Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

OLYMPIC RECAP BREAKING NEWS:  Uncle Tim PhD has a new website gymnastics-history where he uncovered the truth about Petrik and Caslavska score change controversy. '"Soviet Larisa Petrik’s preliminary scores were mysteriously upgraded, enabling her to tie Věra Čáslavská for the gold medal on floor.” Well, the story is more complicated, and the sinister undertones aren’t true. The judging scandal is a myth. Plain and simple." BEST OF: Our best moments of the Tokyo Olympics, from Suni Lee's all-around title, to Vanessa Ferrari finally getting her medal, to Nagornyy trying to crawl inside a wall, to unbroken ties, and more Simone and the Twisties: Reflecting on how it played out, how the media narrative evolved, and what would have happened if this were 2016 Biggest Surprises: Including the Russian women winning the team final (and what the US program needs to learn from this) and Dalaloyan still being a live person The Controversies: Because it wouldn't be an Olympics without them. No one-touch, the demon sp

This episode has been commissioned by Club Gym Nerd member Taylor, Princess of Sexy Data, who requested a deep dive into the infamous CNN Parkettes documentary, Achieving the Perfect 10, that we can all quote by heart. We discuss Background What's the deal with Parkettes? The legacy of this piece Jessica's experience going to the Parkettes camp as a youth (!) Why we think Parkettes agreed to this Part 1: A 7-year-old with a broken ankle TOPs testing gives Spencer a panic attack How NOT to sound like a creeper when talking about a 7-year-old Everyone says "suck it up" 100,000 times because healthy We root for everyone to quit and go to a pool party Part 2: Get confident, stupid Demeaning people definitely makes them more confident The Mrs hates everyone, especially gymnasts, and teenagers, and you Jessica is still fawning over Nicole Harris to this day Part 3: Annie, are you OK? "Do you just think it's more important to have bobbles so people will give you attentions?" Why we're obsessed with deadpa

The greatest rivalries of the 1980s! This week, we have a commissioned episode from Club Gym Nerd member Kimo, who asked for an episode all about the 1980s rivalries between the Romanians and the Soviets, both team and individually. We are oh so happy to oblige! Setting the scene A history of Soviet dominance Romania’s 1976 emergence The 1977 Europeans Romanian WALKOUT! The first great Romanian/Soviet rivalry—Nadia vs. Nellie and how it may or may not have influenced the future of gymnastics Romania wins in 1979, the “Nadia Infected Wrist” worlds The true story of Nadia’s fake injury and government control The Rivalry The 1980 Olympics of crazy judging Nadia vs. Davydova and the case of the 30-minute delay Nadia vs. Nellie and the case of the “computer malfunction” Mukhina’s paralysis and the race for innovative difficulty 1981 Worlds The silliest scores of 1981 (oh, it’s 9.800 for this) The case of the Szabo/Agache impersonation of 1981 Romania ends up 4th. That’s right 4th. 1983 Worlds Innovati

Simone returned to the podium and didn’t die on her beam dismount; Chenchen remained the beam queen, historic medal for Turkey on Pbars from Arican, Zou regained his p-bars crown;  Sam Mikulak went out with a happy hit and Daiki’s HB was redonkulously good.

Jade Carey is an Olympic Champion!  The first Olympic medal for Vanessa Ferrari, 2006 World AA Champion and FOUR time Olympian! Second Olympic medals in women’s gymnastics EVER for Italy and Japan  First gymnastics Olympic medal for Armenia with Artur Davtyan’s bronze on vault Shin Jeahawn won gold on vault for Korea.There were two sets of ties in vault finals. We’ll explain how they were broken.  Liu Yang won gold on rings for China proving that judges aren’t above some bonus points for a slow jazz head roll mid-iron cross!  There was an UNBROKEN tie between Melnikova and Mai and they gave eachother their flowers!

First Olympic Champion in gymnastics for Israel - Dolgypyat on floor! Brazil's first ever Olympic Champion in women’s  gymnastics, Rebeca Andrade for Vault!  Yeo Seojeong with the first ever South Korean women’s Olympic medal, a bronze on vault! Nina Derwael with Belgium's first Olympic medal period for women’s gymnastic, our new Olympic bars champion! Why Jade Carey is an absolute ninja with cat like reflexes that saved her on vault.  Why tie breakers suck; how Jessica disagrees with Spencer and Kensley's assessment of the meet as a whole and a big giant silver medal for MyKayla Skinner that affirms that she belongs here! 

All the details you didn't see on tv, direct from Tokyo. Sunisa Lee almost flew off bars but WISELY changed both her floor and beam routines to become the first ever Asian American, Hmong, all around Olympics Champion. Rebeca Andrade came back from three ACL surgeries to win silver with a gorgeous Cheng, and Melnikova proved her place after winning gold with her team. Plus all the deets from your favorites like Popa, Jade and Brooklyn. 

Details from the last dramatic rotation, the surprise .3 neutral deduction for Xiao Ruoteng, what Nagorny said about his third place place finish and our updates on Simone scratching from AA Finals. 

Historic moment when Simone scratched for mental health reasons Russia winning team gold for the first time EVER! British winning bronze for the first time in 90+ years!  Heroic moments abound in this super competitive, mega exciting women's team final 

Our instant reactions after watching a full day of the women's gymnastics qualifying round at the Tokyo Olympics: Simone didn't have her best competition, Rebeca Andrade placed second AA. The US finished behind Russia by more than a point going into Team Finals. Defending Olympic medalists failed to even make finals including Sanne Wevers on beam. Danusia Francis may have gotten the highest Execution score of the meet. Chuso got the standing ovation farewell she deserved. Tom Forster used the words of survivors to justify his poor decision making. Throughout the entire gymnastics Olympic competition we will be recording a live show from Tokyo. Our regular weekly public podcast will resume after the Olympics. In the meantime, here is a sample of our coverage for everyone; and our club members, who have made this coverage possible, have access to the full episodes. CLUB MEMBERS: Listen or Watch the full Behind The Scenes HERE Not a member? Join here. JOIN CLUB GYM NERD Join Club Gym Nerd or buy a gift member

Men's qualifications: our instant take after watching a day full of heartbreak (Kohei), triumph (Japan, Yoder, Rhys and Dalaloyan) and amazing careers come to an end (Epke). 

Olympic gymnast, Luciana Alvarado from Costa Rica kneels for Black Lives Matter during the choreography for her floor routine. This it the first known Black Lives Matter artistic expression ever used in an elite gymnastics routine. Simone Biles lands the yurchenko double pike at the Olympics for the first time in podium training. China, Japan, Nina vs. Suni, Brooklyn Moors, Eythora and more. To listen to BTS login here

Kara Eaker and the case of the positive alternate test. Did British Gymnastics break the rules? Dalaloyan did vault and floor three months post-op on an achilles tear. The vault acted like a bridge troll who didn't want anyone to get over it, including the US men.

US Men's National Team: A Never-ending Controversy Neither Paul Juda—who earned the US an Olympic +1 spot—nor Olympic alternate Allan Bower were given funded spots on the US national team or invited to the world selection camp. This is bonkers, and Kensley is about to lose it. (Head to the 2-hour mark of this mega-sode for a deep dive into the documentation and USAG's statements.) Olympic Preview Part 2 This Olympic preview comes with a 2-per-country trigger warning. The content discussed here may be re-traumatizing for those who have experienced 2-per-country or are sensitive to 2-per-country issues. Please take care of yourselves and watch with care. If you need support, please contact the Jordyn Wieber Fan Club at 1-800-Not-Over-It. Brace yourselves: We predict Simone Biles will win the women's all-around. But who are the next-best contenders for medals? It's going to be Oksana Chusovitina's 8th Olympics. Why are people talking about anything else? Why pommel horse is going to be the most exciting fina

OLYMPIC PREVIEW PART 1: Teams Today, we preview the 12 teams qualified to the women's competition at the Olympics: who's on them, expectations, storylines, and medal hopes. United States: How much of a fall buffer does the US have over everyone else? What records is Simone going to break, and when? And what 2-per-country problems should we start worrying about? Russia: How has this Russian generation closed the gap on the United States? Will Russia beat China for silver? Will a Russian win an all-around medal? China: How China is changing the tired narrative, both in age and event strength. You want 2-per-country drama? Check out the Chinese team trying to make the beam final. Japan: How will the team handle the host-country pressure? And how do we bring #JusticeforMai full circle? Italy: It's Vanessa Ferrari's 4th Olympics. Will a year of injuries compromise Italy's chance of another bronze medal? All your US questions post-trials in a rapid-fire Q&A. Well, medium-fire. OK, slow-fire. Plus what happe

OLYMPIC TRIALS The Olympic team has been named The 4th spot: Why "going by the scores" and "going by the all-around standings" are NOT the same thing The misunderstanding about the actual problem with Martha's way of doing things We make the arguments for both MyKayla Skinner and Grace McCallum for the Olympic team Why Tom Forster's explanation didn't help, and why the athletes didn't actually "select themselves" Olympic Trials -- "Even though the computer tells us MyKayla on the team would be a couple of tenths higher, we're so so fortunate that our athletes are so strong that I don't think it's going to come down to tenths of a point in Tokyo. We didn't feel like it was worth changing the integrity of the process simply for a couple of tenths." - Tom Forster US Championships, Jessica asked, "Regarding the two team positions that will be selected, is it going to be closer to the 3-up-3 count highest score potential or just the top four all-around?" “Erm, well no, it will be.. you know the job is to put f

Welcome to Behind The Scenes! (COMING SUNDAY) Day 1 Coverage of Men & Women Here Tonight we will discuss the Olympics Teams for Tokyo! This is our instant take directly after the competition. Our initial impressions and thoughts. Wednesday we will have our regular episode with discussion of every athlete, routine and so much analysis it will hurt. The first twenty minutes are available to everyone and then we tell the Behind The Scenes stories for our supporters who pay our way to these events, Club Gym Nerd members. U.S. Women's Olympic Team  Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum.  Jade Carey +1 and MyKayla Skinner +2. Replacement Athletes: Kayla DiCello, Kara Eaker, Leanne Wong, Emma Malabuyo.  U.S. Men's Olympic Team Brody Malone, Belfast, Tenn./Stanford University Sam Mikulak, Newport Coast, Calif./U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center Yul Moldauer, Wellington, Colo./5280 Gymnastics Shane Wiskus, Spring Park, Minn./U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center Alec Yoder, Indiana

We are live from St Louis at Olympic Trials. Our immediate reactions to night one of the women's and men's Olympic Trials including: the top scoring team after day one; the MAG second vault score investigation; Simone's double double beam dismount;  the standing ovation;  what you didn't see in podium training and on the sidelines, that Shane Wiskus had to say about his infamous high bar routine; COVID interference; Jordan Chiles and the vault springs battle; Jade suddenly un-scratcing from FX and more.  To hear the entire episode please login to Club Gym nerd. 

GYMTERNET NEWS Be sure to check out our US Olympic Trials Preview, where we make the case for every athlete Canada named its Olympic team, and it makes total sense and is free from controversy and drama. Canada we love you so much. Coaching news out of the Netherlands, including the decision on whether Vincent Wevers can coach at the Olympics The first Chinese Olympic test produced more questions than answers. Can we get special dispensation to name a team of five especially since Ou Yushan got a 15.6 on BB?! Kenzo Shirai announced his retirement Clemson is starting a women's gymnastics program! The Vanessa Ferrari v. Lara Mori Olympic battle royale in Doha Plus, the Supreme Court stabbed the NCAA cartel right in the heart JOIN CLUB GYM NERD Join Club Gym Nerd or buy a gift membership for access to Behind the Scenes episodes. Behind The Scenes: Olympic Trials Are Here! Meet Us in St. Louis Behind The Scenes: Post-Championships Debrief Behind The Scenes: Day Two US Women's Championships 2021 Behind The