Olympics-Rhythmic gymnastics-Facing apathy at home, US athletes rally fans on social media

Zeng Hsing Industrial Co

19/07/2021 02:02

By Richa Naidu
    CHICAGO, July 18 (Reuters) - Since she started training as a
rhythmic gymnast at the age of seven, America's Laura Zeng has
come to realise that most people in her country do not know much
about her sport.
    The 21-year-old competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, is a
six-time national champion and is her country's best shot at a
medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics.
    But there is little fanfare, or funding, for rhythmic
gymnastics in the United States.
    So Zeng and her team mates have turned to social media to
rally fans, inform the public and keep up with what the
competition is up to ahead of the Games.
    "Social media has helped rhythmic gymnastics expand not just
in the United States but globally as well," Zeng said. 
    "Why would you put your kid in something that won't pay
dividends? If you do artistic gymnastics you know there's many
different routes that you could go."  
    USA Gymnastics has ramped up its marketing and support of
rhythmic gymnastics, even running a video series on Instagram to
help explain the sport to a broader audience. 
    "The number of rhythmic members has fluctuated over the last
several years, but from the 2014-15 season to the 2019-20
season, there was a total increase of more than 34% in rhythmic
members," a spokeswoman for the organisation said.
    However, artistic gymnast Nastia Liukin said rhythmic
gymnastics had a perception problem.
    "It's just not as popular as artistic," said the 2008
Beijing Olympics all-around champion. "When you say the word
'gymnastics', you think of flips,"
    USA Gymnastics' main Instagram page has more than 800,000
followers, over 100 times more than the official rhythmic
gymnastics handle.
    
    'RUNNING AROUND WITH A RIBBON'
    Faced with such apathy, Zeng's team mate Evita Griskenas has
taken to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok to raise her profile,
and posts blogs to educate people.
    "The attitude from people in the United States has always
been: 'rhythmic gymnastics? Is that the thing with the
ribbons?'" she said.
    "Letting people know that it's not just running around with
a ribbon like a headless chicken would be kind of nice."
    An Olympic medal event since 1984, rhythmic gymnastics is
performed in individual and group competitions using hoops,
balls, clubs and ribbons. 
    Gymnasts are judged on several factors, including how they
use the apparatus - throws, tosses, spins and catches, for
instance. They are also marked on "body difficulties" such as
balances, turns, and jumps, as well as execution and artistry.
    Eastern European countries have invested more heavily in
rhythmic gymnastics than the United States and the sport has
been popular in former Soviet states for decades. 
    Thanks to strong support and infrastructure, Eastern
European rhythmic gymnasts have been more able to train and
compete domestically during the COVID-19 pandemic, a definite
advantage over their U.S. counterparts.
    "It's a huge thing, the inequality of the sport, if you
compare its popularity here in the United States versus in
Eastern European countries," Zeng said.
    Zeng has cultivated an Instagram following of nearly 16,000
but that figure pales in comparison to the roughly 340,000
followers of Russian twins Dina and Arina Averina, who are
expected to vie for gold and silver in Tokyo.
    Israel's Linoy Ashram, another medal chance, has more than
60,000 followers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2NF3Y3
    Still, this is the first time the United States has been
able to send a full delegation of rhythmic gymnasts to the
Olympics since the Games included the group competition in 1996.
    "With a chance to make the finals, we're really a sport to
watch," Zeng said. 

 (Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Peter Rutherford
)
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