Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women's Gymnastics: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Exploring the events and milestones, hopefuls and icons, heartbreaks and triumphs of the sport, each episode of Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women's Gymnastics raises questions on the most challenging and thrilling aspects of gymnastics. How do athletes preserve their passion, confidence, and voice in a sport that pushes them beyond their limits? How do gymnasts maintain their mental toughness and laser focus while contending with all the external pressures placed upon them? And in an era of difficulty-dominant scoring, how do athletes stay unafraid of their own power? The documentary series examines these sport-specific subjects, while going in-depth on the broader themes of self-expression and resilience. In addition, the series does not shy away from the darker aspects of the sport, showing how gymnasts overcome body image issues, ageism, and abuse. Episode 5 of the series features survivors describing the sport's culture of abuse and explaining how they're using their voices and the life skills that gymnastics taught them to reclaim their beloved sport.

Series details

• Title: Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women's Gymnastics
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: Sports
• Premiere date: 2020-09-21
• Final broadcast date listed: 2020-09-21
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Web channel listed by TVmaze: YouTube
• Typical episode runtime: 38 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 50304

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2020-09-21; final listed air date 2020-09-21; episode order: 6.

Source and licence

Adapted from Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women's Gymnastics on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.