I'm not keen on how insanely thin she is. Is that normal for a 13 year old RG gymnast?
Yes, it’s not unusual. That’s how thin you have to be pre puberty to still be thin post puberty. Particularly if the gymnast does not have especially slim parents and can rely on genetics.
She does have exceptionally thin arms though, possibly related to her condition, which I think makes her look much thinner than she actually is. It won’t be on purpose, even without the hyper extension, she does not have what is considered ideal arms.
The “one body type” thing is often something that RG is criticised for. But it isn’t strictly true. Yes there is a desired body type, both for aesthetic and athletic reasons. Many of the shapes in RG are significantly easier the less body fat and muscle mass you have. There have however been plenty of gymnasts over the years who don’t have this body type who have been very successful. Alina Kabaeva and current European champion Stiliana Nikolova, who despite having a mother who was part of the Bulgarian group who won gold at 1985 worlds, looks exactly like an elite artistic gymnast.
It is just the difference in the disciplines. In WA, the greatest improvement in performance will come not from a gymnast losing weight, but maintaining weight and converting that weight into muscle mass, thus reducing body fat %. In RG, your performance will be improved by being the lightest you can be without losing muscle. As a RG gymnast, you can gain a small amount of weight, yet you retain your flexibility. So when you do something like a needle scale, you can
feel the extra fat that is preventing you from reaching your optimum scale and you know that it cannot be fixed by stretching more.
