People assume a lot of things about gymnasts - that the girls work too hard, it's way too much for them, they are too young to work so hard.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Gymnastics is the greatest sport in the world, and one of the hardest, but we have to watch out for domineering male figures who try to belittle and scream at young girls.
Gymnastics demands so much of our time. We train all week and travel and compete on weekends. The people you're surrounded by really become your second family, your best friends, your sisters. My coach was like a second mother for me.
It's all too easy when talking about female gymnasts to fall into the trap of infantilizing them, spending more time worrying more about female vulnerability than we do celebrating female strength.
What's endlessly complicated in thinking about women's gymnastics is the way that vulnerability and power are threaded through the sport.
There's so much denial in gymnastics. It's a beautiful sport but the other part is numbing. You become machinelike. They'll refute this, but I've been around it. I know.
Because up to sixteen years old you feel gymnastics more. You can show your emotion, grace, like woman gymnastics, not kid's gymnastics. I feel I have good shape, and I can do it elements everything, but, it's not competition for me.
The thing with gymnastics is people don't always know the events. So they'll ask me about the rings, and I'll have to say, 'Women don't do that.' Or they'll use the wrong words, like horse instead of vault. They get confused.
People only see gymnastics on TV and in the Olympics at such an extreme. So it can be intimidating.
I don't want to be considered a gymnast anymore.
My gymnasts are always the best-prepared in the world. And they win. In the end, that's what matters.
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