Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Headlines The overturning of Roe, the disastrous implications for human rights and gymnastics, and which gymnasts have hit the streets The good news: Sanity has prevailed and Rhys McClenaghan can compete at the Commonwealth Games Japan has left world beam champion Ashikawa Urara off this year's worlds team. We dissect how this happened and whether it makes sense Meet News Germany got the band back together for nationals, Kim Bui won two titles at 33, and a wolf turn reaction for the ages Naomi Visser dominated Dutch nationals, Eythora returned with a new floor routine, and Sanne left the national team! Italy sent its A team to win the Mediterranean Games, while France took 2nd despite an injury to Lorette Charpy because we can't have nice things. BUT, Melanie is back to being perfect in training Olga The film about a Ukrainian gymnast who goes to live in exile in Switzerland during the 2013-2014 rebellion is out in limited release in the US. We discuss the AMAZING performance from Anastasia Budiashkina,

Normally BTS is just for Club Members but considering the gravity of the news today, we had requests to make it public.  Today we grieve the loss of human rights in the United States and discuss how the Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade will impact the sport; answer your questions live and read your excellent letters: What are Ukrainian Bars; why did Khorkina wear a t-shirt with her own face on it; Full Out 2; girls wrestling recruiting gymnasts; Jessica accidentally throwing her doctor off balance; Olympic transportation and volunteer conditions; two family vault changes; lack of Gadirovas and more. BTS is a weekly Q&A podcast just for club gym nerd members! If there isn't a competition, we record every Friday at noon (PST). It's our appreciation love letter to club members for supporting the show. Here's how to ask questions live.

The Judge Survey This week, we had elite and NCAA judges complete an anonymous survey, and they did NOT hold back. We discuss: Parents offering sexual favors to get their children higher scores Judges getting bribed to adjust scores The deep generational tension permeating NCAA women's judging The politics of changing scores to stay in range with the rest of the panel Judging: Not for the faint of heart. Stories about thrown projectiles, threats of bodily harm, and the very real danger presented by passionate grandparents Judges offer up what needs to change in judging, including deep racial bias from other judges and the impossibility of judging accurately in NCAA The judges sound off on what they get most unfairly criticized for The biggest misconceptions about gymnastics judging—like the importance of lineup order and the alleged subjectivity of judging Plus, the hero child who punched the beam, a spate of judge food poisoning, and an important lesson about why you don't go to the bathroom to complain

HEADLINES Chellsie Memmel and Alicia Sacramone-Quinn spoke with the media about their priorities in their new positions of leadership at USAG, including: Artistry, the code, and what got lost in translation in the past The importance of having two vaults How to get everyone on the same page with expectations and selection procedures How to change camps to protect the gymnasts' health How abuse would be handled moving forward The FIG clarified why it is not allowing the Irish gymnasts to represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games. We discuss what the FIG is missing and why this is not actually comparable to typical FIG nationality changes. And why is this only being dealt with now, at the last minute? GYMTERNET NEWS The US has named the men's team for the Pan American Championship U.S. Gymnasts have sued the FBI for $1 Billion Results from Osijek, where Spencer mostly wants to talk about Romania Plus, Tasha Schwikert on the USAG board, a new gymnastics video game, terrible news for future S

GYMNASTICS TV SHOWS Make It or Break It and the art of the...punch fr-andspring back stepout Mr. T and cartoon gymnastic form BIOGRAPHICAL TV MOVIES How do you make a stunt person doing something literally only one person can do? When you're definitely not standing on the vault to do a Yurchenko 1.5. Not at all. WHEN NON-GYMNASTICS SHOWS TRY The Bones episode with McKayla Maroney Quincy ME and the danger of the GYMNASTIC DRUG PILLS SVU and the kitchen sink of gymnastics terrors When Bart, Nadia, and Kerri appeared on Touched By An Angel with the meanest angels ever Killing Eve and the case of the anachronistic bars Degrassi and the beam fall of pregnancy Plus, a moment for the Gymnastics and Figure Skating Spectacular when Nastia felt herself near the beam and Shawn had to wear hip shreddings.  JUDGE SURVEY Special episode on judges coming soon. if you are a NCAA or Elite rated judge (MAG or WAG), we want to hear from you. Anonymous survey here. JOIN CLUB GYM NERD Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it

USAG has named the three-member coalition that will lead the US women's program: Alicia Sacramone-Quinn, Chellsie Memmel, and Dan Baker. We discuss How responsibilities will be divided among the three of them Who makes up the new selection committee Potential pros of the new hires Potential cons of the new hires, including lack of elite coaching experience, lack of authority over old-time coaches, and the events of 2011 worlds Ashley Priess-Johnston is the new head coach at Alabama The FIG is preventing Rhys McClenaghan from competing at Commonwealth Games GYMTERNET NEWS World Championship qualification news and Australian nationals Canadian Nationals and a new element alert Norah Flatley is transferring to Arkansas The FIG is banning political propaganda. But how will that be defined? 175 gymnasts signed a letter in support of Chris Waller.  JOIN CLUB GYM NERD Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to Behind the Scenes episodes. Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here. We have a Ukrai

MYTHBUSTERS Today, Uncle Tim makes his triumphant return to the podcast to deliver a cornucopia of busted myths and preposterous facts that he has uncovered during research for gymnastics-history.com, including: Why was the Sydney vault too low? We finally know! The (less exciting) real story of Vera Caslavska, Larisa Petrik, and the 1968 floor final A 1968 beam protest A men's judging fight! Plus, Jessica and Spencer go head-to-head in a gymnastics history True/False quiz JOIN CLUB GYM NERD Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to Behind the Scenes episodes. Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here. We have a Ukraine Fundraiser design, all proceeds go to the CARE Ukraine Crisis fund. RELATED EPISODES & RESOURCES Donate grips and tape for Ukrainian gymnasts Donate to family of Alabama volunteer assistant coach in Ukraine To follow the effects of the Russian invasion to Ukraine on gymnastics, go to Gymnovosti Athletistry GYMKATA Myths, Legends, and Unexpected Moments Part 1 M

The competitions we have to look forward to this summer, and why this year is different from all other years SEA Games: Rifda Irfanaluthfi won the all-around title, Aleah Finnegan did the piked deltchev, Carlos Yulo did everything better than everyone, and we have some words about composition requirements Janelle McDonald is the new UCLA head coach. What should the first order of business be? Constant vigilance news out of the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, the US, and everywhere Plus, awards for Lexy Ramler and Trinity Thomas, Fisk's first gymnast, which gymnasts are coming back to college for extra years, which familiar names excelled at L10 nationals, Chuso doing Chuso, and Simone's new reality show And your feedback on the live show, rewarding difficulty, toxic coaches, college 10s, and who can hope to be a good gymnast JOIN CLUB GYM NERD Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to Behind the Scenes episodes. Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here. We have a Ukraine Fundraiser design

WATCH HERE Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and see some of the gymnastics we discuss, plus get access to all of our exclusive interviews and Behind The Scenes episodes.  Please login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen and/or watch this episode. Not a member? Join here. GYMKATA This week, the episode Jessica and Spencer have been training in the woods for their whole lives: Gymkata. In 1985's action film spectacular, the dear departed Kurt Thomas must travel to the very real and geographically consistent nation of Parmistan to try to survive THE GAME, a totally unnecessary obstacle course where people kill you at the very beginning. We discuss: For a closed central Asian nation, everyone sure is American and can come and go as needed Very 3-dimensional female characters with clear goals and lines (JKKKKKKK) MULLETS Men holding giant birds for no reason Cool technological weapons, like a...little axe? That thing where you find a dead body and hear a BOIYOINGGGGG sound The most a

WATCH HERE Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and see some of the gymnastics we discuss, plus get access to all of our exclusive interviews and Behind The Scenes episodes. Please login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen and/or watch this episode. Not a member? Join here. LEOTARDS Disclaimer: We like you as a worthwhile and beautiful human person, even if your leotard is objectively a garbage fire This week, Lauren from the gymter.net reunites with Jessica and Spencer to goof about leotards for a while. We discuss: What is the sign of a perfect leotard? Is it even a leotard at all? Why your leotard shouldn't make us think about leather hammocks The superhero leo trend. Where is it going next? Is it possible to lean in to a theme...too hard? Pride and BLM leos, plus actual skin color inclusion (what a concept!) Gold and flags. Stop. Don't. The Unitard revolution The gravity defying backless trend strengthens and of course, crotch fashion. Why compromise is the enemy of good leos

An episode all about the glorious leotard! Spencer, Lauren, and Jessica chat about leos leos leos; biggest leotard fails, the most patriotic, custom theme leos, Australia, cut outs, crushed velvet, rules for leotard design, technology, sewn in underpants, leotard deductions, controversies and the most notorious leotards of all time. Visit gymcastic.com to view all the leotards we talk about in this episode. 

NCAA Gymnastics Championships We discuss Suni's interview about whether (and how long) she's going to stay at Auburn Oklahoma is the national champion! How they did it despite a bad start, how they fought for every detail on the final three events, and how Spencer singlehandedly inspired them to victory How Florida successfully avoided a Florida postseason implosion but lost the title on vault, and the equipment problem in the semifinal that made everyone have to swaddle Trinity Jessica explains the very rare Triple Jinx that kept Utah in third place, and why Auburn was the second happiest group of people in Texas Rage about the lack of individual title acknowledgement and the AUDACITY to STAND UP and MOVE AROUND during certain routines Trinity Thomas won the all-around and two event titles, and Megan Skaggs surprised for 3rd AA as a perennial leadoff gymnast Michigan. Sigh. Stellar performances from Missouri and Minnesota to finish 5th and 6th. Man Things Kensley is here to recap men's gymnastics nation

Jessica, Spencer, and the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion VANESSA ATLER will recap the 2022 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship Semifinals and take your questions live. Join the GymCastic Crew at the Rose Marine Theater on Friday, April 15. The show will begin at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. (CDT). TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW. NCAA Championship Preview Part I A quiz on the Most Decorated Freshman Class of All Time Who is Spencer picking to win nationals? And what do each of the favorites need to do to get that title. The all-around competition is intense. Trinity? Jade? Suni? Leanne? Justice for form? We break it all down. Jesolo We spend nearly as long talking about the opening ceremony at Jesolo as the ceremony itself took! But COME ON. We have to dissect this perfect insanity. Who impressed us at Jesolo, from McClain's multiple event titles, to Shilese's beam, to Asia D'Amato delivering in the all-around. Plus, nerding out about beam composition credit, McClain's insane Pak save,

Live Show Jessica, Spencer, and the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion VANESSA ATLER will recap the 2022 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship Semifinals and take your questions live. Join the GymCastic Crew at the Rose Marine Theater on Friday, April 15. The show will begin at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. (CDT). TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW. Regionals Headlines LSU was eliminated in the regional semifinals. What happened there? The OOB that wasn't. Or was it? We break down the controversial finish between Missouri and UCLA Stanford delivered in the most exciting semifinal of the weekend Florida recorded the third-highest score in history, and Trinity got 8500 tens. Can she beat Maggie and Kyla? Elite News We got timely results (!) from the US women's Jesolo selection camp. We discuss the impending era of New Shilese, Zoe Miller's bars D, and what the Jesolo teams would have been if the highest-scoring team were selected Regionals Deep Dive NC State: LSU's moments to be proud of, what w

USAG has announced that it will not hire a new women's high performance director but will instead split the position into three equal roles, one in charge of development, one in charge of strategy, and one in charge of technical gymnastics. We're...pleased? Live Show Jessica, Spencer, and the 1997 U.S. national all-around champion VANESSA ATLER will recap the 2022 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship Semifinals and take your questions live. Join the GymCastic Crew at the Rose Marine Theater on Friday, April 15. The show will begin at 7:00 p.m. (CDT) with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. (CDT) for icebreakers and door prizes. PRE-SALE TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW FOR CLUB GYM NERD MEMBERS. Regionals Preview We talk our way through each of the four NCAA regionals coming up this week, highlighting the favorites, the biggest storylines, and the individual battles royale that will surely ensue. NC State: Can Missouri play spoiler? What of UCLA's utter UCLAness? Will the Iowa and UCLA floor lineups really have to battle fo

College Gymnastics The regionals draw is out! We discuss who is going where and the juiciest matchups and potential upsets The Airing of Grievances: "geographical" placement, Iowa State getting hosed, "Lexy Rainier" and "Jordan Chillus," play-ins as a failed species, and why we need more snakes If all the conferences can give out a bunch of awards, so can we. We decide to throw some random awards at some random people About conference championships: Suni's 9.450, the Lauren Guerin affair, a weed-a-tard, and more. Elite Gymnastics At the DTB Cup, the US women took the senior title over Italy on D score, and Andreoli established herself as our favorite of all time forever What the head coach of the US team actually does at international meets, Vanessa Atler's post about Valeri, and...is Cecile Landi up for the national team coordinator position or not? The Cairo World Cup, and the importance of warm weather and arena design. Gymternet News Carlos Yulo has launched a perfume company. Chuso is getting a gymn

College Gymnastics Is there a favorite for the title? Who is it? Who would be a surprising winner? Lexy Ramler did two bars routines in the same rotation, featuring a toe-on Shap full because Lexy Ramler Spencer is challenged to begrudgingly acknowledge which 10s this year were actual 10s Jessica explains why conference championships are dumb, and we discuss what's actually at stake this coming weekend—like UCLA 198-bombing someone's regional and everyone being scared to get sent to Auburn What was up with the Pac-12 Network's coverage of Sekai Wright's floor? Why why why why are all the conference championships at the same time? Elite Gymnastics The DTB Cup in Stuttgart is this weekend. We discuss the format, how to watch, and how a stacked Italian team is going to steal everyone's gelato. What is USAG's responsibility when most of the coaches have SafeSport allegations? Gymternet News Becky Downie competed floor this week, Kohei performed in his send-off celebration, Fisk announced its head coach, and

The Russia Situation The FIG has now followed the IOC's "recommendation" and banned all athletes, coaches, and judges from Russia and Belarus from competition until further notice. The ban does not extend to members of the Executive Committee or Technical Committees. We discuss the issues with that. At Doha, Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak wore a tape Z on his chest on the medal stand alongside Ukrainian PB champion Ilia Kovtun. The FIG has opened disciplinary proceedings into this violation of the code of conduct. FIG Executive Committee member and president of the Russian GYmnastics Federation, Yuri Titov says he will defend Kullak. The gymnastics implications of the Russian ban moving forward to worlds and the Olympics And the happy news that meanest coach on earth, Russian rhythmic head coach, Irina Viner and her husband had their mega yacht seized. News Valeri Liukin is no longer under consideration for women's high performance director at USAG. Liukin is under investigation by SafeSport for allegations

The Russia Situation The IOC has "recommended" that sport federations bar Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions. What should the FIG do? We discuss. Jessica updates us on Putin's secret rhythmic gymnastics family. Women's Winter Cup Konnor McClain won the all-around title without full difficulty and with a bars error, because that's what winners do Gymnasts who impressed us like Nola Matthews, Addison Fatta, Zoe Miller, and Azaraya Ra-Akbar Plus, the February of it all, the disturbing lack of drunk gym moms, and our concerns about the new code and lack of direction in the women's program Stories from the meet: The girl who owns Sam Mikulak now, the $500 Uber, and a coach/judge confrontation Men's Winter Cup Kensley and Documents are here to take us through the men's national team, the way it makes sense and the way it maybe sorta doesn't We discuss a crazy bonus system that didn't go as planned, why Yul has barely had a break in a whole year, and what needs to change about fundi

Winter Cup Women's Preview We preview this weekend's Winter Cup women's competition: what team selection is at stake, which gymnasts we're most looking forward to seeing compete under the 2024 code, what new seniors might shake things up, and a rule change for junior vaulting. Nile Wilson Interview Nile's second book: My Story, tackles his struggles with gambling, addiction, depression and anxiety; how he found help and what he thinks can be done to prevent the suffering he endured in the future; why he left the club he had grown up in; why he spoke out against British Gymnastics; his plan to value athletes, literally, by helping them earn what they are worth in the sport's marketplace; owning his own gym and why he loves adult gymnastics. Winter Cup Men's Preview Jessica and Kensley discuss who's competing, the senior debut of junior legend, Asher Hong; who's retired or injured or busy, the requisite drama around national team and selection procedures and funded spots, and BUM BUM BUM forbidden headphon