Gymnastics has moved over the last 25 years into an era characterised by ahtleticism, agility and small body size. Through the 1970's with Olga Korbut and Nadia Comanichi and into the 80's with Oksana Omilianchik and Mary-Lou Retton, contemporary gymnastics certainly witnessed the 'child champion'. Small and strong; the body shape these athletes had led them to bring the complexity of women's gymnastics to a level never witnessed before. Recently, for application in the current Olympic Cycle, the Federation of International Gymnastics raised the minimum age of senior women gymnasts from 15 to 16 years. This change acknowledged that young girls with small bodies often achieved higher levels of performance early in their careers and was an attempt to reward girls who stay in the sport to physical maturity. Contrary to this, during the last decade we have witnessed some taller, more linear, gymnasts such as Svetlana Boginskia and current World Champion Svetlana Chorkina; both substantially taller women have been able to work the Code of Points to their advantage. But now moving into the new millennium, all available information indicates that the next 'Code of Points' will possess an acrobatic bias. This bias will encourage those athletes with the acrobatic athletic structure currently being characterised by American - Vanessa Atler; an athlete who is compact in body size, explosive and dynamic in performance and displays complex acrobatics. A new open ended judging criteria, similar to that used in diving, will be implemented and more difficult and complex routines will be rewarded with higher scores. Taking this into consideration, smaller gymnasts with a high strength to weight ratio are better able to handle their own weight during complex skills, particularly those involving rotation around one or more axis of the body. Biomechanical principles underlie this trend in both physique and style. Selection of the appropriate body type prior to training is critical to be successful in elite gymnastics in this day and age. In summary, from the results of the study, for optimal performance in gymnastics the following factors are important: a small body small steady increases in growth high strength : weight ratio training greater than 20 hours per week