GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

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Tokyo Olympic Gymnastics Qualifying Process Explained Dec 06, 2019

Show notes

Spencer is alone this week for a comprehensive explainer of this comically complicated 2020 Olympic qualification process, answering all the questions you were too afraid to ask because you didn't quite understand them.

THE PROCESS

How teams qualify to the Olympics from worlds
How individuals qualify to the Olympics from worlds
WTF the "Jade Carey route" is
How the all-around world cups are different from the apparatus world cups and why they matter (AHHHHH)
Why continental championships are so important in 2020

YOUR QUESTIONS

Jade Carey?
Sub-question: Jade Carey, Jade Carey, Jade Carey?
How is the US going to qualify its fifth and sixth women to the Olympics?
What will these non-team individuals even do at the Olympics?
What should the US strategy be for that second individual spot?
How does 2-per-country work at the Olympics with all these individuals?
BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF THE US WANTS JADE CAREY ON THE TEAM OF 4?!?!?!
Could the US send MyKayla Skinner and/or Sunisa Lee to apparatus world cups?
Won't somebody PLEASE think about Becky Downie and Epke Zonerland??? (Yes.)
What are the best chances for the US men to get extra Olympic spots?
Which countries are going to end up with 6 athletes at the Olympics?
How could this process be better? (All the ways?)

FURTHER READING

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403: "Did Everyone Know But Me?" Nov 27, 2019

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GYMTERNET NEWS

We begin this week with a visit back to the land of dumpster fires. Louise Radnofsky has a piece for the WSJ on how information about the Nassar investigation was withheld from Simone—and information that Simone was a likely victim was in turn withheld from the FBI. We delve into the predictably terrible things we learn about Steve Penny and why information like this is still trickling out three years later, with further reporting from Scott Reid at the OC Register on the behavior of the FBI and how many holes there still are in our understanding of the FBI's failures.

COTTBUS WORLD CUP

Now to the fun part! The 5th of 8 events in the apparatus Olympic qualification series is now complete, and we discuss

Does the FIG understand its own Olympic qualification rules?
Andrea Maldonado debuted a FRONT TRIPLE FULL and got it named after herself
Hidetaka Miyachi isn't real, and how the demon spirit of Epke's sinuses disrupted the HB final
Yu Linmin, Maria Paseka, and the state of the "Jade Carey spot"
Whose Olympic hopes are on life support, the return of Claudia Fragapane, sighRomania, and Spencer has some unacceptable, disgusting heresy to spout about Marta Pihan-Kulesza.
Japanese gymnasts you might not know but need to: Urara Ashikawa (who beat Li Qi) and Kazuki Minami
General weird observations about Hayden Skinner's floor run, Stephen Nedoroscik's devastating lack of goggles, justice for Emma Nedov, which MAG vaulter is "well hung," a unique Little Red Riding Hood performance, and that time Jessica thought Teja Belak did an Amanar which makes Spencer exhibit joy for the very first time.

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FURTHER READING

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402: 1984 NCAA Championships Nov 23, 2019

Show notes

Today, we have an episode commissioned by Club Gym Nerd member Helen, who asked for an episode about the 1984 NCAA Championships! That means we get to discuss sexism, a time when there were more than 16 men's college teams, Baby Kathy Johnson commentary, Mitch GAYLORD and his GAYLORD, Timmy "The Bull" Daggett, a coach marrying a current athlete because 80s, and a time when Utah Gymnastics ruled the world! You guys:

You had to have a mustache and giant glasses or you weren't allowed to coach.
Men had to wear little diapers on floor
FEATHERED HAIR AND BIG BANGS AND LAYERS AND FROSTED BLUE EYE SHADOW
The springboard might be made of rice paper
An entire fluff piece about how hot Mitch Gaylord is and how cool it is that he rides a motorcycle
"Tim Daggett style"
How you dealt with a major injury in 1984
Fan-girling over Lisa Zeis and Heidi Anderson and Tami Elliott and (that's right) Elfi Schlegel
Spencer has a coronary embolism over the state of NCAA scoring in 1984
The famous Greg and Megan fluff piece about their marriage

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401: The Forster House Rules Nov 20, 2019

Show notes

Attention! We have very, very many episodes for you this week! A new Behind the Scenes episode about cats and musicals (but not Cats: The Musical) is currently available for Club Gym Nerd members, who can find all of their special goodies at our Club Content page. Also this week, you'll be able to enjoy a commissioned episode about the 1984 NCAA Championships. But for now, Gymternet News.

GYMTERNET NEWS

On Facebook, International Gymnast provided some "problematic areas" in judging, presented by Tom Forster, in order to provoke discussion. And, boy, do we have some discussing to do. Because of course we are, we're going point by point and discussing why (almost) all of this is very bad. Plus,

Jessica has feelings on the current state of NCAA rules for athlete compensation.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of SCSU gymnast Melanie Coleman
An update on jump 1/2 to arabesque MANIA provoked by our 2024 compulsories episode
Big NCAA signing news re: Morgan Hurd and Victoria Nguyen
Shawn had the baby and Skinner got married!

FURTHER READING

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400: 2024 Fantasy Compulsories (Commissioned) Nov 12, 2019

Show notes

This episode has been commissioned by Club Gym Nerd member Billy, who has used his commission to give a gift to you, the listeners, by commissioning a fan-idea episode—it's a special tribute to the most dedicated of gym nerds for our 400th episode! This is a super-extra gym nerdy topic submitted by Poor Lawyer who said, "spend one hour designing compulsory routines for 2024, if they returned." Eeeeeeee! (Spoiler alert: it's more than an hour.) We discuss the background of compulsories and why we love them (a segment for the young youthful youngs who may have grown up in a time without compulsories), celebrate Spencer's favorite part of any game—an extensive review of the rules before you start—and go event by event to design the definitely real and absolutely going to happen compulsory routines at the 2024 Olympics. It mostly consists of Spencer presenting awesome, carefully constructed routines and Jessica callously and viciously tearing them to shreds. You guys, it's on. We even have some ideas for men's compulsories (on the good events).

FURTHER READING

What the eff are these elements we're talking about? Find them—with GIFs, naming conventions, and background—in the Balance Beam Situation's clickable code of points.

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399: CHUSO (Commissioned) Nov 05, 2019

Show notes

This episode has been commissioned by Club Gym Nerd member Britt, who asked for an episode all about the career of Oksana Chusovitina, saying, "I wanted to wait until she retired, but who knows when she will ever actually retire." Correct. As we have established, she's not allowed.

Part 1 – What Is It About Chuso?
- Jessica takes us on a scenic tour of Chuso's life (and also the history of the internet?), from her start in Uzbekistan, to her time with the Unified Team, to her marriage and her son's illness, to the Germany years, and full circle back to Uzbekistan again. There will be some feelings.
- Chuso's longevity by the numbers — 7 Olympics, 17 world championships, and 13 combined medals. Plus, Spencer searches through the archives to find the first instance of a commentator being surprised that Chuso is still competing.
Part 2 - The Big Fat Chuso Quiz
Part 3 - The Early Years
- Chuso's successful junior career, her major international debut in 1990, and the fortuitous (for her) circumstances that leg to her breakout performance at the 1991 world championships and making the 1992 Olympic team.
Part 4 - Eponymous Skills
- Chusovitina has 5 eponymous skills in the code of points across three events. We break down each one and discuss other skills Chuso could have had named after herself—as well as whose skills died so that Chuso could live
- Jessica doesn't care for the code's treatment of full-out elements or twisting pike elements, both of which have personally victimized Oksana Chusovitina
Part Feelings - Pause for Love Story
- Jessica tricks Spencer into talking about love things or whatever by turning it into a test
Part 5 - The Germany Years
- Chuso enjoyed the best all-around finishes of her career while competing for Germany in the mid-late 2000s. We discuss reasons, both mental and technical. And also the Jean Shorts Exhibition.
Part 6 - Chuso By Event
- Chuso's constancy on vault — except for the Prod years. Because everyone makes mistakes
- No-grips bars, and how she made it work for herself in 2008
- Chuso's best beam era came in her 30s, and what if she could do a routine of all punch fronts
- Our favorite Chuso floor - the split-leg DLO to punch front from 2002.

FURTHER READING

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398: Back from Worlds! Oct 30, 2019

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BACK FROM WORLDS

Everything we still want to talk about from worlds! Because there was so much! But first, Club Gym Nerd members be sure to listen to our special behind the scenes episode just for Club Gym Nerd members with photo gallery (Login or join here) about what happened in Stuttgart, including tales of the woman who tried to move in on Jessica's husband.

The stuff of gymnastics lore for decades to come
- Tang Xijing goes from missing the all-around final entirely to winning the silver medal. We speculate on theoretical fluff pieces about this dramatic feat.
- Team Italy qualified for the team final by only .034 before its run to the bronze medal, and it was unsung hero Elisa Iorio who delivered the critical beam routine.
Roxana Popa's qualification floor routine and the best triple Y spin ever done.
Tyson Bill making the high bar final and getting an Olympic spot!
Noah Kuavita's triple back pike from high bar.
Tingting's street snack hair and Chen Yile's "the birds that are angry...angry birds!" pig on Sun Wei's arm bands.
Arthur Nory married his gold medal and tossed the bouquet to the Brazilian delegation.
Floor pandering, and what we're going to do about it (NOTHING!)

GYMTERNET NEWS

Laurie Hernandez did a little tweet about going to camp, so Spencer and Jessica run with that and proceed to plan her whole life. NBD.
Mihai is done in Australia. Thoughts on his tenure and what Australia should do from here.
The affair of Danusia Francis, Twitter, and trans athletes. We discuss, and hopefully dispel some myths.
Elsa Garcia and coach Eric Demay, with a look back at Eric Demay's dismissal from the Swiss team over a decade ago.
The national anthem salute controversy at worlds that apparently existed.
SKILLS: Fusuke Maeda's triple back over the high bar, and Konnor McClain's LOSO + back full.
Dumpster Fire 1, Dumpster Fire 2, and Dumpster Fires 3 through 456.
Plus: A Bart of many talents, Ana Padurariu's college plans, Chuso pretending she's allowed to retire, MyKayla Skinner's wedding, Simone's first pitch, Nina getting only what she deserves, upcoming gymnastics books, Jessica's obsession with self-driving cars and how it (doesn't) relate to gymnastics, and more.

MEET NEWS

Spencer's Olympic Corner: Counting down to the Olympics, where we stand with qualification after worlds, who still needs to qualify, and what upcoming paths they're going to take.
Fun Meet Season: Mixed pairs meets where you get to gallivant around central Europe and do only some of the events and compete as teams and can dismount with a flyaway if you want.
US Nationals dates have been announced for 2020. The Olympic season is beginning to come into focus!

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397: 2019 Worlds Event Finals Day 2 Oct 13, 2019

Show notes

EVENT FINALS DAY 2

It's overrrrrrrr! Worlds has come to a close for another year. We break down the stories from some of our most beloved and dangerous event finals (often the same one) on the final day of competition and reflect back on the journey that was Stuttgart 2019.

PODIUM TRAINING VIDEOS

Check out all of our routine videos and interviews from podium training on our YouTube page, brought to you by TumblTrak!

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396: 2019 Worlds Event Finals Day 1 Oct 12, 2019

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EVENT FINALS DAY 1

Men's FX, PH and Rings. Women's Vault and Bars. Could anyone dethrone Simone and Nina? Did Jessica and Spencer emotionally survive having to sit through an entire pommel horse and rings final, respectively? You'll have to listen to find out as the team recaps with special guest, Coach Rick from GymnasticsCoaching.com the first day of event finals from worlds. Plus some Dumpster Fire News because the light keeps shinning even during Worlds: Gymnastics Federation's Payments to a Linked Foundation Is Under Scrutiny

PODIUM TRAINING VIDEOS

Check out all of our routine videos and interviews from podium training on our YouTube page, brought to you by TumblTrak!

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395: 2019 Worlds Men's All Around Final Oct 11, 2019

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MEN'S ALL-AROUND FINAL

We thought it would be the most wide-open competition heading into worlds. Did it play out that way? Did Russia and China keep Russia-ing and China-ing along? And how did Sam do on his big test? Jessica, Spencer, and very special guest, Olly Hogeben have all the news from the arena.

PODIUM TRAINING VIDEOS

Check out all of our routine videos and interviews from podium training on our YouTube page, brought to you by TumblTrak!

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