Here's Why You Don't See the Women's Gymnastics Team Doing the Pommel Horse at the Olympics

The U.S. gymnastics teams have given Americans something to feel patriotic about for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Not only is Simone Biles returning once again to compete for the gold, but the men's team has some big names to watch out for.

More people are tuning into the men's performance this year as competitors like Stephen Nedoroscik and Brody Malone give the U.S. it's best shot at a medal in the men's division in years.

But those who are used to the women's gymnastics events will probably be confused why the different teams have such different events. Why don't women do the pommel horse event? Let's break it down.

It's not entirely clear why the pommel horse isn't a part of women's gymnastics, but it likely has something to do with the difference between men's and women's body composition. Most of the events women compete in rely heavily on their lower body strength, while the men's lean into their upper body strength. There's also the fact that most women's hips are wider than men's, which makes it more difficult for women to complete the various requirements the men's events have successfully.

In gymnastics, specifically, women also used to perform as adults post-puberty, though the teams currently are often made up of teenagers and women in their early 20s. Because of this, it was much reportedly harder for the women to partake in events that required them to swing around the lower half of their bodies.

There's also the added layer of gender norms, which eventually favored more dance-centric events for women, as many early female gymnasts were dancers.

Those who tune into both gymnastics teams' performances at the Olympics will note that the events each team competes in are very different from the other. The men's team actually has two more events than the women's to perform in, despite both teams only being able to take five athletes onto their team.

The women compete in floor, uneven bars, beam, and vault, while the men compete in floor, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

Both the men's and women's team have to compete in the floor and vault events, though they still look different in action. The women's floor routine requires a dance element, while the men's only needs tumbling passes. The vault passes, though, will often look similar, though there's usually a slight difference in their run onto the table.

Because of this difference in the number of events each team has to perform in, it's a bit difficult for the men's team to have specialized members only competing in one or two events. That said, that didn't stop them from bringing Stephen onto the team this year — and his expertise in the pommel horse seems to be greatly benefiting the U.S.'s chances of taking home more medals in this year's games.