Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Olympic gold medalist, Aly Raisman in the 2015 ESPN magazine's Body issue. Click on the image for her video and interview with ESPN. In the news this week, Uncle Tim and Jessica chat about: Aly Raisman's take on the lack of eating disorders in gymnastics and learning to have muscle pride in ESPN's Body Issue Raducan asked the Olympic Committee to give her gold back, they said no. International Gymnastics Federation President, Bruno Grandi's interview on the 2020 Olympic qualification changes: Grandi says gymnastics has a business problem; but is really just a marketing problem? We agree with Grandi most of the time, but when he leans on nostalgia for evidence, we tear his arguments to shreds! Grandi argues that Romania has been hurt by the lack of elegance in the code. He must mean this 1978 routine from Romanian, Emilia Eberle and her famous for the hump the floor choreography. Menstrual Cups for gymnastics. If you have used them for gymnastics, tell us about your experience. How not to flirt with girl

Seda Tutkhalyan (RUS), Giulia Steingruber (SUI), Lisa Top (NED) on the vault podium at the inaugural European Games in Baku. Mary-Anne "Mez" Monckton, Emma and Jessica chat about: The unusual format of 3 up 2 count over two days for team, and men and women on the floor at once. One per country rule for finals - spoiler alert, we hated it! The level of difficulty might have been lower than usual (12.8 for bronze on bars) but the performances were gorgeous! We choose our favorite routines and skills The return of Komova! Rejoice! Showdown of the Olegs, plus the big payout for medals given to Oleg Stepko by Azerbeijan. He made bank! The Russian Dream Team: Seda, Aliya and Komova Giulia Steingruber, is she the new Sacramone of vault and floor? Concussions in context: Brinn Bevin high bar fall and why concussions are always serious. Fabian Hambüchen's dinasour roars and new floor skill. Miguel Rayderley Zapata from Spain won floor just like Jessica told you guys he would! If you don't love him,  you are not pay

  In June, 2013 the Belarusian Swan graced us with her presence. Svetlana Boginskaya (Boguinskaia) is a 14-time Olympic and World medalist and is as elegant as she is fierce. This is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind! Bogi gives us the scoop on: Alexander Alexandrov and why he left Russia, what happened at Round Lake when the USSR collapsed, the real story behind her snub of Kim Zmeskal at the 1991 World Championships, the politics behind Natalia Kalinina being left off of the Barcelona Olympic team, what makes her gymnastics camp different, why she thinks she isn’t artistic, dating as a teen gymnast in Moscow, her Bolshoi choreography, her favorite routines, coaching Oksana Chusovitina in 2013, and why raising kids is harder than doing a sixth Olympics or trying to understand Bela Karolyi's english.  Follow her on Instagram under the username "Svetlanaboguinskaia", check out the schedule for her camp here or email her for choreography at info@ogccamp.com. If you are ever in the Houston area, make

  This week we talk about our favorite routines from the Swiss Cup and discuss the platforms Grandi, Stoica and Titov ran on in their FIG presidential campaigns.  We talk to Chellsie Memmel who gave us very honest and frank answers about her experience being eliminated from the 2012 Olympic trials process; how Steve Penny suggested her retirement after Classics, being announced as an alternate live on television in 2004, finding love while being an elite athlete, making the team but competing with a severe injury in Beijing and how she made the decision to move on from her longtime coach Jim Chudy at Salto. Louis Smith Calendar Blythe's Notes from the 2012 Swiss Cup Rybacki is the new Kathy Kelly Karolyi confirmed as U.S. National Team Coordinator; Liukin, Rybacki get new job Visa no longer the title sponsor for US Nationals Platforms of the FIG presidents from the fantastic blog / FIG Watchdog,  The All Around  Dvora for Deadspin U.S. Gymnastics Turns Its Back On Chellsie Memmel, Genuine Badass Episode 9

Four Nations Cup all-around champion, Seda Tutkhalyan (RUS)    Jessica, Emma and Bea chat about: The rules for pre-floor routine walk out choreography; our dos and don'ts. Laura Jurica (ROM) has made progress on bars. If there were gymnastics-satyr made of Mustafin's arms and Shawn Johnson's power, it would be little Russian power house, Seda Tutkhalyan. The throwback Pozar-esque folk dance floor from new senior Anastasia Dimitrieva (RUS). The triple full from Zarzu (ROM) that looked as easy as a playground cartwheel. An update on training for comeback masters, Catalina Ponor and Dragulescu. Brazilian babies, Rebeca Andrade and Flavia Saraiva put the world on notice at the Flanders International. Nastia got engaged and announced the founding of The Shine Agency, but questions about what Shine will actually do still remain. Douglas Family Gold will air on Oprah's Oxygen channel later this year, and Emma has many concerns! A listeners discovers that Paul Ruggeri predicted the future of Olympic qualifying on t

Northern Irish stud and a man, literally filled with titanium, Luke Carson.    Northern Ireland's Luke Carson has become a symbol of strength and perseverance around the world. A veteran of six World Championships, he was poised to send Ireland to their second-ever Olympics before an injury forced him to water down his routines. He came back from two potentially career-ending injuries to compete again.  Emma Bailey and Luke discussed: You thought his leg was bad, wait until you hear about his birth defect and the awful procedure he must endure every six months! (See example video on the playlist below to fulfill your creepy curiosity) The status of his injury almost one-year after the Commonwealth Games The problems with metal rods and hot tubs Coaching his pommel horse prodigy, Rhys Mcclenaghan and team at Rathgael Gymnastics Club How he proposed to his girlfriend How social media can fuel healthy competition between gymnasts The both frightening and gratifying truth about funding and sponsor relationships

What: Do your favorite Shannon Miller pose or choreography. How: Post it on Twitter or Instagram, tag us and use  any of these Steve Nunno quote hashtags: #ItsMillerTime or #InterGalacticChampion or #MillerTimeContest Deadline: Monday, June 1st Winner: Gets a copy of Shannon’s book! Shannon Miller © Dave Black   The FIG announced changes to the qualification rules for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Teams can only send four all-arounders, for a three-up three-count finals format. Qualifying teams can still also send two individual event specialists who qualify through several results from World Championships, World Cups and Continental Championships. For example, the US could still send six gymnasts to compete, four for the team medal, plus two event specialists. Uncle Tim, Spencer, and Jessica chat about the new rules and more: New Olympic qualification rules: Our gut feelings about the rule: from horror to elation and mistrust. How will the new rules effect non-dominant teams and individual World medalists

Shannon Miller in 1991 at her first World Championships. Copyright Mike Proebsting.   The GymCastic Book Club had the most gym nerd-tastic celebration of all time this week when Shannon Miller, thé Shannon Miller, joined us to talk about her new memoire, "It's Not About Perfect: Competing for My Country and Fighting for My Life."  She has more combined Olympic and World medals than any American gymnast male or female. She won the World Championship all-around two times in a row. She had multiple eponymous skills in the Code of Points. She was diagnosed with one of the deadliest forms of cancer and it ran away from her like a Level 5 who hears, "It's time for conditioning!"  Her male coach, Steve Nunno, acted like the love child of Bela Karolyi and Donald Trump, yet he complimented her perfectly.  She did two back extension rolls in a row on beam just because the crowd loved it! She did her full difficutly on the post-Olympic tours because she wanted to give the fans what they paid for.  She is so bad ass, th

This interview was released December 5th 2013. US national team member, Maggie Nichols, told USA Gymnastics about being abused by Nassar in June 2015. As of this update in January of 2018, she is the first known person to tell USA Gymnastics.... Then Rachael Denhollander, became the first survivor to go public in the Indy Star with accusations against Nassar in September 2016. It turns out that former doctor, Nassar had been abusing girls and women all the way back to the 1990s. And theses brave women, girls had been telling authorities all along, but they weren't believed. Larry Nassar is now a convicted pedophile and child pornographer who will spend the rest of his life in jail. This episode makes us feel guilty, sick and embarrassed but we will never take it down. Why? Because it may be one of the few interviews of it's kind, one with a serial child molester before he was caught. It shows how easy it is to groom adults, like us and our listeners (look a the comments section), and people in power, people

Taylor Rice (Stanford) makin' it rain during event finals at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Photo by Christy Linder. Who: Shannon freaking Miller will be our May Book Club guest. Deadline: Send in questions by May 6th. How: Order the book here, read it, treasure it forever, then send your questions for Shannon to us at gymcastic@gmail.com or by voicemail at (415) 800-3191/Skype "GymCastic Podcast" Stanford junior, Taylor Rice, joins us to discuss the 2015 NCAA Championships. Taylor is known for having a different hair color at every meet, being more trouble than Tasha Schwikert for her coach/mother Cassie Rice during her youth at GymCasts and having been the first woman in NCAA history to compete a man wipe. We discuss: Where did the inspiration for her back-dat-twerk-tastic floor choreography come from? That's So Raven. How early is too early to commit to a college? What did Stanford do to change their results so drastically from the last few years. Why didn't she ever go the elite route and what she lear

LSU's Rheagan Courville, The Tigress of the Bayou.   Rheagan Courville, The Tigress of the Bayou joins us this week. The former US Classic champion, Patterson beam-dismounter, two-time NCAA vault champion, fashion icon and owner of the highest standing Arabian in the game is here! We discuss: The secret to the height and consistency of her standing Arabian on beam. How University of Georgia emigre, coach Jay Clark, has improve her bars about a billion percent from her elite days. Cardio secrets of the indefatigable LSU floor lineup. How her positive and negative experiences in the sport fuel her gymnastics now. Future plans, skills she's hiding up her sleeve and her love for Louisiana. Fashion: What did Miley Cyrus tell Rheagan about her style and will she be able to up Jay Clark's shoe game? Jessica, Spencer from The Balance Beam Situation, Scott Bregman of USA Gymnastics and Kristen Watkins from College Fantasy Gymnastics chat about: Beyond The Routine: Oklahoma Gymnastics Brenna Dowell: her perspecti

M'rcy Matsunami (Univ. of Alaska) has a toe-on Counter Kim shorthand tattoo (as seen above-left). She is our Game of Regions Champion. In the news, Uncle Tim, Emma, Evan Heiter, Spencer and Jessica chat about NCAA Women's Regional Championships (AKA GAME OF REGIONS) and the Ljubljana World Cup: 2:05 Our reactions to McKalya Maroney’s heartfelt and funny video about her struggle with Adrenal Fatigue and its devastating symptoms. 11: 45 Game of Regions round-up; we created special headlines to describe the drama, tears and triumphs at each Regional and let you know which individuals, competing without the benefit of a team to boost their scores, stole our hearts. Should individuals have a separate regional qualification meet for NCAA Championships? Would it be more fair? We discuss. We declare M'rcy Matsunami the most exciting thing to happen to NCAA gymnastics since Kennedy Baker's Dos Santos and Danusia Francis's "Nush" beam dismount. She competed a toe-on Counter Kim at the Cal Regional! See petition bel

Reigning all-around Olympic Champion, Gabrielle Douglas returned to competition for the first time in three years at the Trophe Jesolo in Italy. © Filippo Tomasi In the news, Mary-Anne "Mez" Monckton, Emma and Jessica chat about Jesolo: The Italian crowds reaction to the triumphant return of the reigning Olympic all-around Champion, Gabby Douglas and the reigning Olympic floor champion, Aly Raisman. Which gymnasts made a case for themselves  not to be ignored at Jesolo: Erika Fasana, Alysssa Bauman, and Laurie "Baby Sharkira" Hernandez. How to tell how Marta feels; The Marta's head-squash vs. the scruff of the neck kitten-grab. Was the mood between Gabby and Chow strained? The XL Center Bat, The Antwerp Moth, The Nanning Bee and now, The Jesolo Dog. Mez tells us what it's like to compete on the infamous Janssen-Fritzen floor which put half of the competitors on their butts Jesolo Judges: Why were the judges 100 miles away from the apparatus and did it effect the scores? Plus, how the judges broke protocol;

South Durham Gymnastics Club, home of English champion all-around champion, Amy Tinkler.   English Nationals, NCAA Conference Championships and Jesolo are on the menu this week. Uncle Tim, Emma, Spencer, Spanny, Evan, and Jessica chat about: Princess Catherine leading her troops to battle to strike fear into the heart of the balance beam. Senior champ Amy Tinkler, is her pepto-pink gym at South Durham, the key to her success? Claudia Fragapane's improvement from her American Cup fall-a-thon. Lisa Mason's triumphant performance, pep talks to the baby gymnasts, Artistry award and practically leaping onto the judges table to dare them to deduct from her floor routine! The British Bars Revolution: Kelly Sim and Becky Downie are doing bars that make you wonder if their routines aren't actually YouTube edited pranks. Jingoistic floor routine musical advice for the Rio Olympics, from a self-proclaimed Brazilian cultural expert. Louis Smith competed well but raised some eyebrows with his post-meet exit. The reason

This week it's an all-listener feedback show. An entire episode dedicated to you, our dear listeners. Uncle Tim, Spanny and Jessica chat about: Nastia giving good face on Dancing With The Stars Why Nastia said she has never taken a ballet class. Who are the best freshman in NCAA this year? American Cup judging discussion.  Why were Tory Wilson and Bridgette Caquatto given mathematically impossible scores last week? How many economically disadvantaged gymnasts have made it to the top in elite? Why do we have such crazy gymnastics dreams, and we share some of our own. Rule Change! When a gymnast has more than one eponymous skill, should she be able to give her subsequent skills the name of her choice? Cheerleading friend or foe? Jingoistic music, is it only advantageous to the home competitor? E-Score home judging for all? Someone please find overdubbed or English subtitled copies of Ginnaste - Vite Parallele on MTV Italy. Photo Gallery: 2015 American Cup 140: The 2015 American Cup Podium Training Photo

Alexandra "Sasha" Tsikhanovich of Bridgeport University   In the news, Uncle Tim, Evan, and Jessica chat about: Brazil's Amanar vaulting superstar,  Rebeca Andrade. The best gymnastics job posting we've ever seen ever - help make grand exit with flips as I quit my job. Cintia Rodrigues (ESP) and Niamh Rippin (GB) instagram-nastics, a hecht full and Yurchenko double tuck respectively. Play Nerd-Jack : by relating any topic to gymnastics in as few words as possible. (16:50) The results, skills and return of Victoria Moors to competition at Elite Canada. (24:00) Debate who has the better pike front on beam: Ellie Black or Alicia Sacramone. Evan yearns for more substantive and instructional commentary from the newest college television hosts in his own version of the rage-o-meter. (29:00) NCAA rankings, which 10 was really worthy (can it be a 10 if the gymnast has full out syndrome, AKA "I have to pee" legs on her landing?), and gush about Kennedy Baker and Division II powerhouse, Bridgeport star, Sasha Tsikhan

Simone Biles hugs Katelyn Ohashi after winning the 2015 American Cup.   This week we are joined by very special guest and World Cup silver medalist, Mary-Anne Monkton of Australia. Uncle Tim, Evan and Jessica recap of the 2015 American Cup in Cowboy Stadium AKA Simone Biles new house: Marta was on the Nastia Cup broadcast doing commentary again and it was fantastic! Oleg gave Uncle Tim the best birthday present ever! MyKayla Skinner crashed her Cheng in podium training and completely missed her hand. (see photo gallery link below). Head Scratcher of the week: How does a gymnast get invited to a World Cup. Read all 16 pages of Rules here or this: The top seven all-around placers at World Championships are invited. If that includes the host country already, the 8th placer is invited. If it doesn't include the host, the 8th spot is reserved for the host. The FIG Executive Committee can invited a 9th wildcard. If after inviting the top eight they don't have eight participants, they then invite placers nine thr

FIG Men's Technical Committee President, Steve Butcher.   This week the President of the International Gymnastics Federation Men’s Technical Committee, Mr. Steve Butcher is here. Yes, the Nelli Kim of men’s gymnastics talks about spring board thieves, fashion rules, Execution score data analysis (nerdgasm!), tons of Code of Points nerdtastic details, gymnastics jail and if he would want his own son to do elite gymnastics. This is important to you women's gymnastics fans becuase MAG and WAG rules must now inform each other. What happens in men's effects the women's rules! We discuss: The FIG's analysis of Execution score parity between men's and women's judges. The downfall of having too many examples of Execution scores on the FIG Helpdesk. Bruno Grandi's statement that biomechanics will become a bigger part of the Code of Points versus the medical aspect of athlete health. Bringing back the 10.0 and making it Execution score more visible during competitions. Date for the next Code of Points newsletter with

The original diva, 14 time Olympic and World medalist, the Belarusian Swan tells all