Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

  THIS WEEK'S INTERVIEW Betty Okino escaped an assassination attempt as a child, has two skills named after her in the Code of Points, won an Olympic medal just six years after her very first gymnastics class, was 5' 1" tall during the Barcelona Games, danced for Destiny's Child with Beyonce, acted in movies and televsion, is a polyglot, was the first black female gymnast to win an Olympic medal along with Dominque Dawes in 1992. Betty was one of the famed "Karolyi's Six-Pack" (nickname for his elite training squad in the 90's) era gymnasts who dominated US gymnastics after the Mary Lou Retton years. As an Afro-Romanian-refugee-dancer turned Olympian, and now as a gymnastics choreographer she has a uniquely-positioned perspective on the sport. We chatted on March 21st and discussed: Her appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show where she defended the training methods of Bela Karyoli after the expose Little Girls in Pretty Boxes came out. Her thoughts on the issues around athlete welfare that McKayla Maroney brou