Womens' Gymnastics - benefit of those ultra-narrow hips?

Question

Just wondering why the extremely narrow hips are so prevalent. What benefit do they provide? Flexibility?

Every one of the ones I'm seeing have narrower hips than chests, and it's not because they have b*****s! Their bone structure is just that way, and it's scary. How could these 5 foot tall women with 22 inch hips, 21 inch waists, and 24 inch chests (just guesstimates/example) even be able to handle child-bearing?!

Not trying to be rude or insulting, they're great athletes.. just trying to understand why it's so prevalent.

Answer 1

My guess is that those girls delay there puberty by all the exercising and weight lifting they do  and widing of the hips is what happens to women thru puberty most of them don't even have their 1st period till they are in there 20's

Answer 2

They have ultra-narrow hips because they are so skinny.  They have no fat on their body.  What b*****s? They are built like little girls.  Gymnastics is so hard on your body and these girls are underdeveloped.  They probably don't eat a lot so that they can keep their weight down and perform better.  They are great athletes but being smaller is definitely an advantage in gymnastics.  

Answer 3

It's a center-of-gravity issue. When women's hips grow, the center of gravity becomes lower. This requires for a gymnast a lot of changes. It also means the lower part of the body is heavier. So, again, more adjustments, which is a challenge to any athlete. Also, with the hip growth, some stress is placed on the knee by the new angle. These are real issues, and I don't know how much they play a role in the success of the younger gymnasts, because another reason the younger gymnasts are successful is because their bodies are more supple, and by exercising a lot, they delay puberty and have a low percentage of body fat, which means that they weigh less so there's less stress on joints, and they're more flexible. Once they start growing more, they get that ungainly quality that adolescents have as they try to adjust to their new bodies. For men, the problems they face are made up for by the muscle strength they gain via maturation. But women don't gain enough muscle strength with maturation to make up for all of the down sides of puberty.

Answer 4

I guess greater flexibility? I would imagine too narrow hips will make balance harder actually. To me, the biggest benefit is to have long legs in compare to your height. Nastia Liukin does and I notice those long legs of hers help her land well during her dismounts since her legs reach the floor so quick, thus lesser room for error.