The worlds that never happened

[MaryClare]

I agree that this has been the trend, but is it because it used to be common wisdom that talented kids would need to gain skills quickly and have competitive routines by 15, or because there is no other way?

Very difficult to figure out until we have a generation of gymnasts that were trained to not have senior level routines in competition by 15. I would guess that they need to at least be training some of these skills, building the flexibility and stamina to get through full senior routines by puberty. These two elements seem most difficult to gain as an adult.

There also seems to be something for having basic mechanics down. You rarely see adult gymnasts “branch” out to skills they have never done, instead upgrades tend to be incremental, which makes sense. Women don’t suddenly show up with in-bars (also a flexibility thing, I guess), and even on floor, it’s clear that people gravitate to certain skills like shilese jones doing tucked twisting, not a double layout. I’ve also not seen anyone (except jade, of course) learn a new vault entry as an adult, as far as I remember.

I wish I knew more about MAG and how skill acquisition works there. They seem to have a larger focus on basics and discouraging big skills as a junior, as juniors won’t be competitive with seniors due to lack of muscle etc.

The reason for the sport becoming dominated by teenagers from the mid 70s is because Soviet sports scientists discovered, and Romanian psychopaths happened on by chance, the same knowledge that 13-16 was the optimal time for female gymnasts to learn the hardest skills.

That doesn’t mean that they need to be maxing out their competitive routines at that age, but they do need to be training the skills.
I think what we’ll see in the next 10-15 years are fewer gymnasts having longer careers and a higher injury rate, as those who had less intense training as juniors, attempt to gain higher difficulty later on.