[orchestral music]
[grand piano playing]
- He is playing an artistic gymnast,
which doesn't exist in men's gymnastics whatsoever,,
working with the ribbon,
but I love it.
And then that attempt at a switch leap
was quite entertaining.
Hey, "GQ,"
I'm Dominique Dawes,
and this is "The Breakdown."
[upbeat music]
First up, "Stick It."
[upbeat music]
Now, I wish that we could perform
a balance beam routine to music,
that is not very realistic,
however, I could see that being the future of gymnastics
and then even going with hip hop music,
makes it even better.
[upbeat music]
Did you see the look on the faces of the judges?
Even the coach?
And even her teammates,
they are caught off guard completely.
[upbeat music]
Break dancing on the balance beam,
again, quite impressive,
not something you normally see
in the sport of gymnastics,
however, I do believe break dancing
is supposed to be an Olympic sport in the future,
and to kind of combine it
with the sport of gymnastics
makes the sport even more entertaining.
Today, gymnasts are taking a more
unorthodox approach to routines,
you'll see a little bit more hip hop music
on the floor exercise,
but that's usually in collegiate competitions,
you'll never see that in an elite competition
or at the Olympic games,
but however, gymnasts today may surprise us.
Usually, the decision with regards
to a routine comes down to the head coach
of that athlete as well as their choreographer,
they'll determine what that athlete's strengths are
and what will make them score the best.
[upbeat music]
[crowd cheering]
Her double back off the beam,
I will say,
that's not what the actress did,
but that is a very real move,
it's not a move
that you're gonna see usually in an Olympic competition,
it's something that many talented athletes
will maybe learn at the age of eight or nine,
but that is a real dismount,
but that actress definitely wasn't doing that.
A dismount is the finale,
so you wanna make sure you end
with something of good difficulty
and with finesse,
and of course, with control.
The important thing is to stick it,
to stick that landing,
and so that control at the end is very important.
However, if your routine is packed
with a lot of difficulty throughout,
you can end with a very easy,
low difficulty dismount move
because you really don't need it.
[funky music]
The sport has changed,
the scoring system has changed.
The difficulty level back in the day was kept at a 10-0,
that's why everyone was striving for that perfect 10.
And while I could do performances
that were worth a 10-2
or a 10-4,
it made no sense to take that risk.
Today, athletes can strive
for that higher difficulty
and the risk is worth it
because there would be a reward for it.
Which is why an athlete like Simone Biles
is by far generations above her competitors today,
it really is Simone versus herself.
Let's fast forward.
- [Woman] If you like peeling pieces of skin
the size of quarters off your hands,
bars is for you.
- Telling the truth about the sport of gymnastics,
she's talking about the vault,
she's talking about hands ripping on the bars,
where your pieces
and chunks of your skin will rip off
because of the friction
of using the bars so much,
that's why throughout my career,
I used to have very rough hands,
full of calluses,
and even my wrists were pretty ripped up
and full of calluses as well,
it's definitely the price you pay of being a gymnast.
- [Actress] Are you serious?
I mean, who doesn't wanna parade around in a leotard,
getting wedgies and doing dorky choreography?
- She couldn't be more truthful,
I love it,
she's talking about wedgies in your leotards,
now, that will happen if you have a physique
where when you're wearing a leotard,
it'll go up your butt a little bit.
And back in the day,
I was told that they used to deduct us for wedgies,
so many athletes,
especially college athletes,
used to take sticky spray
and spray it on their bottoms
and then make sure their leotard
was stuck to the sticky spray
so that they didn't get those
very uncomfortable wedgies
that she's talking about.
Ice baths, that was never my favorite,
and I don't know one athlete
that actually enjoys taking an ice bath,
but I remember throughout my career
because of ongoing tendonitis,
I would always have to take ice baths,
especially from my shins down,
and that was actually more painful
than the injury itself.
That was my career,
that was my career where I fell more
than I actually stuck it
or that I landed something,
especially in practice,
and it's interesting,
many times the media would come in
and they would shoot me in my training,
and they would be taken back by the number of times
athletes just in general fall,
and how we fall,
but we're taught how to fall,
so even though you're seeing in these clips
she's falling on her back,
she's falling on her side,
she's falling even on her face,
it's something that we've prepared
and been trained to do,
so it actually doesn't hurt at all.
- Got back up on the tramp
and things were different.
Through a layout,
through a fall, and...
- I remember those days
when it was especially my Russian coach,
would work on my toe point,
I have naturally flat feet,
which means I don't have this beautiful,
classical, very balletic looking toe point.
However, again
that's the physical price you pay
in the sport of gymnastics
where you're constantly stretching each
and every inch of your body.
The sport of gymnastics is comprised
of four different events,
vault, bars, beam, and floor,
however, you do have these supplemental events
that really help you prepare for those events,
like tumble track or trampoline,
things of that nature,
and this athlete was really spending some time
on the trampoline as well as training
a little bit with her coach on the floor exercise.
It's important, especially if you're an all around athlete,
that you are well-versed in all four of those events.
If you're a specialist,
you can just specialize in that one
or maybe two events,
and that's really how the sport has changed
a little bit today.
Next up, "Old School."
[gentle music]
He is playing an artistic gymnast,
which doesn't exist in men's gymnastics whatsoever,
working with the ribbon,
but I love it.
And then that attempt at a switch leap
was quite entertaining.
The difference between artistic
and rhythmic gymnastics
is artistic gymnastics for women
is comprised of four different events,
vault, bars, beam, and floor,
rhythmic gymnastics is more focused on artistry,
they don't really do a lot of acrobatic moves,
they'll maybe do a cartwheel
or an aerial,
or maybe a very basic back handspring,
but they are strictly on the floor exercise,
performing with a number of different...
I would say events,
where it's like a ball,
or a ribbon,
or a hoop,
or they have clubs,
and they throw them up in the air
and they catch them.
It's a beautiful, beautiful sport,
it's more focused on artistry
and you're very flexible,
and men do not do rhythmic gymnastics.
[gentle music]
[grand piano playing]
So an iron cross while smoking,
Vince Vaughn, let's not do it, your lungs,
but I am loving this,
and I love trick cameras,
I love how they...
It looks as if he's actually doing it.
Pound for pound,
I must say that male gymnasts
are the strongest athletes out there.
Females don't do it,
we don't do the rings for a reason,
it is impressive what they actually can do,
and yeah, this is pretty awesome.
[crowd clapping]
- It's physically impossible.
- Nah, don't worry,
Abdul's here to spot you.
- The role of the spotter is unlikely,
usually, that a spotter will be there for practice,
but a spotter usually is not there,
probably nine times out of 10 times,
during a competition,
your coach maybe will stand
at the end of the vault runway
or stand at the end of the balance beam
mainly just to kind of get you to stay focused,
but they're not physically
going to catch you doing anything.
There is the old school vault,
hence "Old School,"
it's hilarious,
that's the kind of vault
that I trained on back in the eighties,
as well as nineties,
and even for my final Olympics in 2000,
the vault today has changed.
I mean, it's much safer,
which is why athletes like Simone Biles
can do a your Yurchenko double pike.
This vault was proven to be very unsafe,
there were a lot of accidents on it.
Well, the actor was definitely nervous
before the vault, understandably so,
I mean, there was Abdul at the other side spotting,
and Abdul was not gonna be able
to do anything for him if he fell.
I will say,
from my career,
I had lot of pre-performance nerves,
it wasn't like butterflies in my stomach,
it was almost like bats in my stomach.
Sometimes it worked in my favor
and I was able to step up to the pressure,
and many times,
I actually choked under the pressure
and I overthought
and overanalyzed everything
and ended up falling.
[upbeat music]
- Come on!
- When I watched that clip of this actor on the vault,
it made me think of my two world championships
where I was at the end of the vault runway,
extremely nervous,
overtaken with the pressure,
and actually choked.
[man screaming]
- Oh, my God!
[background cheering]
- And he stuck the landing,
that is quite impressive,
that was a front handspring double front,
it actually is a real vault
that a lot of male gymnasts will do,
so it's an actual vault
that he just did.
He did bottom out the board though,
which would pretty much break the board,
so you wanna make sure you add more springs to it,
but for this apparatus,
you go on full force,
full speed down the vault runway,
which is what he did,
that springboard helps get you to the vault,
and more importantly,
I wanted to point out,
I love the team spirit,
they're all standing along the vault runway
and they're cheering him on,
and you don't see that enough
in the sport of gymnastics,
so I think we can actually
take a little bit of advice from "Old School"
and learn from this.
Next up, "Jurassic Park."
- Kelly?
Kelly, no!
[orchestral music]
[metal clanging]
- So this actor
or athlete did a nice little back hip circle
and it was...
It's always a nice thing to see,
it's actually not an easy move,
like people think when they see
some quick little move like that,
that it's pretty basic,
but it's something
that actually takes some skill,
believe it or not.
You usually gain momentum on the bar
by having very good body control,
you have to be very tight, your core,
that's why in the sport of gymnastics,
when you start the sport,
the focus is a lot on conditioning.
- Hey, you!
[wood snapping]
[monster screeching]
[orchestral music]
Cast handstand, very hard to do,
I will not be doing it at 44 years old,
I will say that.
Cast handstand, giant,
and of course knocks over the dinosaur
is quite entertaining,
it was good.
Up next, "American Anthem."
[crowd cheering]
[upbeat music]
This is certainly the eighties,
just not only the hairdos, of course,
but even the leotard of choice,
the very not so artistic
and beautiful leotards,
and then as you can see,
she's wearing beam shoes, floor shoes,
and that simple little knee brace
that really did nothing,
people would wear it,
and it really didn't help with very much,
I think it was more of a psychological thing.
[upbeat music]
[crowd cheering]
- [laughing] She's doing it!
- Yeah, let's go.
- It doesn't even seem like trick camera,
it almost seems like this actress
was the athlete during
that punch front,
with a very old technique, mind you,
to a double back,
that was pretty impressive,
especially back then.
And it looks like this is
a very well-received floor routine from the audience,
this is fun to watch.
[upbeat music]
With regards to flash photography being allowed,
there was always an announcement before any competition
and even during any competition
that flash photography was prohibited
because it was a distraction for the athletes,
and I remember throughout my career,
especially those big competitions
like world championships
or the Olympic games,
if you actually look back at the footage,
you'll just see flashes going on galore
because people cared more about
the quality of their photo
than the safety of the athlete.
[crowd cheering] [upbeat music]
[woman groaning]
So her falling on her second tumbling pass,
not a good feeling,
I've done that before,
even at an Olympic games, it's embarrassing,
it's a horrible feeling,
definitely something that you learn
to kind of push aside,
and as a gymnast,
especially an Olympic gymnast,
you just have to say focus on getting the job done
and finishing strong.
[upbeat music]
[crowd cheering]
As you can see in this competition,
other than the fact
that she's running out of gas,
which is not a good thing,
and struggling to get through the rest of the routine,
if you notice,
in the background,
there's always different events going on at the same time,
so as a gymnast,
you have to really learn to get in the zone,
stay focused and not focus on the peripheral,
because right now,
the audience is cheering for someone on the bars,
there was a person finishing up on the...
Starting on the high bar,
and someone going on the rings,
and so you do have to learn to block out
all those different distractions going on around you.
[crowd cheering]
There is deduction for any steps
that you take after a tumbling pass,
today, you are expected to stick your tumbling pass,
and if you step out of it
and do a lunge,
you'll be deducted one tenth.
Back then, I mean,
this was probably from the eighties,
that if you stepped back
and you did a lunge,
it was a deduction whatsoever,
as long as you showed control,
and she did show control,
so she would not have gotten a deduction for that.
[crowd cheering]
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
Becky Cameron!
[woman sobbing]
- It is hard to watch this athlete finish the routine
and be in such pain,
and there's nothing that her coaches
or her boyfriend,
or even her teammate,
who seems to be very much in supportive
of her can really do.
[woman sobbing] [crowd cheering]
I don't know how many people remember
the 1996 Olympic games,
when my teammate, Kerri Strug,
hurt her ankle,
but this very much
is a feeling of that exact same thing,
where her coach came out, Béla Károlyi,
and picked her up at the end of her vault
when she had injured her ankle.
So it's actually...
While this is a movie,
for me, it actually feels a little bit more like reality,
it was tough to watch then,
and it's tough to watch in a movie as well.
Are judges sympathetic to an injury
that happens during a routine?
Absolutely not.
They are going to focus on the elements
that are being performed,
in any deductions
or values that are going to be achieved,
they are not too concerned about an injury.
Next up, "Bring It On."
Now, I will say that I am very excited
to watch a little clip from this movie,
"Bring It On,"
because prior to my 2000 Olympic games,
this was our movie of choice
to kind of hype up the team.
- I'm afraid we're gonna need to make sure
you can do a standing back tuck,
standard procedure, you understand.
- Standing back handspring back tuck okay?
[keys jingling]
[air whooshing] [loud steps]
- To see this athlete do that back handspring back tuck,
pretty impressive, poor technique,
but pretty impressive.
Gymnastics is all about proper technique,
and what I witnessed in that clip
for the back handspring back tuck
did not have the proper gymnastics technique.
- I transferred from Los Angeles,
your school has no gymnastics team,
this is a last resort.
- Love the attitude,
love the sass.
Many gymnasts that ended up quitting
the sport of gymnastics,
they actually will go into cheer,
because I'm not going to say it's an easier option,
but it's a less intense option.
The skills that are required in cheer
are very much the basic skills
that we learn in the sport of gymnastic.
- Front handspring step out,
round off back handspring step out,
round off back handspring,
full twisting layout.
[upbeat music]
- While very basic,
which is why the actress who was a former gymnast
didn't even balk at it,
I am impressed with cheerleaders
on how they can tumble on a basketball court,
not good for shin splints,
not good for your ankles
or knees or any joint in your body,
but I will say,
I'm pretty impressed
that someone can do a back fall on a basketball court,
not that I haven't done it,
but I wouldn't wanna do it often.
And finally, "The Bronze."
- Trained monkey can do gymnastics,
herefore what we do out there is personality,
sit, watch, learn.
When you hit this move,
your face needs to be having as much fun as your body.
This move is all about sass.
- I don't know what to say,
number one, the eighties bangs,
that's just, wow,
that's wow,
and the pony tail
and the scrungy
and the look
and the voice,
it's so eighties, nineties gymnastics,
which was me,
and which was my teammates.
- We're bouncing,
I've never had this much fun bouncing.
[woman laughing]
You think this is funny?
This is some serious shit,
the judges are scoring me through the roof right now,
the camera's dry humping my every move.
- She's speaking extremely honestly about the sport,
and just recognizing,
as I always like to say,
gymnasts are under a microscope
and everything is being judged.
And this character is really trying
to hit home with that with this athlete.
- Get up!
[woman giggling]
Sell it to the bitch ass judges.
- You are trying to sell it to the judges
because that's who you are striving to impress.
Now, throughout my career,
I always thought beyond just the judges,
I thought about the fans in the stands,
but you are thinking about
that because you are trying to impress the judges,
and so the look on your face on the floor exercise,
either showing intensity
or showing a little bit more excitement with the smile,
was very important.
I remember back in the day,
my coach used to have us put Vaseline
on our teeth so that we could smile
throughout our whole floor performance.
All right, that's all the clips.
Hoped you learned a little something,
until next time.
[gentle music]