LISTEN HERE

 

IN THE NEWS

• Deborah Daniels, a former federal prosecutor, was commissioned by USA Gymnastics to conduct an independent review of USAG’s handling of sexual misconduct, and her report is OUT.

MEET NEWS

Spencer and Jessica chat about:

• National championships galore!
  • Canada – Brooklyn Moors steals the show with a Podkopayeva
  • Mexico – Nicolle Castro is going to save the world with her bars
  • Germany – Pauline Tratz is ready for NCAA, and Michelle Timm teaches an important lesson on how to lie on the beam properly
  • Australia – Emily Little’s scary fall — but she’s going to be OK!
  • France – Marine Boyer‘s best-ever beam, and Juliette Bossu is the definition of expressiveness and musicality on floor
  • Japan – Kohei puts all the HB specialists to shame

GYMTERNET NEWS

• Valeri Liukin responds to our interview with Vanessa Atler
• Aliya had the baby!
  
• Jon Horton retires
  
• Aimee Boorman and Kim Zmeskal-Burdette are recognized for achievements in awesomeness
  
• Another plot twist in As the Stepko Turns
• Larisa Iordache‘s big upgrades
• Laurent and Cecile Landi are leaving WOGA
• Laurie plans to return to training
• Aly’s body-positive tour of America
  • Her new book Fierce: How competing for MYSELF changed everything
  • Her reaction to that TSA guy
  • “Women do not have to dress modestly to be respected”
  • That weird NHL awards moment
  • On that note, sexist coverage increased during 2016 Olympics
• NCAA roster and coaching developments
• Athlete welfare
  • Did USAG illegally settle cases in California?
  • Did the USAG chair call a sex-abuse victim’s lawyer a “f*cking d*ickhead”? (Spoiler: yes)
  • The FIG commits to a Duty of Care code
  • Senators propose legislation to offer legal protection to Safe Sport

FEEDBACK

• Reactions, corrections, and theories about the 1996 Olympics episodes
• Gender equity at the Olympics
• Vanessa Atler was better in 1999 than she thinks she was
• The real reason for the open-ended code
• How we get US women sent to the University Games
• The power of adult gymnastics!

RELATED LINKS

• The full Deborah Daniels report into USAG’s handling of sexual abuse.
• USAG’s summary of 70 recommendations made in the Daniels report.
• Report Calls for Culture Change at USA Gymnastics

SUPPORT THE SHOW

• Join Club Gym Nerd here with brand new membership tiers, commission your own episode, or commission your own segment.
• Buy some of our awesome merchandise here.
• Our Sponsor this week is RXBAR.com/gymcastic

RELATED EPISODES

• 245: Steve Penny is GONE
• 243: Senate Bill 534
• 242: Standards
• 241: The Pittsburgh Incident
• 227: Jane Doe 2 Sues Karolyis
• 221: Jane Doe vs. USAG Doctor
• 187: McKayla Maroney
• 163: ENOUGH
• 56: Preventing Abuse in Gymnastics
• 15: Joan Ryan Author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
• 256: 1996 All-Around Final (Commissioned)
• 255: 1996 Olympic Team Final (Commissioned)
• 254: Vanessa Atler

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN 

LISTEN HERE

 

This week, it’s Part 2 of our very, very, extra special commission series about the 1996 Olympics, this time brought to you by Club Gym Nerd member Kris. Brave Kris channeled Lilia Podkopayeva and rose to Mount Olympus as a true and eternal hero by asking us to talk about the explosion of world champions that was the 1996 WOMEN’S ALL-AROUND FINAL! Thank you so much for supporting the show, Kris!  

Jessica and Spencer discuss:

• Withdrawals!
  • Kerri’s foot and its many, varied costumes throughout the all-around final
  • Marinescu being replaced by Amanar because Marinescu “didn’t work hard enough.” HRRRRMMMM (4:16)
  • Romania’s admitted age falsification, featuring conspiracy theories about why those medals have never been stripped but China’s have (8:16)
• How we got here: an ode to compulsories
  • Lilia’s compulsory floor is what dreams are made of
  • Why Shannon’s compulsory beam is a CLINIC on what beam is supposed to be
  • Compulsory bars scoring was crazy-town
• Rotation 1 
  • Intro fluff about what a failure it is to get silver or bronze (13:20)
  • Khorkina’s no-look salute and perfect “Phantom of the Opera” beam soundtrack
  • Was Gogean really “predictable” and “not that exciting”?
  • Spencer spends 715 minutes on the epic LITTLE ROZA GALIEVA fluff (31:52)
  • The most overtly sexual floor routine in the history of gymnastics
• Rotation 2
  • Khorkina’s brilliant Carmen floor routine, meerkat impression, and…month-long hospital trip???
  • Pod tucks her legs on bars. Was her score fair?
  • Shannon’s bat toes, insane beam save, and why you have to pay close attention to her leo
  • The Mo salto. The end
  • Kochetkova’s beam set is the best argument for D-scores
  • Was NBC more positive back in 1996?
• Rotation 3
  • American hopes are dashed on the floor in a stream of tears (1:08:14)
  • “Stop crying. There’s people everywhere.” Why Steve Nunno’s behavior was completely unacceptable
  • So many camera flashes. Because safety and security didn’t exist in 1996.
  • Overtly patriotic leos: Yea or Nay?
  • Theories about who picked Simona Amanar’s floor music, which may or may not involve horcruxes
  • Lily Pod makes her Soviet grandmother proud with her perfection
• Rotation 4
  • Why Podkopayeva always had the edge heading into the final rotation and didn’t “take advantage of others’ mistakes”
  • Khorkina misses bars and begins an Olympic AA tradition
  • How should the Romanians have actually ranked?
  • Contradictory Mo Huilan fluffs
  • Mo’s floor heartbreak and potential chicken-dance penalty
• The final result
  • You could tie for medals! What a concept!
  • Piskun kisses Pod on the nose because too adorable for words
  • The most insulting interview in NBC’s history
  • Bela and Nunno try to out-Trump each other

SUPPORT THE SHOW

• Join Club Gym Nerd here with brand new membership tiers, commission your own episode, or commission your own segment.
• Buy some of our awesome merchandise here.

GYMCASTIC LEOTARD CONTEST

WHAT: A GymCastic crystal logo leotard, custom made to fit by Rebecca’s Moms Leotards

HOW TO ENTER: Tell us who would you want to compete against in your custom-made GymCastic leo. Tag @GymCasitc and @RebeccasMomLeo on Twitter or  Instagram

DEADLINE: Sunday, June 25th. Random Winner announced last podcast in June on the 28th

RELATED EPISODES

• 255: 1996 Olympic Team Final (Commissioned)
• 225: 1992 Olympics Recap with Wendy Bruce (Commissioned)
• 185: 2008 Olympic All-Around Finals (Commissioned)
• 254: Vanessa Atler
• 148: Shannon Miller
• 186: Amanda Borden
• 38: Svetlana Boginskaya
• 252: Myths, Legends, and Unexpected Moments in Gymnastics History (Commissioned)
• 231: The Rise and Fall of Ukrainian Gymnastics
• 17: Growing Up In The Soviet Gymnastics System And Training At Round Lake
• 15: Joan Ryan Author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
• 223: Tasha Schwikert
• 200: Alicia Sacramone
• 197: Betty Okino
• 31: Elise Ray
• 28: Kristen Maloney
• 19: Andreea Raducan

 

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN 

LISTEN HERE

This week, we have another very special commissioned episode for you to sink your ears into. Loyal Club Gym Nerd member Robin helped support the show by asking us to talk about everyone’s favorite competition, the meet that launched a million gym nerds, and probably the most important moment in the entire history of sports, the 1996 OLYMPIC WOMEN’S TEAM FINAL! Thank you so much, Robin!

Jessica and Spencer discuss:

• Olympic Trials Drama! (6:24)
  • Compulsive gym hopping
  • Miller and Moceanu injury petitions
  • All those heartbreaks (Kulikowski! Jennie Thompson! Kristy Powell!)
• JUICY, JUICY 1996 FLUFF (15:59)
  • “Little girls dancing for gold” (Jessica has some feelings)
  • Romania apparently training inside Dracula’s castle
  • “Just Shannon” and Shannon’s epic snapback
  • Racist propaganda fluff about Mo Huilan
  • Putting Dominique Moceanu on a seesaw for some reason
• The competition (35:40)
  • The important debate: who’s better, John Tesh or Al Trautwig?
  • How unbelievably super awesome the US team was on bars
  • Romania’s endless injury drama
  • Karolyi legs and form nostalgia
  • What we think every time we see the Moceanu parents
  • Deep thoughts about Geza Pozar floor routines
  • Why Svetlana Khorkina is better than all of us in every way
• THE VAULT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD 
  • A second-by-second breakdown of the Kerri Strug vaults
  • The Strug parents (clap clap clap, chop chop chop)
  • What Bela said to Kerri after her vault
  • Did she actually do it on one leg?
  • Should Kerri have been allowed to vault again when the US would have won anyway? (1:40:49)
  • Was Russia not able to hear the floor music? Did it matter?
  • The worst, most unprofessional, unsafe scene you’ve ever seen
• The GALA (1:47:54)
  • The US group dance to the YMCA and the Macarena. It happened.
  • The biggest cheer than anyone has ever received
  • Sexy Alexei‘s pommel horse
  • Khorkina‘s epic bars dismount
• Fairytale endings! (1:52:33)
  • Where are they now?

RELATED LINKS

• Spencer’s Meet Recap: 1996 TEAM FINAL: AND SHE DID IT ON TWO LEGS
• Spanny Tampson: 73 Thoughts We All Had During 1996 Team Finals

SUPPORT THE SHOW

• Join Club Gym Nerd here with brand new membership tiers, commission your own episode, or commission your own segment.
• Buy some of our awesome merchandise here.

GYMCASTIC LEOTARD CONTEST

WHAT: A GymCastic crystal logo leotard, custom made to fit by Rebecca’s Moms Leotards

HOW TO ENTER: Tell us who would you want to compete against in your custom-made GymCastic leo. Tag @GymCasitc and @RebeccasMomLeo on Twitter or  Instagram

DEADLINE: Sunday, June 25th. Random Winner announced last podcast in June on the 28th

RELATED EPISODES

• 225: 1992 Olympics Recap with Wendy Bruce (Commissioned)
• 185: 2008 Olympic All-Around Finals (Commissioned)
• 254: Vanessa Atler
• 148: Shannon Miller
• 186: Amanda Borden
• 38: Svetlana Boginskaya
• 231: The Rise and Fall of Ukrainian Gymnastics
• 17: Growing Up In The Soviet Gymnastics System And Training At Round Lake
• 15: Joan Ryan Author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
• 223: Tasha Schwikert
• 200: Alicia Sacramone
• 197: Betty Okino
• 31: Elise Ray
• 28: Kristen Maloney
• 19: Andreea Raducan

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN 

 

LISTEN HERE

THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEW

Vanessa Atler is an American treasure and fans have loved her from the moment they first saw her elegant power. She’s a multi-time national champion, multi-World Cup champion, Goodwill Games event champion. She would probably have made the 1996 Olympic team had she been age eligible. She was one of those gymnasts for whom nothing ever worked out the way it should have and fans hearts broke along with her through the 1996-2000 quad. We discuss:

• Why she requested the interview with us
• Her thoughts on age limits and specialists (13:10)
• Elements she worked on but never competed (19:25)
• Dealing with emotions and tears of frustration
• The Comaneci-Salto & The Rybackis – (22:34)
  • Why didn’t she just take the Comaneci out of her routine and win all the things? 
  • Beth and Steve’s differing opinions on bars 
  • What worked and didn’t work with the Rybackis 
  • How being at Charter Oak effected her own coaching
  • Did she seek counseling or therapy? (31:01)
• Her early online presence… and her mom’s (32:50)
  • Epic fluff from 1997 on Vanessa’s online diary
• 1999 Goodwill Games and Sang Lan’s vault accident (34:43)
• Why she left the Rybackis (39:00)
• The real story behind the ankle injury (47:57)
• Why she did not train with Bela Karolyi (50:47)
• The letter Larry Nassar said USAG received about him that caused him to be banned from the Ranch (52:16)
• Pre-2000 Olympics, moving to WOGA (1:00:01)
  • What did and didn’t work for her with Valeri 
  • How Valeri helped make her more confident on bars
  • Weigh-ins (1:04:29)
• 2000 Olympic Trials
  • When an agent gets into the mix: where the “you didn’t make the team because you were fat” rumor came from (1:08:35)
  • Bela told her he’d put her on the team 
• Did she try and compete after 2000?
• What are her feelings toward gymnastics now?
• Being on the realty show “Starting Over”
• Outside influences: family members and agents
• The decision to turn professional
• Fibromyalgia after her motorcycle accident
• Dealing with anxiety and food
• Talking about her support for the defendants in the Larry Nassar case (1:36:00)
• Worlds in China: Nassar asking who wanted a cortisone shot without parental consent and alone in room (1:39:36)
• What she overheard during a coaches meeting through the walls of a hotel (1:44:11)
• Would she want her son to participate in elite gymnastics?
• What she does to keep gymnastics fun for her gymnasts
• What are her upcoming plans… is another book in the works?
• What are her thoughts on the Nassar situation and USAG today?
  • How terrible the food was when she was at the Ranch for national team camp (2:00:11)
  • The group message exchange asking for support for Nassar (2:02:04)
  • Asking for help for her bulimia and being told to do what it takes (2:03:55)

GUEST LINKS

• Witness her amazing beam skills.
• Her floor at the height of her awesomeness.
• Vanessa Atler blog and diary
• Vanessa Atler Children’s Book: Let the River Flow

SUPPORT THE SHOW

• Join Club Gym Nerd here.
• Buy one of our awesome goodies here.

GYMCASTIC LEOTARD CONTEST

WHAT: A GymCastic crystal logo leotard, custom made to fit by Rebecca’s Moms Leotards

HOW TO ENTER: Tell us who would you want to compete against in your custom-made GymCastic leo. Tag @GymCasitc and @RebeccasMomLeo on Twitter or  Instagram

DEADLINE: Sunday, June 25th. Random Winner announced last podcast in June on the 28th

RELATED EPISODES

• Episode 15: Joan Ryan Author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
• Episode 17: Growing Up In The Soviet Gymnastics System And Training At Round Lake
• Episode 31: Elise Ray
• Episode 28: Kristen Maloney
• Episode 33: Simone Biles & Her Coaches
• 187: McKayla Maroney
• 163: ENOUGH
• 246: Kathy Johnson Clarke Regionals Preview
• Episode 56: Preventing Abuse in Gymnastics
• 63: Doctor Larry Nassar
• 245: Steve Penny is GONE
• 244: Russian Nationals & Gymnix 2017
• 243: Senate Bill 534
• 242: Standards
• 241: The Pittsburgh Incident
• 240: Chalkography
• 239: Elite Canada, Reykjavik & NCAA

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN