Before the ESPN Body Issue existed, Cathy Rigby posed nude for Sports Illustrated. At the time, it was a big enough sensation that Arthur Gander, the FIG president, commented on the matter.
Let’s take a look at what he said…
Warning: This article will touch upon body image issues and eating disorders.
Note: This is part of a series of posts on the FIG leadership in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Other posts include:
As we saw with Villancher’s commentary on the 1968 women’s Code of Points, gymnastics does not happen in a vacuum. It interacts with the culture around it.
To help you understand where the FIG leadership stood on some social and cultural issues, the next two posts will be dedicated to the FIG president’s reaction to the worldwide counterculture movement (broadly defined) that whipped through the world in the 1960s and 1970s.
First up: The 1971 European Championships and Arthur Gander’s response to Ole Bendiktsen’s long hair.
