Jenny Hansen with her coach, Randy Lane at Platinum Gymnastics.
Jenny Hansen is here! Follow her on Instagram as you listen this week and you’ll be giggling along with us. The Wisconsin native attended the University Kentucky where she won three consecutive NCAA All-Around Championship titles between1993 and 1995. She is the only person to ever win three straight All-Around titles. Jen won a total of eight national titles. She accomplished all of this while competing as an individual, without a team to set up her scores at NCAA Championships.
Then 14 years after her career ended, Make It Or Break It pulled Jen right back into gymnastics when she started doing stunts for the show. In 2011, she went elite again at age 37. We discuss:
- Why you should never drink before taking a backflip bet while wearing steel toe boots
- The sport that drew her to the University of Kentucky (Hint, it involves Fascinators).
- Why she stayed away from elite gymnastics in her youth, but not as a adult.
- The importance of fans when competing as an individual.
- The ways in which trampoline can save your life.
- How to describe your athletic lifestyle on blind dates when you are a stunt woman/gymnast/acrobat/horseback rider.
Don’t forget to enter our March gym nerd CONTEST! Enter our #gymitation contest by imitating your favorite gymnast. Just post a photo or video doing a pose, skill or impression of a gymnast. Tell us who you are imitating, tag us and include the hashtag #gymitation. We’ll pick our favorites to win one of these fantastic four prizes!
- Jenny on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
- May 5, 2012, National Qualifier, full senior results from Jen’s meet at the Ranch
- Beam and vault qualification scores from the London Olympics
- 38 year-old Jenny Hansen’s Beam Routine From The Final Elite Qualifier
- “I want to inspire…show there can be longevity in gymnastics” – new Jenny Hansen Interview
- 37-year-old Jen Hansen Says That Her Comeback Isn’t Over Yet
- Killing Age Stereotypes: 40 Adult Gymnasts to Follow to London 2012
- Safe for Athletes survey.
- Episode 2: Age of Olympians Increases, Daggett on Kindness
- Episode 15: Joan Ryan Author of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes
- Episode 22: Beth Tweddle
- Episode 27: Tricia Woo – An Artistic Gymnast Finds Her Home in the Circus
- Episode 26.5: Jenny Hansen, Casey Jo Magee and Anna Li with an Announcement!
Jenny Hansen on the cover on International Gymnast Magazine after winning her third NCAA AA title in a row.
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A little sample of Ariana Berlin’s handywork over at NFL Films.
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Loved the interview! Jenny seems like such a fun person! One thing I’ve always wondered: Why was the old vault called a “horse” and, for that matter, how did the pommel “horse” get its name?
Loved this interview! Jenny seems like someone whom I’d want to be my best friend! She loves horses and gymnastics… She’s just someone I totally want to hang out with.