Part of me thinks that the decline in the height of the popularity in gymnastics, especially outside the olympics, can be pinpointed to a lot that happened post 1996.
1992-1996 just seems like this golden age with so many world championships, so much interest in broadcast, so many American, Chinese, Russian and former Soviet, and Romanian gymnasts competing in international competitions against other top competitors year round.
Then 1996 happened and something seems to change. Part of it was the incredibly convoluted rule changes in age which touched the careers of so many gymnasts. Then there was the weird decision not to hold a 1998 worlds (weirdly smack dab in the middle of a quad).
A conversation about Vanessa Atler arose this week on the forum and it got me looking back at the quad. I was reminded of something I had completely forgotten and that is the bevy of "professional" tournaments that happened specifically for American gymnasts and some of the stars of the 1996 games (Lilia, Bogi, and a few others). They were clearly money making schemes and did not at ALL feel like real gymnastics. In my opinion this could have contributed to a lack of knowledge about and respect for the sport. It took the drama and pressure away from real competitions between real competitors and made it fun and silly, even when the competitions were set up to look completely real (world professional championships 1997?). The weirdest part of these competitions is they were on broadcast tv networks. These days we can barely get NBC to air our BIGGEST competitions and even when they do its constant commercial breaks.
Its hard to know what happened from the height in the 90s in popularity and visibility worldwide to now where the sport seems to have a 3 month shelf life with the American public.
What are your thoughts?
What Went Wrong After 1996?
1992-1996 just seems like this golden age with so many world championships, so much interest in broadcast, so many American, Chinese, Russian and former Soviet, and Romanian gymnasts competing in international competitions against other top competitors year round.
Then 1996 happened and something seems to change. Part of it was the incredibly convoluted rule changes in age which touched the careers of so many gymnasts. Then there was the weird decision not to hold a 1998 worlds (weirdly smack dab in the middle of a quad).
A conversation about Vanessa Atler arose this week on the forum and it got me looking back at the quad. I was reminded of something I had completely forgotten and that is the bevy of "professional" tournaments that happened specifically for American gymnasts and some of the stars of the 1996 games (Lilia, Bogi, and a few others). They were clearly money making schemes and did not at ALL feel like real gymnastics. In my opinion this could have contributed to a lack of knowledge about and respect for the sport. It took the drama and pressure away from real competitions between real competitors and made it fun and silly, even when the competitions were set up to look completely real (world professional championships 1997?). The weirdest part of these competitions is they were on broadcast tv networks. These days we can barely get NBC to air our BIGGEST competitions and even when they do its constant commercial breaks.
Its hard to know what happened from the height in the 90s in popularity and visibility worldwide to now where the sport seems to have a 3 month shelf life with the American public.
What are your thoughts?
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