What We’re Talking About
Fresh off the Winter Cup, the men’s national team has been named, which includes: Cameron Bock, Alex Diab, Vitaliy Guimaraes, Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Ian Lasic-Ellis, Riley Loos, Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Stephen Nedoroscik, Curran Phillips, Colt Walker, Shane Wiskus, Alec Yoder, and Khoi Young. On the women’s side, Konnor McClain, Skye Blakely, eMjae Frazier, Nola Matthews and Ashlee Sullivan will make up the team heading to Stuttgart, Germany in the second-half of the month. Vitaliy and Konnor both took home the Winter Cup Champion title–and Vitaliy did it without chalking up any of the bonus points the men’s program was offering to incentivize bigger skills.
True to its name Winter Cup brought the cold. In fact, Texas was frozen. And because the weather was so extreme it was hell for a lot of the athletes and coaches to get to the meet. The men from Michigan weren’t able to get there until the last day of competition. Some participants flew into neighboring states and drove. Some found an Uber driver willing to ride share several hundred miles because the planes weren’t flying in or out of frozen Frisco, TX. This shouldn’t surprise us. This week, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the most comprehensive report in nearly a decade on climate change. It was in coordination with 195 governments and runs 3,675 pages. The bottom line is that climate change is here, it’s impacting life and we need to act. So we ask again, where’s the climate change floor routine? That’s the one that needs to go viral.
Feelings
- Until Russia withdraws from Ukraine they should lose the privilege of participating with other members of the global community. It’s not fair to innocent athletes, but the isolation is necessary.
- Yul should be allowed to take a vacation without losing his health insurance and funding.
- Asher is finally a senior and he is the real deal.
- The Alabama v. LSU gymnastics meet beat out a very popular Fox “News” program in television ratings in the 18-49 demographic. This is the way.
- Climate change is effecting the ability for gymnasts to make it to the meets on time—and it’s only getting worse. If that doesn’t motivate action I don’t know what will.
- We need to incentivize two vaults.
- We’re here for the competitions between Sam Mikulak and MyKayla Skinner.
- What’s in the water in Arizona? Whatever it is… keep drinking it.
Facts
- The University of Arizona beat Utah for first time in program history.
- Arizona State defeated the undefeated Cal Berkley.
- Sunisa Lee executed the first Nabieva in NCAA history.
- She also grabbed her first perfect 10 on balance beam.
- Suni and Jade Carey are both halfway to a gym slam in their freshman seasons.
- In total, there were eight perfect 10s this week.
- Sierra Brooks, Maddie Diab and Chae Campbell all received the first perfect 10s of their careers.
- Vitaliy doesn’t need bonus points.
- Sam might be off the market.
Award(s)
- Best use of a leotard: Ella Kate Parker
What’s On the Socials?
View this post on Instagram
Hey Siri – Play this 10.0 from @sierrabbrooks_ on repeat for the next week!#GoBlue 〽️ pic.twitter.com/fqIBtOEqdm
— Michigan Women’s Gymnastics (@UMichWGym) February 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/SECNetwork/status/1497382480722243587?s=20&t=Jaz71_JheFAjFFf0vNKh9g
https://twitter.com/CycloneGYM/status/1497395812657098754?s=20&t=Jaz71_JheFAjFFf0vNKh9g
Azaraya's absolutely stunning floor routine. I cannot WAIT to follow her journey, she has everything – Jr WC 2022 pic.twitter.com/1ARN1b8TM2
— Lucy – I did indeed freak out (@Lucys_Stuff) February 27, 2022
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Quotes
“Ukrainian gymnasts are our children. I would like to ask for your understanding to save Ukrainian gymnasts.” ~ MORINARI WATANABE, Chairman of the FIG
Reminding the gymnastics world that we are a community and that while gymnasts can do superhuman things, we need to protect each other.
♦
“Greg Abbott, I hate you.” ~ Simone Biles, GOAT
Sharing a post on her Instagram story about the Texas Governor’s move to prosecute the parents of trans kids as child abusers.
♦
“I stand against fascism.
I stand with Ukraine. I call on
@olympics @Paralympics
& all international sport federations to suspend Russia immediately. Cut them off. If you know how much I love Russian artistry, then you’ll also know how important this is to me…” ~ Kyle Shewfelt, Olympic Gold Medalist
Requesting action by the governing bodies to take action against Russia for their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
♦
“To win any gold medal in a World Cup is a superb accomplishment. To win it at 15 is that little bit more. To win it as a Ukrainian gymnast, under these circumstances, there are not words for that. Congratulations beyond congratulations for Daniela Batrona of 🇺🇦.”
~ Olly Hogben, Commentator
Olly doing Olly things while putting humanity at the center of sport during the Cottbus World Cup competition.
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What? You want even more? Be sure to check out our new College & Cocktails episodes for Club Gym Nerd members on Friday nights right after the competition. Then we give the sober analysis on Monday after we’ve allowed the data to penetrate our feelings.
This column was composed and compiled by Steve Cooper, Editor, GymCastic; as performed by hosts Jessica O’Beirne and Spencer Barnes.