Chalked Up: Inside Elite Gymnastics' Merciless Coaching, Overzealous Parents, Eating Disorders, and Elusive Olympic Dreams

[rlayt]

Kathy Johnson wrote about what it was like, fighting puberty, trying to stay thin, and it being a time where younger girls were becoming more dominant. The pressure made her bulemic.

 

[eanda]

Shaposhnikova retired at 19, alas. I would have loved to see her compete in '81, but I think her ankles were shot.

I loved Shaposhnikova - she was my favorite right with Nadia.

And relevant to this thread, Sey's straddle planche on beam was a disgrace. Shaposhnikova set a high standard there.

ETA: Sey was several years younger than these older Soviets, who were really part of the group (Kim being the exception) that set the trend for younger gymnasts. Being closer to Sey's age than theirs and the way the young gymnasts were talked about at the time, I can see where she thought 18 would be old.

 

[IratePanda]

I loved Shaposhnikova - she was my favorite right with Nadia.

And relevant to this thread, Sey's straddle planche on beam was a disgrace. Shaposhnikova set a high standard there.

Agreed! Shushunova and Szabo came close, but Sey did not.

 

[IratePanda]

Sey is way more obsessed with both age and ranking than Miller or Strug were. I'm not sure if that's an effect of being a mid-80s athlete instead of 90s athletes or just her particular approach to gymnastics.

Kathy Johnson was noteworthy in the 80s for her age in the US, but I've never seen anyone else indicate it looked like a refusal to grow up--if anything, the general impression of gotten from people talking about her in interviews was them being impressed by her

Strug and Miller were still technically juniors when they competed at '91 Worlds. Sey couldn't compete senior until 1984, so she probably felt extra pressure to advance as quickly as possible. Of course, even if 14 year-olds had been allowed to compete at '83 Worlds, she probably wouldn't have made the team. Come to think of it, though, that team was so decimated by illness and injury that Sey might have ended up competing in Budapest--alongside the very gymnasts she resented. Hilarious.

 

[Puffin]

I loved Shaposhnikova - she was my favorite right with Nadia.

And relevant to this thread, Sey's straddle planche on beam was a disgrace. Shaposhnikova set a high standard there.

ETA: Sey was several years younger than these older Soviets, who were really part of the group (Kim being the exception) that set the trend for younger gymnasts. Being closer to Sey's age than theirs and the way the young gymnasts were talked about at the time, I can see where she thought 18 would be old.

Shaposhnikova was a beautiful gymnast with one exception. It always bugged me that she never cleaned up her form on her bhs/lo series. She could maintain beautiful form, extension and 180 split on the planche, on hand hs, valdez etc etc - but had such nasty form on the series

 

[RedBirdie]

Sey competed as a senior at nationals in 1983! She finished 38th.

 

[Hatsumomo]

Where did all that supposed dance training go?

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 14

• Japan
  • Received international assignments and took the opportunities to prove herself a virtuous member of the national team. Angie was taking a year off, bunion pain too much to work through. This made Jen the star at the gym, and she was satisfied for the moment
  • She had a pulled hamstring that was growing into a tear and an ankle perpetually swollen from short landings
  • Two weeks before she was supposed to leave for Tokyo, she fainted in the shower from a fever and came down with a bad case of chicken pox. Despite the fact she couldn't practice, she refused to give her spot–she wasn't contagious anymore by the time she got on the plane, but her face was scabby with half-healed crusty blister. A meet without Angie was her time to shine
  • She did fine. No medals, no falls. She had now traveled as far as Angie for a competition.
  • She traveled with one other girl and her coach, chosen by the federation. Her parents didn't chaperone, Lolo stayed with Angie. She dealt with jet lag, visited Osaka Castle, rode the bullet train to Mount Fuji. She bought Sony Walkmen and Asic Tiger sneakers from her brother and herself
• National Sports Festival
  • Split male and female hopefuls into teams of green, yellow, red, and blue to compete as "countries" against each other for a cup. Most of the girls were under 15 and most of the boys were college age. Male gymnasts were always five or more years older because they needed the strength they get post-puberty.
  • Everyone was together in the same dorms. The girls giggled and talked about cute college boys and snuck to the convenience store for candy and soda. The older and more mature girls might go beyond flirting. There were rumors one girl had sex
  • Jen was on the blue team. Jen relaxed without her. Because Angie was her best friend, they were inseparable when they traveled together. When people could compare them, she was big, slow Jen. Without Angie, there was no comparison
  • The day before the competition a boy on the red team was showing off on high bar and did a release and missed the bar. When he didn't get up, a trainer rushed over found blood pooling under his cheek. His neck crashed into his hand grip and the buckle cut his throat, narrowly missing the jugular.
  • Another boy missed his feet on the springboard and went stomach first into the horse. He was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital.
  • This was the first time Jen had witnessed severe gymnastics-caused injuries up close
• Injury
  • In 1983 she had her first significant injury. The pulled hamstring tore from overuse and the strain of growing and doing gymnastics. It tore at the base. Doctors didn't diagnosis it–there was no bruising or visible sign of tearing. Other than the pain, she was fine and refused to miss a meet
  • She performed terribly at 1983 US Championships, the pain and weakness in the leg too much to overcome. It was a lost year for her, accomplishing nothing in her final year as a junior.
  • Tracee Talavera found her crying one day. She looked at the ice pack bandaged to her hamstring and said, "You're hurt. It's okay, Jen. Your beam looked good. You'll do better next time." Jen was shocked and honored Tracee knew her name.
  • Tracee had had a bad meet too, placing in the low 20s, and there was talk of a failed comeback. She'd been the hotshot a few years ago, and she was already over the hill and needing a comeback to make 1984. But she held her head high and didn't cry. She was a proud, graceful competitor. Jen determined that she would smile and hold her head high, and be an example as an adult among children.
• High School
  • Started after championships, more harrowing than competition. She was used to her urban liberal private school in Philadelphia with small classes, and high school was at her local suburban public school. Her parents were sending her there to introduce some normalcy into her life.
  • High school was an adjustment, but tests turned out to be her friend–she got As without much effort. The grades didn't mean much to her because they were so easy to get; they also didn't help her popularity
  • Her one friend was Janine Schissler, a picture-perfect nerd who played tennis and wanted to go to Harvard. She adopted Jen on the first day of school, and Jen was grateful.
  • Janine introduced Jen to her first boyfriend, Jimmy Groling. They knew each other from the tennis team. He was also nerdy–red-haired, freckled, and gangly. He was the class clown, helping his social status, and went between the popular and brainy kids. They snuck into Purple Rain together. The usher caught them and escorted them out, making the date more memorable than watching it would have.
  • Their second date was a school dance. He kissed her on the dance floor. It was relatively unmoving, but they stuck to it for at least an hour. She was giddy when she got home, her heart racing despite the lack of passion. Finally, she felt normal
  • They dated for a few months. She went to his tennis meets. She was teased at school because gymnast = sexual. She wasn't sure what Jimmy had said to make that happen, but she didn't mind. The popular kids knew who she was and she wouldn't be called dork or baby or dyke in the locker room. They went to more dances, made out more. The public displays helped her reputation
  • Sometimes he'd invite her to his house to watch tv in the basement. She refused to let him kiss her in there, afraid of where it would lead and what she might be pressured to do. He never insisted she sit next to him, and hoped to get a hand under her shirt but never demanded. He would have found a chest as flat as his, but he wouldn't have cared.
  • Once she'd been the object of desire, she realized she didn't feel the need to be desired or really want sexual attention. She wanted to be admired, and she had a limited time for that–sex could come later. She would rather remain a little girl than rush to grow up.
  • She broke up with Jimmy over the phone. He was devastated. He told her they didn't have to do anything she didn't want to, he wouldn't pressure her, they didn't have to go anywhere. He just wanted her to be his girlfriend. She'd thought he was playacting the whole thing, but he was pleading and genuinely hurt
  • She understood the desire to appear normal, but she didn't want to be normal. Jimmy was the perfect foil, but he was still a boy, Skinny, nonthreatening, so she used him to get her first kiss and the status of having a boyfriend. His desire was to be normal, have a girlfriend, hold hands in the halls kiss between classes, maybe get a hand under her shirt.
  • When he pleaded and cried, Jen told him she wasn't ready for a real relationship and that she wasn't like other high school kids. She preferred playing board games with her family on Fridays and going to bed early.
  • "I just don't want a boyfriend." She hung up the phone, feeling liberated. Janine told her Jimmy was seen recklessly drunk the night she broke up with him. He didn't drink as far as she knew, and he wasn't at a party. He'd done it on his own, because he was broken up about her. She felt honored and chalked it up as experience.

 

[IratePanda]

The "High School" chapter sounds like an ABC-TV "Aterschool Special" ca. 1984.

"Other than the pain, she was fine " Um, okay.

 

[KristyJ]

Was this a US thing that 18 was the max age? IIRC many of the top Soviet gymnasts competed into their early 20s at this time (including Kathy Johnson)

I was too young to fully know about the 80s, but in the early 90s on the big broadcasts they'd go on and on about Shannon being practically a grandma at 17 and how the new young hotshots might displace her, Dominique Dawes, Amanda Borden, and Kerri Strug. It was extreme but widely accepted for a while. It definitely led to me quitting at 18 because I felt I'd aged out. I wouldn't try adult gymnastics classes for a half decade after that, but I missed the sport.

 

[QuietColours]

Chapter 15

• 1984
  • Missed the entire competition season due to the hamstring injury. She had to requalify to elite as a senior. Angie sat out the year as well because of her bunions again. Jen took solace in knowing Angie wouldn't pull ahead of her
  • The fact it was an Olympic year was a distraction. Many of the 1980 team members had continued to try for 1984. Jen knew that even if she'd been healthy, she wouldn't have been able to qualify
  • She definitely couldn't compare to MLR, the new darling. In 1979 she had performed skills none of the other Class Is could have imagined doing, including double backs on floor and handspring front pike vaults. Made up for what she lacked in grace with audacity
  • Had moved to Bela, now in Houston, in 1982. Her DLO on floor was incredible, with no other US gymnast coming close to anything like it, and her layout tsuk was a 10.0 every time. Bela even created the "Retton flip" in her bar routine. He and Martha also sufficiently polished her dance skills.
  • It was widely assumed the Soviets would boycott, and they did in May 1984, joined by 13 Soviet allies.
  • MLR's main competitor was the Romanian Ecaterina Szabo. It was also a symbolic battle for Bela. Szabo was ahead for bars and beam but won with perfect 10s on floor and vault. The boycott led to debate about the validity of the win, but she was undoubtedly the "It" girl.
  • Jen dismissed her performance as not win-worthy "If the Russians had been there". She was feeling defensive because her gymnastics was the opposite of Mary Lou's. But she liked the idea of celebrity and dominance.
• Karolyi's Camp
  • With her hamstring almost healed, she talked her parents into sending her to the Karoyli's camp in Houston. She wanted to impress Bela.
  • Lolo wasn't worried about her attending. She assumed if Jen felt the need to move on from her, than Jen was doing what she need to do for herself and gave her blessing
  • There was no recognition for being a former national team member–all the girls were mixed together. Bela was never there, but she was sure his minions were reporting back to him. The coaches tossed the girls through tricks they'd never attempted. They didn't seem terribly concerned about if they were ready for those kinds of tricks
  • Jen tried everything but crashed and burned constantly, landing on her head in the pit. None of the coaches were impressed with her tenacity–her suspect athleticism trumped her work ethic. She watched the team girls on the other side of the gym and longed to be asked to enroll, despite watching the insults the coaches threw at them
  • None of the girls in her session were tapped to join. The standards at Karolyi's were impossibly high–he only wanted to train potential champions. Jen, 15, was already old and had no ranking or standout physical capacity to set her apart.
  • When she got back, she told her mom it wasn't for her and that she'd go back to Will-Moor for now
• Back to competition
  • The hamstring took a year and a half to heal, finally better at the end of 1984
  • Led her team in the Garden State Classic invitational meet. It was hosted by her team late in the competition season, late enough it was more prep for the 1985 season
  • Jen wanted to make an impression and insisted on making five routines per event per practice. Lolo's usual approach was more fluid and based on how the athlete was performing on the day.
  • Lost weight–the combination of harder practices and heightened sensitivity to her self-perceive chubbiness led her to diet. Gary Goodson giving her the nickname Dough Girl when she was 12 had finally helped her realize she was just too fat. For months she ate only yogurt and apples
  • The Will-Moor coaches didn't encourage attention to weight, so she had to sneak to Lolo's office to dust off the scale and weigh herself. As far as she could tell, the scale had never been used by anyone at Will-Moor. There was no weight chart, so she had to keep track in her head. She lost five pounds–not an alarming amount, but enough to allow muscles to emerge in her legs. She looked thin and strong and elegant
  • Angie wound up not competing. She'd been struggling in practice, still using the excuse of bunions, and sat for hours on the sidelines with her feet in devices designed to reduce the size and tenderness of the bunions. Jen thinks she feared losing her–if she didn't compete, she didn't risk Jen beating her and losing her status in the gym.
  • Jen dominated meet, winning AA and all event titles. She'd never won a competition before, and it was the first time she had five gold medals. She scored in the mid-9s for all routines. One of the Parkettes said she looked like a Russian, everyone told her how much she'd improved.
  • Still had no national visibility, and in the post-Olympic cycle it was critical for her to break into the top 10 if she wanted to go to Worlds and the Olympics. Talking with her parents, they decided there were two non-Karolyis possibilities. Parkettes in Allentown and SCATS in California. She felt bad leaving Lolo, but she knew Lolo would understand.
  • Life had one purpose: She was a gymnast. Choices were uncomplicated–she took the route that would allow her to become the best gymnast

 

[KristyJ]

The after-effects of the "dough girl" comment are so telling. People, maybe especially men, don't realize the impact that can have on preteen girls. For me it was "you already weigh more than her" at age 11 that sent me into dieting. I still remember the number I weighed more than (nevermind that I was also four inches taller).

On a different note, she sure is mean about all of her direct competitors at the time. I wonder what her former teammates felt about her book.....

 

[IratePanda]

On a different note, she sure is mean about all of her direct competitors at the time. I wonder what her former teammates felt about her book.....

Perhaps they just consider the source. I imagine she was insufferable back then. She reminds me of high school classmates who constantly monitored everyone's grades. They were overjoyed when I opted out of certain AP and honors classes because it meant my GPA and class rank would always be lower than theirs, even if I got all As. One of them was actually my best friend at the time. When we went to college at different schools, she was infuriated because I maintained a higher GPA for my "easier" Chinese/history major than she did for biology/pre-med. Sorry not sorry for excelling in my chosen field? Anyway, it doesn't matter now because she's a world-renowned pediatrician and I'm basically a mom who gigs as a history professor.

Apologies for the digression. It's just that Sey's overall mentality is so familiar to me as an 80s kid. She also spent her pre-Parkettes years in a social milieu very similar to mine.