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[camibami]

Confessions of a former rhythmic mocker

 

A newcomer looks at the intricate sport of rhythmic gymnastics

By Stacey Nash

Posted Sunday, August 24, 2008 12:35 AM ET

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The Ukrainian team competes in the group qualification rhythmic gymnastics event during Day 13 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

 

 

 

Beijing - At first look, the sport of rhythmic gymnastics tends to induce a fit of the giggles. The costumes, the dramatic make-up, the ribbons; what's the deal? And that flexibility? Well, that's just freaky. How is this a sport?

Since we mock that which we do not understand, rhythmic gymnastics took a mean battering in the mock department in my life. I didn't get it. So I mocked it.

 

And then I watched it.

 

I have now drunk the rhythmic Kool-Aid and am planning to move to Russia to learn to do the splits. Words I never thought I would utter came spilling out after the first night of qualifying; "Rhythmic gymnastics is really, really cool!"

 

It's kind of like ballet combined with Cirque du Soliel - and props.

 

I originally went to the rhythmic gymnastics event to discover why it was so popular in Europe. It packs the stands. The Russians come out in full force with their chants of "Rush-ee-ah! Rush-ee-ah!" The Azerbaijan media are out supporting their teams and the Ukrainians wave their blue and yellow flags and make duck calls. That last one confused me a bit.

 

What pictures and video do not capture in the sport of rhythmic gymnastics is the intricacy and raw excitement that sport carries with it - particularly in the group event.

When you look at the pictures, you see a group of girls in impossible positions and some random hoops hanging around.

 

When you see it live, you realize that to get to that position, one girl flicked three hoops off her feet while upside down, those hoops went flying to opposite sides of the mat where they were caught by three separate legs attached to girls with their bodies shaped like an "s".

 

The team from Belarus did one crazy move where they had two hoops attached to each other in the shape of a figure eight. Those hoops were somehow attached to each other by a club - woven through the hoops. And the attached hoops were then spun around in a circle while three consecutive girls leaped through in a split position.

 

Wait, what?

 

And don't get me started on how exciting the rope group event is to watch. Five girls, five ropes and a very complicated game of cats in the cradle.

 

Can't go wrong with that!

 

 

 

The Russians have dominated the sport of rhythmic gymnastics for years and the Russian fans filled the stadium with their chants, flags and raucous cheering.

I had heard that Russia and Ukraine were fierce rivals in the sport and I was wondering what kind of response Anna Bessonova, the grande dame of the sport who hails from the Ukraine, would receive.

The Russians certainly didn't disappoint me in the drama department with that reaction!

 

Poor Bessonova was sandwiched between the two Russian girls and the girls from Azerbaijan who train in Russia. It was in the midst of this Russian love-fest that Bessonova had to salute the judges and do magical things with a pair of clubs.

The minute Bessonova appeared in the arena, the Russians jumped to sit on their hands and stare stone-faced at her. You could practically feel half the arena willing her to drop the apparatus.

 

Well, Bessonova responded like the queen that she is and proceeded to stand in the center of the mat, raise her leg over her head in an 180 degree split and balance a club in the center of her upside down foot. And she stood in that regal, yet beautifully defiant, pose and waited for her music to start.

 

Fantastic stuff.

 

It also quieted the Russians a bit.

 

Bessonova ultimately ended up with the bronze medal behind Russia's Yevgenia Kanayeva, the upstart prodigy who recently burst onto the scene and entered this Olympic Games as a heavy favorite. But Bessonova edged out Kanayeva's teammate, Olga Kapranova, for the bronze. Or course, Inna Zhukova, Belarus, had edged out Bessonova for the silver in a controversial finish that left some thinking Zhukova was scored too high. Did you catch all that?

 

Oh, the drama of it all! And isn't that what can make sport so exciting? Having something to argue about once the event ends? When you race, the one who crossed the finish line first wins. Done.

In sports like gymnastics, skating and rhythmic that are subjectively judged, there's plenty to discuss over dinner, over coffee, over dinner again seven weeks later. And its makes us all armchair judges, completely entitled to all of our, likely wrong, opinions.

 

It's wonderful.

 

Just like rhythmic.

 

But if you still feel inclined to mock, rather than marvel at, rhythmic gymnastics - take a page from my book and go observe an event.

 

Your life will change.

 

_________________________________

Now go watch this video.

 

 

 

And revel in your new found knowledge about how cool RG is.

(I have no children in ping-pong, so continue to mock away, ladies!)

:D

[Parrothead]

I've never seen it. From the above photo it looks like something that would be interesting though.

[Jean in Newcastle]

My dd6 has the hula hoop out and has been practicing all afternoon!

[GSMP]

You can actually go out to NBCOlympics and watch the entire three hour competition.

 

I know this because I was a mocker until my daughter and I sat here and watched this.

 

To me it is still a giant dance routine with props.....but I do recognize the great skill it takes to pull off some of the routines I saw.

 

I would LOOOOVVVEEEE to be able to use a rope like that.....

 

Great article....thanks for posting.

[Slartibartfast]

I remember our grandfather making us ribbons so we could play Rhythmic Gymnastics during the 84 Olympics in LA.

 

That is one of my last memories of him as himself before he started having strokes