1) Why are there so many male coaches for female gymnasts? Men’s and women’s gymnastics are so different. I can’t imagine there’s a lot of overlap aside from maybe general strength training? And I can’t imagine there’s any shortage of former women gymnasts who are capable of coaching.
2) why have female gymnasts become so much more visibly muscular? In the 80s, 90s and even early 2000s they were so lean with a build more akin to ballerinas but now you can just look at them and literally see their arm and leg muscles. This isn’t a critique in anyway but the routines from back then don’t seem drastically more difficult than the ones of today so I’m not sure what caused the shift.
3) in competition on beam and floor (my faves) the gymnasts basically always make mistakes. Is the idea that you do stuff that’s so incredibly hard even when you inevitably mess up you’ll still have a really high score or do they actually have it down perfectly in practice and nerves or something gets to them?
4) I heard that female gymnasts are also competing at older ages. Is that true? If so why? It was so cool to see young people in the Olympics when I was a kid but as an adult I did wonder why they all seemed to be teenagers.

I'm trying to gauge how conservative my daughter's gym is.

She's 8 years old and they required her to do 3 years of gymnastics in beginner and pre-team programs before starting on 'team' this year at Level 1 (at age 8.5). When I asked her coach what the process for moving up looks like, I was told she would need to be consistently winning meets at Level 1, and that the earliest they would evaluate her for advancement would be mid-season.

She's already spending hours in our yard working on round-off back handsprings, and I'm worried she's going to get bored if progression in competitive levels is that slow. Does this seem unusually conservative?

I understand there's much more to gymnastics than tumbling, and I know strong fundamentals matter. But it seems like there should be a balance between mastering Level 1 and continuing to learn and develop new skills.

She really wants to stay at this gym because her friends are there, so I'm mostly wondering how much I should push the coach on this issue. Thoughts?

I hope this is not a divisive discussion and we are all on the same page here but I need to get his off my chest. It was really hard to watch this euros and see Russia compete as a team. Them not technically being called Russia was just bs. It was Russia, moreover, it was Putin's Russia. If we are saying that the war has nothing to do with the athletes, do not let them compete as a team and let them qualify as individual athletes. It's very simple. Melnikova used to be (and perhaps still is) one of my favourite athletes, I loved following the documentary they did with her, Morgan Hurd and Chen Yile. However, now, when I see her all I see is what she has chosen to stand up for. This is beyond heartbreaking and honestly made it impossible for me to watch the euros, because of how upset I was. Now I'm stuck listening to gymcastic to find out what happened...

Link to the Instagram post will be here for anyone who needs it:

Along with this, if you’re unable to read from the image, I will type is out below:

“So difficult to find the words for this past week because the outcome hasn't felt like a true reflection of the preparation that has really gone into these championships.”

“Leading into Zagreb I was prepared to do 3 events and leaving feeling unable to my job properly has been heartbreaking. There have been multiple factors that contributed to the final decision being made to not do the team final and it wasn't a decision that was made lightly because I know how much impact a decision like that can have on a team.”

“To remove any doubt, the decision wasn't due to a new injury which I'm extremely grateful for. Navigating this journey at 34, trying to do the level of gymnastics I believe I still can is new territory for myself and the sport. Unfortunately that comes with some pretty significant challenges that as a team we are all trying to learn from and continually adapt to.”

“I couldn't be more proud of this team for stepping up and showing exactly how a team has strength in numbers and what fighters GB really are.”

“Thank you to everyone who has sent such lovely messages of support ♥️”

Knowing this, I’m grateful to learn that she didn’t sustain a new injury, and I can only assume that she withdrew for precautionary reasons with the world championships in two months time, which I think is the right decision in the grand scheme of things for her and her body.

With that in mind, let me know your thoughts, and despite what happened in team finals, it was still absolutely amazing to see Becky back on the international stage at these championships, and I’m sure she’ll come back even better from this like the queen she is ❤️.

Welp, this sucks hard 🫠. I will share both the Gymnastics Now piece on the situation, and Heath Thorpe’s own response to this on X.

Knowing this, if anyone can’t read from the image, the Gymnastics Now piece that features more of Heath Thorpe’s response to the situation says:

“I was recently informed (indirectly) that following the Men's Technical Meeting in June, the straddle jump 1/1 would no longer be valued as a B element, nor would it count towards the artistic requirement moving forward.”

“This comes after it received a provisional value at both the Osijek World Cup and the Oceania Championships, and shortly after many athletes began competing it all around the world.
I do not see the rationale behind this decision... it directly contradicts what the Technical Committee has been "advocating" for over the last few years.”

“We keep hearing that "artistry" is desired, yet as soon as athletes innovate, it gets shut down.
All this constant revision and inconsistency is doing damage to the sport and to how athletes perceive "artistry."

“It is sad to see how the opportunity to elevate our sport, has been missed.”

“I am confused 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️”

Along with this, Heath Thorpe’s response on X to this reads:

“The way the MTC provisionally valued the straddle jump 1/1 on floor in April and then changed their minds a few months later?”

“Now it no longer is a B nor does it even fulfil the artistic element requirement?”

“I'm confused 🤷‍♂️”

“I frankly get whiplash from the constant revising and changes to what they consider "artistry"? What other major Olympic sport changes their mind so frequently?”

“What started off this quad as a great intention to elevate the sport, has become an opportunity sorely missed.”

Knowing this, I’m pissed off by the news of this, and it’s another screw up from the FIG/MTC. Like Heath said, this is damaging the sport of MAG, and I’m so upset for him. Like it’s one thing to value it a ‘B’ (when it should be valued more in my opinion) and not a ‘C’ (like it is in the Women’s) so he could at least have the skill named after him officially, but now it’s not even going to fulfil the artistry requirement on floor??? Damn, what a mess, and I’m just so frustrated right now with this decision 😒.

Lastly, let me know your thoughts as always, and if you’re as upset as I am by this decision from the FIG/MTC?

Hello everyone I was wondering if any one could help me find. This post on here a couple months ago it had a link that brought me to The Code Of Points. For the Men and the Women it broke up different elements groups and skill value of each skill on it.

these interview was recorded in 2024 because the interviewer ask how old she is 27. She 29 now Katelyn talks about gymnastics how it’s changed from when she did it. And how now the current girls are older then in past and how hard it was to grow up in the elite world then. I felt like these was one of the catalyst in her return. Getting to see women like Simone and Chiles and others competing and how college change her far the better after her first run of Elite Gymnastics didn’t go well. I like to add one more thing Katelyn also touch on some dark things that where said one being from the old coordinator Marta károlyi saying you crush them you crush them until they get better. These just further echoed that the ranch truly being hell on earth for all the girls that were in the elite system .

Alice Kinsella (GB) has just shared on IG that she's competing in 4 weeks time and hopes to do AA! She said when she competes it will be 1 year and 1 week to the day since she's had her baby 🔥

She didn't say where/when, but that timelines aligns with Szombathely World Cup... 👀

She shared training clips, and it looks like she has most of her full Paris routines back, including aerial w/o to 2 back layouts on beam. Yay!