Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Kocian, Spiridonova, Komova, and Yilin four-way tied for gold in bars. (photo credit: Christy Ann Linder) Jessica is reporting in person from the 2015 Women's Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland with the European Gymnastic Crew: Emma Bailey, Michelle Web, Cordelia Price, Coach Rick, and... wait for it... Mr. Scott Bregman: We're live from The Corinthian Club in Glasgow, Scotland. We recap the Men's AA final. We discuss the first day of event finals routine by routine! We have quizzes and even take a few question from those who watched on Periscope. The GB men get their first individual gold on event finals--they go one-two in pommel. The Gym Report's best guesstimate which individuals made it to the Rio Test Event. How To Get Your Favorite Gymnast to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games [A Flowchart] Support us! Join Club Gym Nerd here. GymCastic T-Shirts just in time for 2015 Glasgow World Championships! Women's styles (even v-neck!), kids and men's. They will arrive in time for Worlds. They ship anywhe

Support your favorite gymnasts and podcast by clicking on the image to see our t-shirts!   In the news, Uncle Tim, Lauren Hopkins, and Jessica chat about: The Russian press conference that featured more empty plates than gymnastics Hashtag Wars: the official hashtag has been changed from #2015wgc to #Glasgow2015 The Competition: Who's here and how they qualified Competition format six gymnasts per team, one alternate. Five gymnasts compete in on each event prelims with only four scores counting (5 up 4 count). In finals, only three gymnasts can compete and all three scores count towards the team score (3 up 3 count). Lauren plays How To Get Your Favorite Gymnast To Rio with Uncle Tim Non-nominative vs. Nominative Injury report and which teams are on the “Oh Crap We Are Going To Have to Go To The Test Event” List Gymnasts you must watch in prelims because although they might not make finals, they will make you believe in the Gym Gods: Thorsdottir, Berki, Wever, Zapata, Millousi and more. Jaw dropping skil

Dream Killers?! Nellie Kim and Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko are at the center of a controversy that left Belarusian gymnasts Sviatlana Lifenka (R) and Valeryia Tsekhmistrenka (L) out of Worlds. The most decorated gymnast in American history, three-time Olympian, and Olympic gold medalist and world champion, Shannon Miller graced us with her presence for a second time! We squealed with glee! Shannon told us about: Her new line of leotards and leisure wear Handling commentators and public discussion of her body and puberty Who she's excited to watch at Glasgow Worlds Chusovitina and the longevity of adult gymnasts What she thought of the winning impression video from our It's Not About Perfect book giveaway contest. Tips on learning her famous back extension rolls on beam Settles the debate for us: Is high altitude ever an excuse for poor conditioning? In the news, Uncle Tim, Lauren Hopkins, and Jessica chat about: Belarusgate Two Americans were granted expedited dual-Belarusian citizenship an

  WHAT: Elevate of The Stage:  Xcel, J.O., with Auburn vs. Alabama dual meet finale WHEN: January 16-17, 2016 WHERE: Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama SPECIALNESS: It's on podium and the college coaches will watch the top levels on Saturday night. TWO PRIZES: $250 off of a gym's registration (20 or more gymnasts) to compete in the JO meet and no team Fees. Four VIP passes to watch the college meet on the floor, access to hospitality and four free t-shirts. ***With this, the winner will have to be someone 18 or older because recruitable gymnasts can't be on the floor during college meet competition (blame the NCAA rules). HOW TO ENTER: Like us on Facebook Send us an email with the subject line “Elevate the Stage” to gymcastic@gmail.com DEADLINE: Sunday, October 18th More details on the Elevate the Stage podium meet here. In the news, Jessica, Lauren Hopkins, and Uncle Tim chat about: Ages and height of the US women's Olympic teams since 1972 Why Russian gymnastics fans are the best! Who's

2015 Russian Cup All-Around Champion, Daria Spiridonova (RUS, 57.1) WHAT: Elevate of The Stage:  Xcel, J.O., with Auburn vs. Alabama dual meet finale WHEN: January 16-17, 2016 WHERE: Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama SPECIALNESS: It's on podium and the college coaches will watch the top levels on Saturday night. TWO PRIZES: $250 off of a gym's registration (20 or more gymnasts) to compete in the JO meet and no team Fees OR Four VIP passes to watch the college meet on the floor, access to hospitality and four free t-shirts. ***With this the winner will have to be someone 18 or older because recruitable gymnasts can't be on the floor during college meet competition (blame the NCAA rules). HOW TO ENTER: Like us on Facebook Send us an email with the subject line “Elevate the Stage” to gymcastic@gmail.com DEADLINE: Sunday, October 18th More details on the Elevate the Stage podium meet here. Lauren Hopkins, Uncle Tim, and Jessica chat about: The Russian Cup Maria Paseka's Cheng is getting b

[caption id="attachment_7458" align="aligncenter" width="740"] Catalina Ponor (art courtesy of My Crazy World of Graphics) In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer from The Balance Beam Situtation, and Jessica chat about: Romania vs. France Meet Catalina Ponor Periscoped her comeback! We also go to see Larissa Iordache and Diana Bulimar compete. Marian Dragulescue returned to competition at the Israel Cup We compare his vault to Oleg Vernaiev's at the Ukraine Cup How Alexander Shatilov and Draulescue compare on floor five weeks out from Worlds NCAA gymnasts preparing for Worlds Danusia Francis, Toni-Ann Williams and Britney Rogers prepare for Glasgow while competing for their college teams. Beyond The Routine: Canada Rising recap from Spencer! Rhythmic Worlds The US group and Ms. Laura Zeng qualified to the Olympics! Bruno Grandi's poorly chosen English phrasing. Should artistic gymnasts be allowed to use lyrics in routines. Is rhythmic more or less artistic than it used to be? Our weekly roundup of th

Sport psychologist Dr. Megan Neyer and Katherine Starr from Safe4Athletes join us to talk about the arrest of Olympic coach Marvin Sharp on child pornography and charges of molesting one of his athletes.  We discuss: Gym Myth Busters: Do boys need protection from pedophiles just as much as girls do? Why  a "don't talk back" policy can sets kids up to be victims. Conditions that lead to abuse, both through grooming and organizational loopholes. What the alleged victim might be feeling and how best to support her as a community. Steps the gymnastics community can take in preventing abuse: Mandate moral, ethical and specific behavior guidelines Apply a policy that makes misbehavior, not just criminal activity grounds for dismissal Parent, coach and athlete education about those guidelines because policies without education create cynicism Enforcement by someone other than the owner of the gym External oversight through an athlete welfare advocate and if necessary an external advocate for intervention or acco

Paul Ruggeri finally made the world team and the gymternet rejoiced! © Christy Linder  We covered the finals of the senior women's national gymnastics championship in Episode 161. Today, it's our full recap of the 2015 Men’s and Jr. Women’s P&G Championships. Uncle Tim, Lindsey Green from Bustle, and Jessica chat about: A listener Rage-o-Meter; we had a junior adoption waitlist that wasn't funny to everyone. How to respect short, bad ass gymnasts without infantilizing these amazing athletes. Al Trautwig forgot Nastia's name on NBC but she had the last laugh. The curse of the high bar; was there butter on it, did the curse hit Yin Alvarez in the ankle and cause his cheering injury? We investigate every possiblity! The Laurie Hernandez vs. Jazzy Foberg junior showdown! Finally a championship that was too close to call until the final event! Could Christina Desiderio be the Kyla Ross of the Rio Olympic team? The GymCastic Awards for Artistry and Elegance go to Emily Gaskins, Maile O'Keefe, Trinity Thom

Simone Biles broke two world records and tied Kim Zmeskal's record for three consecutive national titles. © Christy Linder   2015 National Champion, Laurie Hernandez, teammate 2014 National Champion Jazmyn Foberg, Texas Dreams superstar Ragan Smith and new national team member Sydney Johnson-Scharpf joined us for a live video broadcast on Periscope. Periscope only archives broadcasts for 24 hours but our video will be uploaded to YouTube soon. We asked them what they were most proud of this weekend, new skills, nicknames, Sydney's balance beam crash in warm-ups and what their national team theme song should be for 2015. After the kids went out to party, national team coaches Christian Gallardo and Aimee Boorman joined us. Christian coached Nia Dennis at Buckeye Gymnastics and now coaches Shilese Jones and Olympic all-around champion Gabrielle Douglas. Aimee Boorman is the lifelong coach of two time world champion, Simone Biles. We discussed: The Gabby Douglas strategy, is she playing it safe and waiting to

World Champion, Simone Biles breaks the execution score world record at the 2015 P&G Championships in Indianapolis. © Christy Linder   We are in Indianapolis for the 2015 P&G Championships (AKA the US Artistic Gymnastics National Championships). This episode was recorded from a live Periscope broadcast which you can watch below (coming soon). We will be Periscoping again after the women's finals on Saturday night! Download the Periscope app to watch live on Saturday night! On this podcast with special guest, 2012 Junior National Champion, Lexie Priessman,  Lauren Hopkins, Cordelia Price and Dvora Myers we chat about: It was not as bad as the 2011 Splatfest but 2015 splatfest Gabby Douglas looked unshakable until the last event. Marta is not going to be happy. What the results tell us: everyone under the top 5 are very very very closely matched. Brenna Dowell smacked the haters upside the head with her BRILLIANT performance on every apparatus but especially with her 6.7 difficulty bar routine! WE SCR

"Swaggie Maggie" Nichols is about to lay the smack down in Indianapolis at the 2015 P&G Championships. © Christy Linder   This week Evan Heiter and Jessica preview the 2015 P&G Championships, and Spencer from The Balance Beam Situation recaps Gymnastike's "Beyond The Routine" show about Gabby Douglas and Nia Dennis at Buckeye Gymnastics. The Maggie Nichols factor - Don't doubt the power of the swag! How her injury at last year's Pan Am Championships will make her this year's newest World Team member. How to watch Team Sam Peszek and Evan Heiter rock the commentary game with Raj Bhavsar all week long in Indianapolis. Why Norah Flatley will be missing this competition. Which "2000 Babies" (AKA juniors who will be age eligible for the Rio Olympics next year), have the best chance making a case for their spot on the Rio team:  Rachel Baumann, Desiderio, Foberg, Frazier, Gaskins, Laurie “Baby Shakira” Hernandez, Johnson-Scharpf, Paulson, Quinn, Ragan “Feivel” Smith, or Olivia Trautman. We each pick th

Full Out, the movie is based on the life of b-girl Ariana Berlin. Photo courtesy of UCLA. Ariana Berlin is happy, goofy, surprising, unique, beautiful and partially made of steel. She made her mark on college gymnastics by bringing her professional hip hop dance background onto the competition floor. Her floor routines were something totally new and sometimes controversial but always entertaining. But the road to NCAA finals almost went through the grave. "Ari" went from a being a promising level 10 gymnast, about to test for elite, to a girl in a coma, told when she woke up that she would never do gymnastics again. Though a car accident almost killed her and her mother, losing gymnastics was heartbreaking. She found solace in dance with the world famous hip hop troupe Culture Shock. A dance performance in front of UCLA head coach, Valorie Kondos-Field led her back to gymnastics. After years away from the sport, with a rod holding her femur together, Ari walked onto the UCLA gymnastics team, earned a schola

2015 junior Secret Classic Champion, Laurie "Baby Shakira" Hernandez. Photo © Christy Linder. This week on the podcast, a full recap of the Secret U.S. Classic from glorious Chicago suburbs.  Uncle Tim, Lauren, and Jessica chat about the best upgrades, moments, skills and routines, including: Scoring: don't get too excited, there was a stick bonus in place. Text book bars that made our hearts sing:  Madison Kocian, Brenna Dowell and Laurie "Baby Shakira" Hernandez. Injuries that took some out and others down:  Norah Flatly, Marissa Okaely and Kyla Ross. Which 2000 Babies (also known as juniors who will turn 16 in the Olympic year) will be a major threat for the 2016 Olympic team. Yes, this means we talked all about Ragan "Fievel" Smith. Ashton Locklear and the Mystery of the Zero Scores solved! Bailie Key's premier meet as a senior gymnast! Finally! Brenna Dowell had a rough day with a terrifying beam fall, but we loved her toe-on tkatchev caught in mixed grip to Ezhova! Will this help or hurt her chances

This week Uncle Tim and Jessica discuss the Pan American Games Event Finals with 2004 Olympic floor champion and CBC analyst Kyle Shewfelt! Gym Myth Busters: We found out, straight from the men's FIG Technical Committee President, if Manrique Larduet (CUB) was deducted for excessive celebration after his parallel bars routine in qualifying. We had to know Kyle's opinion: should the men's all-around final have gone to Manrique instead of Sam Mikulak (USA)? Why Canada, Cuba and Flavia Lopez Saraiva (BRA) stole the show in Toronto. The Out of Bounds Championship floor final, a first of it's kind. Kyle and our listeners came up with the solution the Yamilet Peña (DOM) and the Produnova of Death vault situation. Nellie Kim, now hear this! Why Daniele Hypolito (BRA) is a hero and true sportsman (even after being robbed of a bronze in the vault final). Why Rachel Gowey (USA),  Jessica Lopez (VEN) and Amelia Hundley's (USA) floaty bars made us smile. Ellie Black (CAN) told Kyle Shewfelt why she was able to achieve t

Manrique Larduet (CUB) urges the crowd to show their appreciation after his parallel bars routine in prelims of the Pan American Games. © Grace Chiu This week Mary-Anne "Mez Monckton from the Australian national team, Uncle Tim and Jessica chat about: Pan Am Games Team Finals and All-Around Competitions: Do we like Elfi Schlegel better on on ESPN or NBC? We answer the most important question of the meet: Where’s Marta? Cuba, Cuba and more Cuba! Manrique Larduet and Marcia Videaux Jimenez thrilled us. Yamilet Peña (DOM)and the Execution score vaulting problem; should Yamilet Peña have gotten credit for her Produnova/buttahara/chalk skid mark landing? If Manrique was deducted for excessive celebration, was it justified? Was Daniele Hypolito (BRA), aka "Hypolito The Great” and "No Gripz Hypolitz," unfairly deducted for a fall on her beam dismount? Yes, darling of the Games, Flavia Saraiva (BRA)  touched the beam for a 1.0 deduction but Jessica doesn’t care. Winning with a fall: the Sam Mikulak (USA) vs M