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Summary: I'll never look at gymnastics the same way again
Review: This is a heartbreaking book about gymnasts and (and to a smaller degree) ice skaters who sacrificed everything to get to the top of their sports, but somehow fell short when the odds were stacked against them. Gymnastics in the early 90s seemed to be a sport plagued with abusive coaches, eating disorders, and insane politics. A lot of people within this community defend their sport by saying the author, Joan Ryan, is one-sided and unfair. This is a book detailing the lives of athletes who failed to reach their dreams. It is not a fluff story about Olympic glory; for that, you can order Shannon Miller's book.
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Summary: movie version
Review: where's the video? i liked the movie better than the book. has it been released yet?
Rating:
Summary: True But False
Review: Yes, it is true that some gymnasts, figure skaters, ballerinas, and other athletes (such as wrestlers, cross country runners, etc.) have suffered from EDs. Well, so have singer Karen Carpenter, Princess Diana, Victoria Beckham, and many other celebrities. Does this mean only celebrities have EDs? No, they're just in the spotlight. USA Gymnastics, as an example, has worked hard nowadays to educate their coaches and such about EDs, their symptoms etc. Keep in mind that about 2% to 6% of the USA population suffer from anorexia and/or bulimia. This means about 5 to 16 million people suffer from these disorders. So, this book has some good, shocking information that opens up people's eyes, but I think it has been wrongly presented. This is just my opinion though. I wish you would keep this in mind while you read the book. It is not the sport's fault that these athletes have EDs.
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Summary: extremely biased
Review: I have to agree w/ the other people who gave negative reviews for this book. I don't know much about this author, but I would assume she was never a gymnast or figure skater. I have been a competitive gymnast my whole life all the way through college & never had the experiences the gymnasts in this book had. I know it tries to focus specifically on elite athletes, but it also makes a lot of generalizations about the sport & makes it sound like every coach is the same. I went to a great gym w/ coaches who didn't yell & I never once heard a coach tell anyone to lose weight. In fact, I never even knew gymnasts w/ eating disorders. The friends I know who struggled w/ eating disorders were typically not athletes. I have a degree in psychology & know that eating disorders do not stem from one person telling you to lose 5 lbs. It's about self-esteem & the gymnasts & other athletes who suffer from anorexia or bulimia most likely had other internal issues. Reading certain parts of this book really made me mad because I know they are not true. Speaking to a select few athletes, parents, & coaches does not make you an expert on gymnastics. When you've been in the gym for 20+ years as a gymnast & coach, spent every weekend at competitions, & know coaches from other gyms around the nation, you know what really goes on behind the scenes. This book is very biased & only looks at a few horrible cases. What about all the happy, healthy gymnasts out there who've learned many life lessons from the sport? Gymnastics teaches confidence, dedication, & hard work at a very early age & I know I would be a different person today if not for this sport. As far as injuries are concerned, of course gymnasts are pressured to workout & compete when they're hurt. What athlete isn't? I competed for 3 years w/ a stress fracture in my leg & I don't regret one minute of it. I still love gymnastics & everything about it. People need to stop stereotyping & criticizing our sport when there are so many gyms & coaches out there nothing like the ones portrayed in this book!
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Summary: Little Girls in Pretty Boxes.....
Review: I believe Ryan is correct in the life of gymnasts and figure skaters...I have been a gymnast for 15 years now, and have seen more people quit the sport because of feeling to "big", or from anorexia or bulimia, than people who have had to quit because of injuries. Also, the people who quit because of eating disorders didn't quit because someone told them they were fat or anything...from a gymnasts' point of view the way I look at it is that you are constantly surrounded by people smaller or bigger than you in a leotard that shows everything, so some people just assume they are fat even when they are smaller than the average person...just thought I'd share my comments! Thanks!
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Summary: ..................
Review: This book is insanity and completely biased! I am currently 14 years old and have been involved in gymnastics since the age of 2. I have learned so many lessons and so many things about people and life itself from this sport. I am more coordinated in other sports now and I understand important morals such as hard work and setting goals. I weigh 130 pounds and am 5'5". I eat regularly. My coach never once told me to lose weight. While a few gymnasts have had horrible experiences, Ryan attacks gymnastics/figure-skating alone when extreme pressure occurs in all sports, not just the minority of gymnasts that Ryan so biasedly overviews here. Gymnastics is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
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Summary: Review of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
Review: A very interesting book, which identified the shocking experiences and outcomes for a large number of elite gymnasts and ice skaters. It is certainly an important document, which looks underneath the glitz and glamour surrounding young and tiny female super-athletes, and also exposes the hidden cost to these young athletes, in their quest to attain this ideal. At the same time, however, the author seems to place most of the blame for these outcomes on the influence of the Eastern Bloc on US coaching methods. While it did touch on American society, I thought more attention could have been paid to the society which allows such abusive training methods to occur; which equates external accolades and success with happiness, and which has a fascination (embedded in Western culture) with the small, thin and child-like female. Still, this book has done a great job of highlighting a system in urgent need of revision.
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Summary: A Little Something for Everybody
Review: I wrestle for my high school and only ended up reading this book because a female gymnast friend of mine suggested I read it. I have to admit, at first I was skeptical, but it really opened my eyes. Overall, yes it does talk about the downward spiral of morals in Gymnastics and Figure Skating, but parallels can be drawn to almost any "individual sport" out there. Personally, from a wrestler's stand point, the entire wight issue struck a chord with me, as did the intense stories about the vocal coaches. At times this read can get depressing and have the reader questioning his her faith in the olympic "spirit", but in the end, it offers uplifting advice/words of wisdom. The only minor complaint I have about this book was the fact that it failed to give any visual aids (charts, graphs, and databases) for the statistics and names tossed around frequently. Needless to say, I was more than happy I sat down to read this, and I probably won't try and make the 103 pound weight class next year. DON'T LET THE TITLE OF THIS BOOK FOOL YOU, IT IS FOR EVERYBODY (Especially Junior High and High School Athletes)
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Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: A friend gave me this book & I could not put it down. As a mother of a teenage girl that is involved in equestrian sports, I could see many parallels with pushy, over bearing parents living through their daughters. The coaches (trainers)for the hunter/jumper horse-world are as destructive to these girls as Karoli, Nunno & Wang. If you have a child that participates in any sport (not just for fun) but are on travel teams, elite teams, A circuits, medium to high levels...this book is a must read. I, for one, will make certain that I will not make the same mistakes w/ my daughter that many of these parents did. After all, they are the ones that are ultimately responsible. It just isn't worth it. This book is a fast-paced, terrific expose.
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Summary: The truth always hurts
Review: As a gymnastics fan, there's always been two sides of me: On the one hand I enjoy watching little girls flip over, and fly in the air-things that you and I would never think of trying our selves. On the other hand-I've been concerned over the years about what these girls go through to make it to the elite or olylimpic levels. In 1994 when Christy Henrich died as a result of eating disorders. That's when I begin asking some serious questions about the sport. One thing that needs to be made VERY clear: Ryan was NOT dealing with what is called recrational gymnastics, Doing gymnastics for fun and fitness. It can be a rewarding sport for chidren. What Ryan DOES deal with is the elite or olylimpic levels of the sport. It documents the disturbing training methods of Bela Karloli. I've been concerned about this for a long time-but now the truth is told-and the truth hurts. It also documents the belittling coments that coaches often say to the gymnasts about weight. This often triggers an eating disorder. This is sickening. Coaches like Karloi would just like to blame parents for these problems. While parents do play a role, it's the coaches coments made to gymnasts that triggers it. So coaches needs to held reponsible for it. Ryan tells it like it is-she pulls no punches. This is not an anti-gymnastics book. It's instead a disturbing document of the training methods of coaches and forcing them to compete with injuries. Then there's the disgusting story of the second Trial that was held to determine the 1992 olympic team that resulted in Kim kelly being voted off the team. Kim Kelly did not have the Ideal body type of a gymnast-and USA Gymnastics(Then called United states gymnastics federation)were concerned that she would not get high enough scores because she was not the little girl like the others were. This is WRONG and lets hope that it doe not happen again. This edition includes an update on the state of gymnastics up to 2000. While progress has been made in making the sport safer, Ryan notes that there's a long way to go.
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