This summer, 5 athletes were chosen by Marta Karolyi and her team to represent the United States in women’s artistic gymnastics for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian have flipped, turned, swung, and danced their way through trials, qualifiers, finals, and ultimately podiums to capture a grand total of 13 Olympic medals, along with the hearts of the entire nation. Their strength is otherworldly. Their balance, impeccable. Their vivaciousness, contagious.
However, despite the Final Five’s efforts of literal Olympic proportions to amaze, inspire, and delight audiences glued to watching this month long global stage, some have discovered a possible clink in their sparkly Under Armor leotards: their hair. It has been brought to the world’s attention that some people cannot believe that after hours of intense gymnastics, stressing over results, and cheering their teammates’ victories, many ponytails will no longer be sleek and shiny. Sweating, an action that every human body goes through as a direct result of physical and mental excursion, causes practically all hair types to curl to some degree, or at least revert to their natural texture. Some athletes even choose to, get this, not spend too much effort straightening their hair before practices and competitions because they know it will not last. They understand and accept their hair texture, and work with what they have in order to adjust to their sport’s requirements.
Those who are educated in sports fear not the possibility of a wave in their hair, because stick straight strands are definitely not a uniform requirement. I have loved gymnastics to some degree ever since I was introduced to the kindergarten gymnastics unit of elementary school Phys Ed. I was glued to Nastiya Liukin and Shawn Johnson in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Fierce Five of the 2012 London Games. I flipped with joy on my high school team. I have always known that in order to compete safely in gymnastics and many other sports, long hair needs to be pulled up in a ponytail or bun. Bangs need to be pinned and/or braided. Any loose strands must be secured. You can accentuate your hair with a scrunchie or hair bow to match your leotard. Hairspray is highly recommended, especially if it has glitter (glitter makes everything better, trust me). The texture of your hair does not make a difference whatsoever. As long as you can neatly secure it, you are good to go.
If variation of gymnasts’ hair texture offends you so much you cannot bear to watch them without scrutiny of their ponytails, I highly advise you to turn off your television sets, close down your laptops, and kindly shut your mouths so the rest of us can continue to enjoy watching these fantastic athletes shatter Olympic and World Records, along with your ridiculous expectations on how women’s hair should be styled.