For those of you who don’t know what rhythmic gymnastics is…
…here’s an introduction.
In yesterday’s thread on this year’s American artistic gymnastics team, I described their powerful “cannonball” bodies and “ferocious will.” In the comments, “Ed Polacko” mentioned a contrast with the balletic quality of rhythmic gymnasts, and I decided to spotlight this little-known sport.
You may not think it’s much of a sport, because it seems to be a combination of dance and circus tricks. But if the Olympics considers it a sport, that’s fine with me. These ectopmorphic, elastic, stretched-out ladies have a ferocious will of their own, clothed in lightness and beauty. They are really magical—and believe me, formidable strength is also required in addition to their obvious flexibility and split-second timing.
Here’s an introduction to the different types of apparatus used in the sport: rope, hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and freehand.
[ADDENDUM: Coverage of the vents in rhythmic gymnastics will be Friday and Saturday, the 19th and 20th of August.]
The stuff they do is quite amazing- Cirque du Soleil of the Olympics. I suspect that the drive to include these really did start because of the increasing power and athleticism of modern gymnastics left a lot of potential competitors behind- competitors who could still compete on fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills, but just couldn’t get high enough off the floor to do multiple twists and somersaults. I begrudge them nothing.
Not as gay as synchronized diving which held my attention for,oh, 30 to 40 seconds… but close. Real close.
Synchronized diving is as gay as it gets- I find nothing about rhythmic gymnastics gay. Maybe the divers who aren’t good enough to go it alone should form a diving sport where they juggle on the way down, or do tricks with a ribbon or hoop? That might reduce the gay quotient a bit.
A celebration of the female form and motion.
Gay as in joyous, merry, carefree? Yes.
Or gay as in male transgender/homosexual? No males were cast in the roles of females.
Let’s leave the semantic games and mind-warping doctrines to the progressive professionals with their liberal interpretations, transformations of normal space.
Really amazing and beautiful, Neo…thanks
In general, Olympics are best at showcasing lesser known sports with long, deeply developed traditions and aesthetics and the elite competitors immersed in them.
Rhythmic gymnastics fits the bill. It has long been one of my favorite Olympic events that I yet don’t think about at any other time.
I watched this some years back, and was astonished by their flexibility.
Some of that is pretty impressive. I’m partial to the variants with swords and spears, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgckPXFFBGQ
I was very impressed by this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1OcmeFb1bs
Ray:
Wow! As someone said in the YouTube comments, is she human?
Team rhythmic gymnastics is really worth a look at (skip ahead to about 1:30 for the start of the first program)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvrcUEPvwfA
Great links.
As a group, the most beautiful women in olympic sports, IMHO as a leg man.
BTW, “El Polacko” is my “nome de web”.
Watching rhythmic gymnastics now – just beautiful!