Eh, there’s not that much this week, but here goes…

Athlete A. Out Now

The Netflix documentary on That Guy, and USAG, and the IndyStar investigation, and Maggie, and Rachael, and Jamie is out now.

For those who have followed what’s been happening in detail over the last four years, there’s not going to be a lot of new information there for you, but the documentary does do an impressive job of synthesizing that information and establishing a clear and understandable timeline of events and culpability. That can be really difficult to do with all the moving parts and little wisps of information that have come out here and there—and will be particularly valuable for the general public watching it.

For some reason, USAG decided it needed to make a statement…about the film…today? It didn’t go over awesome. (Guys, you didn’t even have to say anything.)

OK. First of all, you’re not supposed to take this opportunity to pat yourself on the back for some great job you’ve done since they came forward, because…highly debatable and no you haven’t. I do think some things are improving and that the leadership staff is better, but it’s like you want a standing ovation for getting off the couch. Make it to the toilet and then we’ll talk.

Also they didn’t do it for you. USAG taking this documentary and focusing on what it has learned or improved because of Maggie still assumes that she exists to serve USAG or to make the organization better. “Debt of gratitude.” Like she gave you something. You took from her, so much. And now you need to give her something. Such as…everything she and the other survivors are asking for.

A. Simone’s triple double: beam edition

With the opening salvo of “gymnastics is back” season (?)—at least for a couple months before “oh wait never mind no it’s not” season—Simone posted a video of herself doing a triple double beam dismount into a pit.

On the scale of realism, this is certainly in the “just crashing into the pit because gymnastics is supposed to be fun” category (Morgan Hurd countered with a similar double double of her own), but it’s also Simone, so who knows.

Because the double double was given just an H, Simone ditched it immediately after getting it named for herself at worlds because the potential for deductions essentially makes it not worth the single tenth gained over the full-in, a very comfortable skill for her. But if she flexed and went up to a triple double (which at this point would presumably be I-value—what we thought the double double would be), I’m saying I wouldn’t be mad about it.

“I will use this extra year to invent ONE HUNDRED new Bileseses.”

Meanwhile, we need a better system for awarding values of provisional skills. You shouldn’t have to wait until worlds to discover the official value of the thing you’re planning to do. You know we have the internet now, right?

A. Kurt Thomas died

Last weekend, we received the news that Kurt Thomas died following a stroke. Really the first US men’s gymnastics star, Thomas won the world floor title in 1978 in Strasbourg and joined Marcia Frederick—who won the bars title at that same meet—in becoming the first Americans to win a gymnastics world title.**

Thomas emerged at the 1976 Olympics (ultimately his only Olympic Games) but had not quite come into his own yet, placing 21st AA and 7th with the US team. His transition into a world force came with that victory in 1978 and continued at 1979 worlds in Fort Worth, where he cleaned up with five medals—including wins on HB and FX and a silver in the all-around—proving himself to be the equal of Dityatin and Tkatchev, as well as an essential innovator with his flares on pommel horse and roll-out on floor.

He would have been on the 1980 Olympic team had the United States sent a delegation, but alas. Of course, he then went on to far more culturally critical work, starring in the greatest action film of all time, Gymkata. Let us never forget. His pro status left him ineligible for competition for much of the 80s, but he did make a comeback attempt in the early 90s, placing 16th AA at nationals in 1992.

**The US had won Olympic gymnastics titles before at the sparsely attended home Olympics in 1904 and 1932, and Frank Kriz won the Olympic vault title in 1924 in Paris, but since vaulting that year involved jumping over a horizontal bar before contacting the horse, I think we can chalk that up to being basically a different sport.

B. Black Lives Matter

In last week’s edition, I ran through a number of the statements from black athletes about their experiences in NCAA gym, and we’ve seen a few more come out since then, most prominently from former Auburn gymnasts like Kennedy Finister and Telah Black.

We’ve also seen more articles about Tia Kiaku’s situation at Alabama, including a particularly disturbing story that her mom relates about Dana Duckworth being like, “I think your daughter might be a slut because you’re a single mom.” I mean, that’s not what she said, but that’s also absolutely what she was saying.

These stories continuing to come out—along with their associated “I AM TEH LEARNING” responses—has stoked calls for these coaches to be fired, which…..it may happen, I have no idea. (I was kind of waffling about whether to put this up today in thinking, “You know someone is going to resign the millisecond after I hit publish. You know it.”)

These stories reveal unacceptable behavior so I’m not going to be weeping if someone does get “asked to resign,” though these stories also reveal failures throughout the athletic departments, which means that accountability is always going to have to be on more than just the gymnastics coach who said the bad thing. Because if the athletic departments had acted appropriately after the complaint was made about the coach doing the racist thing, we probably would never have heard the story.

And this is just gymnastics. Imagine the filing cabinets these schools have for coaches’ behavior in those other sports. I guarantee you these aren’t the worst examples. If you start enacting real, warranted accountability, then doesn’t the whole ziggurat have to go? Are they really going to be willing to do that? I kind of think…they’re not.

A. Black Lives Matter

This week, Alexis Brown joined us on the podcast to talk about her experience kneeling during the national anthem in the 2017 and 2018 NCAA seasons, the reaction from within the gymnastics community (spoiler alert: it was bad!), and her thoughts on the current protests of police brutality. So, I recommend giving a listen to her story.

Dolly Parton Gymnastics Stampede – GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Headline News In a big win for Gymnasts for Change, British Gymnastics released new safeguarding policies that should be the model for federations around the world Riley McCusker is injured, and Spencer tries to convince you it's all just a bad dream Lindenwood is shutting down its gymnastics team after the 2024 season More on the banning of Elvira Saadi in Canada NCAA 2024 – Getting Ahead of the Game Jessica corners you in an elevator and tells you what she loves about college gymnastics Death to the "Alabama Shuffle:" a major rule change is coming to college gymnastics landings in 2024. We administer a quiz on the new regulations, discuss which gymnast the new requirement was obviously modeled after, and give our overall impressions Meet the Ninja Level 10s: Learning the names of gymnasts you can become obsessed with before the bandwagon starts, including KJ Kindler's dream come true, the new queen of bars, and…Nastia's clone? Power Rankings Fight A.k.a., why does Jessica hate Flavia? We released our new GymCastic World Elite Power Rankings, and Spencer would like everyone to know that it's not his fault. Plus, an update on Russia at the Olympics, as well as lawsuits about NIL and Title IX The GIFT of Club Gym Nerd Join Club Gym Nerd (or give it as a gift!) for access to weekly Behind the Scenes Q&A episodes, dedications, mini-commissions and group commissions Club Gym Nerd members get access to all of our exclusive extended interviews, Behind The Scenes and College & Cocktails episodes. Buy our awesome clothing and gifts here and even "tapestries" (banners perfect to display in an arena) to support your favorite gymnast here. RELATED EPISODES Emergency Gymternet News Biggest Gymnastics Pet Peeves Authorized Neutral Athletes Gymnastics Movie Club: Perfect Body Trouble in Romania Best Cheng Ever? RESOURCES & CITATIONS Gymlytics Fantasy Gym Make It Count Dolly Parton Stampede meet (not an NCAA meet) Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Follow the effects of the Russian invasion to Ukraine at Gymnovosti The Highest D and E scores from The Gymternet Men's Gymnastics coverage from Kensley Neutral Deductions MORE WAYS TO LISTEN HERE    

1. Dolly Parton Gymnastics Stampede 01:17:48
2. Emergency Gymternet News 11:11
3. Biggest Gymnastics Pet Peeves 01:59:41
4. Authorized Neutral Athletes 01:16:09
5. Gymnastics Movie Club: Perfect Body (Commissioned) 01:01:50

Being an icon as usual, Kennedy Baker got the “we’re not going to keep our experiences of gymnastics racism hidden anymore” ball rolling earlier this week when she posted about Florida silencing her when she was on the receiving end of racist comments from her team.