When some people think of Anorexia, they
immediately think of the thin gymnasts they see online, in advertisements and
on the television. Some of those people wonder “Is it healthy to be that
skinny?” or “Why are they so underweight?” These people have great reason to be
worried about the condition of these young female gymnasts. Due to the peer
pressure of being “the best” and remarks made by coaches and judges, young
female gymnasts are being diagnosed with Anorexia and other eating disorders.
When I think about Anorexia, I think about
the harsh critiques and rude comments I witnessed as a gymnast over my eleven
year career in the sport. The brutal comments and bitter remarks were something
that I was use to observing. Even when I knew the comments that were said were
wrong and usually lies, my teammates would listen, complying with the pressure
to lose weight. The heaviness of the words that were told to my teammates was
something that would upset not only the person who it was said to, but the
people who knew that their weight was perfectly fine. As I grew older, I
realized just how powerful a simple sentence like “Lose five pounds.” Could be.
A gymnast that was a true example of a
young female gymnast was Christy Henrich. Christy Henrich was a typical
nationally ranked gymnast training for seven hours a day, six days a week.
While being a gymnast consumes all of your time, it also consumes your health.
Christy was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia, both linked to her
active gymnastics career. An article titled “Dying for a Medal”, written by Pam
Grout and William Plummer, reveals the sick and twisted truth of the American
gymnast. A quote that seemed to start the downward spiral of weight loss for
Christy Henrich begins: “Then, in March 1988,
after a meet in Budapest, Henrich had a critique
session with a U.S.
judge who, she later told [her coach], had said Christy was too fat and needed
to lose weight to make the Olympic squad.” (Plummer and Grout) The typical
suggestion to lose weight asked by a judge is all too common as the sport is “a
fertile ground for Anorexia” (Cathy Rigby) After plummeting to 47 pounds,
Christy Henrich died on July 26, 1994 of multiple organ failure.
Young women are
already insecure and according to my survey data, more than 50% of participants
admitted to not knowing the affects of Anorexia and other eating disorders like
Bulimia. The young female gymnasts of America are being denounced for their
weight, even when they are perfectly healthy. When young women are told to lose
weight, they may take the cruel advice to heart and continue to lose weight
until they reach the level of Anorexia Nervosa that kill gymnasts like Christy
Henrich.
According to
“Anorexia: Too Complex an Issue to Simply Blame Mums”, Anorexia is defined as
“…diagnostically as a weight loss below a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 17.5 or 15%
less than expected, fear of fat and weight gain, and amenorrhoea…” (B. Hooper
and E. B. Williams.) A healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) is 18.5–24.9 (nhlbi.nih.gov).
“Dying for a Medal” describes today’s average size of the female gymnast as: “today's
female gymnast -- whose average size declined from 5 ft.3 in., 105 lbs. in 1976
to 4 ft.9 in., 88 lbs. in 1992” (William Plummer and Pam Grout) The BMI of a
gymnast with a height of 5 ft. 3 in., and a weight of 105 lbs. is 18.6; just
one tenth of a point of being labeled as “Anorexic”. Today’s ideal gymnast is a
size of 4 ft 9 in., 88 lbs; these characteristics create the BMI of 19.0. 19.0
is not Anorexic, but is five tenths of a point from being away from
underweight, undernourished and unhealthy.
Anorexia Nervosa
and other eating disorders are important and current issues among young female
gymnasts that are not always taken seriously. Anorexia is a disorder that
according to “Eating Orders and Gymnastics”: “In the 1992 NCAA survey, 51% of
the gymnastics programs that responded reported this illness among its team
members…” This concludes the argument that more than half of active gymnasts in
the United States alone suffer from Anorexia, Bulimia or other eating disorders
as a result of the pressure to be “the best”.
