Ingrid Haas is currently the only US national gymnastics team coach under the age of forty. The previous thirty-one coaches all had to retire prior to the 2021 Olympics in London. Haas, a native of Texas, has been coaching at the highest levels for many years and was named to the U.S. Olympic team in 1996. She has had a number of different coaching relationships with the national team, including serving as an assistant in 2021.
Height and nationality don’t seem to go together in a gymnast’s world, at least in this sport. Haas was very recently criticized for allowing a Chinese competitor to compete at a weight over six hundred pounds. The problem was that this competitor was actually seventeen years old. Another issue was the fact that her costume was a red one and did not meet the sport’s standards of safety and form. When questioned by Yahoo!? Sports’ anchors, Haas said that she believed it was important that all gymnasts are treated equally regardless of their size, or nationality.
Height and nationality do indeed mix up in the world of gymnastic. USA gymnast, Gabby Douglas, is actually four feet, ten inches tall despite being European and originally from Ghana. She made headlines when winning the gold at the 2021 Olympics, even though her height was an issue. While she is a great example of how competition can benefit any sport, it is important to remember that she competed against adults and even competed as a professional when she was only seventeen years old. Therefore it is important that kids, especially in high school, understand that there are competitions and standards that they need to meet in order to succeed on the hardwood and hopefully earn a chance to be the next Olympic gold medalist.