How many variations of women's gymnastics are in the Olympics?

[bulloney]

Just when I thought the women's gymnastics competition was over a week ago, they have a variation of it again the next night. Then the next night. Almost every night.

The cynic in me says it's a way for the TV networks to show cute little blonde girls in tight outfits to their audience. Just like beach volleyball. They managed to stretch that for almost the entire length of the Olympics so that they can showcase four women wearing little more than two bandaids and a cork. Women's diving gets almost as much attention. You don't see men's beach volleyball. Or men's gymnastics and diving this frequently.

[zbdent]

1. They're going to lose the pedo audience before too long if they

keep effectively enforcing the age 16+ rules ...

[jberryhill]

17. Have a seat over there....

I'd like to ask you what you are doing in this thread...

[dsc]

2. I know and it pisses me off

why can't I oogle the men if straight guys get to oogle the women. All diving all the time would be my motto with some water polo and gymnastics thrown in for diversion.

[jberryhill]

18. Well...

They did have wrestling the other night. I liked it for the skillful exhibition of wrestling, but I suppose it appealed to others for different reasons.

[endarkenment]

3. Team, overall individual, individual event

it is not that difficult to understand. I am sorry that you could not see past your own sexist bullshit to enjoy one of the best beach volleyball championship games I have ever watched, played out in the pouring rain by two incredibly skilled teams of excellent atheletes, and won by perhaps the best woman's beach volleyball pair ever. Your remote is obviously broken, and you must be, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, strapped to your couch with your eyes pinned open, else you would change the channel or turn the machine off.

[MiniMe]

4. Add rhythmic gynastics (the ribbons, etc). I think last night was an exhibition,

no medals awarded, no judging, just something fun for the gymnasts. I don't mind them having something like that, but I do question the need to televise it.

[PVnRT]

6. Rhythmic gymnastics is an official discipline, not a demonstration

However, they usually have a non-medal demonstration thing for women's floor exercise. At least, I remember that from 1996, because of one of the Americans did an exhibition to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia."

[MiniMe]

13. Yes, I know that about rythmic gymnastics

Although running around waving a ribbon never seemed to be much of a sport to me. I just never understood that one.

[bulloney]

16. For your information, I've hardly watched TV. But when I switch to the Olympics,

it's always the same women's volleyball-gymnastics routine.

Does that make me sexist? To me, having to showcase your prime time coverage mostly with women showing off body parts makes the networks sexist.

Maybe it makes me sound prudish, but I would like to see more variety, like basketball or indoor volleyball or something else than the same old lineup every night.

And as a matter of fact, when I've seen that these events are on the evening's coverage, I either switch channels or find something else to do. Before I "strap" myself to the couch as you assume I do, I run 5-6 miles for exercise and run various errands for my kids and my wife before considering watching TV.

[LeftHander]

5. Exotic Rythmic Gynastics - exhibition sport...

[Goblinmonger]

14. there would have to be a SERIOUS

enforcement of an age limit in that gymnastics.

[underpants]

7. Gymnastics like ice skating is supposed to draw in the female audience

who, the thinking goes, will watch that and maybe you can sell your TV shows/products/other sports to them while they watch with their husbands/boyfriend/fat oaf who smells of Pabst and Pringles

They extend it out as long as possible. They COULD just have everyone do each event (the women have 4 men have 6) once and then figure out team/overall/event medals but that would mean time for things like oh something some foreigners is winning or C1 canoeing-have you seen this??? Yikes my back hurt just watching it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=8036391&mesg_id=8036391


To answer your question-basically it is demographics and money

[MadHound]

8. Wow, you're really off-base there

First of all, the women who participate in beach volleyball where their bikinis by choice, they're not mandated. The participants are offered the option of a one piece or two piece uniform, and they choose the two-piece virtually everytime. The reason is for simple comfort and functionality, not some great sexist conspiracy. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93749565>

The same principle goes with gymnastics, functionality. You have to have a skin hugging uniform in order to be able to perform the routines. If you have a larger, baggier uniform, you'll have it getting tangled with the gymnast or the equipment, leading to either lost points or possibly injuries.

However if you're still somehow worried about not seeing your precious male eye-candy, never fear. There are several men's sports that require uniforms that are either form fitting or quite skimpy. If you haven't seen them, then that is your problem, since NBC has been broadcasting lots of men's diving, swimming, wrestling, etc. etc. for you to ogle. That includes men's beach volleyball, which has been on just as much as women's beach volleyball.

Sorry, but people like you are simply full of it. Finding outrage where there is none, complaining about issues that you have no clue about. Give it up and stop framing everything in terms of sexism.

[LisaL]

10. It's a uniform.

If they offered a choice between the bikinis and one piece swimsuit, that doesn't mean much to me. I mean, have you seen the one piece swimsuit ever? I haven't. It might be cut the same way as the bikinis.
Meanwhile men are wearing shorts and shirts.
Regarding gymnastics, I don't get what you mean by "variation." There is rhythmic gymnastic, but it's a different discipline from artistic gymnastic, with different athletes.

[supernova]

11. Women's one-pieces

The only female athletes I have seen wearing one-piece suits consistently have been either swimmers or divers. And then probably only for the aerodynamics, the less drag the better.

[LisaL]

12. I imagine it's going to be very uncomfortable.

And by the way, if it's cut like on Baywatch, it's not going to provide much more coverage than the bikinis. Now, if there were offered a choice between those bikinis and uniforms similar to what men wear, it'd be a different story.

[endarkenment]

15. As far as I know none of the players give a rats ass about this non-issue.

Women have been playing competitive beach volleyball in bikinis, by rule or by choice, for decades. It is beach volleyball. The players wear beach attire.

The original olympics generally mandated the null uniform: the participants were naked.

[NoGOPZone]

19. Two piece bathing suits are in fact a requirement for many international beach tournaments

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/2433483/Indian-beach-volleyball-players-refuse-to-wear-bikinis.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/olympics/sports/beach-volleyball.htm

This is not the case in these Olympics, although there is requirement on the cut and fit of both one and two piece uniforms, and even on the maximum side width of briefs, if worn.

http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Rules/BVB%20Uniforms%20OG%202004.pdf

Edit for more info and link to official rules.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Gymnastics has been like that ever since I first watched it in 1968

and both the men's and women's events have followed the same pattern:

Qualifying rounds (all teams send competitors through all the apparatus, and the top eight teams qualify for the team finals)
Team medal (the top eight teams once again put their best four members on each apparatus, and the team with the highest point total gets the gold)
Individual all-around (the gymnasts with the top scores from the team competition compete on all apparatus, and the individual with the highest point total wins)
Apparatus finals (the individuals with the highest point totals on each apparatus compete for a medal)

Until Nadia Comaneci came along, most gymnasts were at least 16.

Rhythmic gymnastics is popular mostly in Europe, is for women only, and involves doing moves with ribbons, hoops, etc.