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THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEW

John Orozco is here and ready to blow it up. In this interview, he discusses the Black Lives Matter movement and the racism he experienced from leadership in the US men’s program, different standards applied to white and black athletes in national team selection and drug/alcohol enforcement, favoritism and score changing, the reality of a family situation that was far from what was painted by NBC, what really happened in the 2012 Olympic team final, the lawlessness of the post-Olympic tour, his nationality switch to Puerto Rico, and so much more. You don’t want to miss this one.

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RELATED EPISODES

• • 72: John Orozco (January 2014)
  • 241: The Pittsburgh Incident (Legendre’s accuse OTC coach of assault)
  • 428: Black Lives Matter This Week Too
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Photo: Indiana State University

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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.  *Note that the preview of the Orozco interview is not in the video this week but you can listen to it at the 00: 36:44 time stamp in the audio version.

HEADLINES

• Kurt Thomas, 1978 and 1979 world champion, died of a stroke at age 64. We discuss his legacy.
• More athletes detail stories of racism in college gymnastics—what Alabama’s Tia Kiaku, Auburn gymnasts Kennedy Finister and Telah Black, Florida’s Kytra Hunter, and Nebraska’s Ashley Lambert said this week
  • Why the aggressively empty platitudes from coaches like Dana Duckworth and Courtney Kupets-Carter bother us so much—and why we love the statement from Sac State
  • Plus, do we need to change our outro? And what should it be?

GYMTERNET NEWS

• European Championships have been rescheduled for December in Baku. Jessica is concerned for COVID reasons. Spencer is concerned for rule-consistency reasons. Kensley is optimistic. No one is surprised by any of this.
• The FIG published the new, official Olympic qualification rules for 2021
• The retirements of Courtney McGregor, Senna Deriks, and most of Romania
• Which US elites have decided to keep training for Tokyo
• NCAA transfer news for Addy De Jesus, Bailey Ferrer, and Mercedes Sanchez
• Problems with the FBI, NCAA, and Kathy Klages, as per usual, and a coach suspension at Chelsea Piers
• Nile Wilson released a documentary on his battle with addiction and mental health—we watched and have thoughts
• Plus, feedback on Alexis Brown, why the gymternet didn’t come for Sam Mikulak like it did for Ashton, and sports’ exploitation of black athletes

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

• • 427: The Gymnast Who Kneeled During The National Anthem
  • 426: Body Roll Abomination
  • 425: GymCastic Fixes Judging (Commission)
  • 424 Emotional Abuse: The Maggie Haney Eight Year Ban

• Behind the Scenes: Scott Bregman
• Behind the Scenes: May 15, 2020
• Behind The Scenes: Denis Vachon

RELATED ARTICLE

• • Shut Up and Tumble

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Usually video podcasts are a special feature for Club Gym Nerd members but we felt this one was too important not to make available to as wide an audience as possible. Thank You to our Club members for being so supportive.

THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEW

Alexis Brown was a UC Davis gymnast, is the co-program record holder on beam, and knelt during the national anthem in the 2017 and 2018 NCAA seasons. We caught up with Alexis to hear her thoughts on kneeling now—two years on—and how she feels about the current protests against police brutality of black Americans.

She tells us whether she feels more hopeful or disheartened about the experience in retrospect, what she makes of the NCAA programs who haven’t made statements, and what she would like to see from white members of the gymnastics community.

Resources For Action:

What White People Can Do For Racial Justice 

NAACP

Black Lives Matter Action Guide

Ben & Jerry’s Dismantle White Supremacy

The Action PAC

Anguish And Action 

Understanding White Privilege

Bystander Intervention Training

Movie : Do The Right Thing

Documentary: 13th on Netflix

GYMTERNET NEWS

• We round up the reactions (and occasionally lack thereof) to the protests from those in the gymnastics community, including Kennedy Baker, Tia Kiaku, and Steve Butcher.
• Plus, what we can do in the gymnastics community, obliviousness and defensiveness, reasons there might be silence, compassion fatigue, and how there’s no better time to get rid of IOC’s Rule 50 against demonstrations.

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

• • 426: Body Roll Abomination
  • 425: GymCastic Fixes Judging (Commission)
  • 424 Emotional Abuse: The Maggie Haney Eight Year Ban
  • Behind the Scenes: Gymnast Nicknames with Scott Bregman
  • Behind The Scenes with coach Denis Vachon
  • Behind the Scenes: May 15, 2020
  • Behind The Scenes: Exactly What is Going on With Gymnast’s Special Underwear?
  • Video Podcasts

RELATED ARTICLE

• • Shut Up and Tumble

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.

GYMTERNET NEWS

• USAG cancels elite events for the remainder of 2020. Inevitable sigh.
• Some THOUGHTS about these new garbage Title IX regulations
• The latest steps toward NCAA athlete compensation and what it means for gymnasts
• NCAA gymnastics news, in which we discuss the sprouting of Long Island University and whether or not Nebraska is…OK?
• How various nations are handling a return to elite training
• Jessica has some feelings about priorities and the re-opening of gyms in the US
• Dumpster fire developments on the suspension of Amy Nyman, the dismissal of charges against Lou Anna Simon, and USOC getting sued for fraud
• Finally, how bad was the FIG’s decision to use the qualification results from Baku as final? Score For Score has the numbers

MINI-COMMISSION

• A mini commission from Nico T.L. asks us to go deep on three…shall we say remarkable?…floor routines from 2000—Elena Produnova‘s “Super Bitch Power Routine,” Paloma Moro‘s “Cracked Out Spanish Hoedown Routine,” and Alena Polozkova’s “So Bad You Can’t Look Away Routine.” This is heavenly.

FEEDBACK

• We conclude with some feedback about Li Li’s culpability in the Maggie Haney situation, autism, Nazis (?), and our judging episode.

BECOME A CLUB GYM NERD MEMBER

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

RELATED EPISODES

• 425: GymCastic Fixes Judging (Commission)
• 424 Emotional Abuse: The Maggie Haney Eight Year Ban
• 423: Little Dumpster Fires Everywhere
• 420: Jamie Dantzscher
• Behind The Scenes: May 15, 2020
• Behind The Scenes with coach Denis Vachon

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

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Club Gym Nerd members can watch the video version of the episode here.

This week’s episode has been commissioned by an anonymous Club Gym Nerd member and current gymnastics judge who said, “You complain about judging all the time.” (WHAT, US??? NEVER!) “Tell us what you would do if you were in charge of women’s officials for NCAA and JO meets.” We shall gladly oblige!

Surprise, surprise, we’re not short of opinions. We tackle nasty problem areas like transparency, the Old Girls Network, “reputation,” judging consistency, bias, and subjectivity, while answering questions about whether having been a gymnast makes you a better judge, appropriate processes for judge selection and evaluation, and how judges should get the $$$$$$$. We also make a list of the problems with college judging and what to do about them.

So basically, we fix everything that’s wrong with everything. You’re welcome, gymnastics.

GYMTERNET NEWS

We couldn’t not talk about the latest harrowing details on Maggie Haney’s 8-year suspension, so we take a moment to be horrified about that as well.

BECOME A CLUB GYM NERD MEMBER

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

RELATED EPISODES

• Behind The Scenes with coach Denis Vachon
• 424: The Maggie Haney Eight Year Ban
• 423: Little Dumpster Fires Everywhere
• 422: Stick It (Commissioned)
• 420: Jamie Dantzscher

MORE WAYS TO LISTEN

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THIS WEEK’S INTERVIEWS

This week, Jessica speaks with attorney and Olympic Champion, Nancy Hogshead-Makar of Champion Women about emotional abuse (A.C.E score) and SafeSport rules, the 8-year ban for Maggie Haney, whether this counts as progress, what a culture of silent obedience looks like, and a new bill pending before Congress. Learn more usopu.info 

She also speaks with Robert Andrews, therapist and founder of the Institute of Sports Performance in Houston, about the long-term effects of childhood trauma and emotional abuse and what needs to change for USAG to be able to prevent abuse.  As a child. Andrews was inspired by the book They Fought Back. His series Champions Mental Edge is available here.

GYMTERNET NEWS

• We won the COVID-19 Feeding America fundraiser. Still time to donate if you can. Watch here.
• 8 Years: Maggie Haney has been suspended for 8 years. We discuss what Laurie said about her experience, the details of the suspension, the information we’d still like to know, why now and why her (because there sure are others…), how shocked we are that emotional abuse was actually taken seriously, and what emotional abuse actually means
  • Maggie’s Rules from The Skating Lesson
• Fantasy Floor Music: We finally learned the details of Dan Kendig’s 2018 resignation for getting caught doing something that most college programs do—and rant about the stupid NCAA rules on paying for floor choreography

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD 

• Join Club Gym Nerd for access to Behind the Scenes episodes here.
• Get discounts on awesome clothing and gifts here.

RELATED EPISODES

• Behind The Scenes: Laurie Hernandez Interview
• 187: McKayla Maroney
• Episode 28: Kristen Maloney
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• Aimee & Maggie Extended Interview
• Episode 41: Laurie Hernandez & Coach Maggie Haney
• 423: Little Dumpster Fires Everywhere
• 422: Stick It (Commissioned)
• 420: Jamie Dantzscher
• 277.5: McKayla Maroney Alleges Abuse from Nassar
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• 419: Sports Economist Dr. David Berri
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