A deeply moving and insightful book about the rise and fall of women’s artistic gymnastics

Laura Misener
School of Kinesiology, Western University

For many of my formative years, I grew up in the world of gymnastics. As a young girl, I lived and breathed the sport, and later went on to become a coach and national level judge. But as a scholar, I have also had a critical eye turned on the sport that was once central to my world, particularly in the wake of recent events in sport in Canada (Misener, 2022). Cervin’s book, Degrees of Difficulty offers an insightful, thoughtful, well-researched, and critical understanding of the world of gymnastics that offers both the sport enthusiast and critical scholar pause to consider how gymnastics ascended to be one of the premiere sports at the Olympic Games, only to be turned inside out with scandal.

This book is situated within a historical context of sport diplomacy, but Cervin also addresses the rise and fall of the sport through a critical feminist lens outlining the gendered and racialized tensions inherent in the sport. But the unique perspective that is brought to this book is the unparalleled detail of information. The work is extremely well researched showing the author’s clear insider knowledge of the sport, without getting too caught up in the jargon and nuances that might deter the gymnastics neophyte. The level of details about events and historical context provides the backdrop for situating the development of the women’s sport. Women’s gymnastics is unique in origin in that it arose quite distinctly from the men’s discipline and to this day remains quite separate in many aspects. Part of the argument that Cervin is making throughout the book is the tension in women’s gymnastics with notions of femininity, as ascribed by society, and new perspectives on feminism. Where the female body is often subjugated in and through sport, Cervin notes the historical moments where the female body is used as both political tool to support the Cold War political agenda, and to demonstrate new understandings of the limits of possibility of the human female body.

This critical shift in the use of younger sporting bodies, alongside more men involved in coaching with extreme levels of power over young girls’ bodies, is fundamental to the current state of the sport today.

The book focuses on the historical context in which women’s gymnastics developed, particularly as part of the Soviet narrative of superiority demonstrating how women were used to serve as political tools in sport diplomacy. In this way, the sport became distinct from the men’s version where women’s bodies were showcased through the artistic ideals of femininity serving to reinforce gender ideals and serve the regime purpose in servitude. Alongside the state supported sport regimes of the Eastern bloc was the tension with the International Olympic Committee’s understanding of what was acceptable from the perspective of amateurism, let alone of women’s sporting competition.

Cervin demonstrates how the development and growth of the sport is shaped by both collaboration (or corroboration in many cases) and conflict during the Cold War. This clearly led to numerous challenges within the sport surrounding score fixing, nationalist tensions, regulation of the ideal body, and silencing of female voices. But as it evolved into a global sport and one of the premiere sports at the Olympic Games, the influence of European ideals of race and gender, where white, petite, lithe bodies are idealized, fueled a new perspective on the sport, and the development of new regulations in scoring to appease the critiques over subjectivity. Cervin shows how specific sporting bodies were accepted at different points in time to serve different agendas (e.g. Cold War political ideal; US power through muscularity) and became influential in shaping the evolution of women’s gymnastics into girl’s gymnastics. With the Eastern bloc dominating the sport until the fall of the Soviet Union, the white, artistic ideals continued to dominate. It was not until the United States came into force in the sport in the late 1970s and early 80s that the sport began to change to favour acrobatic skills, often borrowed from the men’s version of the sport – and celebrated today by audiences globally. The book also demonstrates how many of these shifts caused tension with the IOCs desires for the growth of the sport.

Where the early versions of the sport showcased women often in their late 20s drawing upon more balletic, artistic movements, it changed dramatically over time to a point where most competitor were young girls no more than 14 or 15 years of age showcasing daring and often extremely risky acrobatic elements. Part of these changes were about the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique and the IOC working together to subscribe the desirable social values of the sport and continue to ensure that the sport appealed to changing audiences. But these changes came with great risks – politically, socially, and ethically. Cervin’s unique insights demonstrate how these shifts over time have led to the toxic culture rampant in the sports development. As it evolved to a focus on riskier acrobatic elements, subtle shifts also happened in the control of the sport. Where previously, only women were permitted to be head coaches, arguments were made for the need to have more men involved in supporting the development of daring Acro skills. This critical shift in the use of younger sporting bodies, alongside more men involved in coaching with extreme levels of power over young girls’ bodies, is fundamental to the current state of the sport today. All these elements are what Cervin points to as the culture of power, silencing and disempowerment of the feminist narrative of gymnastics. She demonstrates how the historical development and evolution of the sport have led to a place where male coaches, judges, administrators, and other ‘experts’ have absolute control over young girls’ bodies. This has led to the devolution of the sport where allegations of sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse have become widespread. The fact that more athletes are coming forward in the sport is concerning on the one hand, but as Cervin notes, it also means there has been an opening up of some space for these female voices to tell their story – where they have traditionally been silences.

The pursuit of winning medals and being the best on the world stage is not new and has been part of the sport since its inception, but the way it has evolved demonstrates the toxic power culture from within. Recognition of the problems has led sport governing bodies to put in place band-aid policies and poorly formed safeguarding mechanisms that do little to change the toxic culture of the sport. The deep insights in this book demonstrate the depth of what it will take to truly change the nature of a sport that has grown and evolved so deeply tied to politics, social norms of the feminine ideal, racialized understandings of the female body, and national identities that appropriate cultural stereotypes. It is a deeply moving and insightful book.

Copyright © Laura Misener 2022