Gymnastics News: New Zealand Ahead of America in Shutting Down Unfair ‘Strap’ Rule for Women

The uniforms of athletes have equal importance as the performance in the competition. Athletes’ attire and performance have always been the greatest bone of contention among sports enthusiasts. Gymnastics is known for having a unique dress code -“leotards” which is a single-piece skin-tight suit. Since exposing the undergarments during gymnastics competitions is considered a competitive foul, most gymnasts find it easier to go without them.

But, now, gymnastics New Zealand has come forth to revise its attire regulation ahead of US gymnastics. Earlier, US gymnastics competitors demanded to bring changes in clothing rules to USA gymnastics, however, it has not been implemented yet. Moreover, New Zealand gymnastics has made modifications to the ‘strap’ rule for women gymnasts after realizing that their prior clothing rules were “a little archaic,”.

Gymnastics NZ revises the women’s gymnastics attire rule

To make the gymnasts comfortable and safe in their leotards, Gymnastics NZ has made a significant change in its attire rules. According to the new uniform rules, NZ gymnasts may now wear shorts over their leotards and won’t be penalized for showing a bra strap in competitions. New changes have come into consideration after the detailed report from Massey University’s School of Sport was shared by Gymnastics NZ. The recently released report provides the details of the decision-making process and guidelines for the designs of female athlete uniforms.

After an amendment to the “archaic” clothing rules for gymnastics, chief executive Andrea Nelson also expressed her views on the new rule. The sport is truly representative and provides comfort and safety for its participants, specifically the young women, so Gymnastics New Zealand has made the changes in attire rules, she added. “Gymnastics aspires to be a foundational sport for all New Zealanders, so it was a pretty simple change to allow competitors to wear shorts to ensure no one feels uncomfortable or excluded,” Andrea Nelson remarked.

All five gymnastic codes have been modified for the New Zealand competitions. However, new changes do not apply to International competitions as they are governed by FIG regulations.

US Gymnastics shows concerns regarding the strap rule

US Gymnastics is still concerned over the strap rules, reflecting the demand that occurred previously to allow female gymnasts to wear shorts during competition. According to Number 12 of Chapter 1 of Section 1’s code’s rule, shorts are not allowed. If athletes wear shorts during the USA Gymnastics competition, they receive a .20 deduction from the average score.

US gymnasts are considering this issue and trying to modify it. Through the movie “Stick It”, a bra-strap rebellion issue is highlighted. In the movie, the brutal truth of gymnastics is shown. Despite flawlessly performing a vault performance, during a national championship, the main character of the movie, Haley’s teammate, had to be given a penalty by the judges because her bra strap was visible during the showdown.

After this movie, many renowned names in the gymnastics world asked for a change in strap rules, battling for gymnastics solidarity. However, USA Gymnastics is putting its effort into modifying the attire rule.

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