Quote:
Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
The male gymnasts were probably athletic in general as kids, and they certainly don't peak at 13. I would guess they did manly high school things like grappling around on a wrestling mat, etc. before doing gymnastics in college and getting good at it. Prepuberty training doesn't help a male gymnast. Being scary good at isometric weight training does. Imagine a 12-year-old boy doing an iron cross.
As for ice dancers, I went to high school with a guy who did pairs skating. He wasn't the toughest guy on the block, but neither he nor his parents were weird-obsessive about it. He has a regular job now, and occasionally posts here under the moniker "ironweed." You might have heard of him.
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Ah, the overwhelming power of the anecedote. Was your friend Olympic caliber? I've known a few female gymnasts who had plenty of other interests, both athletic and non. But they were not top of the world in their sport.
Michael Phelps has been in the pool every day since about age nine. The top male judokas were in the dojo by age five. I suspect the world class male gymnasts' other athletic pursuits approach the level of a game of pick-up basketball, if that, and that this is not particularly different from what female atheletes can do if they want.
