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Bittersweet Olympics
Published: 7/2/2012 4:54 PM
Last Modified: 7/2/2012 4:54 PM

Gymnasts more or less tumbled out of the crib.

They've more or less lived on or flying over the mat.

They will be one of the focal points of the London Olympics, gymnasts and swimmers and track and field people.

What's to become of some of the stars of sports off the beaten path after the Olympics?

The best swimmer will get endorsements.

That's about it when it comes to extending a career -- it's the next Olympics or bust.

And what about all the gymnasts who have been running and tumbling and jumping and spinning to the extent that few had actual childhoods? You don't get good at gymnastics at age 12. You start getting good at five. After devoting their entire bodies and minds and social lives to the sport, what happens after the Olympics? One or two become commentators at the next Oympics. Do gymnasts marry gymnasts and have little gynmasts?

Talk about a shock.

To many, after the Olympics, after an entire lifetime of hard work and practice and pain and sacrafice:

It's over.

Anyhow, thanks.





Reader Comments 6 Total
marvin the martian lives (8 months ago)
What is sacrafice?
                    
Dee-Bo (8 months ago)
It's a little know orifice just below the knee. Doctors use it to drain the fluid from a small sac that takes on fluid when irritated.
JS (8 months ago)
Bart Conner and Nadia Comenici seem to have done pretty well in Norman, OK.
marvin the martian lives (8 months ago)
good one Dee-bo
241362 (8 months ago)
JS, Bart and Nadia, two of the all-time greatest at their sport, doing what, teaching tumbling?

What about the ones who spent 15 hours a day for 18 years and turned out to be pretty good?

No childhoods.
The Picker (8 months ago)
Might there be a career in pro dodgeball for ex-gymnasts?
6 comments displayed


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Out Pick The Picker

The Picker began entertaining – and infuriating – sports fans in 1993. Each week during football season, he writes about his picks of college and NFL games in his Thursday Sports column. He's never afraid of sharing his opinions about the game and the personalities who play it. Readers have a chance to go against him each season in the Outpick the Picker contest. He welcomes the competition.

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