No it doesn't, although most of the best gymnasts, especially the women are usually small. The best known of these would have been the Russian gymnasts of the 70's and 80's who would also be kept on a strict diet to keep them petite. Tumbling and somersaults are easier if you are smaller so a larger gymnast would be at a disadvantage when compared with a smaller one. Male gymnastic events depend more on power and strength so the men tend to be muscular and of 'normal' build. Womens gymnastics tend to be more on finesse and style then outright power so favours a slighter build. Also puberty takes it's toll on the women gymnast as the body becomes less flexible and the feminine form becomes more pronounced, There had been some rumours that some gymnasts were given special drugs to hold back the onset of puberty.

Yes, it does stunt growth to a small degree in both men and women (although more in women). However, this is widely believed to be an impermanent growth deficiency. At the end of their career, gymnasts ussually grow some. After a year, this effect is noticable and after about 8 years, they've caught up with the average.

No, gymnastics definately does not stunt your growth. Sure the ideal gymnasts body is small and light being able to be throw themselves into the air and twist in different directions but, them being small, does not mean that they are small because of gymnastics. Only the really high top elite gymnasts (other than Svetlana Khorkina who is well-known all over the world)who are all on diets are short. Hsve you realized that before? The really really goood ones are the small ones. The small ones seem to be more determined to stay in the sport because they are "better" in a way because of their body. They have more of a drive to do well. it is easier for them to do skills so they want to try more. This is a fact that i think should be true. Smaller gymnasts stick withthe sport longer than a gymnast who is very tall. Gymnastics does not stunt our growth- it just seems that way because the smaller one are always the ones you seeon TV. you see them becaus they are good, they are the majority of the gymnasts that you see.

doing any sport or any exercise so much that your body fat stays extremely low can stunt your growth. many gymnasts have low body fat but gymnastic itself is not the cause of being short. i am 2 inches shorter than my growth plates predicted. yes, i was a gymnast but i was also anorexic (not because of gymnastics btw.)

Gymnasts are usually short and yes gymnastics is much easier if you are short, because it is easier to rotate and move your body faster. It is also easier to build up a high strength to body weight ratio. Some argue that gymnastics stunts your growth, others argue that it is just the shorter people who excell at the sport and stick with it. However it is proven that high level gymnasts do end up shorter than they should be. But this is not your regular recreational gymnasts or even your regular competitive gymnasts. This is elite gymnasts who train 30-40 hours a week in the sport from a very young age. Doing any activity that much will affect your growth. Kids are taller today than they ever have been before. This is because they are far less active today than in the olden days. The food they eat is not being burned up as much by exersize so more of it is used to grow (but this can make you grow outwards aswell as upwards). Anyone who trains in a sport for over 30 hours a week as a child will burn a few of their growing calories. But does it really matter. The success, confidence and fitness gained from gymnastics are worth a loss of an inch or two in height.

yes, because of the way your back bends and the strenuouse training. coaches use methods to do it like pushing on your back in a certain way to push on a groth plate wich forms the gymnast to be short and stumpy.

No it does not stunt your growth as some of the worlds top Gymnasts show. A lot of gymnasts over the years have been very small and chosen for that reason. Also it was common knowledge that some coaches gave hormones to girls to stop puberty to allow the girls to gain strength in the same way as young boys would grow.

I was in gymnastics for 9 years and competed in the national level. I think it does stunt your growth like others have said to a small degree. When I quit I was 14 and the same size for 3 years. After I quit however I did end up growing another inch. But I was always small and still am, if you are conserned about being short because of the sport I think you shouldn't worry about it. I would be more conserned with the hard workouts that marines would die tring to do.