USA Olympic gymnasts need just taste of honey and a little chalk on parallel bars
Sam Mikulak knows he’s found the right honey-to-chalk ratio when it starts squeaking. Chris Brooks slathers honey on his hands before adding just a thin layer of chalk.
And Danell Leyva looks at the consistency of the honey for optimal stickiness.
“If it’s too watery, it’s not good. And if it’s too thick, it’s also not good,” Leyva said. “So it has to be the perfect middle.”
No, gymnasts aren’t conducting some weird science or culinary experiment in the middle of the gymnastics meet. They’re chalking the parallel bars before they compete on them, a Goldilocks-type endeavor specific to each competitor. It’s unique within gymnastics too. No other event for men or women necessitates it.
Sure, the women have uneven bars, and the men have high bar, but the gymnasts use water and chalk and wear grips on their hands.
On parallel bars, the men don’t have that. So having anything that can help create stability as they go above and especially below the bar is critical.
Enter honey.
Leyva said it’s critical because his most difficult gymnastics skill – one which requires him to circle under the bars with a piked body, shoot into a handstand and then do a full spin on one arm – relies on his grip on the bars.
“You need to be very confident in the bar,” said Leyva, the 2011 world champion and four-time American champion on the event. “You need to be very confident with the skill itself, with your body and everything.
“It can’t be too dry because then I feel like I slip off,” he added. “And obviously too wet would be equally as bad, so it has to be sticky.”
Leyva, the 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist, is competing in Rio after initially being named an alternate. He had struggled through the trials process after being bitten in the leg breaking up a dog fight. But teammate John Orozco tore his anterior cruciate ligament in training, so Leyva was chosen to replace him.
Leyva is the only American in the p-bar final. He, along with Brooks and Mikulak, competed in the event in the team final, where the U.S. placed fifth.
The Americans brought their own chalk, which can vary greatly from their own at international competitions, and honey.
If it’s a fresh bottle, they might grab some for a snack before a routine. The brand doesn’t matter, Mikulak said, as long as they can stay on the bars.
“In the end, honey’s honey and it really is in a way kind of mental,” said Mikulak. “You just have to grip it.”