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Archives for November 2013
61: Katelyn Ohashi Clears The Air
Katelyn Ohashi. The beautiful art compliments of My Crazy World of Graphics.
It’s Gym MythBusters: Katelyn Ohashi Edition!
This episode is devoted entirely to the Empress of Pajama Pants & 2013 American Cup Champion, Katelyn Ohashi. she puts an end to the rumors by answering true or false to the gymternet’s burning questions: Is she still training at WOGA, being coached by Valerie, going level 10, injured, starring in a Disney show with Simone Biles and Victoria Moors or been escorted out of Walmart for frightening customers with her comedy pajama routines?
As mentioned in the interview, her scariest skill combo, the Ono to Healy.
60: The Second Most Powerful Woman In Gymnastics,Terin Humphrey
World Champion, two-time Olympic silver medalist,
and two time NCAA Champion, Officer Terin Humphrey.
This week in meet news: Larisa Iordache pulls out both fulls on beam at Elite Gym Massilia but first year British senior, Claudia Fragapane, stole the show; yet another World Champion for the US, as Brandon Krzynefski wins in tumbling; NCAA signing day excitement happened; Catalina Ponor was adorable with her boyfriend for the Gala de Estrellas de Gimnasia series in Mexico.
Around the Gymternet we chat about: Al Trautwig going semi-postal on a tweeter; Jessica tells her leotard injury story; gymnastics’ answer to Batkid, Faith Falzon, whose wish to compete in a gymnastics meet came true; video of Simone Biles double double off beam, Aly Raisman training and Jordyn Weiber‘s new release; and a scary new study about a possible carcinogen in pits.
Our lovely guest this week is Terin “I’m a very honest person” Humphrey. Oh, is she ever! She told us about conditions at The Ranch back in the day, what it was like having Courtney McCool as a training partner, surviving the injury plagued 2003 World Championships, why the treatment of alternates should be changed, navigating college recruiting in an inhospitable club environment, how she was informed of her injury-retirement from Alabama, being burnt-out, partying and wanting to be normal, what being the athlete rep for USA Gymnastics entails, how disputes are resolved within the selection committee, the treatment of Brenna Dowell in Antwerp, those infamous GAGE leos, the Code, Memmell‘s petition denial in 2012, sweaty feet on bars; and finally in this round of Gymternet Myth-Busters we find out Miss Humphrey true ethnicity!
More
Results from the episode 50 Gym Nerd Poll
Our Chellsie Memmel interview
Our Laurie Hernandez interview
Our interview with Charlotte Drury
Our interview with our favorite Halfrican, Mr. Stacey Ervin
NCAA Masters Meet Calendar from our friends at the Couch Gymnast
This week’s video playlist.
Episode 59: Gym Nerd Poll
Between November 28 and 30, gymnastics unicorns like Oksana Chusovitina will be in Acapulco to compete in the Mexican Open. That same weekend, more gymnastics unicorns like Elizabeth Price will be in Stuttgart, contending for a World Cup title. Of course, we wanted to know who you thought would win.
Besides that, we wanted to know whether you had had a leotard-related injury. (Jessica asked Uncle Tim and Evan about this important question during episode 59.)
Let’s start with the Mexican Open…
Peyton Ernst, FTW! Not even a question! (P.S. When’s the FIG going to give Chuso her lifetime achievement award?)
Things aren’t quite as clear on the men’s side. Koji Uematsu is the favorite, but it’s not a landslide victory.
From Mexico, let’s fly over to Germany for the Stuttgart World Cup.
For a while, it was a close race between Elizabeth Price and Larisa Iordache, but once people saw Larisa in beast mode over the weekend, Larisa pulled ahead.
On the men’s side, everyone’s voting for Fabian HamBiceps. Woof.
Finally, have you had a leotard-related injury?
Surprisingly, 20 people have! If you’re one of those people, please leave a comment below with your story! We’d love to read them on the podcast!
59: What it’s like to be a Cirque du Soleil Talent Scout
Ever wondered what it’s like to travel around the world finding the best talent for Cirque du Soleil? We sat down with talent scout, Marceline Goldstein to ask her all of our burning Gym Nerd questions: who is the oldest person she ever recruited, are there any injuries that preclude employment, how many years can a career at Cirque last, how does Cirque manage to not piss off federations who may want a competitor to stay in the sport, how they support the disciplines like acrobatics which is so essential to Cirque’s survival, is being able to hit at meets an essential prerequisite (you’ll be surprised), what kind of support system is in place for longevity and health.
Our friend, Evan Heiter joins us once again to chat about the Mexican Open, which US Senior should go, who will win the Stuttgart World Cup, Octavian Bellu and Mariana Bitang‘s latest contract negotiation/vacation from Romania. Then in our new gymternet news segment, we speculate on Katelyn Ohashi‘s emphatic message; Nastia once again working with the great choreographer, Travis Wall; why comedian Michael Buckley and Evan should do Kiss & Cry interviews for gymnastics; and ponder important questions like – should men and women cross-compete on the same event (a la Paul Ruggeri on uneven bars) or should artistic gymnastics be done with their routines if they fall as is required in trampoline? All this, plus Danusia Francis‘s new dismount, Simone Biles yurchenko double back and Utah’s dramatic leotard reveal video. Tacky or genius?
Next week, our guest will be Olympic Medalist, three-time NCAA champion at Alabama and current the athlete representative on the USA Gymnastics Team Selection Committee, Terin Humphrey.
More:
GymCastic guide to Movember
Our interview with Cirque Artist, Nebraska Gymnast, Tricia Woo
Our interview with Simone Biles
Our interview with Charlotte Drury
Our interview with Svetlana Boginskaya
Episode 58: Gym Nerd Poll
During episode 58, we covered a lot of topics, and as always, we wanted to know what you thought. Perhaps the most pressing question is, Who would win in an arm wrestling match? Jordyn Wieber or Ryan Wieber? As Jessica pointed out, Jordyn “looks like she could walk through a crowd and crush people’s skulls with her hands.” Jess even suggested that Ryan might be a little jealous of his sister’s buffness. What do you think?
Also, in case you have not seen Paul Ruggeri’s uneven bar routine, here’s a link to the video.
And Jordyn Wieber CRUSHES her brother. (Our listeners aren’t biased–not at all!)
Wow! Make It or Break It wasn’t totally crazy. We guess that gymnastics fans like to see guys try the women’s events. (Or maybe Paul is just the exception to the rule?)
Oo! This one is too close to call!
USAG and FIG, we hope that you’re reading this!
Gymnastics Moustaches for Movember
Even though gymnastics isn’t a ball sport, we thought that we’d create a fun, gym-nerdy infographic to help raise awareness for testicular cancer and other male cancer initiatives. With no further ado, here it is…
Nothing’s sexier than a healthy gym nerd! So, please take care of yourselves, listeners!
Episode 58: Charlotte Drury, Fall Euro Series & NCAA De-commits
Episode 58 Transcript
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The fall European series is in full swing and we’ve got the latest news: Larisa Iordache at the Arthur Gander Memorial; Oleg Verniaiev busts a Kato at the Swiss Cup; Al Fong tells USAG they missed their chance with Brenna Dowell; an update on Jordyn Wieber; the great Ksenia Afanasyeva and her shorts at the Gala de Estrellas in Mexico; Bogi calls herself a bitch; Peng Peng Lee has preventable (?) knee surgery; Svetlana Boginskaya coaching Anna Pavlova, Vasiliki Millousi, Paul Ruggeri and Tomas “Porn ‘Stach” Gonzalez at the Tournoi de Schiltigheim; the Irish National Champion, Luke Carson, has a brilliant fundraising idea; and we hypothesize about the continuing defections from University of Georgia.
Our guest this week is a rare breed. She was plucked from a gymnastics class like Nadia was from her classroom for a serious training group at a young age. The other members of her group at National Gymnastics Training Center and later Gym-Max are artistic gymnastics royalty; her lifelong friends, Olympic Champions Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney came back from Belgium to give her advice going into her first World Championship this week – but it won’t be in artistic gymnastics. She followed a different path to success and happiness. This week we talk to trampoline National Champion, Charlotte Drury. She is a tremendous spokesperson for trampoline and the gymnastics for life movement. We absolutely loved talking to her. You can watch Charlotte compete with commentary by the one and only Mitch Fenner on the USAG and FIG YouTube channels.
The winner of our Halloween Costume Contest is, Zombie Gymnast Maddie! Congratulations! We hope you enjoy your poster from Cloud & Victory.
More:
Interview with Kyla Ross
Interview with Justin Millerbernd
Blythe’s report on the Arthur Gander Memorial and Tournoi Schiltigheim.
Every definition of artistry in Codes since 1968 with Uncle Tim
Video of Charlotte Drury at the Elite Challenge
Marina’s interview with T&T phenom Brandon Krzynefski and his coach Sergio Galvez
Gym Nerd Poll: Tim Daggett Followup Questions
During our interview with Tim Daggett, he raised some perennial gymnastics questions. For example, do you miss the perfect 10? Is balance beam artistic anymore? As always, we wanted to know your answers! And here’s what we found out…
Undoubtedly, your favorite gymnastics commentator is Shannon Miller.
By the way, in the other category, responses included: Liz Chetkovich, Alicia Sacramone, and Spanny Tampson, among others.
When forced to choose between the 10.0 and the open-ended system, many of you opted for the open-ended system. Hmm… Interesting! We thought the results would be a little closer!
All right, gym nerds, which balance beam routines from 2013 are artistic?
Leave a comment below.