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What: “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes” (Lifetime television movie)

When: Friday at 9 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 2, at 9 p.m.

Joan Ryan’s 1995 book, “Little Girls in Pretty Boxes--The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters,” fired a dart at the women’s gymnastics community that continues to sting. The San Francisco Chronicle columnist’s portrayal of a win-at-all-costs world dominated by tyrannical coaches, obsessive parents and abused athletes irked a good many gymnastics officials, but then came Kerri Strug’s controversial Olympic vault last summer, and there was Ryan in Atlanta, besieged with interview requests.

This Lifetime movie claims to be based on Ryan’s book, but it is no documentary or real-life reenactment. The story here is a fictionalized composite of the various gymnasts studied and chronicled by Ryan.

Katie Bryant (played by Courtney Peldon of “Home Improvement”) is a gifted 14-year-old gymnast with aspirations considerably higher than her local, low-key gymnastics club. The movie follows her recruitment by an elite coach, the physical and emotional abuse she endures in her pursuit of her “Olympic dream” and the strain it places on her family.

Swoosie Kurtz, as Katie’s mother, is convincing as a parent torn between fulfilling her daughter’s ambition and shepherding her safety. In fact, “Little Girls” works best when it focuses on the parents, who are often more competitive than their daughters.

“This isn’t golf, mom,” Katie snaps when her mother questions her about the vial of pain-killers found stashed inside a music box. No, it certainly isn’t. As presented here, it’s a world spun out of control--and, too often, only in fiction does sanity prevail in the end.