LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the bloopers and blunders that don’t make it onto the final show) and see video clips of the gymnastics while we discuss.

This week’s episode has been commissioned by Kim, who asked for an episode all about the 1991 VHS spectacular—GYMNASTICS’ GREATEST STARS

We discuss:

• Jessica’s show-and-tell primary source artifacts
• Doris Fuchs Brause, meet interruptions, her skill, and alleged star-crossed Soviet lovers
• The Vera Caslavska protest (I mean, it is GymCastic…)
• Olga! Nadia! Nellie being all Nellie!
• Enthusiastic sexism…?
• Jessica’s favorite broken kneecap
• Being personally victimized by the event order
• Elena Mukhina nightmares
• Why we don’t talk about Tracee Talavera enough
• The Nancy Thies compromised cassette tape
• Tong Fei being the star of the whole thing
• Bart needing you to know that 1984 WAS NO FLUKE
• …and a whole lot more, plus what we would include in GYMNASTICS’ GREATEST STARS 2021

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• 441: Gymnastics Commentary Hall of Shame (Commissioned)
• Best of GymCastic: The FluffCast (Commissioned)
• 436: 2000 Women’s Team Final (Commissioned)
• 433: Weirdest Gymnastics Exhibitions of the 90s (Commissioned)
• 431: 2003 Team Final (Commissioned)
• 246 Kathy Johnson Clark Interview

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the bloopers and blunders that don’t make it onto the final show) and see video clips of the gymnastics while we discuss.

GYMTERNET NEWS

• European Championships are still on! (For some reason?) We discuss the move to Turkey, who’s not attending, the change in Olympic qualification, and why this event happening at all.
• Gymnast Alliance: Amy Tinkler has the receipts, and the horrifying letter sent to the Australian juniors in 2000.
• Plus, the campaigns to save Alaska and Minnesota and William & Mary, how the Italian gymnasts may have been cursed by a sea monster, and the revolving door of NCAA coaching that just keeps revolving.

MEET NEWS

• We discuss Mai’s domination of Japanese Nationals, Kohei’s new identity as a high bar specialist, Chinese Nationals confirming the greatness of Tingting, the importance of Guan Chenchen, and Wei Xiaoyuan’s magic charm.
• At Szombathely, Marta Pihan-Kulesza. End of podcast.
• Plus, a blooper for the ages, a possible 2020 competition opportunity for the US, and Oleg updates.
• Check out our new imprint Gymnastics International for full episodes about recent meets!

FEEDBACK

The history of women in American gymnastics commentary, recovering assholes, EDUCATION, dying underwear, mesh lining, and whether there’s a “witch hunt” of gymnastics coaches.

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• 441: Gymnastics Commentary Hall of Shame (Commissioned)
• 440: Chinese Gymnastics Team Trainer: Annemarie Alf DPT, CSCS
• 439: The Curious Case of the Extra Urine

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

GYMNASTICS INTERNATIONAL

Welcome to Gymnastics International! On this show, we’ll take a deep dive into the latest competitions from around the world, covering them with the depth and detail we typically reserve for US women’s elite competitions. Because national borders are stupid. This week: the Szombathely World Challenge Cup.

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the bloopers and blunders that don’t make it onto the final show) and see video clips of the gymnastics while we discuss.  What the full video podcast here. A little preview:

SZOMBATHELY

We dissect every single little moment from the Marta Pihan-Kulesza Show, Starring Marta Pihan-Kulesza. Plus, a new skill in MAG, a full report on the level of mask-wearing (it was low), and CSI Code Edition takes on the issue Lopez/Podkopayeva credit. We celebrate when talls win the day and bemoan when falls win the day, celebrate when execution wins the day, and bemoan when sexism wins the day. And then watch Marta Pihan-Kulesza a few more times because duh.

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

PAST EPISODES

Gymnastics International Episode 1: Chinese and Japanese Nationals

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the bloopers and blunders that don’t make it onto the final show) and see video clips of the gymnastics while we discuss.

This week’s episode has been commissioned by AnnaMarie, who asked for an episode all about gymnastics commentators—the good, the bad, and the ugly. TBH, we mostly did the ugly part.

HALL OF SHAME

• Sexually inappropriate comments about minors: Nope.
• Sexually inappropriate comments about adults: Double nope.
• Infantilizing adults and calling them little girls: Triple nope.
• Weight Shaming: The Monica Phelps Chapter
• Being weirdly obsessed with adoption: The Al Trautwig Chapter
• Tragic moments in college commentary
• Tragic moments in putting on accents

GYMCASTIC’S OFFICIAL BROADCAST DOs and DON’Ts

• 18 Dos and (mostly) Don’ts for gymnastics broadcasts concerning comparing gymnasts to dented cars, being the smile police, “Bela’s girls,” and talking about a gymnast’s “personality.”

BANNED WORDS AND PHRASES

• From “supple” to “weight” to “international look” to “ancient” to “4 inches wide,” we have some words and phrases that are hereby banned from gymnastics commentary.
• The most important message for any commentator to reiterate before they begin broadcasts re smashing the patriarchy for the witches they couldn’t burn.

WE HAVE A NEW PODCAST

On Gymnastics International, we’ll take a deep dive into the latest competitions from around the world, covering them with the depth and detail we typically only reserve for US women’s elite competitions. Because national borders are stupid. This week: Japanese and Chinese Nationals!

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes and video of our podcasts.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• Olly Hogben Interview
• Kathy Johnson Interview
• 440: Chinese Gymnastics Team Trainer: Annemarie Alf DPT, CSCS
• 439: The Curious Case of the Extra Urine

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the bloopers and blunders that don’t make it onto he final show) and see video clips of the gymnastics while we discuss.

GYMTERNET NEWS

• The college COVID wars are raging. We discuss whether it’s possible to have an equitable college gym season with such varying preparations.
• Gymnast Alliance: The latest in Amy Tinkler’s saga, as well as what’s been happening in Australia
• Simone posted some triple pikes and Yurchenko double pikes for national gymnastics day

MEET NEWS

• At Japanese Masters, Shuko Uchimura (Kohei’s mom) competed again at 53 and we were treated to the most important men’s floor routine of the age 
• Everyone is injured on the eve of Chinese WAG nationals and we’re not OK

INTERVIEW

This week, Jessica speaks with Annemarie Alf, an American Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has spent the last three quads working with the Chinese women’s gymnastics team. We talk about strength training, why there seem to be so few Achilles tears, nutrition, medical treatments, what we can learn from the Chinese Olympic system, and her thoughts on SafeSport. Plus the personalities of Cheng Fei, Yao Jinnan, Deng LinLin, ChenChen, Chen Yile.

MINI COMMISSION

Jyl has commissioned us to have a conversation about the trauma of leaving the sport. “How can we better prepare these young athletes for the ‘after-life?’ Offering quality training while still enabling them to be actual functioning people after the mats are gone?”

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• • 439: The Curious Case of the Extra Urine
  • Best of GymCastic: The FluffCast (Commissioned)
  • Best of GymCastic: Vanessa Atler Interview
  • 432: #GymnastAlliance

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the flubs and hiccups) and see video of the routines we discuss.

HEADLINES

• Jessica talks about the Alyssa Beckerman episode
• Gymnast Alliance: Ellie Downie’s weight-shaming complaint was “not upheld” and multiple gymnasts disclose issues at Cincinnati under MLT. Kensley has some thoughts on MLT’s Bible defense.
• Gymnastics is Coming Back! Spencer previews what we’re excited for at the upcoming Japanese Championships, Chinese Championships, and Szombathely World Cup. Meanwhile, Anastasia Motak’s beam from Ukrainian Nationals is the new president.
• Spencer watched the Andreea Raducan documentary Golden Girl and is bursting to tell you everything about it
• The latest on men’s NCAA gym and its slow march toward death:
  • The Long Brewing Crisis in High Education.  Higher education as hedge fund luxury brands
  • Cutting sports to steal endowments: The myth of football-funded athletics

GYMTERNET NEWS

• The weekly “Chellsie Memmel is our only hope” update
• Thoughts on USAG’s tentative women’s calendar for 2021
• Maggie Haney is…still working with gymnasts?
• Jordyn Wieber won’t attend the USAG Hall of Fame induction
• And a new gymnastics docuseries is coming!

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• Best of GymCastic: The FluffCast (Commissioned)
• Best of GymCastic: Vanessa Atler Interview
• 438: Agree to Disagree
• 437: Lineup Racism?
• 436: 2000 Women’s Team Final (Commissioned)
• 435: Let’s Talk about Terin

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the flubs and hiccups) and see video of the routines we discuss. Please note that video takes longer to render so it might be up a little later than the audio podcast.

HEADLINES

• Alyssa Beckerman penned a Google Doc about the emotional manipulation, ostracism, pettiness, and mishandling of weight and injury that she experienced at UCLA under Miss Val
  • What lessons other coaches can learn about the best ways to help athletes who experienced abusive club careers
  • Does this change how we look at Miss Val’s positive coaching tour?
  • Thoughts on Miss Val’s response and whether she should have said anything at all
  • Discussed:
    • International Socio-Cultural research group on Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (ISCWAG) research and interview
    • Jenny Pinches explanation (on August 7, 2020 before Alyssa’s letter) of the #AthleteAlliance movement re coaches
    • One Face: Project Gravitas
    • Related articles on Beckerman :
      •  Beckerman questions dismissal
      • Team supports Beckerman’s dismissal
      • Out of Balance: A look inside USA Gymnastics’ culture of abuse
• More #GymnastAlliance news
  • Cassidy Hyman’s statement about elite development coordinator Dan Baker
  • Athletes speak out about Amanda Reddin, WAG head coach at British Gymnastics
• The NCAA Gym is dying
  • Alaska’s women’s program and Iowa’s men’s program will be shut down after 2021. We mourn.

MINI COMMISSION

• Erin has commissioned us to bring back fluff pieces and reimagine the non-racist, non-condescending, non-awful versions we’d like to see. Obviously, we go right to Elena Produnova, Catalina Ponor’s closet, and lesbians

GYMTERNET NEWS

• Kensley’s article on Female judges in MAG, Suni Lee’s COVID scare, an exposé of the Brazilian club Pinheiros, and what we think of the survivors’ attorneys asking the court to reject Terin Humphrey’s claim

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• 437: Lineup Racism?
• 436: 2000 Women’s Team Final (Commissioned)
• 435: Let’s Talk about Terin
• 434: Svetlana Khorcanceled
• 433: Weirdest Gymnastics Exhibitions of the 90s (Commissioned)
• 432: #GymnastAlliance
• 431: 2003 Team Final (Commissioned)

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the flubs and hiccups) and see video of the routines we discuss.

HEADLINES

• Are you registered to vote? Double check. Vote.org
• Texas Dreams Fallout
  • Statements from more athletes about their Texas Dreams experiences, including Ragan Smith and Macy Toronjo
  • Discussion: What responsibility do college coaches have to speak out about abusive coaching in the elite world?
• ESPN article on racism in college gymnastics
  • The details on Alabama’s Title IX investigation, and…Dana what are you doing?
  • “Skin-tone” and the NCAA demographics database
• D-D Breaux retired
  • Her epic legacy at LSU and what’s next for the team

MINI-COMMISSION

• Last week, Kennedy Baker discussed her experience with racism at Florida and mentioned the much-discussed history of Florida floor lineups. We use that as a lens for this week’s mini-commission, in which Sophie asked us to discuss NCAA lineup strategy, what each of our strategies would be if we were making lineups, and whether there’s a program that excels at lineup strategy.

GYMTERNET NEWS

• Amy Tinkler’s former coaches suspended by British Gymnastics, Memmel upgrade news, the Kathie Klages sentencing, USAG’s 5-tier system for SafeSport reports, Donnell Whittenburg’s piece for Team USA that back-up Orozo’z racism claims, Nina’s new dismount, and more

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• 436: 2000 Women’s Team Final (Commissioned)
• 435: Let’s Talk about Terin
• 434: Svetlana Khorcanceled
• 433: Weirdest Gymnastics Exhibitions of the 90s (Commissioned)
• 432: #GymnastAlliance
• Best of GymCastic: The Leotard Episode
• 431: 2003 Team Final (Commissioned)

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded (pre-edits with all the flubbubbs and hiccups) and see video of the routines we discuss.

TEXAS NIGHTMARES

Before we get to this week’s commission, a few…erm…rage thoughts on what we’ve heard about Texas Dreams this week from Ashton Kim and Kennedy Baker.

2000 TEAM FINAL

This week’s episode was commissioned by Club Gym Nerd member Casey because “it’s all fun and games until Russia goes to beam.” We discuss:

• Vault conspiracy theories. Was the vault also set incorrectly in the team final?
• Everything on beam is a Shushunova. We fight about it.
• The US team getting locked out of the arena and what it symbolizes
• Support, refute, or qualify: “Romania wins with boring gymnastics.”
• The concept of Maria Olaru
• Khorkina’s vaulting, Leonardo Da Vinci, and pumpernickel
• The importance of Liu Xuan and Ling Jie on floor
• Russia. Beam. It happened. We need to talk about it
• Dong Fangxiao’s age and the stripping of China’s bronze

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
• Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
• We have masks too!

RELATED EPISODES

• 435: Let’s Talk about Terin

• 434: Svetlana Khorcanceled
• 433: Weirdest Gymnastics Exhibitions of the 90s (Commissioned)
• 432: #GymnastAlliance
• Best of GymCastic: The Leotard Episode
• 431: 2003 Team Final (Commissioned)

• 430: Athlete A with Jennifer Sey

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN