GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

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**GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast**

GymCastic Podcast is a weekly gymnastics talk show. The hosts interview people who love gymnastics almost as much as we do, discuss the latest news, events and offensive leotard fashion.

Latest Episodes:

The History of US Olympic Trials Controversies (Commissioned) Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

OLYMPIC TRIALS CONTROVERSIES

This week, we have a commission from Club Gym Nerd member Jasmine, who asked for an episode on the history of US Olympic Trials—how teams were selected and all the major scandals. And there have been plenty.
- 1980 - Olympic boycott hypocrisy and what happens when gymnasts tie for the last spot? (Or have alligators?)
- 1984 - The case of Dianne Durham and the Olympic petition
- 1988 - The Perils of Rank Order: The Early Years
- 1992 - The back-room meeting that kept Kim Kelly off the Olympic team
- 1996 - Only controversial if you're a Forster?
- 2000 - Atler. Nuff said.
- The Martha Years - Were teams really chosen months in advance?
Plus, we make our proposals for an ideal Olympic team selection process for the United States

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How to Stage a Gymnastics Protest Aug 30, 2021

Show notes

MINI-COMMISSIONS

- From Jay: A mini-commission on America's most enduring gymnast of the 1980-1984 era: Julianne McNamara. We discuss her status as the only American Olympic bars champion, her five 10.0s from the 1984 Olympics, the excellence of her compulsory bars routine, whether she would have won at a fully attended Olympics, and why more people should do her eponymous skill.
- From Sue: Imagine a gymnast-led revolt a la Stick It in support of Morgan Hurd not being advanced to Olympic Trials. We discuss the chances something like this could actually happen, then go full fan fiction on how it could have played out. Plus Jessica describes the time she actually tried to make a gymnastics revolt happen.

GYMTERNET NEWS

- The latest casting news for the GOAT Tour and Dancing with the Stars
- A timber company bought the Karolyi Ranch. Oh, that's too bad.
- College gymnastics: Who's coaching where? Who's switching their commitment to where? Who's getting money from whom? What's the latest jerk-face nonsense?

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

Join Club Gym Nerd or buy a gift membership for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
We have masks too! And Pride gear!

RELATED EPISODES

Please login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen and/or watch this episode. Not a member? Join here.

Tokyo Olympics Recap Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

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 springboard, salute deductions, and the men's floor tie
- All the things that happened but we're going to pretend didn't happen
- Does this signal the end of the era of US women's dominance?
- Does this signal the beginning of an era of Russian dominance?
- What will be the ultimate legacy of the Tokyo Olympics?

JOIN CLUB GYM NERD

Join Club Gym Nerd or buy a gift membership for access to Behind the Scenes episodes.
Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here.
We have masks too! And Pride gear!

RELATED EPISODES

WATCH Club Gym Nerd members can watch the podcast being recorded and see video clips of the gymnastics while we discuss. login to your Club Gym Nerd account to listen and/or watch this episode. Not a member? Join here.

A Quitter's Try - The CNN Parkettes Documentary Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

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 deadpan comedy genius Annie Fogerty
- OH GOOD THE WEIGHT PORTION, THIS WILL GO WELL
- "Way to give up, Annie, way to give up"
- "Was that a try, what you just did? What kind of a try? Is there such a thing as a quitter's try, like lackadaisical?"
- What exactly is a quitter's try?
- The Kristie Phillips cautionary tale
Part 4: Aftermath
- Where are they now?
- What this says about elite gymnastics, and why USAG learned all the wrong lessons from how horrified we are by it
- The problem with typical American parents' view of sports

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Best of GymCastic: 80s Fight! Aug 12, 2021

Show notes

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
- Innovation from an all-star Soviet team—YURCHENKO vaults, the SHISHOVA
- Just fangirling about Mostepanova for a while
- More fun with bonkers scoring
1984 boycott gives us an opportunity to talk about China
1985 Worlds
- Soviet Union casually adds Omelianchik and Shushunova to its already stellar 1983 team
- The Soviets were so deep that Shushunova placed FIFTH on her own team in qualification
- The evolution of Romanian floor to be less "chicken dance" and whether it contributed to what happened next
1987 and THE TIDE TURNS
- Silivas wins the European AA title in Moscow, and the Soviets (gasp) fall
- Romania gets its first world team title in 8 years
- How the addition of Aurelia Dobre changed the game for Romania
- Pro-Soviet bias in skill naming
- Dobre vs. Shushunova vs. Silivas vs. Baitova vs. Omelianchik. This was no two-way rivalry
- The 1988 Olympics and how timing is everything