and waste of your parent's time and money for all those years. But the sport teaches great self discipline.

[GymGoneWrong]

@audie83 This happens a lot more then you think it does.

[appledancer]

Thanks for posting!

[marissa983]

Is that Ashley Priess at 1:45?!

[krrustygym]

omg it could be! ha ha ha

[ColleenShannon]

I thought the same thing! And the little blonde girl who said I hope to make the 2000 Olympic team... that could have been me. I was about that age and convinced I was going to be on the team.

[Argue28]

Yes, it is!