During the 2021 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships occurring from April 21 to 25, three German gymnasts decided to don a new leotard. It wasn’t the original leotard that comes with sleeveless or half-sleeved coverage. But instead, a leotard that covered the legs and the sleeves entirely.
According to Kim Bui, Elisabeth Seitz, and Sarah Voss, the three gymnasts who competed, the new leotard design resulted from a team project.
In an Instagram post, Seitz wrote, “This uniform is for all gymnasts who feel uncomfortable or sexualized in the regular uniform. In our opinion, every gymnast should have the option to choose which type of uniform she feels most comfortable in, to perform.”
Along with Seitz, Sarah Voss and Kim Bui posted photos of them wearing the new silhouette.
“We want to encourage all gymnasts around the world to be able to wear this if they want to feel better!” wrote Bui in an Instagram caption. “It should be a gymnast’s choice to wear what she (or he) feels comfortable with!”
According to the German Federation (DTB), the gymnasts were taking a stand against sexualization in gymnastics. It’s prevalent in the sport.
In an interview with ZDF, Voss said that her decision was based on feeling comfortable while performing. “As a little girl, I didn’t see the tight gym outfits as such a big deal. But when puberty began, when my period came, I began feeling increasingly uncomfortable.”
The German federation, Dutch Gymnastics, and individual gymnasts praised her decision. It included Canada’s Ellie Black, Australia’s Georgia Godwin, and Jamaica’s Danusia Francis.
However, the decision also shines a spotlight on the physical and sexual abuses within the world of gymnastics.
On August 29, 2016, former gymnast Rachael Denhollander filed a criminal complaint against Nassar with Michigan State University (MSU) Police. She alleges that she was sexually abused by Nassar in the guise of lower back pain treatment in 2000. She was only 15 years old. This led to an ongoing investigation. Nassar was arrested and sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on sexual assault charges.
But the history of abuse goes beyond Nassar. Terry Gray, a former USA Gymnastics coach based in Las Vegas from 2009 to 2015, was charged with 14 counts of lewdness with a child under 14 years of age. Gray was arrested and, eventually, suspended by USA Gymnastics.
When discussing the new movement of comfort and leotards, the international gymnastics federation (FIG) still poses restrictions on the design and silhouette of performance wear. One of the rules is that competitors can wear a “one-piece leotard with full-length legs — hip to ankle” only if the design is elegant.
Even when Dutch gymnastics praised their decision, not everyone was for it. A spokesman told NOS that “judges had often deducted points when a competitor had tried to make their leotard more comfortable during a performance.”
But despite the challenges, some gymnasts continue to make a change and find solutions to these issues.
Besides the three gymnasts, Simone Biles said that she will compete at the Tokyo Olympics to give survivors a voice. Biles is a sexual assault survivor who former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar also harassed.
With the movement of taking action against sexualization within gymnastics, the sport may look different in the coming years. What’s more, with the Tokyo 2021 Olympics being a few months away, who knows what will happen to this beautiful sport.
Featured Photo by Andre Ouellet on Unsplash
