gymnastics

1974: GenX turns 9

~ MaryG ~ 2 Comments

Born in the summer of 1965, I am part of the oldest GenX cohort (1965-80) and I’m discovering through my photo digitizing project, that I’m quite well documented.

My parents took a lot of pictures. Many of them were bad (“delete” was not an option back then) but there’s at least a few photos from every single year of my life through college graduation. (Whereas, we probably have five pictures in all of my father as a kid.)

It looks like the summer of 1974 was the peak of my gymnastics prowess. I remember that I worked very hard and mastered a “front walkover” as a kid and here’s the proof:

This appears to be a class performance

I don’t think I ever progressed to handsprings (too hard). And I certainly never did a walkover on a balance beam (too scary).

Two years prior, in 1972, a tiny Soviet gymnast named Olga Korbut did a backflip off the uneven bars in the Munich Summer Olympics, won three gold medals, and inspired a lot of little American girls to try some new tricks. I was one of them.

And so, for my 60th birthday this summer, I pledge to work hard to reenact this photo and perform a front walkover in front of an audience.

KIDDING!! Can you even imagine? I’ll stick to Downward Dogs.

My 9th birthday party on my parents’ porch in the summer of ‘74. My sister and I and my neighborhood friends Candy, Kim, Carolyn and Bethanne had a good time.

Figure skating and gymnastics

~ MaryG ~ 10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?
View all responses

I was not a jock. I played some competitive tennis and ran a bit of track, but I never played any true team sports. I was a good swimmer and eventually a lifeguard, but swim racing was of no interest.

I loved both of the dance-y sports—gymnastics and figure skating—until they got hard. At one point, I could do both front and back walkovers and a front handspring. (A back handspring was too hard.) In skating, I progressed to the point of doing one competition in a hand-sewn skating dress made by my mother. Figure skating to music was fantastic and freeing, but I did not enjoy being judged.

My Olympic heroes were Nadia Comaneci (the Romanian gymnast) and of course, Dorothy Hamill. Both made their marks at the 1976 Olympics when I was ten or eleven. Nadia with her perfect tens was a bit of a mystery because she was from a Soviet block country, but Dorothy was EVERYTHING. All-American and perfect in every way, she was the ideal. And yes of course, I got the haircut, but it never looked as good on me (or really anyone other than Dorothy). She was America’s best Olympic hero ever and I will never be convinced otherwise.

Dorothy Hamill in 1976

So yeah, give me the opening & closing ceremonies and figure skating in the winter, or gymnastics in the summer, and I’m good.