Christina "Christy" Renée Henrich (July 18, 1972 – July 26, 1994) was an American

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. Her death from

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

at age 22 led to major reforms in the way women's gymnastics is covered on television and in the news media. She was coached by Al Fong.

Early career

Training with Al Fong at the Great American Gymnastics Express (GAGE) club in Blue Springs,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Henrich made the U.S. national gymnastics team in 1986 after placing fifth all-around in the junior division at the U.S. National Championships. She continued to climb through the elite ranks over the next four years, placing ninth at the 1988 Olympic Trials, and winning the silver medal in the all-around at the 1989 U.S. National Championships. She represented the United States at the 1989 World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, placing fourth with the American team, and just missing a medal in the uneven bars final. One of Henrich's original balance beam leaps was named after her in the '' Code of Points;'' as of 2007, the skill is still included in the ''Code'', and carries a 'C' difficulty rating.

Weight issues

Though Henrich was succeeding in gymnastics, a judge at an international meet in 1989 told her bluntly that she was fat and needed to lose weight. The perception of Henrich's weight being too high was fueled further by the culture of elite gymnastics, which was dominated by "pixies"—small, underweight, prepubescent girls. Her own coach, Al Fong—coach of the late

Julissa Gomez Julissa D'Anne Gomez (November 4, 1972 – August 8, 1991) was an American gymnast whose rapid rise through the ranks of elite gymnastics in the mid-1980s was cut short by a vaulting accident in 1988 that left her a quadriplegic. She eventual ...

, who also reportedly felt pushed into doing something unsafe when she kept attempting the difficult-to-master Yurchenko vault until she was rendered quadriplegic in a vaulting accident—had also allegedly made insulting remarks about her size and body type. Desperate to move up the ranks in the highly competitive world of Olympic-level gymnastics, Henrich took the criticisms to heart; her drive to lose a few pounds progressed to disordered eating habits and, eventually, the development of

."Dying to Win: The Christy Henrich story" ''Dateline,''1995 At first, neither her family nor her coaches were aware of the situation. She tied for second place on

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

at the

USA Gymnastics National Championships The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United S ...

in June 1990, but soon after, her battle with anorexia took such a toll on her health that she was no longer strong enough to compete, and she was asked to leave GAGE. She retired from the sport in January 1991. Despite many early treatments and hospitalizations, her weight deteriorated to 47 pounds (21 kg). Henrich died of multiple organ failure on July 26, 1994.

Aftermath

Henrich's death brought the problem of eating disorders in women's gymnastics into the spotlight. Gymnasts such as Kathy Johnson and

Cathy Rigby Cathleen Roxanne Rigby (later Mason, later McCoy; born December 12, 1952), known as Cathy Rigby, is an actress, speaker, and former artistic gymnast. Her performance in the 1968 Summer Olympics helped to popularize the sport of gymnastics in th ...

admitted to having periods of

disordered eating Disordered eating describes a variety of abnormal eating behaviors that, by themselves, do not warrant diagnosis of an eating disorder. Disordered eating includes behaviors that are common features of eating disorders, such as: * Chronic restra ...

that resembled

anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

and

bulimia Bulimia nervosa, also known simply as bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating (eating large quantities of food in a short period of time, often feeling out of control) followed by compensatory behaviors, such as self-induc ...

; and other U.S. National Team gymnasts stepped forward and went public about their own eating disorders and disordered eating. The focus on gymnast wellness was addressed with several programs on both the national and international levels, such as educational videos, nutrition counseling and classes, to varying degrees of success. Additionally, American television channels broadcasting gymnastics competitions, such as

NBC-TV The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and ABC-TV, stopped commenting about or listing gymnasts' weights in captions in the mid-1990s. Television stations from other nations have adopted similar policies.

Personal life

Henrich was engaged to Bo Moreno from the age of 18 until her death after the two met at high school in

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 Unite ...

"A Gymnast’s Death Was Supposed to Be a Wake-Up Call. What Took So Long?"
Maggie Astor, ''New York Times,'' April 28, 2022

References

External links