More on the unholy union of gymnastics and figure skating

A friend sent me a link to this essay in Slate. It's about figure skating but I'm sure it will resonate with many of the gymnasts out there who worked hard and obsessively but came nowhere near the sport's pinnacle.

Though I'm not bitter as the author professes to be, I do strongly agree with her on this point:

It's just a little vexing that, every time my skating career comes up, I inevitably get asked about the Olympics. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't seem to happen with other sports. If someone mentions that he played football, his listeners don't automatically say, "So, did you play in the Super Bowl?" Or baseball: "Were you in the World Series?"

Now how many of you former gymnasts out there have encountered the same thing? Anytime you tell someone you used to do gymnastics, they immediately ask you whether you were trying for the Olympic team. Or if you could do what the elites do on television. I've often wondered why admitting that you participate in some sports and activities- figure skating, gymnastics, breaking (I always get asked if I can do head spins even after I tell people that I've only been doing it for a short amount of time) implies some sort of proficiency whereas telling someone you play basketball doesn't compel him to ask you if you're on an NBA team.

In honor of "failed" figure skaters and gymnasts everywhere, I present silver medalist Evgeny Plushenko performing "Sex Bomb." If he had done this at the Olympics, he would've won.