The U.S. Olympic men’s gymnastics team wants you to love them for their bodies.
Of course, winning would be great and the team is the front runner going into Mondaynight’s finals after finishing second behind China in qualifying rounds, the Wall Street Journal reported, but the chiseled and flexible guys are willing to do whatever it takes to get people’s attention— even strip to their Speedos. “People make fun of us for wearing tights,”Sam Mikulak, the four-time reigning all-around national champion said, “but if they saw how yoked we are maybe that would make a difference.”
Jonathan Horton, the 2008 high bar silver medalist, said he wishes men’s gymnastics would get the attention women’s gymnastics does and a male gymnast would become a household name like their female counterparts. “You would think that the top guy in a big-time sport like that could get, like, not a LeBron James contract, but some good money,” Horton told the Journal. “You really can’t make a living off men’s gymnastics.” “The biggest sport around the world is soccer,” Horton added. “But gymnastics is right there—except in the U.S.”
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The team does have a chance to nab the gold,SB Nationreported, and Danell Levya, the individual all-around bronze medalistin London,said winningwould be a better way for the mento get noticed. America’s female gymnasts “should be popular—and even more popular,” he said. “It’s one of the few events in this country where women do get the amount of credit they deserve.”
The men compete Monday at 3 p.m. ET. Watch ithere.
