GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

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422: Stick It (Commissioned) Apr 22, 2020

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This week's group commission is brought to you by Vanessa and friends, who asked us to dedicate an entire episode to the iconic gymnastics masterpiece, Stick It. Your wish is our command. Since it's not called GymNICEtics, Jessica and Spencer begin by kind of getting into a fight about how Jessica truly, wholly, and unironically loves this movie, while Spencer...has some notes. No one is surprised by any of this. We discuss:

Punk rock, feminist glory
How Spencer is still mad at Hayley for walking out on worlds
Inside jokes that only we would understand that are somehow IN A REAL MOVIE
The Buttahara, the butt shelf, and the bra strap. Never forget.
How and why is Jeff Bridges here?
Protest-movement competition: Jessica's dream, Spencer's nightmare

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421: Tokyo Rule Change Mini-sode Apr 15, 2020

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GYMTERNET NEWS

We have news! The FIG announced the changes in procedure for the 2021 Olympic qualification process, so Jessica and Spencer pop in for a brief rundown of what they decided, breaking down the good (code of points! Copenhagen!) and the bad (age eligibility! Baku!) and how it will affect the process over the next 15 months.

CALLING ALL JUDGES

A friend of the show is writing a book on the psychology of judging gymnastics! Eeeeee! If you are a gymnastics judge of any level or nationality, we ask that you take this survey and share it with your judge buddies to do the same.

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420: Jamie Dantzscher Apr 15, 2020

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IT'S JAMIE DANTZSCHER YOU GUYS

In this full episode with Jamie Dantzscher, we discuss...

Life with the Rybackis, why Jamie "left," and why she came back
How Jamie feels about their coaching now (spoiler alert: NOT GREAT)
How weird it is that we still care about her 1999 floor music
The bonkers 2000 Olympic selection process
Speaking out publicly about Bela—then, later, and now—and a current sense of vindication
Why Bela took her off bars in qualification in Sydney
The INSANE story about why she didn't salute after her team final floor routine
Being awarded a retroactive Olympic bronze medal, how she feels about it, and that famous press conference
The time a judge apologized to her for the corrupt scoring at nationals
What skills she would have done if she competed in an open-ended code
What her relationship with Vanessa Atler is like now

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419: Sports Economist Dr. David Berri Apr 08, 2020

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HEADLINES

MEMMEL: Like a beacon in the darkness, Chellsie Memmel came the closest she has ever come to announcing a comeback by saying she is kind of playing around and maybe training. We proceed to put her on 18 Olympic teams and give her all the world beam gold medals. Not sorry.
SIMONE: Simone spoke for the first time to communicate her nuanced thoughts on Olympic postponement, not having a dumbbell (ADRIA!), and ugh having to deal with USAG more
NEWLYMPICS: New Olympic dates have been announced. Spencer and Jessica break down what this means for meets and schedules, while taking different sides on Christine Brennan's editorial about this being disrespectful.

GAME TIME

How would a one-year delay have affected previous Olympic teams? We discuss what gymnasts would or wouldn't have made Olympic teams if those games had been delayed a year.

GYMTERNET NEWS

COVID-19 fallout in Russia (featuring Khorkina and Valentina both being THE MOST), Tom Forster's questionable decisions, and [SIGH] the deal with Ashton...

INTERVIEW (1:23:09)

This week, Jessica chats with professor David Berri, an expert on sports economics, about COVID-19 and the NCAA, how much a gymnast is worth in actual dollars, and the realities of college athletes being allowed to profit from their likenesses.

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418: American Anthem Mar 31, 2020

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AMERICAN ANTHEM

The year: 1986 The film: American Anthem The quality: low Spencer and Jessica spend way too long this week on a deep dive into what is perhaps the most significant film in the gymnastics pantheon, teen sports-drama-romance American Anthem. Jessica lovvvveeed this movie as a middle schooler. Spencer hates everything. It's gonna get good. We discuss it all: very excellent gymnast acting, backlit hair and 13-foot-wide denim jackets, THE TRIFFUS OF MURRRDERRR, an 11-week-old Jenny Rowland putting Daniela Silivas to shame, the lovely and sensitive handling of domestic abuse (jk it's monstrous), storing your grips IN THE LEAVES, excessive gymnastics grunting sounds, and the true hero of this story—Becky Cameron. Join us?

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417: Bye Bye Tokyo 2020 Mar 25, 2020

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NO MORE TOKYO 2020

Via the IOC's longest-serving member, Dick Pound, we learned that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed. It's been a long year this month, so Jessica has a list of Dick Pound jokes to get us through. It's most of the episode. After that, we discuss

Why it was important to postpone
Gymnastics implications
- Should the new 2021 seniors now become eligible for the Olympics?
- What code of points should be used?
- How should the unfinished qualification process be resolved?
- What of the 2021 world championships in Copenhagen?
Which athletes are most affected by this, negatively and positively?
Plus, McKayla Maroney opens up about the circumstances of her father's death and releases her debut single, a rundown of the dumpster fire news, Bart has an adult gymnastics challenge for you, and Full Out 2 has been released

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416: Everything Is Canceled Mar 18, 2020

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GYMTERNET NEWS

Everything has been canceled. We run through the events that have been canceled thus far (spoiler: it's all of them), and theorize what it might mean for Olympic qualification—if the Olympics actually happen. Note to FIG: We already figured out what you need to do, so just do what we say and you might survive.
USAG has canceled events through May 10, but how much oversight does USAG have to tell clubs to stop training and classes? We discuss.
Jessica uses the Olympic Spirit as a vehicle to tell people to stop being the absolute worst
Spencer's favorite piece of news from the week, a (now-revised and no longer fun) real estate article that assumed Valeri Liukin and Yevgeny Marchenko were a couple.
Plus, Shannon Miller knows about being Shannon F🤸cking Miller, Nia Dennis was on Ellen, and Jessica is really into all the gymnastics relationship goss while Spencer pretends to be above it.
What's this? A federal investigation into Steve Penny potentially acting as an illegal agent for athletes? Oh tell us more.

NCAA

The NCAA season has come to a premature conclusion, likely spelling the end of gymnastics careers for this epic class of 2020 seniors. So, this week we have a fitting mini-commission about whether this is the greatest NCAA class of all time, and Jessica makes you have all the feelings about how the significance of this group of athletes goes well beyond gymnastics.
We wrap up the season and call on you to help us with an end-of-season awards list.

AND FINALLY

Simone is the queen of Twitter. The end.

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March 12 COVID-19 Championships Update Mar 12, 2020

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COVID-19 Watch: what's cancelled and what's not...yet. The drastic differences in policy from college to college.

415: American Cup of Coronavirus Mar 11, 2020

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COVID-19 NEWS

Jesolo is officially canceled, Qatar has instituted a quarantine period, Vanessa Ferrari JUST got out of Italy in time, Colin Van Wicklen has withdrawn, and the FIG told USAG to wash its hands. We're diving right into the disease news and how this affects Olympic qualification.

AMERICAN CUP

We discuss Morgan Hurd's glorious return to her rightful place atop the podium, the DAMN BARS breaking, Jennifer Gadirova emerging as the future of all that is right and good, Ellie Black being the most delightful person, and...sigh...Giorgia Villa.
Jessica delivers our annual Rage-o-Meter response to the NBC commentary
Sam Mikulak hit 6-for-6 and won, plus the best opportunities for comedy in the men's field

INTERVIEW

Jennifer Iacopelli author of Break The Fall

MEET NEWS

The US women swept Gymnix, and MyKayla Skinner won gold on bars (BARS)...though maybe with the wrong D score...oopsies
Emily Lee tore her fingernail off and needed stitched but still gymnastics-ed all over the place
Jessica really enjoys MyKayla Skinner's YouTube channel
Long Island University is adding a women's gymnastics team for the 2021 season
Trinity got her 10.000 on floor
And we choose our way-too-soon Olympic teams following American Cup

LIVE SHOW FROM NCAAS Friday, April 17th - after the competition - Fort Worth Botanic Garden Auditorium Buy tickets now BECOME A CLUB GYM NERD MEMBER

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414: American Cup Preview Mar 04, 2020

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AMERICAN CUP

It's happening! This Saturday!

Russia has withdrawn from the competition for...murky reasons that may or may not be related to viruses. Do we have multiple conspiracy theories about it? YOU BETCHA.
What we're looking forward to seeing from Morgan Hurd and Kayla DiCello—and who's more likely to win
Other people who could legitimately win, like Ellie Black and Giorgia Villa
Our Must-Watch Athlete of the meet: Jennifer Gadirova
What Nikita Nagornyy's absence means for Sam Mikulak and the US men's hopes of an extra Olympic spot
What are we going to see from Oleg Verniaiev? Only his glass shoulder and legs made of hope can tell.
Gymnix and Jesolo team updates. Watch Gymnix here

GYMTERNET NEWS

Laurie Hernandez is not attending US women's camp but still plans to compete later in the year
Simone had some THOUGHTS about USAG and USOPC's latest stonewalling
John Orozco officially changed his FIG license from the US to Puerto Rico!
Former CMU coach Jerry Reighard is suing ESPN, which seems productive
Simone threw an axe for a bullseye, because of course she did
Cassie Rice and Tasha Schwikert gave HARROWING accounts of their time in the elite world, including how Bela ripped Tasha's hamstring off the bone during the 2000 Olympics after by pushing her down in a split. A must-watch.
NCAA news: the latest rankings, Nia Dennis's viral routine, Maggie Nichols being fine now (?), and the broken bars at Alabama

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