Happy today? Watch this then.....................
 

But don't watch it if you're in the least bit depressed:

YouTube - Gymnastics Montage: Not Always Happy Endings

One of the saddest things I've seen in some time.

Not exactly uplifting is it :(

Awful...........those poor little girls. I KNOW no-one forces them but...........:(

Even the young one where she fluffs the vault landing..........you can SEE all the wind knocked out of her, ...and her coach? Turns away in disgust.

The Sang Lan thing is awful. Saw the vid that she hurt herself in on youtube and its painful to watch :(

Unfortunately ballet and gymnastics both orient themselves towards girls that are thin and those that are not naturally so take (stupid) means to make sure they they get there.

As for the injuries -- to be honest you get that in all sports and gynastics is a sport with associated risks.

Now, where is that video of the naked gymnasts to cheer myself back up ..

Steve

Not sure about them all being thin:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...n_johnson7.jpg

At only 5 feet, she's not THIN, exactly, is she?
Age 16 in that photo, BTW

Nothing on that video any different to lots of sports though. OK, the potential for neck breaks and paralysis are greater than most sports making the injury worse in terms of non-recovery or as seen, death from a higher break point, possibly C1 or 2.

It probably appears more tragic due to them being children but its a sport they compete in and should be aware of the risks. Lets face it, nobody wants or even expects injuries of that magnitude, but I'd still hazard a guess the percentage of these injuries versus the amount of gymnasts is slim.

Where did you find that? Got a link? I thought no such video exists.

Just had a look on youtube and cant find anything other than news reports on it. Im sure Ive seen it in the past. She landed on her head IIRC. It was along time ago but Im also reading comments on news report ones saying that the video of her was never released and destroyed after it happened as it'd be bad taste to show it. I could have sworn Ive seen it before though

Any luck...PM me ;) :D

Try You-tube under "Gymnastics, banned move". I've seen it, and it's bloody awful.

I hate stuff like this, I really don't know why I watch it, I hate seeing or thinking of kids, especially little girls, getting hurt.

Probably a good job I got two lads: anyone hurting a girl of mine would have been in serious bother, snd then so would I:(

But it's not just the injuries, it's the way the girls treat their own bodies, you should see some of the stuff they go through in training, and the way their coaches, or some of them, respond when the young girls make mistakes, or get it wrong, it's just cruel.

Still no joy, most vids show the full Thomas but the Sang Lan accident was just a standard accident on a horse was it not?

Are they?

Granted they are probably the most mature children you'll know; but is the goal of the parents/trainer/sport regulators so narrow minded that they aren't informed of the risks? I'm thinking more of the Eastern countries when I'm typing this, of course.


I had a bad landing off a horse in gymnastics once - broke my left wrist. Ruined my rock star career that did, as I can't play a guitar properly :mad: ;)

No but I was referring to the video link you posted which was about the injuries sustained. The rest is another debate. :)

Hence the word 'should'. :)

YouTube - The Tragedies of Gymnastics

If you look to the related links on the right hand side where it says banned move, It could have been that link but the video has been moved to do violation of the T&Cs.

Although it wasnt a banned move, Im sure it was just a routine back flip of the vault that she hurt herself on.

That vid was working this morning. Was a pretty nasty burton but wasn't the vid in question.