I am a senior at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I am also part of the men’s gymnastics team. I couldn’t help but read your appalling description of the sport of gymnastics. (“Boot judges, then gymnastics,” by Jimmy Greenfield, Aug. 31)
Who are you to say that gymnastics is not a sport? You don’t have the slightest idea what it takes: the hours of training, the years it takes to achieve high-level success and be part of an elite team. As far as the judging issue you bring up and the bias involved, every sport has bias. Take away judging from gymnastics, then take away the referees in basketball, the seven umpires in one baseball game, take the refs out of football, and take away the line refs in volleyball, etc. Gymnastics is one of the top-watched sports in the Olympics.
