"An elite female gymnast`s career is a race against time and nature. The window of opportunity is so narrow: from about thirteen to the onset of puberty," Joan Ryan wrote in Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, her 1995 exposé about elite gymnastics and figure skating. The sport has struggled to shake this image in the decades since. Although the average age of Olympic gymnasts has gone up, women`s artistic gymnastics remained the youngest sport in Rio, by a significant margin. But despite the staying power of that belief, Rio`s reality tells a different story. Olympic competition this year was not dominated by the 15- and 16-year-olds. The gold medals in the individual all-around and event finals were won by 19-year-old Simone Biles, 21-year-old Aliya Mustafina, and 24-year-old Sanne Wevers. Only two of the remaining silver and bronzes were won by gymnasts under the age of 18, with 22-year-old Aly Raisman, 22-year-old Giulia Steingruber, 21-year-old Maria Paseka, 19-year-old Madison Kocian and 19-year-old Sophie Scheder also earning places on the podium.
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