Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer, and Jessica chat about: Retirements, Valerie's first official camp as team coordinator, US Team to the White House, Ponor dragged into election scam, Lauren Mitchell retires, and Ellis O'Reilly's fractured vertebrae. The answer to the question: where's Gabby Douglas?  Why the UK men are all learning Pegan's on high bar. What leotard designs do we want to see now that GK has a deal with Disney.  A British promoter is marketing the British Gymnastics all-around World Cup. We give him our advice on how to host the best meet ever.  Gymnastics scoring displays: what ice skating and baseball already have that we need. An update on the allegations against USA Gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar, and USA Gymnastics sex abuse cover-up investigation.  Dancing shows update on Laurie Hernandez and Claudio Fragapane. The NCAA has pulled all championships out of North Carolina because state laws makes it legal to discriminate against LGBT citizens. Should USA Gymnastics do th

  THIS WEEK'S INTERVIEW Olympic medalist, NCAA Champion, law school graduate (currently waiting for her bar results) and legend of the dance floor, Tasha Schwikert, joins us this week. Tasha (and her baby daughter) joined us to discuss: Gym Mythbusters: did she really learn a back handspring on the side of the bathtub, did she give her NCAA AA trophy to Maloney, and more... Her famous perceived snub of USA Gymnastics president, Steve Penny. Being designated a Vegas Gymnast and a rebel by the New York Times.  Her lifelong relationship with GymCats coach Cassie Rice. The difference between Bela Karolyi and Martha (Marta) Karolyi as national team coordinators.  How she managed not to tear her achillies despite lifelong achillies problems.  The 2000 Olympics: Making the team as the second alternate What she thought of fans perception that it was her fault Jamie Dantzscher and Alyssa Beckerman were snubbed in Sydney. The current abuse investigation and cases against USA Gymnastics: Her experience and opinion

THIS WEEK In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer, and Jessica chat about: 1988 Olympic Champion and WOGA genius, Valerie Liukin has officialy been named "The New Marta" Fuzzy Bears broke into the World Anti-Doping Agency and tried to get US gymnasts busted fooooor nothing. Alexi Nemov's Gymnastics Legends show in Moscow All the gymternet news Judge Ricky's Top 10 most dynamic floor routines from Rio... a countdown. (44:45) In light of the allegations against Dr. Larry Nassar, we wanted to know what was appropriate and inappropriate protocol for intravaginal therapy. We asked Doctor of Physical Therapy, Stephanie Fournier, a board certified women's clinical health specialist. She discusses (29:20): Appropriate protocol before and during a pelvic floor exam and treatment for a minor If leaking or peeing a little when you tumble is really a big deal? (hint...YES!) What can pelvic floor disfunction in girls lead to in adulthood (hint... run to your physical therapist immediately for treatment) For adult gymnasts, is

Read Spencer's full blog post with HAIR images here. 

IN THE NEWS This week Uncle Tim, Spencer,  and Jessica discuss: Dr. Larry Nassar accused of sexual assault Gymternet news (29:48) Feedback and Q&A from listeners (36:32) Former USA Gymnastics doctor accused of abuse. Full story from Indy Star. Two former gymnasts, including an Olympic medalist (identified as Jane Doe), have accused prominent, longtime team physician, Dr. Larry Nassar, working for USA Gymnastics of sexual abuse. A 2000 U.S. female Olympian has filed a lawsuit for sexual assault against alleged perpetrator, an adult male individual who was a certified athletic trainer and a osteopathic physician for the US Women's Team through the 2012 Olympics (the Indy Star has identified the perpetrator as Larry Nassar). The Olympian accuses him of fondling and groping her breasts, and "introduced his bare hand to Plaintiff's vagina and anus, on multiple locations, in Plaintiff's assigned sleeping quarters, as she lay on the edge of her bed, alone and without any supervision or a chaperone..." and tha

IN THE NEWS In the news, Spencer, Lauren and Jessica chat about: Lauren's experience as an associate producer for NBC's live online gymnastics coverage with Courtney Kupets and Jon Horton for the Rio Olympics. (1:15) Gymternet News (19:50): Simone Bile's lifelong coach, Aimee Boorman has moved to Evo Gymnastics in Florida.  Gabby had "a seriously infected past mouth injury" and a bone cyst removed. USA Gymnastics sexual abuse lawsuit update: Another victim joined the motion to unseal the sexual misconduct files. The files will be unsealed and available to the public on September 30th.  Tattoo-mageddon, the men's team all got enormous olympic tats.  Rabbi seeks royalties for Japanese Olympic gymnast’s ‘immodest’ use of his melody.  The New Code (48:06): Spencer walks us through the changes, the way only The Balance Beam Situation can   Favorite routines from Rio that didn't make Finals (57:31):  Nina Derwael (BEL) bars, Yuki Uchiyama (JPN) bars, Jossimar Calvo (COL) high bar, Lisa Ecker (AUT) vault a

IN THE NEWS Day Three, Rio Olympic Event Finals: Women's floor, high bar and parallel bars hosts Spencer, Houry Gebeshian (27 year-old, first ever female Olympic qualifier for Armenia) and Jessica chat about: Ukraine's rhythmic group routine to Madonna's Vogue was epic. (4:30) Spencer recaps The Gala (5:50) Listener Questions (17:00): Are gymnasts in the military? Race in Rio: Why was Gabby Douglas a target of so much hate, and is her Miss American judging move hypocritical?  Is it ok to move forward and forgive Arthur Nory Mariano since he has apologized?  Which federation handled issues of race in an appropriate way? Our favorite and least favorite not-gymnastics moments (13:00) The Gymternet News (33:57): Q&A with Houry about security, flooded rooms, medical care, brazilian fans, and the famous condom machines. Grandi and his big mouth strike again. Gymnastics chief prefers Raisman style to Biles "acrobatics" and China are trapped in a robotic style of training. Ponor went off on Tumblr, but

IN THE NEWS On Day Two of the Rio Olympic Event Finals: Beam, Rings and Men's Vault hosts Spencer, Uncle Tim and Jessica chat about: We hit ONE MILLION DOWNLOADS YESTERDAY!!! THANK YOU! Full recap of each event final details, scores, and moments we loved from: Balance Beam Final: Sanne Wevers, the 24 year-old DJ Spindarella'd her way the title, Olympic Champion. Smart gymnastics and past teams who stood united against an abusive head coach, created a beautiful system where smart, elegant gymnastics has flourish.  Laurie Hernandez had a higher E score with only a little misstep on her dismount but couldn't match Sanne's innovation and big Dutch D.  Simone Biles now eclipses Shannon Miller's record with yet another Olympic medal on beam.   Grabbing the beam to prevent a fall is a .5 deduction.  Catalina Ponor wore the greatest leotard of all time.  Yes, you can wear a short sleeved leotard and have teammates as coaches on the floor for finals.  Men'sVault Final: Was this the ugliest form we've ever seen i

  IN THE NEWS On Day One of the Rio Olympic Event Finals: Men’s Floor, Women’s Vault, Pommel Horse, Women’s Uneven Bars, Spencer, Uncle Tim and Jessica chat about: The origins of "Cheeseburger booty power" - Jiani Wu episode here. Full recap of each event final details, scores, and moments we loved from: Men's Olympic Floor Final: The EPIC need for a Victorian-level fainting couch for Arthur Nory and Diego Hypolito while they waited for the results on floor. “Norying” - curl up in a ball like an armadillo until you find out if you medaled.  Details of Max Whitlocks epic victory over mono and the rest of the floor field. Women's Vault Final: Simone Biles proves she is a mental rock and consistently has the best execution in the world on the hardest vaults in the world. Epic debate over the execution scores of Maria Paseka, Guilia Steingruber and Wang Yan. Pommel Horse Final--Battle of the British: Max Whitlock one-ups Louis Smith with his higher D score to Louis's higher E score. Alex Naddour proves h

  IN THE NEWS In the news, Australian national team member, Commonwealth Games and World Cup medalist, Mary-Anne "Mez" Monckton,  Spencer, Stefane and Jessica chat about: What won today, a huge D (difficulty score), E (execution score) or both? Full recap of every single gymnast in the final, details, scores, and moments we loved from: Simone and Aimee Boorman, the example of how to do it the right way--healthy, happy, better person not just gymnast, our new Olympic Champion! Why everyone needs a team of Aly Raisman's in their corner. Kind, fierce, loving, brave and freakin' NAILS! The Aliya Mustafina-vs.-Shang-Chunsong-for-the-bronze debate may rage on through the ages. Even though D was 1.5 points higher and Mustafa was having major issues on beam. Ellie Black made Canada proud, Wang brought the big D for China, Jessica Lopez hit 4-for-4 in an all-around final! And more details on all the fan favorite finalists. Our favorite not-gymnastics moments--hint, they almost all involve crying except for Spencer

  IN THE NEWS Please take this super short survey. It helps our podcast host find advertisers to fit your every desire. Full results here  How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). In the news,Uncle Tim and Jessica chat about: What won today, a huge D (difficulty score), E (execution score) or both? Full recap of every single team in the final, details, scores, and moments we loved from: King Kohei with the gorgeous form Oleg Verniaev despite everything Ukraine has been through and not having a FLOOR, he wins silver Max Whitlock kicked glandular fever in the nuts! Mono sufferers rejoice! Details on the top gymnast of the day and complete devastation from Jessica over Cuba's Manrique Larduet and her moment from Andreas Bretschneider! Our favorite not-gymnastics moments from Oleg Stepko's fire leotard to Kohei's kind heart to the men having to safety pin up their pants. GYMTERNET NEWS Round-up of the latest news from Rio includes: Gabby issues statement about the most ridiculous thing ever. T

  LISTEN HERE   IN THE NEWS In the news, Australian national team member, Commonwealth Games and World Cup medalist, Mary-Anne "Mez" Monckton,  Spencer, Stefane and Jessica chat about: Please take this super short survey. It helps our podcast host find advertisers to fit your every desire. Full results here  How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). What won today, a huge D (difficulty score), (execution score) or both? D SCORE - 1) USA 76.1, 2) CHN 75.2, 3) GBR 73.7 4)RUS 72.6, 5) JPN 72.1, 6) BRA 71.2, 7) GER 69.6, 8) NED 67.8 E SCORE - 1) USA 108.797, 2) NED 105.047, 3) RUS 104.482, 4) GER 104.072, 5) JPN 102.671, 6) CHN 101.703, 7) GB 101.162, 8) BRA 100.987  Full recap of every single team in the final, details, scores, and moments we loved from: US with Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas becoming the only US women with three Olympics gold medals Russia being 1000% better than prelims and bringing the D on bars and vault China winning bronze despite counting two falls and their best gymnast, S

    In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer,  and Jessica chat about: Please take this super short survey. It helps our podcast host find advertisers to fit your every desire. How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). Each team's performances discussed in depth from elated medalists champions Japan, Russia to defeated suicide squad, China.  Vault judges huge error/cheating 8.7 E score for Chopin. Are they cursed because they switched from Li Ning appare? Great Britan: even if Louis hadn't fallen on pommel horse it would have been close but they would have lost to China even if he had stayed on. They lost the bronze by 1.37 deficit. Every deduction counts. This wasn't a single gymnasts fault.  Team USA does the usual Team USA with three major errors.  Team Brazil performed great but didn't have the scoring potential to medal and seemed defeated after Sasaki's knee issues after high bar.  Germany did great only .062 lower than their prelims score, even without Toba Ukraine gave us a collective WTF when the

  IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer, Stefane and Jessica chat about: Please take this super short survey. It helps our podcast host find advertisers to fit your every desire. How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). Injury updates, rumors and coaches who don't know basic first aid procedures: Samir Ait Said (FRA) suffered compound fracture of his leg, he wasn't splinted before he was moved and then the Rio medical staff dropped him.   Ellis O'Reilly coaches did not have her checked by medical staff immediately following this crash on her beam dismount. Maybe she was checked after the rotation, either way, absolutely unconscionable.  Martha Karolyi says injury played role in keeping Laurie Hernandez out of the all-around.  Yesterday's guest, Houry Gerbisian got her her skill named after her! See it here. Results, finals qualifiers, upsets and shockers, plus individual highlights from the fan favorites. Hint: CHUSO DID IT WITHOUT THE PROD! Tutya Yilmaz, Larissa Miler, Vasiliki Mill

IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer and Jessica chat about: Please take this super short survey. It helps our podcast host find advertisers to fit your every desire. How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). What we thought of the opening ceremonies. Injuries Toby (GER) returned to compete on pommel horse. Samir Ait Said (FRA) had a compound fracture of his lower leg bones on vault like Tim Daggett and Brinn Bevin. We debate whether or not it's ok to share this video of the horrific injury.  NBC has streaming covering and a daily online TV show called the Daily Dismount. We are obsessed with how good they are! Jim Watson, Courtney Kupets and Jonathan Horton #Jhortney  4 eva! Results, Finals qualifiers, upsets and shockers, plus individual highlights from the fan favorites. Hint: Igor is still alive! Our favorite non-gymnastics moments; Zapata's shorts and China's crushed velvet--we are looking at you.  GYMTERNET NEWS Round-up of the latest news from Rio includes: Time magazine asked M

IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer and Jessica chat about: Please take this super short survey. It helps our podcast host find advertisers to fit your every desire. How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). INDYSTAR Expose: How USA Gymnastics protected coaches over kids "IndyStar tracked down four cases in which USA Gymnastics was warned of suspected abuse by coaches but did not initiate a report to authorities. Those coaches went on, according to police and court records, to abuse at least 14 underage gymnasts after the warnings.” Episode 56: Preventing Abuse in Gymnastics 163: ENOUGH Marvin Sharp accused of sexual abuse. We created #GymUnsafe Because the USA Gymnastics system is wildly inadequate, we created a spreadsheet to track coaches who make the news for suspected abuse–filling the gap between the time coaches are investigated and subsequently banned or exonerated. For example, USAG permanently ineligible member, Zac Lawson, has opened a new gym. Skills Highlights: Ponor,

IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer and Jessica chat about: Please take our super short survey. It helps us find advertisers to fit our listener's desires. How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). Skills Highlights: Kenzo did yurchenko 3.5 Bretschendier tried his double double release laid out New skill submitted to the FIG Igor Radiviolov tried his handspring triple front (video) The US Men's live stream training Is Mark Williams the Marta Karoyli we've been waiting for?  Do we think it's wise for Chris Brooks to do the all-around?  Our highlights from training, including lots of overhead hot mic moments. Arena impressions, fashion news, and reality of living in Rio GYMTERNET NEWS Roundup of the latest news from Rio includes: It's official. Laurie Hernandez went pro.  Stretovich replaced Ignatyev on the Russian men's team and it may have been a clear IOC rules violation, but it's really the least of Russia's problems.  Our favorite Bogi+Chuso celebrity couple names Will Aly be do

  IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer and Jessica chat about: How to watch live on BBC, CBC or NBC (details here). We will be doing a podcast every day of podium training and for every competition! (1:04) The End of the Perfect 10 Book Contest winners announced (4:07) Russia: Despite reports, IOC still hasn't cleared the Russians (6:39) Individuals with cool skills and stories to watch in the Mixed Groups WAG (10:30): Katarzyna Jurkowska-Kowalska double twisting gainer layout dismount, Vasiliki Millousi, Dipa Karmakar, Jessica Lopez, Zsófia Kovács, Catalina Ponor, Guilia Steingruber,  Houry Gebeshian, Hong Un Jong (who may complete a gorgeous triple twisting yurchenko), Toni-Ann Williams, Oksana Chusovitina, Larissa Miller MAG (1:14:32): Manrique Larduet, Rayderley Zapata, Eleftherios Petrounias, Ri Se Gwang, Oleg Stepko, Enrique Tomas "porn 'stash" Gonzalez Sepulveda; and six-foot-tall World floor medalist, Alexander Shatilov. And of course, Igor Radivilov’s triple front vault.  MAG team medal pre

IN THE NEWS In the news, Uncle Tim, Dvora and Jessica chat about: Russia has not been banned as a country, but the FIG must decide on individuals. (3:00) Valentina has declared Ksenia Afanasyeva retired, might not be true but Afan is out. Kuksenkov was cleared of all Meldonium doping charges earlier this year and is in Rio. Marta Karolyi Press Conference (9:25) We've decided Rhonda Faehn and Simone Biles/Aimee Boorman have started working Marta's mouth like a puppet because she held an open practice and even said the gymnasts must all be trained as individuals! Praise the gym gods! Germany, Steingruber Win in Chemnitz (14:00) Sophie Scheder scored a 15.25 on bars  (better at German Nationals with 15.5 which ranked her 8th in the World) Catalina Ponor scored a 14.700 on VT in Chemnitz. She outscored Larisa Iordache (FX, double Y turn immediate illusion turn!) on every event (except bars, which Ponor didn't do)   Ponor has a full twisting DLO Ponor took on her haters on Instagram--straight up Gabby Dou

 IN THE NEWS This week, Uncle Tim, Spencer and Jessica chat about: Gabby's secret knee injury (3:30): "Broken knee" and absentee father storylines continue to muddle Gabby Inc. waters  - NY Times and Mercury News McKayla Maroney wasn't randomly Periscoping, she was on her way to surprise some little gym nerds at a Trials watch party!  Skinner Gate 2.0 (17:47): Miss Skinner (and now her coach) continue to get in trouble on Twitter.  British Olympic teams strategy (28:00) The decades of black gymnasts who paved the way for Simone Biles Could we have had an African-American Olympic champion in 1984? Tutya Yilmaz (TUR) and Jossimar Calvo were the highlights of the ill attended/post-terrorist attack World Cup in Turkey. Russian Cup: the provisional Olympic team and the potential impact of the McLaren report (48:00) Mustafina had a weird thing on bars, here's the video Romanian Nationals: was it smart to choose Catalina Ponor as the sole Olympic competitor over Larisa Ilordache?  Anda Butuc’s onodi m