Smaller, younger gymnasts do more, but at what cost?

By Helene Elliott Other voices BEIJING - They looked like kids playing dressup, their eyes accentuated with pastel eyeshadow and glitter, their hair pulled back with colorful barrettes in the shape of stars. The blusher on their cheeks was applied much too generously, producing an effect that was garish instead of girlish. If the aim of the resident makeup artist was to make the members of the Chinese women's gymnastics team appear sophisticated, it backfired. Badly. They looked young. Very young. But oh, can they twist and tumble and fly from top to bottom on the uneven bars like the lightest of feathers. It's difficult to write about female athletes who compete in sports that put a premium on small, compact body shapes. Calling them tiny seems disrespectful and sexist. They're athletes who happen to be small, no less an... [read full story]