Russian gymnasts - how can humans do this?

[Flaxbee]

At what point does gymnastics become Cirque du Soleil?

Anyway, this is incredible.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. It must require an intense devotion, every waking minute

When I was a kid in the 1950s, my mother and father took me to see the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus. The featured act of the evening (there were posters of this guy in town) was The Great Unus. He was a middle aged man who came to the center of the ring dressed in a tuxedo, with a top hat and gloves. They rolled a platform out to him on which was fixed a crystal ball. Unus would then perform a handstand on the smooth ball and then rise up on one finger and hold himself in the air for more than ust a few seconds. It was no trickery. Unus, aka Franz Furtner was discovered by the circus in Europe where he did this as a nightclub act. He was originally from Austria.

Unfortunately the amazing photo of his fingerstand on the crystal ball won't post and you have to clink the link to see it.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=699006&page=10

Here's another photo showing him doing other things. His daughter was one of the most incredible circus gymnasts of the age.

[Flaxbee]

5. Hmm... the Great Unus might not be the best stage name, but what he

did looks pretty damn impressive!

[lark]

9. Daughter was a gyymast

My daughter was a gymnast, in the Jr. Olympics program, for 5 years. I can tell you that it is so cool what these amazingly strong little girls can accomplish, even when they aren't the elite versions shown in the video. It takes a strong focus and fierce dedication to get to the top, basically gym has to be your life, and there aren't many working families involved. It gets extremely expensive unless you are one of the elite and can get a sponsor. It is extremely good for building character, toughness, resolve, confidence, courage and keeping young girls out of trouble, if you can afford it and have the time.

[stockholmer]

14. here is a pic of the crystal ball fingerstand

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. Thank you - I found another one, too

And two videos showing him in action:

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[HopeHoops]

2. Sisters?

[Flaxbee]

6. not sure. I'm sure men might hope so

[HopeHoops]

13. Well, with the older two, sure. The youngest is clearly off limits on all grounds.

Besides, my wife can do all of those splits. Not so much the up-in-the-air stuff, but definitely the full splits. She's a 3rd degree black belt.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Just when you think you've seen everything in competitive gymnastics.

Thank you so much!

[Flaxbee]

7. you're welcome!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. This isn't normal competitive gymnastics

The gymnasts typically do their floor exercise alone.

I wonder if this is a variety of so-called "rhythmic gymnastics," which is practiced mostly in Eastern Europe.

Yup, according to the Internet, one of the rhythmic gymnastics events is called "free," and it is basically floor exercise, sometimes with more than one gymnast.

[Flaxbee]

8. wondered about that - didn't look like your standard floor routine

and the competitions I've seen have only one athlete per event.

But still - impressive.

[BB1]

10. First thought: pain.

It must have come at great pains to prepare for stuff like this.
Here in Western Europe we got tons of documentaries during the '90s about treatment of kids in Eastern Europe. It was supposed to be some kind of hell. (which it probably was)

[Flatpicker]

11. I'm not sure.

If this is ever the child's choice in the beginning?
I have my concerns that it isn't all that far off from the concept of child labor (just prettified) so the parents feel batter about themselves.

I'm not talking about a kid that wants to take a summer gymnastics class or something, but, the concept of the "Pro-gymnast" feels abhorrent to me. Most of these kids weren't old enough to make the decision with any rational thought.

[Atypical Liberal]

15. I agree.

Many so-called "prodigies" are forced from a very early age to an intensive regimen of whatever activity it is their parents decided to put them in. I'm not sure this is healthy if it's not done voluntarily, and I wonder how voluntarily some of these kids' participation really is.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Ouch!

[yellerpup]

17. The human body is capable of incredible

strength and dynamism if you keep it in shape.