Why Gymnastics Coverage Needs to Change

Gymnastics is a sport typically characterized by being feminine: when thinking of the sport, things like glitter, leotards, and makeup come to mind.

The sport is certainly one that requires ease of motion: the key to a high score involves doing the most difficult tricks possible while making it look like it’s easy. Perhaps the addition of a perfect face of makeup adds to the illusion that gymnastics isn’t meant to look difficult. And maybe the traditional femininity of the sport leads to its huge popularity. We feel comfortable watching women knock back Amanar vaults in a thousand-dollar leotard much more so than we do watching women play rugby or soccer, sweaty and covered up and still performing amazing feats of athleticism.

And NBC likes this. NBC plays this up. The announcers claim — after the American women dominated the competition by ten points in qualifications — they look like they could be going to the mall. They’re not athletes! They’re not better than the men! Don’t get confused, they’re still little girls.

It’s disgusting.

NBC treats gymnastics like a reality show, airing the results of the competition hours after it actually happens, playing up an American getting a drink of water over a historic moment for another country. Little girls can’t even build their dreams during these Olympics when the results aren’t even shown until nearly midnight. They know we’ll watch, so they separate an incredible sport with commercial breaks and men’s swimming (that they forced the Olympic committee to schedule during primetime), just so that we aren’t convinced that they actually think gymnastics is important.

Yes, we know that the United States won the gold medal during the women’s team final — but did NBC even bother to show a single Japanese routine? Japan had the highest finish for their country of all time after a fantastic team competition, finishing in fourth. For that matter, did they even bother to tell you who got second and who got third?

Did they show the beautiful vault (the same one done by Aly Raisman and Simone Biles, who got slow mo and replay and detailed commentary) by Maria Paseka that clinched an unexpected silver medal for the Russians? Or any Russian routines aside from a ten-second replay of Angelina Melnikova (pronounced completely incorrectly?) falling on the beam, which was followed by two of the most beautiful beam routines of the day by Aliya Mustafina and Seda Tutkhalyan?

Or the beautiful routines that didn’t involve falls by China (but thank god we saw both falls) that managed to get them bronze despite serious mistakes? It’s difficult to even find an article about China winning bronze because of all the age-controversy articles (completely unjustified!) Did NBC mention that Great Britain came into the competition strong favorites for bronze but took heavy falls on both beam and floor, resulting in a (still historic) fifth place finish? No. They didn’t. But thank the Lord we saw nine hundred replays of Aly Raisman smiling.

For that matter, let’s talk about how NBC is treating the US gymnastics team. Yes, we saw a million glamour shots of Simone, but did you know that she has won the most world gold medals of all time with ten, over a span of just three years? And we know her parents adopted her (or, as Al Trautwig likes to put it, “her grandfather and his wife”) but did you know that Simone hasn’t lost an all-around competition since 2013?

Yes, we know that Aly won medals in 2012, but did you know she also came back last year and helped the team win gold in 2015?

Or get this: Gabby Douglas, media darling, star of the team, 2012 Olympic all-around champion, was the silver medalist in the 2015 all-around at Worlds, second only to Simone. Nobody mentioned that? Didn’t think so. Didn’t help the drama.

Laurie Hernandez doesn’t have a lot to go off, but she beat both Aly and Gabby at the Olympic Trials this year and is a favorite to win a beam medal. She is the definition of a breakout star, except no one is letting her break out.

And Madison Kocian? Who got mentioned approximately three times last night? Is the reigning world champion on bars, a huge favorite for bars gold, and was a part of the winning world teams in both 2014 and 2015. Girlfriend has more World golds than both Aly and Gabby (both have two.)

This might sound bitter. This might sound like I’m throwing a lot of information out at once, which is true. And I am bitter. I’m bitter that gymnastics is a sport that’s being treated like a two-hour episode of The Bachelor.

I’m bitter that accomplishments aren’t being recognized, are being pushed aside, and are being tape-delayed. I’m bitter that skills aren’t explained, that drama is built up where drama doesn’t exist, that we have to watch NBC for four hours before seeing the conclusion of a two-hour competition that was finished before primetime started.

Something needs to change. These are athletes.

You’re alienating everyone from the sport: the people who get bored watching the backstroke, the longtime fans who can’t stand the way you treat athletes. Your ratings will stay the same because we have to watch gymnastics somehow, but know that I’m sitting here beyond angry.

Let them wear makeup. But show the damn routines.