The study also found that when gymnasts grew a lot during the three years, their gymnastics suffered greatly.
As long ago as 1997 Michel Leglise, president of the FIG's medical and anti-doping commissions, explained that the prime age for female gymnasts is "when their growth is not finished, and the cartilage is not completely structured".At the start of that year the minimum age for senior international competition was raised from 15 to 16 (it had been increased from 14 in the 1980s).
"WE'RE gymnasts, too, except no beams, no bars, no vault".
Think of all those robotic East German sprinters, Romanian gymnasts and Chinese swimmers churned out by state-backed programmes.
The researchers studied 37 gymnasts aged between 10 and 12 for about three years and concluded that smaller, slimmer athletes had an advantage over larger ones training the same amount.
The FIG increased the minimum age requirement to help stop coaches from putting so much pressure on young gymnasts' bodies and minds.
Unlike heavily-schooled gymnasts, they improvise in mid-air, keeping the spectators and judges guessing what will come next.
Greek sprinters, gymnasts and a female discus-thrower all excelled.
At the top of the sport, gymnasts perform routines made up almost exclusively of combinations of intricate full body rotations in order to maximise their score.Although these flips require a lot of strength, they also require the flexibility of a young body.
Bill Ackman and Michael Pearson, Valeant's chief executive, are gymnasts.
Liukin was born into a family of extraordinary gymnasts.
