Simone Biles, a renowned athlete, recently secured a gold medal in the women’s all-around final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, while her teammate Sunisa Lee clinched a bronze. This victory adds to the U.S. women’s artistic gymnastics team’s impressive medal count, which includes a gold in the team final as well. With Biles and Lee at the helm, more medals are expected as the competition progresses.
The awe-inspiring performances of gymnasts like Biles often leave spectators wondering about the science behind their gravity-defying feats. To shed light on this, NPR’s science podcast Short Wave reached out to science communicator Frederic Bertley, CEO of the Center of Science and Industry. According to Bertley, the key to understanding the physics behind gymnastics lies in anatomy. The demanding routines necessitate a strong muscular build, with shorter individuals having an advantage in executing aerial maneuvers.
Gravity plays a crucial role in gymnastics, pulling athletes towards the Earth’s center. To counteract this force, gymnasts must utilize their muscular strength, kinetic motion, and understanding of momentum to propel themselves off equipment like the springboard. Bertley emphasizes that gymnasts are essentially practical physics experts, seamlessly integrating scientific principles into their performances.
In various events, gymnasts must generate momentum to execute their skills effectively. This often involves a sprint, such as in the vault competition, followed by becoming airborne for flips or twists. The intricate movements require gymnasts to calculate their velocity, rotation, and trajectory to achieve precision in their routines. Adding twists introduces additional complexities, as gymnasts must navigate multiple vectors of motion simultaneously.
Bertley describes gymnastics as a harmonious blend of Newtonian physics within a biological system, where variables are constantly changing. The athletes’ cognitive mastery is instrumental in orchestrating these physical elements to perfection. As the 2024 Paris Olympics unfold, NPR continues to cover the scientific aspects behind various athletes’ performances. For suggestions on which Olympians to feature next, reach out to Short Wave at shortwave@npr.org.
This insightful episode was produced and fact-checked by Berly McCoy, edited by showrunner Rebecca Ramirez, and engineered by Robert Rodriguez.