Olympics: Gymnastics is Not a Sport

Brad Oremland is a freaking idiot. I’d love to see him tell some male gymnast he doesn’t participate in a sport and watch he get pounded into the ground. Better yet, tell it to a gym mom.

ok I loved this artical it eloped me prove a point to my ignorant friends that GYMNASTICS ISN’T A SPORT. Thanxs

unfortunately, i have to agree with this article. I love gymnastics and my daughter has been doing it for years but i do believe it is extremely political and the scoring is, at times, fixed. there, i said it. makes me sad but i do believe it is true. =(

So what you’re saying is..the only reason gymnastics isn’t a sport is because you think scores are based strictly on opinion?
This article is really dumb. No clear winner? Gymnasts get a score after each routine. The judges don’t just say after a routine, “Well, that was pretty good, I’ll give her an 8.2” NO! They replay routines in slow motion from different perspectives multiple times with computer programs. And gymnasts do NOT quit their sport once they hit puberty - in fact, many people start gymnastics around the age of 11 or 12. Elite gymnasts usually retire anywhere from 18 - 24. Please get your facts straight before you put out your bias for everyone to see.

Holly,
As evidenced from your comment you missed the entire point of the article. It’s not about scoring or playing routines back in slow-motion, it’s about human involvement in determining a winner. No matter how you try and justify it, if it involves a human judging someone’s performance it involves opinion. Once you insert this human element into the scoring of a performance, you are now subject to all kinds of human problems. How does a gymnast know that he or she has performed better, or bested their opponent. By looking at a clock, crossing a line first, etc? No, they have to rely on a human element to determine who was better. All you need is one judge who feels that his fellow countrymen are better gymnasts and you have introduced a bias into the scoring. That is a relatively easy bias to catch mind you, say nothing of human emotions and subconscious behaviors that factor into the scoring equation. So it doesn’t matter if they play back a routine with the worlds most sophisticated computer, the end result is still painfully human determined. And no, cheer leading isn’t a sport Holly.

Before you write an article about the unfair judging make sure you know how routines are judged because this article is not completely true. Get your facts straight before you say how gymnastics isn’t a sport.

This is just bs. No clear winner? I guess boxing isn’t a sport either. Or for that matter any sport that has refs whose subjective calls change the tempo and sometimes the outcome of the game (scratch football and basketball too). I hate people who don’t understand a sport trying to judge everything about that sport. Learn about the rules and scoring system before you comment. Gym moms who say scoring is fixed usually just can’t admit their daughters aren’t the most talented.

Stop hating!!

For the vault paragraph, il just saying I’m not in a very high level in gymnastics or anything but I do know that only one vault counts so ur first vault can be a complete fail but if the second one is amazing they will choose the second vault to mark only one vault counts and that’s the better one

Just saying, the judging behind gymnastics is very mathematical and logical. For example, if the gymnasts legs are crossed during a spinning salto, that’s an automatic 0.1 deduction. If a gymnast takes a step bigger than shoulder length, that’s a 0.3 deduction. Similar deductions are taken for almost everything, like not reaching 180 degrees for a split jump or doing a handstand late on the uneven bars. Spotting these errors, I admit, aren’t as simple as determining if a ball goes out or not, but just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t undermine the validity of it. There are artistry deductions in gymnastics but they are rarely used, which is why Aly Raisman could win gold on floor. The judging is a tad too complex to explain here, but if you take the time and effort to go through the Code of Points (the gymnastics bible), you will also be able to appreciate gymnastics, not only as something that looks pretty and cool, but also as a sport.

Great comment, Maria, and certainly the best defense posted here of gymnastics as a true sport rather than merely athletics. However, I’m not persuaded.

I not only believe that the primary virtue of gymnastics is aesthetic, I believe it should be. By emphasizing degree of difficulty and going to slow-motion replays to look for the details you mention, we’re taking something that used to be beautiful and making it robotic. That detracts from gymnastics more than losing a name like “sports” does.

I also believe, and maybe this is just me (though I don’t think so), that difficulty is overemphasized and execution underemphasized. As a layperson, it’s jarring to see a gorgeous routine score lower than a technically difficult routine with several obvious mistakes.

That brings me to the third point. I also have a real problem with judging that remains subjective. In sports, humans don’t pick who won. A scoreboard does, or a clock, or something else divorced from opinion. Gymnastics still employs multiple judges, an acknowledgement that even experts might score the same routine differently.

Most viewers are laypeople, incapable of holding judges accountable or knowing whether a score was fair. It’s hard to enjoy a competition if you don’t understand the scoring, and gymnastics used to make up for that with artistry. The technical scoring system makes it more like a sport, but that’s a misplaced goal. Gymnastics doesn’t need to be a sport, and it probably can’t be. But it can be beautiful, and the scoring system in place deters that. This is why I prefer ice dancing to ice skating competitions. None of them are sports, and that’s okay.

Sorry but those who say gymnastics isn’t a sport r stupid mofos. And uh yeah there’s a clear winner for Each event and all around. Do you know how hard gymnastics is? Those gymnast (me included) work their asses of and you sit here saying its not a sport I’d like to see you do it. After you try you come tell me it’s not a sport.

Corrine, you obviously didn’t read the article.

AHHH this article makes me so angry. I’ve been a gymnast for 13 years and counting. OKAY 1. you said you agreed we are athletes, thank you. 2. We do have a clear winner, it is at the end of every meet when they announce the gymnasts with the highest scores. Where you agree with the judging or not there IS a clear winner. Team scores also count too so at the end of every competition a team wins also. 3. Obviously puberty is going to play a huge role in this sport because our bodies are physically doing things they wouldn’t normally be doing, like bending in half, bending over backwards, splits. That’s why gymnasts start at young ages, their muscles are still loose and their flexibility is a lot better than most adults, it takes work just like anything else but it is easier. Once you hit puberty, your body chemistry starts to change no one can control that so to say that gymnastics isn’t a sport because it’s effected by something that we can’t control is ignorant. 4. Gymnastics is not only based on entertaining and amusing the audience, we’re not looking for your approval, we don’t really care what the audience thinks of our routines. We are just trying to follow the rules of gymnastics, which there actually is a rule book with all of the deductions so no it’s not all subjective, we are trying to impress the judges. Every level requires a gymnast to have certain skills in their routines to compete at that level. It’s not all just random skills we feel like doing. We do them because that’s part of the sport we signed up for. 5. You think just because we have judges deciding our scores means its not a sport? Then what’s a referee? Because I’m pretty sure they have the power to take away points if they don’t believe they were scored appropriately, they can throw players out, and don’t tell me that some of them don’t make biased calls towards one team over another. 6. Clearly you don’t understand the system of how gymnasts are judged so before you start talking like you actually know what you’re talking about you should learnt he facts. There are 4 judges on a panel. The top and the bottom scores get thrown out and they average the 2 middle; so even if one judge did give a bad score it doesn’t count anyway. Scores are not supposed to be more than 4 tenths a part so when a gymnast receives there score whether it be good or bad its 9 times out of 10 the score they deserved.

I don’t even know why this article was published, you have no credibility and clearly your opinion is biased and you have no idea what you are talking about.

GYMNASTICS IS A SPORT

I’m the one who’s biased? Sure, and you’re obviously impartial. I also like that you’re “pretty sure [referees] have the power to take away points if they don’t believe they were scored appropriately.”

I have great respect for gymnasts as athletes, but all the defenses you cited for gymnastics as a sport also apply to “Dancing With the Stars”. Until every judge submits exactly the same score, it’s subjective. You have people picking a winner. It’s not a sport. End of story.

But so what? Why does it need to be a sport? This is what I don’t get. I write that gymnastics “requires enormous skill”, mention “the sheer physical talent necessary” and “immense physical abilities” and people think I’m trying to be insulting? I’m just calling something what it is — or in this case, what it isn’t.

In basketball if a player makes a basket or dunks a basket and his body touches the rim before the basked goes in the point does not count. The ref is the one that makes that call. In soccer and other field sports (like soccer) when points are scored on offsides the goal does not count. The ref is the one that makes that call.

They don’t pick a winner, the reward the best gymnast as the best gymnast. They do not go into the competition with one gymnast in mind that they are all going to favor. It doesn’t work like that. And clearly you don’t know that considering you’ve never done gymnastics before or talked to a gymnast or a judge; you have no credibility.

Dancing with the Stars is a TV show, they do not dedicate the majority of their childhood to dance, and dance itself is a sport.

Why does it need to be a sport? It doesn’t, but it is. We spend countless hours in the gym practicing and chasing perfection which we already know doesn’t exist. But we strive for it anyway. That is what judges look for; perfection. There is a rule book, like I sated before, that explains each skill, how much it is worth, and what “calls” (deductions) can be made. A fall is 5 tenths, never more, never less; showing of undergarments is 2 tenths, never more, never less; extra steps are 1 tenth every step and they stop after 2; everything is a calculation. So please continue telling me how these calculations are equivalent to picking a winner. And you said there has to be a clear winner, you never said how it had to be decided.

Gymnastics is a sport.

The official definition of a sport: An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.

Gymnastics most definitely is an activity involving physical exertion and skill. Notice how the definition says nothing about it needing to be CLEAR who the winner is, just that there is a winner. So, when competing in gymnastics, your competing against other people to win. It won’t be absolutely spotlessly clear that you’re the winner but you’ve won.

By the official definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, gymnastics is a sport, so suck it!

In respond to Lilly - the two vault rule is still very much in effect, EXCEPT in elite level competitions. Collegiate gymnasts, and gymnastics up to level 10 still use two vaults.

This is the stupidest article I have ever read. You have no clue what the heck your talking about. I’d like to see you run full speed toward a table and attempt to flip over it, or do flips on a 4 inch wide surface. I bet you couldn’t even do a flip on a trampoline. I would actually really like to see you do gymnastics because if you did you would feel embarrassed of how stupid your article is. I do gymnastics and I beat every single girl and boy in my gym class at school on all the fitness test. Plus, I’m a girl so the boys should be stronger than me because that’s how they are developed. This article is so pointless, and you don’t even have any correct info. It’s all completely wrong. Your right about NOTHING in this. I hope me saying this makes you feel bad because you deserve it. People like you try to make others feel bad about themselves. Do you understand that by you publishing this on the internet, your basically saying, “hey! To all you gymnast out there! Your so called sport is STUPID! GET A LIFE!” I know you said your whole “it takes courage” and what not, but by you saying that it’s not a sport can really hurt someone’s feelings. THINK BEFORE YOU TALK NEXT TIME!

Jess
He did not say that gymnastics is easy. No he probably can’t vault or do a back handspring on a beam, but he didn’t say “gymnastics is so easy, I can do all of that.” The point of the article isn’t to insult gymnasts or the sport of gymnastics. It’s just his opinion.

He doesn’t deserve to feel bad, either. All of what he says is just his opinion. And he’s not trying to make people feel bad. Did he once say “gymnastics is stupid”? Nope. He says at the very beginning that it requires lots of talent. He’s complimenting gymnasts for their talent. And what he says doesn’t amount to him saying “your sport is idiotic, get a life.”

And seriously all he said was that gymnastics isn’t a sport. He didn’t say “gymnasts are idiots” or “gymnasts are wasting their time.” So it’s dumb to feel bad about yourself if someone says, “gymnasts are extremely talented and are amazing athletes, but gymnastics doesn’t have a clear winner, so it doesn’t fit the definition of a sport.”

And honestly does it NEED to be a sport? The that that he says it isn’t doesn’t make it easier or less physically demanding. It stays the same. So why are you getting all upset over his opinion if it doesn’t matter to you? I am a gymnast as well, just to clarify.

I’m not trying to offend you. If i do, it is purely by accident. I just think that you are overreacting a little.

Brad, all of their arguments are invalid. Gymnastics is dumb and isn’t a sport. They are all wasting their time and should do something other than rain on peoples opinion. My only complaint, figure skating is a sport because the judges have almost (almost) no say in what the score is. Other than that I totally agree with you. Rock on bro!!!!!!!!! Oh and something else to all of the gymnasts: Your argument is invalid and figure skating is superior to all sports. BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, first of all, everybody is entitled to their opinion, so everyone is valid. Second of all, I disagree with many of you, everybody who argues that gymnastics isn’t a sport, to be specific (I am NOT saying you are wrong) so could you take a minute or two to read this. First off, just want to say, gymnastics is the root of all sports. The ancient Greeks would compete a version of gymnastics, and preform it at the Olympics. Also, gymnastics is not preformed for the audience’s enjoyment. Newsflash, that’s dancing (which there is nothing wrong with, but gymnastics and dance aren’t the same thing). To be honest, we could care less if you liked are routines or not, we just care about what the judges think. And no, judges don’t say, ehhhhh, I liked that routine… 9.2? They have a book full of deductions to take, and because they are experienced, and qualified, they know when to mark deductions, which they do when watching routines. After the end of the competition. In each age group there is a winner for bars, vault, beam, floor, and all around, so there is a winner. If you STILL think that gymnastics isn’t a sport, then please, reply to this post, and I WILL (gaurentee it 😏) explain to you why that is incorrect.

First of all, those two requirements don’t define what a sport is and isn’t. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a sport is an activity that involves physical exertion and skill. Gymnastics checks both of those requirements. As for your argument that the judging is biased, judges are at risk of getting expelled for biased judging too. There is also a point system, for judging s gymnastics routine.

I sort of disagreed. What your saying is gymnastics isn’t a sport because scores are based on just opinion but scores are based on a huge book of rules and regulations. It might not be clear to anyone who is not a gymnast but there is a clear winner, called the all around category.

They’re soooo many things wrong with this argument:

First off, what your say are the two “requirements” for a sport are opinion not fact. The Cambridge dictionary says that a sport is “a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job” Gymnastics is an activity that includes physical skill and effort, that has specific rules to follow, and that people did for fun. That alone debunks your argument as this does in fact make it a sport. The two requirements that you say aren’t actual requirements for a sport and therefore invalid. Opinion is not fact.

Secondly, what you said about the whole puberty thing? Completely and utterly untrue. “The best performers in the world are 12” might I ask WHO are you talking about? I am a 13 year old gymnast, and I’m younger than a lot of people who go to my gym. Simone biles, arguably the best gymnast in the world is 23. Gabby Douglas, 25, Katelyn Ohashi, 23. Yes of course puberty will change things, that’s why most start young, but people don’t need to quite because of this. And 12 year olds most definitely aren’t the best in the world.

Next, WE ARENT PREFORMING FOR YOUR PLEASURE! Gymnasts do not spend hours upon hours in the gym, conditioning, practicing, perfecting, for your pleasure. No we do it because, like and sport, we want to excel and be the best. Of course they made the skills harder and the routines less artistic. We want to show people how much we can do, not our dancing abilities. You can’t fully understand this aspect of it simply because you aren’t a gymnast. We never preform to please men like you, we preform to prove ourselves to other gymnasts, who understand the sport.

Finally, their is a clear winner. It’s simple how to know the winner, whoever is in first place on the podium. Whoever scores the highest. They even rank the teams from best to worst. 1st place to 10nth place. Yes their is some bias in the judging, however we see human bias in almost every sport that has a referee. We’ve all yelled at the screen during a football game of soccer game because the referee clearly made a bad call. And just like the referee may face repercussions for their calls, so will judges. There is a clear rule book, like any sport, that tells judges what they can and can’t take points off for. Tells them how many points they take off, and each skill designated for the level. Judging may not be perfect but it does produce a clear cut winner. Judges train for this, they are taught, it’s they can’t get away with unfair and bias judging.

This frustrates me on end that you don’t understand. You may not think that gymnastics is a sport, however you cannot argue with fact. And the fact is that, though you may not like it, gymnastics is considered a sport. By the olympics and by the literal definition of a sport, gymnastics is a SPORT.

I think you probably should have looked more into the scoring of gymnastics before making this strongly opinionated article. Judges literally have a rule book filled with how to execute each skill. This helps them score. To put it in perspective, if I did a perfect 10.0 tumbling pass, and my friend did the exact same one but had bent legs, feet apart, flexed feet, bent arms, etc. why should we get the same score? Just because we did the same pass why should we get the same score if mine was clearly better than my friends? Gymnastics scoring is all about execution, but how else would they do it? The article is making it seem as if the judges are making this all up as they go, which they aren’t. There is rules in place, such as, bent legs, flexed feet, bent arms, incomplete skills or shapes, going out of bounds, hitting your feet on bars, wobbling on beam, etc. these all will have deductions. Gymnastics cannot be scored as another sport like football or soccer, rather than winning by a set and straight forward goal like in football, you win by having the best execution of your skills on each of the events. I will admit if you don’t understand gymnastics or it’s scoring it can be very confusing. I believe that is why gymnastics gets so much backlash. If you watched a floor routine, and it was beautiful and perfect, but if she got a bad score and no one knew why, no one thinks of the rules u can’t see. For example, going out of bounds is a huge deduction and this happens when you cross the lines or step out of the line on floor. If someone who didn’t understand the scoring watched a perfect routine that went out of bounds and got a not perfect score, they wouldn’t understand. This isn’t because of opinion and judges thinking it’s not beautiful enough to get a perfect score… The rules are known and written it’s just not as straight forward as other sports.

I will not be going on a long rant But I would like to say gymnastics is in fact a sport there is a set amount of deductions that can be taken off of a gymnast start value, there are different requirements that you have to meet for each level. Judges must follow the rule book. if they make a bias decision they can have their judge’s license be revoked. there is a school for gymnastics judging and in the end, they must take a test much like the SAT. If you think that the judges made a bias decision or you think should have got a better score your coach can go up to a specific person you must pay 100 dollars, the judges and Olympic committee will look over your routine again and if they see something wrong with the routine they will fix it and you will get your 100 dollars back however if they all look over it and see nothing wrong your score will remain the same and they will get the 100 dollars. In gymnastics, there are different age groups so you don’t have a 6-year-old competing against ts a 15-year-old.please look into the sports rule book before forming an opinion,

Okay, this article makes me so mad. Gymnastics is 100% a sport. The definition of a sport is, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Gymnastics fit this definition and your two requirements are your opinions, not facts. What you say about the unfair judging is not a good argument if a ref thinks a bad call was made they can take away points. Your reply to another comment was that the fact that they have to use computers to watch the gymnastics pass or vault skill again is just plain stupid they will do the same thing in football or baseball yet I bet you consider them sports if you’re going to go and tell a bunch of people who have worked hard for years that what they do is not a sport you need to have real facts at least.

like, this is the DUMBEST article that i have ever read. i do competitive gymnastics and lemme tell you firsthand: gymnastics is a sport whether you like it or not. i would like to see you try it! have you ever felt what its like when you fall on a skill? have you ever felt what its like to see someone else take the winner spot? well, the feelings not good. and did you see that? WINNER! there is a frickin’ winner in gymnastics.

GYMNASTICS IS A FREAKING SPORT!!!!

I get it if you like football or whatever, but you can’t put down a sport just bc you don’t like it.

NOT MY PROBLEM IF YOU CANT DO GYMNASTICS

“Gymnastics is not a sport”. Triggering people since 2012.

I agree. Gymnastics is skillful, I, like the author, admire the skill, strength, and dexterity required to perform it. Clearly it is judged, probably judged fairly and by a clear criteria, but the scoring is ultimately interpretive.

Under my own framework, which may be different to other people’s definitions, Gymnastics is not a sport. Boxing is not a sport. Wrestling is not a sport. Artistic swimming is not a sport. Ice skating is not a sport.

On the other size of the coin, Esports is not a sport, Motor racing is not a sport. These have clear winners but, a fundamentally dominated by technology, more than by human effort.

Darts is probably a sport, but shouldn’t be. I struggle with calling something you can do while holding a beer, a sport.

So is figure skating not a sport either?