Why are female gymnasts so much younger than male gymnasts?

Women's gymnastics requires finesse and balance, and as you have read other answers, you see that younger girls excel at that for many reasons. The mens events are focused on strength and power, men don't grow into their bodies muscle-wise until they are in their late teens and early twenties when our hormones are at their peak. That is when we can build and maintain the most muscle. Men compete later and longer for this reason. Watch them on the rings and you'll se what I'm saying.

Because female gymnastics and male gymnastics require very different things. Male gymnastics requires much physical strength, especially upper-body strength. Events like the rings, pummel horse, and uneven bars can be performed better by very strong men. Men reach their physical peak in their 20s. Female gymnastics call for athletes to be more flexible, nimble, and small. Their light bodies can flip around uneven bars, or on flat ground, or on the high bar much higher and faster if they are smaller. I'm not saying either is better than the other, either. I'm just saying the sport for the two genders is fundamentally different.

female gymnasts younger male gymnasts

Male Gymnists

We see this in most artistic sports/activities. FIgure skating and ballet are no different. One's centre of gravity changes when girls develop hips and become heavier for perfectly normal physiological reasons. However, it is a detriment to technique, ability to be light in the air, and look streamlined when doing arabesques and spirals. As a former elite figure skater, I was set back almost a year when I hit puberty (and a growth spurt), and had to adjust my style considerably. My jumps were no longer as high, and I felt heavy. So in the world of gymnasts, this is no different. This is why we see the best ones as very petite. Watch a varsity gymnastics competition as a constrast (often former Olympians retire and compete there when they go off to college). They look much heavier, when in fact, they are NORMAL.

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They're smaller and more flexible. Also, puberty is not too kind to female gymnasts. It changes their balance and they literally have to re-learn all their routines. One of the worst things that can happen to a female gymnast is to go through puberty during an Olympic year.

Flexibility peaks at a younger age than does strength. Also, much harder to do routines with boobs and hips. I gave up gym just after puberty.

I was a Collegiate gymnast. I judge women's gymnastics in the US. The men are generally in their Collegiate years, although in some other countries, the men are a bit older, but they peak at 20. Women generally peak at 16, or whenever they start their period. Once that happens they put weight on their hips, and their center of gravity lowers, making it harder to flip/rotate. They also put on weight. Young women are a strong as men until they hit puberty. That is why the young Chinese pre-pubescent girls have such an advantage. Lower levels of estrogen, means lower BMI. Fat just makes the female body heavier, and does not carry its own weight, like muscle. Even excess muscle makes the body rotate more slowly, which is why most gymnasts are strong, yet not bulky - like body builders.

For a girl, flexability peaks at a young age.

I think that female gymnasts start at a younger age and also they are more flexible. i kno a person who is training for the olympis 2016!!!!