There's been much discussion lately about the code of points, but the topic that stands as the most controversial is the age limit for World and Olympic competition in elite gymnastics. The rule states: gymnasts must turn 16 during the same year as a World Championships or Olympic Games in order to compete in said event. 

 

On that note, Blythe Lawrence of the Gymnastics Examiner set the Gymnastics McLaughlin Group ablaze with the simple question: Should we get rid of the age limit in elite gymnastics, or not? 

 

The group was pretty divided. Here's the short answer I contributed:

"I go back and forth on this one. It's hard to see athletes like Katelyn Ohashi and Lexie Preissman (who misses eligibility for the 2012 Olympics by only 23 days!) miss the opportunity if they are at their peak at the time of the competition. But, I like the recent trend of older gymnasts sticking around/making comebacks to try for multiple Olympic Games and I think we would see less of that if the current juniors were in the mix. Well, that was not a definitive answer! Luckily I am not the one in charge of making this decision for the world."

 

Looking through the other responses, I liked the suggestion from Bridid McCarthy of the Couch Gymnast. She suggested adding a junior division to the World Championships, "at least a junior World and Euro Championships in EVERY championships. Then at least we would see some of these gymnasts who don’t make it to senior ranks and they will get a chance to compete while they are still in form and making it to the right age won’t be the be-all and end-all of their career."

 

On a different note, Clara from STOI argues that dropping the age limit would look bad for the sport, "Whether any of us like it or not, a 12-year-old world champion (acknowledged 12-year-old, that is) would be horrendous PR for the sport, so we can't really have a situation where that's possible. And it would happen at some point."

 

At the very least, I'd support changing the age limit back to 15 instead of 16. That seems like a nice compromise.

 

Continue reading on Examiner.com The Discussion: The great age debate

 

What do YOU think? Would you drop the current age limit in gymnastics if you could, or do you think it serves a good purpose and is beneficial to the sport?