GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Best College Gymnasts You're Not Watching (Commissioned) Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

This episode has been commissioned by the Courtney Bumpers Fan Club, where we discuss the college gymnastics things we don't talk enough—past, present, and future (?)

Vault: Elites Could Never Edition, starring Kendall Whitman and Allison Zuhlke
GymCastic Mythbusters: "Increasing difficulty requirements makes smaller teams less able to contend"
A Moment in History: The single best beam routine in the history of college gymnastics, the single best mount in the history of college gymnastics, and the single best movement quality in the history of college gymnastics
On the importance of one-knee elements, backspins, and Korbuts
Elizabeth Culton: When is she getting a 10?
The viral gymnastics routine --a discussion on race and black excellence.
Discussion: Leotard bonus, is it real, why does it happen, and what do we do about it?
QUIZ: Gymnasts, firsts and records you should know about
More important than the Gym Slam, the QuadraDiva: A gymnast who has won four or more of the five individual college gymnastics titles (all-around, vault, bars, beam, floor)
Discussion: Going viral. Can it happen for gymnasts from smaller schools?
Plus, why we need to talk about gymnasts Ariana Castrence, Emerson Hurst, Nika Takagi, Emma Milne, and Kendal Knaps.

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The History of Romanian Gymnastics (Commissioned) Dec 01, 2021

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WATCH HERE

Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded. [wcm_nonmember]Please login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen and/or watch this episode. Not a member? Join here.

THE HISTORY OF ROMANIAN GYMNASTICS

This episode has been commissioned by Nico T.L., who requested an episode on the history of Romanian gymnastics, from the pre-Nadia era (huhhhh?) to the present. We discuss:

Mythbusters: Romanian gymnastics started with Nadia
The 60s: Boycotts and Romanian Gymnastics Jail
How Nadia changed the difficulty game
Scandals: The Romanian walkout at 1977 Euros, the 1981 Agache/Szabo identity swap, and most shocking of all, floor routines choreographed by Martha
The age of Silivas, Dobre, and the single greatest Romanian team of all time
URGENT: Ballet Beats
WATCH ALONG: Popa, Voinea, and Potorac
"Romania does boring, safe gymnastics guaranteed to win." Fact, fiction, or depends?
WATCH ALONG: Marinescu and Olaru
On Top of the World: Romania 2000-2004
Did the open-ended code kill Romanian gymnastics?
The 2012 team, Ana Porgras, and what could have been
The 2015 Worlds incident
Hope for a better future?
Spencer and Jessica select their all-time Romanian dream teams

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REFERNCES

The Balance Beam Situation 10 year GIFebration
Rhythmic coach disciplined by FIG for violent behavior
Gymnastics History, 1968: The Women's Compulsories Competition in Mexico City
Romanian Coach, Gheorghe, convicted of manslaughter for beating gymnast to death during practice.

Carly Patterson's Album Interpreted and Dr. Dave Tilley PT Gymnastics Myth Busters Nov 24, 2021

Show notes

CARLY PATTERSON'S ALBUM: BACK TO THE BEGINNING

This episode has been commissioned by "Just an Ordinary Girl Putting Up a Fight to Get Out of This Temporary Life," who requested an episode analyzing the music of 2004 Olympic Champion, Carly Rae Patterson and her 2009 album, Back to the Beginning.
We answer important questions like, which song is a metaphor for WOGA? And which one is really about Khorkina?

Gymnastics Science Myth Busters with Dr. Dave Tilley PT, NCSA

The internal work; therapy and/or self reflection, necessary to be healthy in our jobs and relationships
Learning to have a healthy relationship with exercise after gymnastics
The actual force impact of landings and falls and a yurchenko double back on the body
The science behind back pain in gymnasts during puberty.
Red S Syndrome (formerly Female Athlete Triad) and the damaging garbage nutrition fads hurting gymnasts.
Gymnastics Myth Busted with an Dr. Dave Tilley PhD:
- You have to be short, young, and under-developed to be good at gymnastics and all skills have to be learned before puberty. False!
  - We discuss the physical and psychological advantages of hormones and puberty for female gymnasts.
- Gymnasts and children should never weight train. False!
  - The original study was based on children laborers and not safe, supervised weightlifting.
- Back pain, during puberty especially, is just a normal part of gymnastics and can't be prevented. False!
  - We discuss the effect hormones have on ligaments and bones during healthy puberty and how coaches can help their gymnasts safely navigate this growth period.
- If you are overweight you will tear your achilles. False!
  - BMI is not a factor in gymnasts achilles tears. Read the study here.

Resources & References:

- SHIFT Movement Science and Gymnastics Education
- SHIFT Free Resource Lab
- SHIFT Hero Lab: international online gymnastics education community
- Developing Powerful Athletes Pt 1
- Developing Powerful Athletes Pt 2
- Long Term Athletic Development
- Natalie Yurchenko Olympic Channel interview on yurchenko double back.
- Factors Associated With Achilles Tendon Rupture in Women's Collegiate Gymnastics
- Weight Training Safety & Performance in children and adolescents:
- Red S Syndrome and Disordered Eating in Gymnastics:

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Tenths Don't Matter Nov 16, 2021

Show notes

THE TOM INTERVIEW

Nicole Langevin interviewed Tom Forster, and Tom's performance left us...scratching our heads. We discuss:

How he obviously hates this job and wishes he were coaching club instead
Bold-faced lies about being asked for interviews/comment
How *no one could POSSIBLY have predicted* the deductions the US team would receive at the Olympics
"We don't think it will come down to tenths"
Misinformation about the 2016 Olympic Trials
And a lot more

THE GYMTERNET NEWS

A racist attack on Suni Lee
The FIG elections and what to make of them
College signings for the 2023 season
Alleged retaliation by USAG against a security company that reported SafeSport violations
Personnel changes afoot at USAG
Good news for event specialists
Plus, a new gymnastics movie, a new gymnastics board game, streaming the GOAT Tour, and all the latest from meets around the world

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Nadia: The Movie (Commission) Nov 10, 2021

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THE NADIA MOVIE

Lies, lies, and more lies! For today's commissioned episode, we watched the 1984 made-for-TV movie Nadia, a Very Highly Extremely Unauthorized biography of Nadia Comaneci, and we seriously just can't with it. We discuss:

Things that definitely 100% happened and aren't lies at all, like Bela Karolyi creepily discovering Nadia at recess
The villain of this tale: Communism
The very important *IMMEDIATE CHOREOGRAPHED FRIENDSHIP DANCE* between Nadia and Teodora
Interrupting the judges in the middle of Tourischeva's floor routine (!)
Anachronistic hair: A deep discussion
Marcia Frederick's stunts are the only watchable part
This movie did Teodora Ungureanu dirty
Is this the only gymnastics movie where the stunt work is harder than the real routines they're portraying?
Wait...did they turn Nellie Kim white?
Creating the future: Did Bela reenact some of these scenes later in his career?
Some very sensitive and thoughtful treatment of weight and suicide. Healthy and helpful. Good good.
The moral of the story might be anorexia

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So Bad You Can't Look Away Nov 04, 2021

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MINI-COMMISSIONS HALL OF FAME

Erin has commissioned us to bring back fluff pieces and reimagine the non-racist, non-condescending, non-awful versions we'd like to see. Obviously, we go right to Elena Produnova, Catalina Ponor's closet, and lesbians.
Nico asked us to discuss these So-bad-you-can't-look-away/best of floor routines from the 2000s, including, in his words, Elena Produnova's "Super Bitch Power Routine," Paloma Moro's "Cracked Out Spanish Hoedown Routine," and Alena Polozkova's "So Bad You Can't Look Away Routine." We are in heaven. Club Members can watch along with the original episode here.
Karla asked us to discuss the most tragic examples of getting two-per-countried with hypotheses about whether the person who got knocked out could have medaled. We talk about Wieber and Douglas and also pull a few nuggets out of the archives (like Justice for Huang Mandan).

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2021 World Championships, Event Finals Day 2 Oct 24, 2021

Show notes

Today, our immediate reactions after watching the final competition at the 50th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships including beam and women's floor; men's vault, p-bars and high bar:

World and Olympic Rebeca Andrade (BRA) in the beam final
Battle P-Bars and vault with 2019 floor world champion from the Philippines, Carlos Yulo, USA's Yul Moldauer and Hashimoto Daiki (JPN) and Kaya Kazuma (JPN)
Japanese beam goddess, Ashikawa, Urara vs. world champion Pauline Schaefer-Betz (GER) and beam star Luo Rui (CHN)
Floor leaders, American Leanne Wong, power house Euros Champion Anastasila Bachynska (UKR) and world champ Murakami Mai (JPN) will compete against Maria Ceplinschi (ROU) and all-around champion Angelina Melnikova (RUS) for the podium
Bronze all-around medalist Kayla Dicello (USA) vs World All-Around Champion Angelina Melnikova (RUS) on floor and beam
King Kohei Uchimura (JPN) swings high bar in front of his hometown in what may be his last elite performance.
American national champion, Brody Malone (USA) attempts to make the medal stand on high bar

BONUS CONTENT: Behind The Scenes

Behind The Scenes is a live Q&A podcast just for club gym nerd members! We're providing daily coverage after each day of competition plus podium training days during the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan! It's our appreciation love letter to club members for supporting the show. Here's how to ask questions live.

Behind the Scenes we talk about all the stuff you can't see on the screen! What the Japanese team did after the meet was over, how we got in trouble with our fellow quarantine-ers at the hotel; the travel saga; the robot machine COVID tests we took to get home

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2021 World Championships, Day 1 of Event Finals Oct 23, 2021

Show notes

Today, our immediate reactions after watching:

Rebeca Andrade (BRA)
Battle Pommel with Alec Yoder, Stephen Nedoroscik
Elza Geurts (NED)!!!!!
World All-Around Champion Angelina Melnikova (RUS)
Wei Xiaoyuan (CHN)
Carlos "Are You Kidding Me" Yulo! (PHI)
Italian Domination and Finish a surprise!
Plus an epic fight about ties and E scores.

BONUS CONTENT: Behind The Scenes

Behind the Scenes we talk about all the stuff you can't see on the screen! Travel craziness; Kenzo after the meet and pizza by Armani with the Italian Federation on the bus ride back to our hotel. Plus we answer your questions.

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2021 World Championships, Men's All Around Final Oct 22, 2021

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Today, our immediate reactions after watching:

Tokyo Olympic Champion Hashimoto Daiki (JPN) falls to new all-around world champion, snubbed Chinese Olympic Trials winner, Zhang Boheng (CHN)
The fight for third between eventual bronze medalist Ilia Kovtun (UKR); Yul Moldauer (USA), Shi Cong (CHN) and Adem Asil (TUR)
Plus allll the Khorkina sighting news.
What in Kohei's Kingdom was going on with all of the approved inquires?! D scores judges have some explaining to do!

BONUS CONTENT: Behind The Scenes

Behind the Scenes we talk about all the stuff you can't see on the screen! What happened in the press conference that you might miss unless you are paying close attention to the video on our YouTube page; Japanese pens; the office where things are really getting done; we answer lots of your questions and Spencer describes what it's like to sit next to Jessica at a gymnastics meet. Please login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen and/or watch this episode. Not a member? Join here. JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

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2021 World Championships, Women's All Around Final Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

Today, our immediate reactions after watching:

Olympic all-around bronze medalist, Angelina Melnikova (RUS)
USA's Leanne Wong and Kayla diCello
Khorkina and the robot medal deliverer
Russia's Vladislava Urazova
Wei Ziaoyuan (CHN)
France's Carolann Heduit and Celia Serber after her scary fall on beam in qualifications
Filipa Martins of Portugal
History makers Jennifer Williams (SWE), Emma Slevin (IRL) and Naomi Visser (NED)
Power house tumbler Anastasia Bachynska (UKR)

BONUS CONTENT: Behind The Scenes

Behind the Scenes we talk about all the stuff you can't see on the screen! Everyone takes sides on Battle Email Notifications and the adorable flub during the press conference.

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