Parents Random question about Svetlana Boginskaya's height :-)

[Jeb Jones]

Thanks for all the great input! I've always thought that height was less of an obstacle in certain events (like beam), but on others like floor and vault it would be more of an issue (because more rotations, and physics). Also height is probably less of an issue in college gymnastics because scoring is capped at 10, and not so much affected by level of difficulty past a certain point. Even with what seem to be the disadvantages of height for certain skills, it's clear that while height may make things harder it's not a barrier . Apart from the excellent examples above, I also discovered that the 2008 Olympic gold medalist on floor (Sandra Izbașa) is 5'6" (according to wikipedia). And this is in the modern era code of points, which I think favors shorter gymnasts, particularly on floor.

 

[Aagold4me]

I know for fact almost 5ft6

 

[Peachy88]

Nina Derwael is 5'6"

I always thought that the method to avoid hitting the low bar was to spread the legs but she arched her body to avoid it. Is this a regular practice?

 

[Peachy88]

I worry about this regularly for my kid. Mom is 5’8” donor was 6’2”. She measures about 75 percentile at doctors office for height so not a giant but not short by any means. I wonder how much of the sport is a self fulfilling prophecy. I know physics favors the lower center of gravity but by how much? How much are coaching strategies neglecting things that help taller gymnasts? My kid eats sleeps and breaths the sport and would love to do elite training and homeschool but nobody is going to look at her with her height among let her issues Probably for the best for all of us but I still wonder about the sport.

 

[spider_monkey]

DH and I are both 5'10". Never in a million years did I expect to have short kids, but I do. They are 10 and 13 and the shortest in their classes, with teeny tiny feet. I know there's still time for them to grow, but they've been consistently in the 10th% since they were babies. My hubby's mom and grandma were teeny tiny, and it looks like my girls have inherited that. Anyone who looks at DH and me and draws a conclusion about our kids' body types would be way wrong.

 

[Peachy88]

DH and I are both 5'10". Never in a million years did I expect to have short kids, but I do. They are 10 and 13 and the shortest in their classes, with teeny tiny feet. I know there's still time for them to grow, but they've been consistently in the 10th% since they were babies. My hubby's mom and grandma were teeny tiny, and it looks like my girls have inherited that. Anyone who looks at DH and me and draws a conclusion about our kids' body types would be way wrong.

The male height is a better indicator of children’s height. While 5 10 isn’t shorts isn’t only average

 

[Faith]

How did the gym even guess at her future height? Just going by parents' height?

There was a girl who was on the UK elite track. I met her parents at a comp, both her mum and dad were over 6’2, and her brother was nearing 6’ at 12.

The child was very, very talented. On one hand i could see why they’d selected her for elite track, on the other, everything i knew about gymnastics told me she’d be too tall.

If i were her parent i am not sure i’d want my child doing the intense training uk compulsories do. We are talking 25-30 hours from age 6/7, and intense pressure to hit certain skills by a certain age. The child gave up a lot of her life for an elite career that would almost definitely be cut short. Why not put her in a non elite squad where she can train 15/20 hours, win a lot of comps, and have friends and other hobbies alongside. With less stress and less pressure.

She made it to 11 but did grow and just couldn’t spin the flipping vaults and double somersaults, and quit.

 

[Tay's Mom]

My 12yo gymnast is 5'4", long and lean, all arms and legs - and not done growing! I'm 5'7", dad is 6'4". She was the Level 4 state bar champion last year, and Level 5 state vault champ this year. She will be training Level 7/8 this summer...so the theory that tall girls won't advance well is hogwash! She has wished aloud that she was short and more compact with a "gymnast" body however, so thanks for all the tall name-dropping in this feed! DD is a big Kyla Ross fan - we just never realized she was that tall!