Weight divisions in gymnastics

[ForzaCavaliere]

I just wondered, why are there no weight divisions in competitive gymnastics?

 

Considering the still rings, it is an event that heavily favours smaller athletes, leaving taller competitors behind. This is the only strength-sport that favours smaller people over bigger people. They judge based on the technique performed, rather than amount of stresses handled on the body. All other strength sports have weight divisions.

 

Why have they never made, say, a scaling factor that would award taller competitors more points for performing the same technique (which is harder via biomechanics) than shorter competitors, or at least made weight divisions (lightweight, heavyweight, etc).

[Mark Collins]

That's sport. It would be like a short person getting extra points in basketball because they have to shoot further.

[Alexander Egebak]

I think OP refers to sports like boxing and martial arts.

 

But it is more of an exception than a rule to split people up in weight classes. Even though being bigger in combat is clearly favored you get some other kind of fights when you pair 2 smaller individuals (being smaller means they rely heavier on agility and technique), which has its own niche.

 

In gymnastics taller guys cannot offer anything that smaller guys cannot (other than the skills look more impressive because of height and wideness).

[Bryan Wheelock]

I want a Clydesdale Masters class. ( I'm 185cm and 105kg and 40 years old. )