The NCAA unveils major rule changes for 2026, and coaches are going to get so many more yellow cards. We break down the new NQS math, the Georgia Collective’s NIL lawsuit, Romania’s latest retaliation crisis, Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos clarifying exclusively to Jessica that she is not in financial distress, plus more info on the American Cup’s new mixed-team format.
LIVE SHOW: Featuring Cecile Landi and Levi Jung-Ruivivar is this Sunday, December 14th at 3 Pacific/6 Eastern. Get your tickets now to ask questions live!
HEADLINES
- Simone demonstrating why all of us should do gymnastics
- Five Romanian gymnasts have submitted formal complaints against the Romanian Federation and the Federation is retaliating against their own coaches and athletes
- What are the conditions the coaches and athletes are facing?
- How can the FIG continue to allow such a federation to be certified?
- Thanks to Uncle Tim and his PhD-level gymnastics history research, we know many past Romanian World and Olympic medalists, some with current leadership positions in the Romanian federation, competed with underage or with false birthdays
- A Melanie de Jesus Dos Santos update. What happened post-Paris Olympics?
- 2025 World All-Around Champion, Angelina Melnikova, is out of Bundesliga after her club severed ties with her due to her connections with Vladimir Putin
- The American Cup is back! This time as a mixed-team competition
- When and where will the event be held?
- How is the format different compared to the European Championships mixed-pairs event?
- Who are our dream international teams?
GYMTERNET NEWS
- NEW ELEMENT ALERT! The piked full-twisting Jaeger is now the Minamino
- The Georgia Collective is suing athletes who transferred which could have big implications for the future
- Athletes.org released a collective bargaining agreement you can see here
- Max Whitlock has announced his return to gymnastics with the hopes of making it to the Los Angeles Olympics
- Oksana Chusovitina is training for 2026 World Cups
- Jayla Hang announced on Instagram she had surgery on her wrist
- Giovanni Maria Fares, a lawyer formerly at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, is the new head of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation
- Lawsuits and Dumpster Fire News
- Chows is being sued after an investigative piece by Eddie Pells of the AP
- Former Rutgers coach Umme Salim-Beasley is suing the school for wrongful termination
- The Trump administration is refusing to administer visas to athletes from Caribbean countries, preventing them from participating in LA28 qualifying events
- NCAA photo shoot drama
- Kaylia Nemour has released a book, ”The Shadow of Gold”
- The University of Minnesota Men’s Gymnastics Club has a new facility
- European Gymnastics will allow Russians to participate in competitions as neutral athletes, opening up Olympic qualification paths for artistic and rhythmic gymnasts
- Ashikawa Urara has retired after years of battling worsening scoliosis
- Claire Pease commits to Utah!
- Dulcy Caylor is deferring her NCAA start at Florida to focus on LA28
GYM NERD SCHOOL – College Gymnastics Rule Changes in 2026
- What are updates to the National Qualifying Score?
- What are the differences between the new and old versions?
- Do we think the changes are positive?
- Controversy radar activated: some teams will have to drop 2 high scores and some teams will have to drop 1
- The Yellow Card Game: we have new guidelines for unsportsmanlike conduct including things like:
- Addresses an official in a disrespectful manner
- Attempts to influence an official’s decision by words, expressions, gestures, body language, or similar behavior
- Objects to an official’s decision by excessive or disrespectful words, expressions, gestures, body language, or similar behaviors
- Uses a loud voice and hostile gestures when talking to a meet referee
- Incites undesirable crowd reactions
- Which coaches of gymnastics past, present, and future do we think would be most guilty of these?
- Judging Changes:
- Judges can now check themselves before they wreck themselves. Could this help prevent impossible scores from being handed out?
- Coaches can also inquire on out of range scores
- The power of the Paris floor final
- You now have six minutes to submit an inquiry after the final routine
- China’s 2003 Worlds power
- Athletes next up to compete may invert or perform a gymnastics element on mats surrounding beam, bars, floor, or on the vault runway prior to the signal. If the gymnast performs after the CJ signals, it is a 0.2 deduction for exceeding the warm-up time
- The nonsense department
- BUT HER EARRINGS
- Gymnasts are only permitted to wear stud piercings. No other jewelry is permitted, otherwise a 0.2 deduction will be taken
- BUT HER EARRINGS
- What international elites are we most excited to see this NCAA season?
INTERVIEW
- Gymnastics Medicine interview: pain myths & better injury care with Dr. Elspeth (Elly) Hart DScPAS, PA-C, MPAS, ATC, LAT and Dr. Ezara Greene DPT
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UP NEXT:
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NEWSLETTERS
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RESOURCES
- Spencer’s essential website The Balance Beam Situation
- GIFs of the Week and Meet schedule with links.
- Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim
-
The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles
by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker. Aimee coached Simone from day one in gymnastics to three back to back World All Around titles, 14 world medals and an unprecedented 5 medals at the Rio Olympics. Get your copy now. And if you loved it, please leave a review.
