Gymcastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Olympian, Khorkina beater, adult elite, mother and jet pack booty owner, Lisa Mason.   Lady Lisa Mason, as she will be known on this show because she is the owner of the sexiest gymnastics property in the land (AKA, her Instagram), is an Olympian; a World Cup champion; won the British Championships three time in a row; was the youngest British Champion ever and even beat Produnova and Khorkina on Floor at a World Cup on her way to a historic all-around appearance final in Sydney--the first ever for a Brit. She's back, competing again at age 32. Oh, and she has a daughter, goes to night school, works for a living and trains for elite competition yet still finds time to make us laugh with her uncensored tweets. We discuss: Missing out on the balance beam final at the Sydney Olympics, the vault height debacle, its effect on her to this day, and her opinion of Raducan's ban for taking cold medicine. How her training has changed over the years, the dance secret that allows her to keep going, adjusting to the new

Who's that in the bunny costume? Why it's Winter Cup Prize for Elegance winner, Mr. Emyre Cole.   In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer, Evan and Jessica chat about: LSU putting a whoopin' on Florida where Bridget Sloan returned to competition for the Gators. But Tiger fans are riled up by the bad sportsmanship allegations levied by Faehn and Caquatto. We give you our opinions on the controversey. Massive scores at Alabama v. Georgia meet with seven 9.9 or above in the first three rotations for the Tide. Meanwhile, Georgia is having their worst start since 1998. Lindsey "Perfection" Mable moves into first in the all-around ranking this week with a 39.545 RQS (regional qualifying score), but Rheagan "Alpha Tigress" Courville scored a season high of 39.825 at home. We tell you what the RQS means at this point in the season. The only non-pro gymnast from the Fierce Five, Kyla Ross, committed to UCLA. Understanding the new four-year-guarantee scholarship rules and what it means for gymnastics teams with more than 12

Patrick Kiens and Eythora Thorsdottir at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2013 where she won silver on beam. This week the girl who's name we have been mispronouncing for years, the magical ethnically Icelandic sprite from the Netherlands, her Dutch majesty, the crown jewel of Holland who makes fans cry with her performance art known as gymnastics, Eythora Thorsdottir is here!  (It's pronounced AYE-tora Thor-s-DOT-er by the way.) The Ljubljana World Cup beam champion and her coach, Patrick Kiens, who's musical theater background and genius strategy got Eythora to beam finals in her first world championship talk about: Eythora: What kind of attention the Dutch team has received since returning from Glasgow as a Rio qualified team! Her future career plans in the performing arts and if college gymnastics in the United States is a possibility. Did she notice the positive response from fans during her coming out party at European Youth Olympic Festival? Upgrades, Rio plans and her unique style and routine

    This week Canadian legend, Olympian, World vault finalist, 13-year Cirque du Soliel veteran, entrepreneur and NCAA team champion, Stella Umeh tells her story. Known for her incredible power combined with her dance background helped Stella perform floor routines that ballerinas and jazz dance fans alike sigh with ecstasy. Jessica joined Stella and her 3-month-old daughter, Billie (cue adorable baby gurgles in the background), in November while Stella and her husband, Sam, (head electrician for Cirque's Kurios show) stopped in California.  We discuss: On being an A-typical Canadian gymnast in her era and being labeled as difficult for standing up for herself and doing things her own way: "I work hard, I play hard. I'm responsible because I love what I'm doing, I'm not going to jeopardize it (also because I don't want to get injured).... I would always do the job but because I didn't fit the mold, it looked like I was fooling around or Mickey Mousing or I wasn't taking things seriously. But I don't think you

South Durham Gymnastics Club, home of English all-around champion, Amy Tinkler.   Originally aired March 25, 2015. English Nationals, NCAA Conference Championships and Jesolo are on the menu this week. Uncle Tim, Emma, Spencer, Spanny, Evan, and Jessica chat about: Princess Catherine leading her troops to battle to strike fear into the heart of the balance beam. Senior champ Amy Tinkler, is her pepto-pink gym at South Durham, the key to her success? Claudia Fragapane's improvement from her American Cup fall-a-thon. Lisa Mason's triumphant performance, pep talks to the baby gymnasts, Artistry award and practically leaping onto the judges table to dare them to deduct from her floor routine! The British Bars Revolution: Kelly Sim and Becky Downie are doing bars that make you wonder if their routines aren't actually YouTube edited pranks. Jingoistic floor routine musical advice for the Rio Olympics, from a self-proclaimed Brazilian cultural expert. Louis Smith competed well but raised some eyebrows with his pos

30-year-old Marian Drăgulescu (ROM) won his 10th world medal in Glasgow and the coveted Mr. Congeniality 2015 award from GymCastic.  © Christy Linder   Uncle Tim, Spencer, and Jessica discuss the state of gymnastics after the Glasgow World Championships: Awards: Miss & Mr. Congeniality Awards Artistry Award (both intended and unintentional) Highest non-vault E score Awards: FX - 9.066 - Simone Biles of USA (Quals) PB - 9.300 - Artur Davtyan (Quals) Biggest D Awards (non-vault): UB - 6.900 - Fan Yilin (TF, EF) and FX - 6.900 - Simone Biles (Quals) FX - Kenzo - 7.600  “Size Isn’t Everything” Award The State of Gymnastics: Rules most desperately needed to change. What worked in this code and what didn't. Our weekly roundup of the latest news stories from around the gymternet include: Mustafina has had knee surgery. Gulia Steingruber knee injury update. The Rio Olympic Qualifer Hunger Games-style rule changes have begun, starting with Trinidad & Tobago. Are Jordyn Wieber, Shawn Johnson a

Manrique (CUB) is going to Rio!   Jessica is reporting in person from the 2015 Women's Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland with the European Gymnastic Crew: Michelle Web, Cordelia Price, and Becca Emrick: What did Bruno say about black athletes in gymnastics? Steve Butcher addressed the delays in the press conference. Is there a pro European bias? More discussion of debunking myths--we discuss the state of gymnastics TODAY! We talk men's vault: we dissect each competitor. Are there rules about selfie-sticks on the floor? What the hell was with the walk-in music? We talk women's beam: of course we break down all the deets. Komova has officially become a fighter--and her leo was on point. Cordelia does her best Scott Bregman impersonation. Carol Angela is The Alchemist. Simone is a diamond--the more pressure the more sparkle she produces. Is the Azerbaijan buy-your-gymnast system working? We talk men's parallel bars: the cleanest final of the day. We talk women's floor: a great final, but Jess is n

Kocian, Spiridonova, Komova, and Yilin four-way tied for gold in bars. (photo credit: Christy Ann Linder) Jessica is reporting in person from the 2015 Women's Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland with the European Gymnastic Crew: Emma Bailey, Michelle Web, Cordelia Price, Coach Rick, and... wait for it... Mr. Scott Bregman: We're live from The Corinthian Club in Glasgow, Scotland. We recap the Men's AA final. We discuss the first day of event finals routine by routine! We have quizzes and even take a few question from those who watched on Periscope. The GB men get their first individual gold on event finals--they go one-two in pommel. The Gym Report's best guesstimate which individuals made it to the Rio Test Event. How To Get Your Favorite Gymnast to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games [A Flowchart] Support us! Join Club Gym Nerd here. GymCastic T-Shirts just in time for 2015 Glasgow World Championships! Women's styles (even v-neck!), kids and men's. They will arrive in time for Worlds. They ship anywhe

Support your favorite gymnasts and podcast by clicking on the image to see our t-shirts!   In the news, Uncle Tim, Lauren Hopkins, and Jessica chat about: The Russian press conference that featured more empty plates than gymnastics Hashtag Wars: the official hashtag has been changed from #2015wgc to #Glasgow2015 The Competition: Who's here and how they qualified Competition format six gymnasts per team, one alternate. Five gymnasts compete in on each event prelims with only four scores counting (5 up 4 count). In finals, only three gymnasts can compete and all three scores count towards the team score (3 up 3 count). Lauren plays How To Get Your Favorite Gymnast To Rio with Uncle Tim Non-nominative vs. Nominative Injury report and which teams are on the “Oh Crap We Are Going To Have to Go To The Test Event” List Gymnasts you must watch in prelims because although they might not make finals, they will make you believe in the Gym Gods: Thorsdottir, Berki, Wever, Zapata, Millousi and more. Jaw dropping skil

Dream Killers?! Nellie Kim and Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko are at the center of a controversy that left Belarusian gymnasts Sviatlana Lifenka (R) and Valeryia Tsekhmistrenka (L) out of Worlds. The most decorated gymnast in American history, three-time Olympian, and Olympic gold medalist and world champion, Shannon Miller graced us with her presence for a second time! We squealed with glee! Shannon told us about: Her new line of leotards and leisure wear Handling commentators and public discussion of her body and puberty Who she's excited to watch at Glasgow Worlds Chusovitina and the longevity of adult gymnasts What she thought of the winning impression video from our It's Not About Perfect book giveaway contest. Tips on learning her famous back extension rolls on beam Settles the debate for us: Is high altitude ever an excuse for poor conditioning? In the news, Uncle Tim, Lauren Hopkins, and Jessica chat about: Belarusgate Two Americans were granted expedited dual-Belarusian citizenship an

  WHAT: Elevate of The Stage:  Xcel, J.O., with Auburn vs. Alabama dual meet finale WHEN: January 16-17, 2016 WHERE: Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama SPECIALNESS: It's on podium and the college coaches will watch the top levels on Saturday night. TWO PRIZES: $250 off of a gym's registration (20 or more gymnasts) to compete in the JO meet and no team Fees. Four VIP passes to watch the college meet on the floor, access to hospitality and four free t-shirts. ***With this, the winner will have to be someone 18 or older because recruitable gymnasts can't be on the floor during college meet competition (blame the NCAA rules). HOW TO ENTER: Like us on Facebook Send us an email with the subject line “Elevate the Stage” to gymcastic@gmail.com DEADLINE: Sunday, October 18th More details on the Elevate the Stage podium meet here. In the news, Jessica, Lauren Hopkins, and Uncle Tim chat about: Ages and height of the US women's Olympic teams since 1972 Why Russian gymnastics fans are the best! Who's

2015 Russian Cup All-Around Champion, Daria Spiridonova (RUS, 57.1) WHAT: Elevate of The Stage:  Xcel, J.O., with Auburn vs. Alabama dual meet finale WHEN: January 16-17, 2016 WHERE: Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama SPECIALNESS: It's on podium and the college coaches will watch the top levels on Saturday night. TWO PRIZES: $250 off of a gym's registration (20 or more gymnasts) to compete in the JO meet and no team Fees OR Four VIP passes to watch the college meet on the floor, access to hospitality and four free t-shirts. ***With this the winner will have to be someone 18 or older because recruitable gymnasts can't be on the floor during college meet competition (blame the NCAA rules). HOW TO ENTER: Like us on Facebook Send us an email with the subject line “Elevate the Stage” to gymcastic@gmail.com DEADLINE: Sunday, October 18th More details on the Elevate the Stage podium meet here. Lauren Hopkins, Uncle Tim, and Jessica chat about: The Russian Cup Maria Paseka's Cheng is getting b

[caption id="attachment_7458" align="aligncenter" width="740"] Catalina Ponor (art courtesy of My Crazy World of Graphics) In the news, Uncle Tim, Spencer from The Balance Beam Situtation, and Jessica chat about: Romania vs. France Meet Catalina Ponor Periscoped her comeback! We also go to see Larissa Iordache and Diana Bulimar compete. Marian Dragulescue returned to competition at the Israel Cup We compare his vault to Oleg Vernaiev's at the Ukraine Cup How Alexander Shatilov and Draulescue compare on floor five weeks out from Worlds NCAA gymnasts preparing for Worlds Danusia Francis, Toni-Ann Williams and Britney Rogers prepare for Glasgow while competing for their college teams. Beyond The Routine: Canada Rising recap from Spencer! Rhythmic Worlds The US group and Ms. Laura Zeng qualified to the Olympics! Bruno Grandi's poorly chosen English phrasing. Should artistic gymnasts be allowed to use lyrics in routines. Is rhythmic more or less artistic than it used to be? Our weekly roundup of th

Sport psychologist Dr. Megan Neyer and Katherine Starr from Safe4Athletes join us to talk about the arrest of Olympic coach Marvin Sharp on child pornography and charges of molesting one of his athletes.  We discuss: Gym Myth Busters: Do boys need protection from pedophiles just as much as girls do? Why  a "don't talk back" policy can sets kids up to be victims. Conditions that lead to abuse, both through grooming and organizational loopholes. What the alleged victim might be feeling and how best to support her as a community. Steps the gymnastics community can take in preventing abuse: Mandate moral, ethical and specific behavior guidelines Apply a policy that makes misbehavior, not just criminal activity grounds for dismissal Parent, coach and athlete education about those guidelines because policies without education create cynicism Enforcement by someone other than the owner of the gym External oversight through an athlete welfare advocate and if necessary an external advocate for intervention or acco