Is Gymnastics a Team Sport? 2008 Olympics Women's Gymnastics

Gymnastics, at least in the USA, is not a team sport. It is an individual sport. It comes closest to being a team sport at the college level. NCAA gymnasts get a sense of camaraderie while pulling together for the team, especially at Regionals and Nationals. They have a fan base of students that cheer for and support the team. They workout together, get to know each other, and have the same coach. The elite gymnasts that are competing for the USA at the Olympics have not competed in college, or in high school. There are team competitions at the gymnastics club level, but the team results don't really mean much. The individual scores are simply added up and whichever team has the highest score wins, but it is mostly the All-Around and Individual Events Finals that are most prized.

Fast forward to the 2008 Olympics Women's Gymnastics Team Finals that were held last night in Beijing. The USA team came into the Olympics as the defending World Champions. The gymnasts that made up that team were Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Alicia Sacramone, Samantha Peszek, Ivana Hong and Shayla Worley. Bridget Sloan was the reserve athlete.

At the Olympics, a couple of injuries prevented the US from their preferred lineup on the individual events. Competing last night were Johnson, Liukin, Sacramone, Sloan, and Chellsie Memmel (only on the uneven bars). These gymnasts have trained all their lives as individuals, in different gyms and with different coaches. They have competed together at a few International Competitions.

USA Gymnastics has tried to promote a team spirit by pulling the women together at the Karolyi training camp near Houston periodically. This helps them get to know other elite gymnasts and to meet the Karolyi's if they haven't already done so. Martha Karolyi helps select the team members and she is on the floor at the Olympics as the coach.

As the Olympics draw near, there seems to be a sudden rush to throw together the best team possible . Only six women qualify, or are chosen to compete in the Olympic Games. The people that make up the selection committee take into consideration which women will do well in the Team Final Competition and which will do well in the Olympics Individual Final and All-Around Final. They look back at last year's 2007 World Championships. They look at the "selection camp" held at the Karolyi ranch the month before the Olympics. They select a "team", but the team, because of the nature of the sport, is just a combination of individuals.

It seems that the best part of the Team Final in the Olympics is that it helps the gymnasts get used to the equipment, their surroundings, and settle their nerves a little. Sometimes, as in 1996, it all remarkably comes together and a Team Gold can be won. That team was the Magnificent Seven. Last night though, a combination of things went wrong for the Americans, and they ended up with a great, but disappointing, Silver Medal.