Another reason gymnastic study is valuable is that it can be started very early in life. (An enterprising teacher or parent could start training a healthy child at the age of seven days. Most Europeans have been exercising newborn infants for centuries.) In most sports, as in most walks of life, the angels are on the side of those who begin young, and the Russian competitor of 16 has at least thirteen years of training behind him. The American is very lucky if he has three.

If a nation wished to get a head start in physical fitness over all other nations, it would start its kindergarten students on a program of gymnastics the day they entered and thus eliminate a large number of the problems that plague American schools. First of the problems attacked would be fatigue and emotional tension, since action relieves both. Oddly enough, it is proven that there would be less reading difficulty. Certainly there would be less anxiety, fewer accidents (it is the clumsy child who sustains the worst injuries), and higher scholastic averages, since alert children work better. Russia knows this, and that is why there were over 800000 competing for places as candidates for the Olympic gymnastic team. Eighty thousand won top honors and a chance to try for the team itself. We could scarcely find eighty in our great land of over 180 million people.

And what has dancing to do with all this? A great deal. Russia's young gymnasts have studied dance before having the rigorous training on apparatus. Well stretched, trained in posture and coordinated movement, and wedded to rhythm, they presented the audiences in Rome with one of the most beautiful sights ever seen at any Olympic contest. American audiences in particular learned two valuable lessons. They saw completely masculine and obviously virile men performing with incredible grace. They were further stripped of old wives' tales by seeing the slender, lovely Russian girls performing feats requiring tremendous strength -- and with not one bulging muscle.