Gymnastics Hair: A Retrospective

/ April 6, 2016

As each Olympic cycle comes to a close and a new quad begins, new trends emerge. Not only do we see a shift in routine construction, whether it be the back to back tumbling passes of the late 1980s or 2015’s Year of the Wolf (Turn), we also get the pleasure of witnessing the gymnastics community’s interpretation of current fashion, hair and makeup styles. When all you’ve got is a leotard, it can be difficult to let your personality show through, but these ladies didn’t let that stop them from making a statement. Join us as we reminisce on the most popular hairstyles in women’s gymnastics, from early days of the sport all the way through the glitz and glamour of today!

The Bouffant, 1964-1968

Ah yes, the mid 60s…nothing like doing gymnastics with your Jackie O bouffant gloriously perched atop your teased crown. This look was the original business in the front, party in the back, before the volume moved exclusively to the bangs a few decades later. A few ladies who sported this elegant ‘do:

Vera Caslavska

Larisa Latynina

Natalia Kuchinskaya

Ewa Rydell

Pigtails, 1969-1972

The 1972 Olympics are most fondly remembered as the year the public was introduced to Soviet pixie Olga Korbut, and with her, the trend of pigtails adorned with yarn bows. This was the exact moment that the age of gymnasts in the sport shifted from women to young girls, so it was out with the old debutante updos and in with the charming youths!

Olga Korbut

Cathy Rigby

Ludmilla Tourischeva

The Romanian Ponytail, 1973-1976

Undoubtedly the face of the Olympics this year was Nadia Comaneci. Ponytails existed before this quad, but were surprisingly NOT the go-to that they are today. I don’t know why anyone would choose an elaborate updo with a million hairpins (WHAT IF YOU FALL AND ONE STABS YOU IN THE SKULL, WHAT THEN?!) but Nadia’s sporty ponytail definitely secured the spot as THE top style in all quads from here on out.

Nadia Comaneci

Nelli Kim

Karen Kelsall

The Bowl Cut, 1977-1980

Hark! A new trend arises! The short hair trend emerged in the late 70s and was the overwhelming favorite for a decade. It fizzled out a bit by the mid 90s with Kerri Strug and Amanda Borden of the Magnificent Seven being some of the last to embrace the trend, but Svetlana Khorkina proudly carried the torch for short hair fans everywhere, all the way up until the 2000 Olympics. This quad’s look was kind of a loose and shapeless style, inspired by the popularity of Princess Diana and figure skater Dorothy Hamill’s feathery crops. Nadia Comaneci even returned to the 1980 Olympics with the on-trend gender neutral bowl cut!

Elena Davydova

Heike Kunhardt

Nadia Comaneci

Steffi Kraker

Maxi Gnauck

The Permed Bang, 1981-1984

The short hair trend continued into the early 80s, morphing into more of a mullet shape and embracing a bit of feathering around the face, but Mary Lou Retton’s signature short hair did not end up dominating the quad. That title goes hands down to the permed bang. Different from the feathered bang of later quads, the permed bang is a style all its own – just ask the entire 1984 Romanian Olympic team.

Ecaterina Szabo

Simona Pauca

Pam Bileck

Natalia Yurchenko

The Permed Hair Pile, 1985-1988

In the mid-80s, the previous two quads combined powers to form the Ultimate Gym Hair. Never has a trend made such a powerful statement, featuring both the drama of a short, above the ears cut and the whimsy of a tight ringlet curl. Towards the beginning of the quad, it leaned towards a light cumulus cloud of ear-length curls, but then slowly began inching higher and higher until Daniela Silivas wrapped things up in ’88 with her AMAZING sky high poof of curls. You know what they say – the higher the hair, the closer to God! REVEL IN IT.

Kristie Phillips

Phoebe Mills

Elena Shevchenko

Hope Spivey

Yelena Shushunova

Daniela Silivas

The Feathered Bang, 1989-1992

Different from the permed bang of the early ’80s, the feathered bang featured the same end goal (Maximum Bang) but different execution. Lots of backcombing and teasing resulted in the epitome of style for the turn of the decade, with the ideal look a lightweight halo of hair across the forehead. Whether you finished it off with a ponytail or bun, a scrunchie was required.

Kim Zmeskal

Shannon Miller

Tatiana Gutsu

Svetlana Boginskaya

Svetlana Khorkina

Henrietta Onodi

Roza Galiyeva

Maximum Scrunchie, 1993-1996

The hair accessory trend turned the corner from bows to scrunchies in the previous quad, with the scrunchies growing larger by the year until finally maxing out at the 1996 Olympics. Just look at Lilia Podkopayeva, for whom one scrunchie was not enough. Voluminous bangs and short hair were still quite prevalent as well, but look, I lived through this era. If your scrunchie was not big enough for 50% of it to be visible from the front, you were doing it 100% wrong.

Dominique Moceanu

Dominique Dawes

Shannon Miller

Lilia Podkopayeva

Dina Kotchetkova

The 1996 Hungarian Olympic Team

Dep & Hair Clips, 1997-2000

Do you guys remember Dep? What about LA Looks? If you needed your hair game to be on point, you likely had an arsenal of these gels. Combined with Aquanet and those triangular flippy hair clips, you were in business. You achieved this look by starting with your hair soaking wet, coating the front four inches or so with a fistful of gel, and combing it back with either a fine-tooth comb or a bristle brush to ensure no flyaways. Then at the end of the day when you take your hair down, you can remove all of the pins and clips and elastics and it doesn’t even matter because your hair has now formed into a helmet and it’ll take you a good 15 minutes washing with Pert Plus to remove the gel’s leftovers. Anyway, that’s where hair took us at the end of the ’90s – even Khorkina and her riot grrl pixie cut couldn’t resist the wet hair gel vibes. We also see the scrunchie trend begin to wane…fear not, though. Though you physically get smaller, you are but strong and mighty.

Andreea Raducan

Svetlana Khorkina

Elise Ray

Simona Amanar

Elena Produnova

Mo Huilan

GLITTER, 2001-2004

Carrying over a bit from the previous quad, we’re now mixing hair gel with glitter. This quad was all about ramping things up in the bling department, so naturally the hair and make-up trends came along for the ride. Seriously, look at the above leotards and then scroll down. Leotards are mostly shinier thanks to the advent of Mystique fabric (Swarovski crystals didn’t explode into abundance on every leotard to exist ever until later in the decade), but it’s cute to look back and see the shimmery trend really begin to dig its heels in everything gymnastics.

Carly Patterson

Elena Zamolodchikova

Annia Hatch

Chellsie Memmel

 

Overly-Straight Ponytail, 2005-2008

It’s fascinating how almost every quad so far has been a fan of the ponytail but how each generation embraces it differently. When did you get a straightener? I got my first one in 2004 and HOO BOY did no one know how to use those things. So much straight hair. EVERYONE MUST HAVE STRAIGHT HAIR. Even girls with straight hair were straightening their hair. Goodbye to the desirable volume and body of the 90s, and hello to stick-straight and swingy ponies. We also see bows begin to make a comeback, but not in the style of Olga or Nadia. No, no. This is the 2000s, baby! We’re going full cheerleader!

Jiang Yuyuan

Shawn Johnson

Ashley Priess

Vanessa Ferrari

Alicia Sacramone & Sam Peszek

Nastia Liukin

The Messy Bun, 2009-2012

This quad was all about the half pull-through “bun.” You know, the thing on pinterest you always see and you’re just like WHY WON’T MY HAIR DO THAT AND LOOK CUTE. That thing. It’s been around since the 90s, but in this quad it became the go-to style statement that says “I’m not a regular gymnast, I’m a cool gymnast.” Though the hair was a mess, this quad’s competitors brought the eye makeup A game, with Russia’s Aliya Mustafina known more for her smoky hot #shadowgoals than for winning the gold medal on bars.

Tatiana Nabieva

McKayla Maroney

Gabby Douglas

Ksenia Afanasyeva

Nastia Liukin

Maria Paseka

The Ballerina Bun, 2013-2016

The gymnasts of the current quad have really stepped it up in the hair department, and honestly, I’m finally impressed. Martha Karolyi laid down the law for the U.S. national team about competition hair being too messy, and clearly she should be in charge of everything because daaaaaaaayum do these gals look amazing. All of the best trends of years past minus the crunchy gel of the 90s plus the dramatic makeup (shoutout again to Aliya Mustafina for kicking this off in 2010)? Girl, hold onto your red lipstick cuz this look is going places. We’ve got a heavy focus on a neat ballerina bun, minimal clips, and a statement lip to match. What’s not to love?

Simone Biles & Gabby Douglas

Aliya Mustafina (okay, so she stuck by her glitter gel, but she but WORKS IT)

Kyla Ross

Shang Chunsong

Claudia Fragapane

Maggie Nichols

Eythora Thorsdottir

Super perm or pin straight, yarn bows or glitter gel, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter WHAT your hair looks like if you’re racking up medals like a boss. Simone Biles could show up at the Olympic Games fully bald this summer and Aliya Mustafina could be sporting the latest in mohawk fashion, but as long as they’re kicking butt in the sport they love, I’m on board.

Article by Erika Peterson

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105 thoughts on “Gymnastics Hair: A Retrospective”

  4. Honorable mentions:

    Oksana Chusovitina for rocking the bowl cut for like 2 decades. (I wish i could find the link to the old TCG blog about chuso on acid or something.. it chronicles her hair/leos over the years and it is FABULOUS lol)

    The early 2000s Parkette corn rows.. glitter and corn rows..

    Anastasia Grishina and her 400 heart/star clips on london

    Lol.. gosh I love this blog 🙂

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  6. Oh! And I could never get over shannon Miller’s white gigantic scrunchies or Victoria Karpenko’s huge bangs. Even if you weren’t into hair, you just could not miss those two. And then of course there was Korkhina’s short hair. I was never a big fan of her gymnastics per se. Too much pouting, sulking, flirting and disguising her dodgy landings with little hops and smiles. But this hair! Oh yeah! So, when she joined the ponytail bandwagon in 2004, I lost all interest.

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  8. I usually don’t pay much attention to their hair, but I do notice (and hate) the Minnie Mouse bows that seem sort of popular this quad. Mykayla Skinner is far and away the worst for it, but it pops up on others as well.

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  10. Simone’s hair was actually in a regular pony in that photo with her with Gabby (as it was for quals and TF), buuuuut the rest of this article is just… the best fucking thing ever. As a gymnast myself, I was around for the days of fishnetting, basket weaves, corn rows, 203947892374 clips, and gel glitter. Also, double french braids for everyone. It was a sad, sad sad time. (Ofc, that was when every true leo came WITH a matching scrunchie and you were expected to wear it with your competition leo nO MATTER WHAT!)

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  11. Oh, also, for the USA and GB? The USA (including NCAA) has the new trend of the sectioned-off french braid that runs along the front, starting just past mid-part and goes to the ear, followed by a continued loose braid gathering with the rest of the hair in a pony. And some girls for the love of god can’t take two seconds to turn their comb around and make a straight, smooth rectangle part…and instead just gather chunks in the front in this crooked MESS in the front and earn themselves a nice comic sans Close Enough star.

    And while that’s the trend for club and for NCAA for the US, the GB girls have the new “extreme bun” trend going on. ….complete with fake foam donuts to wrap the hair around for a “bun” and everything. Slicked back hair, massively thick ribbon or scrunchie, THEN the donut “ballerina bun” (only, Joffrey would send your ass packin’ for showing up with that kind of nonsense). It’s the ultimate Frag bun that stands about 6 to 7 inches off the back of the head in total. It’s infected their club gymnasts too. >_<

    As long is it's not the Gaskins bird nest or the extreme sports: Top Knot edition worn by Schild in EF at Jesolo???? I might be okay 🙂

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    • Ruby Harold’s sock bun is in a league of its own! That thing is epic! Totally agree about Gaskins bird nest, but the ultimate prize for bird nest of the decade goes to Nastia’s hot mess at trials in 2012. (See above)

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    • I actually love GB’s buns. They always win points with me from both their leos and hair.
      I am with you, though, I could write a whole article on the buns I don’t like.

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  12. Loved this writeup. I think you should have mentioned the Parkettes cornrows in the early 2000’s. Kristin Maloney rocked the cornrows. Seda Tutkhalyan is trying to bring it back (see her 2015 World Championship hair).

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  13. I like Shawn Johnson’s style. I prefer neat and clean style, not too much gel ( except Mus’s). I don’t understand the messy bun, they’d guess it fit well with MM’s I am not impressed attitude. But I was not impressed with the Hair style, LOL

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  14. Ah, Lauren, you’re the BEST! And I would not be surprised if this article gets more clicks and comments than your most sophisticated gym analysis ever 🙂 We’re GAAALS… :))

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  16. Awesome article!! I think the rosy time I really noticed hair styles was with Anna pavlova. I wanted those stars-hair-clips so badly!!!!

    It’s interesting to see this Olympics if all countries have there own hairstyle and/or who copies who 😛

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  17. You put in a pic of it but what about that hair bump that Nastia loved so much! It was super popular(for a short time) but yeesh still can’t forget that one

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  18. And then there’s NCAA hair. With it’s own, er, style? My least favorite of which is the upside down french braid from the back of the head to the pony tail. It just looks… wrong. Also, Arkansas. Wrong wrong wrong.
    I love that Miss Val makes UCLA keep it classic. Another example of the corn rows there with Angi Cipra.

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  19. Also of note are hair trends out of time:
    Dagmar Kersten rocked the permed bangs in ’88. (With a seriously stylish suspender-esque leo)
    And best pigtails ever – Yang Bo in ’89

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  21. Several of the pics above illustrating the 1989-1992 quadrennial are mistakenly attributed to that quad. Khorkina’s ponytail is from the 1993 Euros or Workds, and I’m pretty sure that shot of Galieva is from 1996. Highly entertaining post!

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  24. I’m surprised that the side bun and braids never became popular. I’m secretly hoping that the “mun” or man bun becomes popular in men’s gymnastics.
    Thank you goddess. Thank you for making my life as a mother easy by plopping a curly wig on my daughter during her days as an Irish Dancing champ!

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  35. Reblogged this on Serendipity and commented:
    Blogger’s word is a distinct planet. You will see a lot of creative ideas of sharing with people. I always wonder about what I going to share here on this blog… but when I see posts like this, I say to myself there is never an end for creativity. You only need inner force to create something collectively different than a crowd! It’s an urge to stand tall and unique in mediocrity!

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    I am not into exercise, diet, fitness etc. These words are out of my dictionary. But I always admire these gymnastic people. My younger brother was one of the best gymnast in his schooldays. So you see he is also alien for me 😉 😛

    Few years ago I read an article by a lady who was on high position in corporate. She shared her experience. She raised her voice in her company for a mirror in ladies washroom. Looking beautiful is inner instinct of every girl or woman and it is natural so you cannot ignore it. We people often disregard the relation of the beauty and girls who are into kind of manly or sturdy things. I have seen few video stories on this issue and they seem like a having surprising element. These videos beautifully seed the ideas to this conservative world that a beautiful lady can be a wrestler or soldier etc. Enjoy this factual post that reiterate every person irrespective of his or her profession has right to present himself or herself aesthetically.

    BE THE NEW!

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