Last month, the Ohio State men’s gymnastics team was ranked No. 1- receiving nine of 14 first place votes in the coaches’ preseason poll.
OSU has placed second at the NCAA championships the past two years, and the team’s new training facility is one of the best in the country.
Since 1988, the OSU men’s gymnastics program has produced four Olympians, including five-time national champion Blaine Wilson. The Buckeyes hope to add one more to the list in 2004 with last year’s NCAA all-around champion, Raj Bhavsar- no longer NCAA eligible, but still training at OSU with head coach Miles Avery.
While the sport is thriving at Ohio State, collegiate men’s gymnastics is quickly disappearing. There are only 17 Division I teams left in the country.
According to The Boston Globe, there were 138 Division I men’s programs in 1976. In 1981, there were nearly 1,400 male gymnasts competing in college. In 2000, there were around 360.
Avery attributes the losses to uncreative administration in the face of Title IX.
“Some athletic directors are not being fiscally sound,” he said. “The most creative way a lot of them have found (for dealing with Title IX) is just to drop men’s sports so they don’t have to add any on the women’s side. This has really hurt men’s gymnastics about as hard as it could.”
He said that this probably means fewer athletes will do gymnastics because the opportunity for college scholarships might not be there in the future.
“If an athlete is thinking about going to college, he better get in now,” Avery said. “Competing in college is an awesome experience that many athletes will not have if they are interested in gymnastics in the future.”
Wilson, who is training for his third Olympics, agrees. He made the U.S. world team as an undergraduate, and told The Boston Globe earlier this year, “You need college gymnastics. Look at all the old-school gymnasts – they all went to college. I still believe that’s the best way to learn how to compete.”
In 1984, the last time the U.S. men won an Olympic team gold, every member of the team was a college athlete.
At this year’s world championships, Bhavsar and Wilson were the only college gymnasts on the silver medal team.
In 2004, the men will have the best chance they’ve had in 20 years at an Olympic team gold.
“For team USA, we know there are tons of kids doing gymnastics in local private clubs, so even with the erosion of men’s gymnastics on the collegiate campuses, the USA will still work hard and be very good,” Avery said
In fact, Avery will soon be coaching four 2004 Olympic hopefuls. World all-around champion Paul Hamm and twin brother Morgan, both Olympians in 2000, will soon move from Wisconsin to train at OSU.
“(The Hamms) looked at this opportunity to train with the coaching staff here at this facility with all the support that Ohio State gives men’s gymnastics as an absolutely fantastic opportunity to train and hopefully help the U.S. win the Olympic gold medal,” Avery said.
The Buckeyes will open the season with a co-ed exhibition meet on Dec. 6. Their first home meet of the regular season will be Jan. 17 against Minnesota.
Come watch some of the best U.S. athletes compete before their sport becomes collegiate history.
Rachel Merton is a senior in English. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
