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Speaker 1: Hey, stuff, I've never told your listeners. Kristen Here before

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Speaker 1: we get into today's episode on Olympic gymnastics, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to acknowledge some major news I was actually breaking while

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Speaker 1: Caroline and I were recording this episode. Um, there has

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Speaker 1: been a report that was published in the Indianapolis Star

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Speaker 1: newspaper which finds that USA Gymnastics, which is the Olympic

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Speaker 1: gymnastic organization, has been systematically covering up allegations of sexual

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Speaker 1: abuse by gymnastics coaches. And this is something because we

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Speaker 1: weren't aware of how this was happening, we don't talk

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Speaker 1: about in the podcast, but we just wanted to acknowledge

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Speaker 1: that we realized that this has happened. And if this

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Speaker 1: is something that you all would like us to come

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Speaker 1: back and talk about in more depth, absolutely e mail

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Speaker 1: us at mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: But we just wanted to say a couple words so

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Speaker 1: that you all don't think that we are also turning

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Speaker 1: a blind eye to this major problem that is not

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Speaker 1: only implicated USA Gymnastics as a whole, but also Bella Coroli,

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Speaker 1: who has been accused in the past of psychologically abusing gymnasts,

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Speaker 1: and also his wife, Marta Caroli Um, who is the

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Speaker 1: current team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. So some sad news

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Speaker 1: to start off this episode, but important nonetheless for us

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Speaker 1: to acknowledge. And with that, let's get onto the show.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff mom never told you. From how Stuff

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com, Hello, and welcome to the podcast. Asked,

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Speaker 1: I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today we are talking gymnastics.

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm excited. I'm so excited. UM. So many little

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Speaker 1: girls that I grew up with did gymnastics. I was

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Speaker 1: not myself a joiner. I was a very shy only

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Speaker 1: child and my parents were just like okay with me

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Speaker 1: not participating. Yeah. I also I can't do a pull up,

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Speaker 1: So gymnastics was never something on my mind, at least

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Speaker 1: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, whole other ball field. I was

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Speaker 1: all about the ribbon dancer. I would try to do

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Speaker 1: the ball like body juggle thing that they do, which

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Speaker 1: really just looks like, you know, like people at Bonnaroo

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Speaker 1: with this like well, it also reminds me of of

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Speaker 1: a video I just watched yesterday of an otter that

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Speaker 1: was on a rock and it was throwing a rock.

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Speaker 1: But ween, it's pause, and I was like, this looks

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Speaker 1: like that gymnastics thing. Why don't the Auto Olympics exist.

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Speaker 1: We've got the puppy bowl, I know, so we need

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Speaker 1: the Auto Olympics. Well yeah, because oh and oh works perfectly,

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Speaker 1: honor Olympics. I'm already hello, already picturing the logo. It's

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Speaker 1: so cute in my head. Call us television, we have ideas.

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Speaker 1: That's how that works, right, Yeah, it's just television. Just

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Speaker 1: calls us Television, Inc. Gives you a ring. But back

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Speaker 1: to women's gymnastics, not outs okay, what you're talking about today? Uh,

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Speaker 1: some listeners had requested it. But also, Caroline, I have

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Speaker 1: as many people do, a real soft spot for women's

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Speaker 1: gymnastics in the Summer Olympics. It's like the reason, well, no,

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of really good Summer Olympics events,

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Speaker 1: but gymnastics is such a crowd fave it is. And

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Speaker 1: I was just listening. Maybe some other listeners out there

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Speaker 1: heard this too, But I was listening to NPR yesterday

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Speaker 1: and there was a sports report or who was talking

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Speaker 1: about how swimming and track and field had always been

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Speaker 1: the glamour pusses, the stars of the Olympics and how uh,

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Speaker 1: starting with Nadia Kumbin that all changed and gymnastics captured

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Speaker 1: everyone's imaginations. And I mean that totally rings true for

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Speaker 1: me too, because I grew up either watching ice skating

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Speaker 1: with my mother or watching women's gymnastics with my mother.

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Speaker 1: Like I don't I literally literally until this previous summer Olympics,

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Speaker 1: in literally have no recollection of watching swimming, and I

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Speaker 1: certainly didn't really care much about track and field. Oh

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Speaker 1: I enjoy track and field. I mean I watched it,

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Speaker 1: but I don't I I literally don't remember watching swimming,

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Speaker 1: but track and field I was always like, yeah, they're

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Speaker 1: very fast. But but gymnastics, there's so much like shows

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Speaker 1: of incredible strength and grace and power. And I mean,

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Speaker 1: we certainly will talk about that and talk about some

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Speaker 1: of the women who have exhibited all of that strength

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Speaker 1: and grace and power, but we're also going to address

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Speaker 1: the issue of how people speak differently about certain types

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Speaker 1: of gymnasts and the language they use. Yeah, so you

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Speaker 1: watched the summer and Winter Olympic events with your mom.

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Speaker 1: I am curious to another Caroline, did your dad watch

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Speaker 1: any Olympics? Some more of a curling man, Old Chad.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure Chad watched the Olympics, but I really my

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Speaker 1: I don't think he ever watched ice skating with us

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Speaker 1: in the Winter Olympics, and I don't know if he

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Speaker 1: was around to watch the gymnastics. I think I think

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Speaker 1: I do remember track and field being like the prime

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Speaker 1: time event that we would watch together, all of us.

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Speaker 1: Oh did you ever watch speed skating? Side note? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was one of my favor and still is one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite winter powerful thighs, such powerful thighs. Um

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Speaker 1: When the Olympic Summer Olympics were in Atlanta in for

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Speaker 1: listeners who might not know, Caroline and I are sitting

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Speaker 1: right now in Atlanta, Georgia, UM, where we work and live.

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Speaker 1: Was it a big deal for you? You know your

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Speaker 1: family lives right outside of Atlanta. Yeah, we got out

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Speaker 1: of town. Oh you did. Yeah? My parents were not

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Speaker 1: having it. Yeah, we my They did take me to

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Speaker 1: the Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, and I remember

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Speaker 1: that being pretty cool. It was hot, it was so hot,

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Speaker 1: and I remember going and you could buy all sorts

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Speaker 1: of Olympics swag and they had like this massive display

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Speaker 1: of pins like pins to stick on your clothes. And

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Speaker 1: I remember being so excited to get the soccer pin

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Speaker 1: because little Carol loved to play soccer but was too

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Speaker 1: afraid to join a team. So even though I loved

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Speaker 1: playing and I had a great time doing it and

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Speaker 1: I was not terrible for someone who had no practice

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Speaker 1: or training, I never joined a team and so buying

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Speaker 1: that little pin was like my little joiner moment. I

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Speaker 1: love that story so much. Do you think we still

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Speaker 1: have that pen? Oh? I'm sure I do, uh, because

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Speaker 1: listen up, there's a denim vest hanging in my childhood

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Speaker 1: closet covered in pens. Oh my gosh, um if my

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Speaker 1: mom hasn't thrown it out every once in a while,

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Speaker 1: she gets real like up in arms about how much

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Speaker 1: stuff is left at the house. Um, but also no,

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Speaker 1: so uh, you know. We we visited Centennial Park, I

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Speaker 1: bought the pins. I felt bad about not playing on

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Speaker 1: a soccer team, and then my parents swept us out

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Speaker 1: of town to go to our lake house in Michigan,

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Speaker 1: where I was sitting on the couch the morning they

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Speaker 1: were reporting on the Olympic Park bombing. So I remember

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Speaker 1: running out to my mother and being like, there's a

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Speaker 1: bomb um, you know, in Atlanta, and my mother being like,

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Speaker 1: mommy's talking. Just wait a second, and I'm like, really nothing, okay, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that that was kind of embarrassing. That and the fact

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Speaker 1: that our Olympic mascot was named It was nicknamed Izzy,

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Speaker 1: which stood for what is it? But yeah, people didn't

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Speaker 1: people did not know what it is. It was toothpaste

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Speaker 1: with eyeballs. Basically it really did look like that. It was.

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Speaker 1: It was pretty sad. We were no laughing stock of

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Speaker 1: the mascot world. Yes, yeah, yeah, I mean that's a

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Speaker 1: that's a tough crowd right there. Meanwhile, not not terribly

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Speaker 1: far away from you, I was a young kid who

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Speaker 1: had Olympic fever. Long story short. My parents were friends

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Speaker 1: with the family of a Canadian rhythmic gymnast, so I

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Speaker 1: got to go to the Olympic village, which was very cool. Um.

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Speaker 1: I also collected as many pins as I could. I

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Speaker 1: was also very proud of a souvenir shirt that I

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Speaker 1: bought in Athens, which is outside of Atlanta, where the

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Speaker 1: University of Georgia is where a lot of events took place.

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Speaker 1: Um and because of the Athens Greece link, my souvenir

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Speaker 1: shirt was in all these like Greek olympiad um athletes,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't really notice until I think, like my

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Speaker 1: brother pointed out that they were totally like penises on

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Speaker 1: the shirt, Sweet little Congress. She didn't know. I didn't.

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Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know to look there. Um.

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Speaker 1: But ninety six was the year of the Magnificent Seven,

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Speaker 1: and I was watching on television because we weren't it

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Speaker 1: was such a hot ticket. We couldn't go to gymnastics.

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Speaker 1: But I was watching it not far away from where

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Speaker 1: it was happening, and I remember very vividly sitting in

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Speaker 1: my parents living room watching Verry strug twist her ankle

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Speaker 1: during the vault and then hobble back and land that

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Speaker 1: second vault, and then her coach comes up and scoops

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Speaker 1: her up, like an iconic moment when he carries there. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And then on SNL, Chris Katan, you know, started like

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Speaker 1: the whole sketch where he was Carrie Struggs little brother

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Speaker 1: like Kippy or something. Um. But yeah, I I had

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Speaker 1: huge gymnastics fever that year. Well, yeah, because I can't

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Speaker 1: walk in a straight line. How can they do all

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Speaker 1: that they do on a balance beam. I mean, it

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Speaker 1: truly was magnificent. But I have a feeling that and no,

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Speaker 1: no shade on Carrie Strug and the other gals who,

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Speaker 1: by the way, we're rocking some amazing wind suits and

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Speaker 1: bangs back then, I have a feeling that their performances

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Speaker 1: might pale in comparison to the Rio Games, where we

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Speaker 1: have none other than three time world champions Simone by

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Speaker 1: else who is representing the US and might make gymnastics history.

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Speaker 1: Oh she's incredible. I never thought I would say these

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Speaker 1: words out loud in a sentence, but I could seriously

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Speaker 1: watch videos of her flipping around all day long. Yeah

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Speaker 1: she she. I was just telling Kristen before we came

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Speaker 1: into record that I feel that Simon Biles is able

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Speaker 1: to defy physics because if you watch her videos of

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Speaker 1: her routines, it literally will look like there's not enough

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Speaker 1: time and space for her to continue flipping so that

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Speaker 1: her head is above her feet, you know, allowing her

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Speaker 1: to land on her feet and not her head. And

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Speaker 1: she does it. She pulls it off, and I don't

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Speaker 1: know how Yeah, I mean, and she is so talented. Uh,

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Speaker 1: she's basically the Serena Williams of gymnastics only very compact. Yes,

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Speaker 1: much shorter, but probably as strong. I mean, that girl

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Speaker 1: is nothing but muscle. Um. And we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: more about Biles later in the episode. But I also

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Speaker 1: want to mention that I'm going to be keeping an

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Speaker 1: eye out for Deepa car Mocker, who is the very

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Speaker 1: first female gymnasts from India ever to qualify for the Olympics,

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Speaker 1: and she stands a good chance to win a medal

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Speaker 1: at Rio because apparently her vault is incredible. She can

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Speaker 1: do this type of vault. I forget what kind of

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Speaker 1: it's called, but this vault that is deadly because if

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Speaker 1: you overshoot it, you can break your neck very easily

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Speaker 1: and die. Um. But she can do it. Deepa has

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Speaker 1: got it nailed, so they're thinking that she might. She's

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Speaker 1: definitely a metal contender. You said, you said deadly vault,

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Speaker 1: and I immediately am like spy thriller and I'm like

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Speaker 1: picturing her as a spy and like all she does

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Speaker 1: is like tumble and vault around and and and kill enemies.

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Speaker 1: But I would watch that Netflix show. Yeah, hello, yes,

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Speaker 1: and I you totally brought my mood down though, when

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Speaker 1: you said that it's deadly because she could she could

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Speaker 1: hurt herself. Yeah yeah, I mean only a couple other

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Speaker 1: gymnasts have performed the style of vault just because it's

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Speaker 1: so uh it's it takes such a intense level of skill. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'll be watching deeper, but maybe threw my fingers over

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Speaker 1: my eyes. Yeah yeah. Um. And and a quick disclaimer

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Speaker 1: for gymnastics fans out there, We are just going to

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Speaker 1: focus on Olympic gymnastics because if we tried to cover

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Speaker 1: the entirety of the sport, which thrives on the college

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Speaker 1: level as well. In C double A gymnastics is huge. Um,

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Speaker 1: we would be here all day. Oh yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: when I was in college, when you and I were

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Speaker 1: in college, we were in college together, the gym dogs

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Speaker 1: were a huge thing. You g as women's gymnastics team. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: gym dogs were so popular. Dogs with a spelled D

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Speaker 1: a w G. Because we are in the South dog

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Speaker 1: Jim dogs. So we can't be here forever talking about

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Speaker 1: the entirety of the sport. Nor can we be here

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Speaker 1: forever talking about the gym dogs and how often my

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Speaker 1: roommate went to see them. Um, at the Coliseum in Athens, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: not Greece. But we should point out that there's actually,

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Speaker 1: out of all of the different types of gymnastics, there's

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Speaker 1: only three at the Olympics, artistic, rhythmic and trampoline. And

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Speaker 1: rhythmic is the one with the ribbons, right, yes, the ribbons,

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Speaker 1: the pins, the ball and the seeming lack of spines

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Speaker 1: because they can just twist all which way. It's it's

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Speaker 1: the closest you will get at the Olympics to a

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Speaker 1: circusal a performance. It's incredible. Um. But yeah, we're we

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Speaker 1: are going to talk about rhythmic. We're just going to

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Speaker 1: focus on artistic, um trampling gymnastics. That sounds like a

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Speaker 1: lot of fun, but we're not talking about that today. Um.

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Speaker 1: And we are obviously going to talk about people like

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Speaker 1: Simone Biles and Nadya Komanacchi and Mary lou Written who

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Speaker 1: have really, um you know, made the sport what it is,

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Speaker 1: but we also want to talk about how women's gymnastics

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Speaker 1: is especially vulnerable to sexist sports media coverage. Big surprise,

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Speaker 1: no surprise there at all. But first we're gonna summersault

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Speaker 1: right in to a little bit of history courtesy of

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Speaker 1: gym Turnet, which I discovered. There's a whole internet devoted

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Speaker 1: to the gymnastics and it is referred to as the

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Speaker 1: gym Turnet and I love that. But there's also a

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Speaker 1: site Jim turn dot net I eat Gymternet, which is

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Speaker 1: just terrific. It's just this treasure trove of gymnastics information,

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Speaker 1: more gymnastics information that one could possibly ever even want

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Speaker 1: unless you are so into the sport um. So we

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Speaker 1: reverenced that a lot. And also there was a great

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Speaker 1: piece over fusion focus specifically on gymnasts of color in

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Speaker 1: the Olympics. So let's get our podcast time machine back

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Speaker 1: to Let's go back to nineteen twenty eight. We're not

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Speaker 1: going back to ancient Greece. No, no, we're skipping ancient Greece,

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Speaker 1: hopping into nine. American women have been able to vote

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Speaker 1: for eight years. Terrific, wonderful. And the Olympics are in Amsterdam,

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Speaker 1: and this is the first time that women gymnasts are

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Speaker 1: invited to participate, but not American lady gymnasts, right, American

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Speaker 1: women did not go. There weren't that many women gymnasts

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Speaker 1: in the Olympics. And in nineteen thirty two, those l

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Speaker 1: A Games did not invite the lady gymnasts back, largely

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Speaker 1: due to UM the International Gymnastics Federation's determination that it

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Speaker 1: would be economically like foolish to fly all these European

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Speaker 1: girls over to l A to compete in a country

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Speaker 1: where the sport was not popular. Yeah. Well, I mean

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Speaker 1: you also have to keep in mind the context of

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Speaker 1: the time. Right nineteen thirty two, You've got the Great Depression,

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Speaker 1: and so for a lot of people it's just not

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Speaker 1: economically feasible to be able to travel. Um. And at

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Speaker 1: the same time, you have a lot of gymnastics programs

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Speaker 1: being dropped from U S schools because of financial issues.

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Speaker 1: So basically people are kind of in general hunkering down

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Speaker 1: and trying to weed out things that aren't uh, super

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Speaker 1: vital to their day in and day out lives. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So there just wasn't a ton of interest. UM. But

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Speaker 1: then in n six, team USA goes to the Olympics

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Speaker 1: for the first time. But it's it's sort of a

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Speaker 1: dark time to premiere at the Olympics because these were

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Speaker 1: the Berlin Games. UM. And I say it was a

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Speaker 1: dark time not just because the team didn't meddle UM,

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Speaker 1: but because it was essentially like the Nazi Games. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So that really emotional and beautiful, uh torch relay that

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Speaker 1: we have every year for the Olympics, you know in Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: was so emotional because you had Muhammad Ali lighting the

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Speaker 1: torch at the very end. It was just I just

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Speaker 1: I remember that so clearly, Um watching him do that.

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Speaker 1: Hitler started that. I had no idea. I didn't know

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Speaker 1: that either because as NBC, who basically owns the Olympics

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Speaker 1: as NBC just tried to like cover that up or

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Speaker 1: the ioc um. Yeah. So the torch Relay started that

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Speaker 1: year in started in Greece and ended in Berlin. And

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Speaker 1: I realized that this has nothing to do with gymnastics specifically,

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Speaker 1: but we can't it's an important Olympic side. Yeah, we

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Speaker 1: can't not share this. Um. The torch Relay start in Greece,

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Speaker 1: ends in Berlin, and the final runner that year passed

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Speaker 1: through rows of Swasseka flags and it was Nazi propaganda. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: because they were basically trying to associate themselves with these

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Speaker 1: superior athletes and intellects of ancient Greece. Yeah. So, UM,

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Speaker 1: never gonna look at the torch relay quite the same

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Speaker 1: again because it started as a Nazi propaganda. They even

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Speaker 1: had Lenni riefenstall Uh film this relay and release it

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Speaker 1: in her documentary about the Olympics called Olympia. So a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a Nazi history for all use menty listeners.

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Speaker 1: And honestly, since nineteen thirty six was the Nazi Olympics,

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Speaker 1: no big loss that t Musa did not medals, It's

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Speaker 1: totally fine. Um. We should also note that during that

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Speaker 1: time only team medals were granted. It wasn't until nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty two in Helsinki that individual medals were given and

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Speaker 1: when gymnasts could compete as individuals like a simoon Biles.

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Speaker 1: Ah well, speaking of individuals. From six to sixty four,

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Speaker 1: you have Soviet Union gymnast Larissa, Lady Nina, I think,

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Speaker 1: I think that's right, Lady Nina winning eighteen medals and

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Speaker 1: this makes her the most decorated Olympian ever until freak

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Speaker 1: of Nature Michael Phelps comes along American swimmer and Phelps

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Speaker 1: is back in Rio. Yeah I know, but okay, another

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Speaker 1: side note, like have you seen those diagrams of him

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Speaker 1: and his like wingspan and like all of these ratios

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Speaker 1: where they show that he is like a physical freak

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Speaker 1: of nature and that is how he is able to

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Speaker 1: just dominate swimming. Anyway, it should be interesting to watch

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Speaker 1: this year. Okay, moving on to nineteen six in Montreal.

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Speaker 1: This is when we have Romania's Nadia combin Hi becoming

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Speaker 1: the first gymnast to score a perfect ten and she

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Speaker 1: does it on the uneven bars. And this was a

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Speaker 1: huge moment for the sport. This was really it's worldwide

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Speaker 1: coming out party because people started paying way more attention because, oh, whoa,

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Speaker 1: you have this gymnast wearing a perfect ten. How how

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Speaker 1: is that possible? We must start watching this thing. And

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Speaker 1: then fast forward to when Mary lou Written slays the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: She becomes the first American woman to win the all

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Speaker 1: around gold. So the US is like, oh, we are

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Speaker 1: all about the Olympics now. This is when you start

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Speaker 1: to see little girls around the country just flooding gymnastics classes. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: We'll keep in mind too that in eight four, the

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Speaker 1: Soviet block was boycotting the Games, which meant you didn't

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Speaker 1: have those like gymnastics dominating countries that were typically it

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Speaker 1: was what So it's the Soviet Union, You've got Romania

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Speaker 1: in there. I want to also say it's basically like

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Speaker 1: Eastern Europe and today Russia. UM, that really dominated for

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Speaker 1: most of UM Olympic history. Yeah, until the eighties. When

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Speaker 1: you have Merrily Retten in her haircut, that's right. Cut

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Speaker 1: that haircut, it's kind of like a bowl cut. Would

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Speaker 1: that be the best description? Yeah? So classic UM. But

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Speaker 1: she landed three perfect tens. She got one for her

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Speaker 1: floor exercise UM and two for vaults. But speaking of

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Speaker 1: perfect tens, big moment in two thousand and six when

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Speaker 1: the perfect tens scoring system was swapped out with open

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Speaker 1: ended scoring to reward more difficult routines. That so that

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Speaker 1: NPR sports reporter that I was talking about earlier his opinion,

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Speaker 1: and I'll be interested to hear from from gymnasts and

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Speaker 1: gymnastics fans out there, because I don't know UM, but

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Speaker 1: he was arguing that switching to this new system made

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Speaker 1: it less exciting or I mean, he still loves gymnastics

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Speaker 1: and loves to watch it, but he said that there

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Speaker 1: was something thrilling about watching gymnasts try to strive for

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Speaker 1: the perfect ten. UM. In my head, I was like, well,

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Speaker 1: but when you want to score, that reflects the difficulty

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Speaker 1: and all of this stuff. I don't know, So someone

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Speaker 1: needs to write in and tell me what they think

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Speaker 1: and what I and what I should think honestly. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean it just makes sense. Like of thinking about

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Speaker 1: any kind of grading system, you can get a one hundred,

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Speaker 1: like just that feeling of you cannot do any better.

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Speaker 1: But with this open scoring system, it's always possible to.

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Speaker 1: I mean, with some someone like someone Biles coming along,

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Speaker 1: you know she would have nothing but perfect tends, and

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Speaker 1: so in that way it would get kind of boring,

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Speaker 1: I would think. So I would argue the opposite. Um

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Speaker 1: when we look though at the gendering of the sport,

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Speaker 1: because of how much focus is on women's gymnastics, it's

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Speaker 1: one of those rare sports where people care seem to

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Speaker 1: care a lot more about uh, the women's sport, dan

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Speaker 1: the men's sport, even though hello, pommel horse could watch

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Speaker 1: that all day. Um. It's so feminine coated, which I

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Speaker 1: think is part of why it is so popular, because

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Speaker 1: it's it's so athletic and it takes so much strength,

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Speaker 1: but it's softened by all of the glitter and the

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Speaker 1: fancy leotards and the hair, which are really fun, but

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Speaker 1: some argue that they're distracting, and really all the scrunch

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Speaker 1: ees good scrunchy style. And gymnastics isn't the only feminine

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Speaker 1: coated sport like this In the Winter Olympics. Of course,

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Speaker 1: you have figure skating, which I feel like it is

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Speaker 1: sort of the the gendered equivalent. Diving is also arguably

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Speaker 1: feminine because it's all about grace and tiny puddles don't

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Speaker 1: make any ripples. I love watching diving. I know what's

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Speaker 1: it scares me because Greg lugainis no just next, I'm

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Speaker 1: worried about next snapping Yeah well oh when he hit

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Speaker 1: his head? Yeah no, I'm yeah, well just people hurting

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Speaker 1: themselves in general. It makes me very nervous. But what's

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Speaker 1: interesting about that whole feminine coated thing, you know, moving

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Speaker 1: on from from tiny puddles and broken x uh, is

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Speaker 1: the fact that that is most of what's broadcast when

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Speaker 1: it comes to women, right, Like the sports that are

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Speaker 1: more female or feminine coated are more likely to be broadcast, right.

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Speaker 1: But I think that's also like the chicken egg thing.

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Speaker 1: I don't think that we like love gymnastics because it's

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Speaker 1: what we see the most, but rather broadcasters show mostly

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Speaker 1: these more like feminine coated sports. So there was a

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Speaker 1: UNC study of the Beijing Summer Games which analyzed, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, how much like what kinds of sports were

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Speaker 1: broadcast when, and they found that six of women's prime

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Speaker 1: time coverage was exclusively gymnastics, swimming, and diving. And then

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Speaker 1: if you add in beach volleyball and any sport where

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Speaker 1: women compete in leotards or swimsuits, that goes up to so,

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Speaker 1: I mean, there there is I think there is a

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Speaker 1: very gendered aspect to the kinds of Olympic female Olympic

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Speaker 1: sports that are the most considered the most mainstream. But

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Speaker 1: the thing is, gymnastics culture is undeniably fun and girly. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean, let's just look at the history of the haircuts.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what what were we looking at that had

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Speaker 1: the whole history of gymnastics fashion. That's the gym turnet,

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Speaker 1: the gym turnet. Oh my god, it's it's a pretty

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Speaker 1: detailed breakdown of the evolution of gymnastics fashion. And it's

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Speaker 1: fascinating because you go from like the little Merrily Retten

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Speaker 1: bowl cuts, You've got the feathered bangs all the way

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Speaker 1: up to these slick slicked back ponytails with the scrunch eese.

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Speaker 1: I love it. It is unapologetically girly. So um. One

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Speaker 1: thing I didn't know about gymnastics hair be because my

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Speaker 1: you know, personal history with gymnastics only stretches back to

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Speaker 1: really like um. Erica Peterson over on the Gym Turnet

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Speaker 1: starts off the timeline with the sixties bouffont I mean,

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Speaker 1: which I just love imagining gymnasts today with a buffon.

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Speaker 1: Wouldn't that mess you up? Letter if it gets caught

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Speaker 1: on something? I know it makes no sense. But then

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Speaker 1: she mentions how nineteen seventy two was pivotal with pigtails. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: which is like fun to look at, but it's also

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Speaker 1: kind of weird and creepy on the other side, because

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden in nineteen seventy two, with girls

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Speaker 1: starting to wear pigtails, you do see a shift from

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Speaker 1: focusing on like adult lady people gymnasts to the focus

425
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:56,880
Speaker 1: on very small, young looking girls being the gymnasts on TV. Yeah.

426
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's not just them looking young. I

427
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: mean this itself like shifts down in age. And the

428
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,959
Speaker 1: way Peterson describes it was as it was out with

429
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 1: the old debutante up dudes and in with the charming

430
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,959
Speaker 1: youths you uh and And four years later, in nineteen

431
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 1: seventy six, Nadia kom And introduced the pony You got

432
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,879
Speaker 1: that that famous ponytail, and they all had yarn tying

433
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: their hair up, yarn ribbons. That was like a thing

434
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 1: for a while, And I vaguely do remember going to

435
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:33,840
Speaker 1: school with girls who use that fat yarn to tie

436
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 1: their hair up. I had some of that fat yarn.

437
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,240
Speaker 1: Not to brag, I did not have fat yarn, but

438
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:42,240
Speaker 1: it is interesting to see the little leg yarn dangling

439
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 1: out of their hair. I love how the yarn is

440
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: so fascinating. It is it is. It's weird. It's just

441
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: a different type of I mean, like, how is it

442
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: different than a ribbon because it's yarn And that's so like,

443
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 1: that's so like after school craft to me, you know

444
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,040
Speaker 1: what I mean. Listen, if you're living in like a

445
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: Soviet block country, you might not have the finest ribbons

446
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: at your disposal. Really, like, is it that hard to

447
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: get ribbon? I don't know. Someone tell me, yeah, I

448
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: don't think. I don't think life is that any sy

449
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 1: in the Union? Is it really so hard to get ribbon.

450
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 1: I mean I watched the Americans on f X. It

451
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: seems like they carry Russell always has perfect hair um.

452
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 1: But really with comens, ponytail ponies have kind of been

453
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: the name of the game, uh, except with some eighties

454
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: and nineties highlights of course Merry Lee Retten's bowl cut.

455
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 1: And then you have the carry shrug. It's not a

456
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: crew cut necessarily, father Pixie somehow, like in the front

457
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: it's all like poof, well's sort of like a reverse

458
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: mullet because it's short on the bottom but full on

459
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 1: the top. Business in the back, party on the front. Yeah,

460
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 1: well yeah, And then you do have the moment in

461
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: gymnastics history, which I never would have own if it

462
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,800
Speaker 1: weren't for the gym Internet. Uh, the little blip in

463
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 1: hair history where they used their ponytails. They didn't pull

464
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:11,720
Speaker 1: them all the way through, so it was like the

465
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: dangly ponytail bun. And apparently that was popular just a

466
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, like in the last Olympics a

467
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,480
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. But I remember I remember girls

468
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: doing that when I was in middle school. So it

469
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 1: seems like my middle school is finally trickling down to

470
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 1: the international gymnastics stage. You're pretty ahead of the game there.

471
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,320
Speaker 1: What can I say? You know, Maryatta, Georgia just way

472
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: ahead of the curve, definitely setting trends. Um. I mean,

473
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,560
Speaker 1: Mariatta was probably knee deep and scrunches when you were

474
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 1: growing up, that is for sure. Um. And the scrunchy

475
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,959
Speaker 1: game was so strong in the nineties. Now, you know,

476
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 1: an Olympic gymnast would not probably touch a scrunchy with

477
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: a ten foot poll. Um. But you have also the

478
00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 1: phase of visible hair clips everywhere. The litter glitter became

479
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: a thing. That's still kind of a thing. Yeah, yeah,

480
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: well I think the glitter has been phased out a

481
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 1: little bit in favor of a sleek bun and more

482
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:15,320
Speaker 1: of a statement lip, A bright red statement lip. For sure.

483
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 1: I love it looks great. I mean, why shouldn't you

484
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: match your lip color to your leotard? I say that

485
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 1: every day. That's one of my It is weird that

486
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 1: you're wearing plaid lipstick right now and a blad leotard. Yeah,

487
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: my my chambre. Uh lipstick is just making me look dead.

488
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: So maybe I should rethink this trend. If I could

489
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,720
Speaker 1: wear a shambre leotard. You know, I do it pretty

490
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: much anything made out of chambre, and I'll prove it. Um.

491
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 1: But of course there have been also many articles devoted

492
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: to leotard's because there's been such terrific leotard fashion in gymnastics.

493
00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:01,720
Speaker 1: One to put the little collars on them from the

494
00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 1: seventies and a little peter Pan collar. Hello, totally cool

495
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 1: that with your little pigtails and yarn, fat yarn. It's

496
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 1: it's a great look. Um. But leotard technology is a

497
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:22,000
Speaker 1: real thing, that's right, she said. Leotard technology. Um. They

498
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: evolved from essentially polyoster swimsuits to these high tech razzle

499
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:32,959
Speaker 1: dazzle get ups that cost hundreds of dollars um. And

500
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 1: by the six season seventies, leotards have become more form

501
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: fitting for mobility and safety. So it's probably the same

502
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,920
Speaker 1: reason that the bouffant went out like it keeps getting

503
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 1: caught on the balance beam saying you're like gymnastics dress

504
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 1: you're wearing. They can finally take off their their formal

505
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 1: evening gloves. Um, at least for the the uneven bars. Yeah,

506
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: but I didn't realize this leotard's, even starting in the

507
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: sixties and seventies, are typically high cut to make your

508
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 1: legs appear longer. Is that important in gymnastics, Absolutely, because

509
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: it's all about appearance in lines and grace and so

510
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:19,920
Speaker 1: they're short. Yeah, they're very short, and so by making

511
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 1: and their legs are very muscular. So probably having that

512
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 1: higher cut UM leotard makes their legs peer both longer

513
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: and leaner. I'm also tapping into my my ballerina past oh.

514
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,440
Speaker 1: I was just thinking of like every women's magazine every spring.

515
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,880
Speaker 1: It's like, remember, ladies wear a high cup bathing suit

516
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:41,760
Speaker 1: and it's like, well, it's not going to distract from

517
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: my saddle bags anyway. Um. Moving on to people who

518
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: do have leg muscles. UM. Nowadays, Team USA uses leotards

519
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,480
Speaker 1: that are made out of this shiny, high tech, as

520
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:59,680
Speaker 1: Kristen says, razzle dazzle material called mystique. I don't believe

521
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 1: that the reference to the X Men character. Um, but

522
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:08,399
Speaker 1: it's super shiny and it compresses and supports. And if

523
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 1: you are one of those people getting a mystique leotard, uh,

524
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,399
Speaker 1: that's all sorts of shiny. If you are buying one

525
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,759
Speaker 1: that has thousands upon thousands of Sperosky crystals on it.

526
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,240
Speaker 1: It can take more than a year and a half

527
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 1: or up to a year and a half to make

528
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:29,279
Speaker 1: and costs five Yeah, that's crazy. Who's paying for that

529
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:31,760
Speaker 1: or the families having to pay for that? I think, Um,

530
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,360
Speaker 1: when you're at that level, it would be USA Gymnastics,

531
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 1: it's probably paying for it. Wonderful, I would hope. Um.

532
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:42,400
Speaker 1: But also in terms of the leotard's being cut and

533
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:46,080
Speaker 1: made in certain ways to emphasize different parts of the body.

534
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:52,680
Speaker 1: Modern leotards are super shiny to show off musculature, rights,

535
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 1: show how how fit these ladies are, these athletes, and

536
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:02,879
Speaker 1: just that level of my is so is just unbelievable

537
00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 1: to me, especially when I remember like, oh wait, she's sixteen. Wow. Um,

538
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 1: And then finally you have the makeup there's always been.

539
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,840
Speaker 1: I feel like women's gymnastics might be the only Olympic

540
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 1: sport where makeup is required. Is synchronized swimming not on

541
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 1: an Olympic sport. It is it is they were makeup

542
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 1: that's a requirement. Okay, Well then I stand corrected. Perhaps

543
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: it's one of two. Then I guess you gotta get

544
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:36,240
Speaker 1: a lot of good waterproof mascara for that one. Lots

545
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: and lots of waterproof mascara. Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone told

546
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:46,040
Speaker 1: Fashionista that quote, you just kind of have to match

547
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: your eyes shadow to your leotard because that's a big deal.

548
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,399
Speaker 1: You gotta match, big deal. But no nail polish. They're

549
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 1: not allowed to wear nail polish. It's like, Okay, you

550
00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 1: can put glitter in your hair, you can where how

551
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:05,120
Speaker 1: old azzle leotard. You can wear eyeshadow and a statement lip,

552
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,880
Speaker 1: but you can't wear nail polish. That is weird. I

553
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:12,320
Speaker 1: wonder what that's about. I don't understand. I'm sure a

554
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 1: gymnastics expert in the audience can tell us. Maybe the

555
00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:20,080
Speaker 1: gymnastics organizers need to get together with the track and

556
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 1: field organizers and they track and field people can help

557
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: the gymnastics people see the light, because I'm telling you this,

558
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: track and field ladies have some of the best nail

559
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:34,360
Speaker 1: art I've ever seen. True, although flow Joe nails on

560
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 1: on a gymnastics vault would might be a bad situation

561
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: about that. You just got like a crumpled bit of

562
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:47,600
Speaker 1: buffont and evening wear and fake nails on the floor

563
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 1: just everywhere. Um, but the thing is like as fun

564
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:57,480
Speaker 1: as all of these like superficial features of gymnastics and

565
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:02,360
Speaker 1: gymnastics culture are to watch and to talk about, you

566
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 1: do kind of wonder like why why do they need

567
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,760
Speaker 1: to match their eyeshadow to their leotard? Why would they

568
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:13,279
Speaker 1: Why would an athlete of this caliber be judged not

569
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 1: only on that, but also you know, even them just

570
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:20,279
Speaker 1: like having to smile. Yeah, well, I mean it's the

571
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 1: same thing. You know. You see cheerleaders at all levels,

572
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 1: including competitive cheerleaders um on teams, who are expected to

573
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:33,920
Speaker 1: do the same thing, where makeup, straighten their hair, you know,

574
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:37,719
Speaker 1: look perfect and smile, even though they are also like

575
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: nothing but muscle as they do tumbles and all sorts

576
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:43,880
Speaker 1: of whatever cheerleaders do. But I think the difference is

577
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:48,440
Speaker 1: that cheerleaders are there to entertain and cheer people up,

578
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,240
Speaker 1: so of course they would be expected to smile. Well sure,

579
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,880
Speaker 1: I guess I'm thinking of like the competitive cheerleading tournaments

580
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 1: and stuff. That it's the same thing that you could argue, like, Okay,

581
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 1: I get why, like the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders need to

582
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,920
Speaker 1: have perfect hair and makeup and all of that stuff.

583
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:10,000
Speaker 1: But like, why do girls competing on some state level

584
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 1: need to where all of that glitter makeup. I don't know.

585
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:15,440
Speaker 1: I don't know why they're expected to other than it

586
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 1: is such a feminine coated sport and athletic event, and

587
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: maybe there's just different expectations. Yeah, I mean, and I'm

588
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:26,240
Speaker 1: gonna say, like I I don't get why the Dallas

589
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,800
Speaker 1: Cowboys cheeroterers have to have perfect hair and makeup. You know,

590
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: I'd much prefer them, and just like overalls in a

591
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:37,560
Speaker 1: fresh face, just kind of chilling, you know, wearing levies

592
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 1: and a cowboy hat. Yeah, why not writing a literal

593
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 1: cow Sure, there we go, cow leading. It's the new

594
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,920
Speaker 1: it's the new sport for women. Um. And this issue

595
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,520
Speaker 1: of kind of stop telling gymnastic smile was raised in

596
00:38:53,800 --> 00:39:00,600
Speaker 1: a New Republic peace that cited a gymnastics host who

597
00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 1: really hates how these competitors are expected to keep on

598
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:09,359
Speaker 1: smiling even if they're injured, saying, you know, a man

599
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,719
Speaker 1: that's competing or a teenage boy who's competing with an

600
00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:14,399
Speaker 1: injury is a hero. He's being a man and he's

601
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,440
Speaker 1: stepping up. But a female gymnast, you know, she can't

602
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: ever just kind of scowl and walk off. Well that's

603
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 1: why it was so great when Serena Williams not too

604
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 1: long ago, they were like, why aren't you smiling? Just like, really,

605
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to be tired or have a bad

606
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 1: day or whatever. It's yeah, it's the same thing, and

607
00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,560
Speaker 1: it's the same thing about telling any woman to smile. Um.

608
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:36,800
Speaker 1: But I mean you also have to keep in mind

609
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: that there is that kind of seedy underbelly of gymnastics

610
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:45,880
Speaker 1: in terms of allegations of abuse and eating disorders and

611
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:50,000
Speaker 1: other sorts of you know, body and health dysfunction basically,

612
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:53,080
Speaker 1: And so you you imagine if like stuff like that

613
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:55,760
Speaker 1: is potentially going on, and you're still telling people to smile,

614
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 1: So like, I don't maybe we have bigger fish to fry. Yeah,

615
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:03,960
Speaker 1: I mean, um, I can verify that at least among

616
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:10,000
Speaker 1: rhythmic gymnastics, eating disorders that are promoted by coaches are

617
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,280
Speaker 1: a huge problem. Um. And then there's a whole infantilization

618
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 1: aspect where I mean, if you just look at the

619
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: physiques of many top tier gymnasts, they have you know,

620
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:28,440
Speaker 1: small breasts and very petite frames, and there's this idea

621
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 1: that essentially they are trained to kind of delay puberty

622
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:36,120
Speaker 1: as as long as possible because, um, it's apparently harder

623
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:40,360
Speaker 1: to uh tumble and vault when you have sea cups. Um.

624
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 1: But Elsbeth Reeve, who wrote that New Republic Peace, was

625
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:48,359
Speaker 1: talking to NPR saying that the sport was very much

626
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:53,239
Speaker 1: focused on these little girls dancing on a playground. Like

627
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:58,839
Speaker 1: the way that the NBC commentators would, you know, talk

628
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:03,160
Speaker 1: about these imness was very infantilizing, not to mention the

629
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,839
Speaker 1: fact that these athletes are pretty much exclusively referred to

630
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 1: as girls and also princesses. Like princess rhetoric comes up

631
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:15,160
Speaker 1: a lot where a girl getting there and see I'm

632
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: doing it. Now we're an athlete getting there is you know,

633
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: this princess who is living a fairytale life and she's

634
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,200
Speaker 1: wearing this bejuiled leotard and and look at her and

635
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:28,759
Speaker 1: all her loveliness. Yeah. I mean, we've read from a

636
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:31,480
Speaker 1: lot of like sportscaster type people and people in the

637
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 1: sports world about how when you're looking for stuff to

638
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:42,120
Speaker 1: talk about as these athletes are on camera, people want

639
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 1: to hear a story. They're watching it on television at home.

640
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,439
Speaker 1: They want to hear a story and it's almost like

641
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 1: fairytale porn. They're like, oh my god, I want to

642
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:53,520
Speaker 1: hear more about how this young girl overcame so much

643
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,400
Speaker 1: to be here, uh, you know, to show up with

644
00:41:56,440 --> 00:42:00,200
Speaker 1: her fat yarn in her hair and the same aim.

645
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:05,480
Speaker 1: It's true when you're calling, when you're pitting athletes against

646
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,040
Speaker 1: each other, in the case of calling some of them

647
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:13,080
Speaker 1: divas or or princesses. Yeah, I mean you're you're basically

648
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:16,759
Speaker 1: either a diva or a princess a lot of times. Um.

649
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:21,560
Speaker 1: And you'll you'll notice that usually the divas are Russian

650
00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:26,520
Speaker 1: who exhibit quote petulance to criticism. Um. You'll hear the

651
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:32,759
Speaker 1: word temperamental applied to quote unquote difficult gymnasts a lot

652
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 1: of times. Um. In in London you had Russia's Aliyah Mussafina,

653
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 1: who was constantly called a diva, not only by sportscasters

654
00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,399
Speaker 1: but also you know, by people watching. And I think

655
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:50,440
Speaker 1: it's because she had a bad performance and when her

656
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:52,480
Speaker 1: coach came up to her to try to talk to her,

657
00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:56,280
Speaker 1: she brushed him off, and they're like, oh, what a diva?

658
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 1: How dare how dare this young woman not talked to

659
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: that man? In um. But yeah, that's the kind of

660
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:08,320
Speaker 1: thing who was saying that in Russia. It's like, guys,

661
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,480
Speaker 1: we don't operate the same, Like we're gonna show our emotion.

662
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:14,480
Speaker 1: If we're happy, we're happy. If we're upset, we're upset,

663
00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:18,120
Speaker 1: and you're gonna know which is Yeah. I mean, there's

664
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:21,839
Speaker 1: no denying kind of the geopolitics of the American princesses

665
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:26,360
Speaker 1: version versus the Russian divas, because that, you know, Russian

666
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:31,000
Speaker 1: and Eastern European v Us rivalry is still very much

667
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:35,040
Speaker 1: going strong. Um. Because you got to remember that women's

668
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:39,160
Speaker 1: gymnastics was dominated throughout the Cold War era by those

669
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:44,359
Speaker 1: Soviet Block countries like Romania, Hungary and Russia. UM, and

670
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:51,240
Speaker 1: in Mary lou Retten's phenomenal performance only intensified the battle

671
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:57,800
Speaker 1: so called battle these women are apparently like representing not

672
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:05,360
Speaker 1: not only gymnastics, but also nuclear warfare potentially. Oh my god,

673
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:10,560
Speaker 1: I'm just picturing like the costume potential, Like everybody comes

674
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:14,719
Speaker 1: out dressed as uh, like missiles and things weren't there.

675
00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,880
Speaker 1: Weren't there like fashion, they were like pageant beauty pageants

676
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:20,000
Speaker 1: during the Cold War where women would dress and they

677
00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: would like do their hair up like an atomic blast. Yes,

678
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 1: that's probably even more difficult than wearing a buffont to

679
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:32,160
Speaker 1: be honest. Um, But I mean, just like sexism, bald

680
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:36,800
Speaker 1: faced sexism is also pretty common. NBC commentator Al trout

681
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 1: Wig in two thousand eight was commenting on a gymnasts

682
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 1: injury that she sustained leading up to the Olympics, and

683
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:49,040
Speaker 1: instead of just you know, talking about the injury or

684
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:54,080
Speaker 1: saying like, man, that's unfortunate, you know, get better, uh,

685
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:57,080
Speaker 1: trout Wig says it's like having a tear in your

686
00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:00,800
Speaker 1: wedding dress right before you walk down the aisle. To me, honestly,

687
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 1: sounds like a terrible line from Atlantis Morisset's ironic you

688
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,160
Speaker 1: know something, It's not ironic. Yeah, And I gotta say

689
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: that trout Wig is cited in everything that we read

690
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:17,480
Speaker 1: about sexist coverage of women's gymnastics. He just especially loves

691
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,960
Speaker 1: talk not those kinds of one one liners, especially about

692
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 1: the diva stuff, like he seems pretty big on dismissing

693
00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:27,200
Speaker 1: female athletes a divas. But the good news amid all

694
00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:30,359
Speaker 1: of the sex with sports coverage is the fact that

695
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,360
Speaker 1: the gym tournet exists, and we're going to talk about

696
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:40,960
Speaker 1: that when we come right back from a quick break, Caroline.

697
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:43,920
Speaker 1: To do lists can seem out of control sometime. I

698
00:45:43,960 --> 00:45:46,680
Speaker 1: know at least mine do pretty much every day because

699
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:50,319
Speaker 1: there's so much to do but so little time. But

700
00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: there's one thing that we can all check off our

701
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:56,200
Speaker 1: to do list, which is going to the post office

702
00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,839
Speaker 1: thanks to stamps dot Com. Because with stamps dot com

703
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:02,799
Speaker 1: can buy in print official US postage right from your

704
00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:05,880
Speaker 1: own computer and printer. They'll send you a digital scale

705
00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 1: and automatically calculate the exact postage you need for any

706
00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:13,080
Speaker 1: letter or package and any class of mail. And right

707
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,120
Speaker 1: now you can sign up for stamps dot Com and

708
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:17,720
Speaker 1: use our promo code stuff to get a special offer.

709
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,280
Speaker 1: It's a four week trial plus one dollar bonus software

710
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:24,520
Speaker 1: that includes postage and a digital scale. So don't wait.

711
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,240
Speaker 1: Go to stamps dot com before you do anything else.

712
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 1: Click on the microphone at the top of the homepage

713
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:33,600
Speaker 1: and type in stuff that's stamps dot Com. Enter stuff

714
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:41,160
Speaker 1: and now back to the show. So the gym Internet,

715
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 1: as I alluded to earlier in the podcast, is the

716
00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:50,360
Speaker 1: network of online hardcore gymnastics fans who are basically giving

717
00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:54,000
Speaker 1: the sport the legitimate coverage that they wish it would

718
00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:57,160
Speaker 1: receive year round, not just when you know, every four

719
00:46:57,239 --> 00:47:02,040
Speaker 1: years when the Summer Olympics comes around, and the community

720
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:07,080
Speaker 1: of people that constitutes the Gymternet has become a go

721
00:47:07,239 --> 00:47:09,680
Speaker 1: to source for a lot of people. They are the

722
00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:14,280
Speaker 1: ones getting the stories and interviews with men and women

723
00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: in the gymnastics scene that mainstream sports news just isn't,

724
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 1: maybe because they don't have time or space to dedicate

725
00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:25,080
Speaker 1: to it, but maybe also because not enough eyeballs are

726
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 1: getting on the gymnastics content well. And I have a

727
00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:31,760
Speaker 1: feeling too that there's some of that sexist marginalization happening

728
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:33,400
Speaker 1: where it's like, oh, you know, we we like to

729
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,880
Speaker 1: see it every four years, so's those cute divas and

730
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:40,359
Speaker 1: princesses coming out and flipping around. Um, but the Gymternet

731
00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:43,880
Speaker 1: stars have really become, you know, to put it in

732
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:48,439
Speaker 1: Internet terms, they become the influencers of the sport. And

733
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:52,040
Speaker 1: I love that started with Tumbler. God, it's so millennial.

734
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:56,160
Speaker 1: UM started around two thousand eight on Tumbler in order

735
00:47:56,239 --> 00:48:02,520
Speaker 1: to as Elsbethree told and pr that it started in

736
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:06,000
Speaker 1: order to provide the real necessary pushback that's not about

737
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 1: the sparkles and the girlishness. It's about the crazy work workouts,

738
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:14,239
Speaker 1: the incredible athletics, the injuries and coming back from injuries.

739
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 1: And there's even a podcast, Yeah You've Got Jim cast I,

740
00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:23,280
Speaker 1: which is hosted by a law librarian named Jessica oh Byrne.

741
00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:28,640
Speaker 1: And uh, what's pretty notable is that Mikaela Moroney, she

742
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:34,120
Speaker 1: of the unimpressed face, after the Olympics, announced her retirement

743
00:48:34,239 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 1: on that podcast. She did not go talk to you know,

744
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:40,520
Speaker 1: ESPN or USA today. She went on a podcast. Yeah,

745
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:42,440
Speaker 1: I mean, and I want to say that Simone Biles

746
00:48:42,440 --> 00:48:44,440
Speaker 1: has been on gym cast I. Pretty much all of

747
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:48,399
Speaker 1: the big names in the sport have been on gym

748
00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,359
Speaker 1: Castic and Jessico barn I hope that you're listening right now,

749
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 1: and I also hope that I'm not mispronouncing your last

750
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:58,000
Speaker 1: name because this could be some terrific podcast synchronicity. Um.

751
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:01,560
Speaker 1: But there's also, of course the gym Turnet blog, which

752
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:04,520
Speaker 1: was started by Lauren Hopkins Um who was just a

753
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,719
Speaker 1: gymnastics fan who was working in marketing at a New

754
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:09,440
Speaker 1: York law firm and was like, you know what, I'm

755
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:12,360
Speaker 1: just gonna I'm gonna start this thing. And now she

756
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:16,959
Speaker 1: is going to be a gymnastics researcher for NBC in Rio.

757
00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,880
Speaker 1: And seriously, if you have any interest in gymnastics, you

758
00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 1: gotta check out the gym turnet. But isn't that like

759
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:29,000
Speaker 1: not to project my like young Caroline dreams onto anyone else?

760
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:32,760
Speaker 1: But isn't that the freaking dream to like be hosting

761
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:36,160
Speaker 1: a passion project blog that like you're so obsessed with

762
00:49:36,239 --> 00:49:38,920
Speaker 1: that you can't stop doing, you can't stop researching and

763
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:43,520
Speaker 1: writing for. And then freaking NBC is like, hey, can

764
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 1: you come like actually work for us, to do all

765
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:48,480
Speaker 1: of the stuff that you're doing for yourself. Yeah, I

766
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:50,960
Speaker 1: mean like she's a go to source now, she and

767
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:54,800
Speaker 1: oh Bern are go to sources for you know, press

768
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 1: coverage of gymnastics. Good for them, that's amazing. They know

769
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:00,520
Speaker 1: their stuff, they do know their stuff, and both are

770
00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:05,320
Speaker 1: you know, just so so well produced. I mean it's not, um,

771
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:08,280
Speaker 1: this is an amateur level. I mean it's technically amateur,

772
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:13,319
Speaker 1: but it's professionally you know, it's professional level, terrific, And

773
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:15,960
Speaker 1: both of them are just so well done. It makes

774
00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:19,920
Speaker 1: sense that they're getting national attention. For what started out

775
00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 1: as passion projects. It is the millennial dream come true.

776
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:27,520
Speaker 1: It all starts with Tumbler. Well, speaking of Tumbler, I

777
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:31,040
Speaker 1: feel like that's that's the transition here. UM. One thing

778
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:36,400
Speaker 1: that we wanted to address is the racial coding of gymnastics.

779
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:39,160
Speaker 1: And I say speaking of Tumbler, because of course Tumbler

780
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:43,200
Speaker 1: is you know, all about social justice and diversity and

781
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:48,320
Speaker 1: maintaining awareness of these kinds of things. And the question

782
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:54,280
Speaker 1: is whether this Jim Turnet era sport now is becoming

783
00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 1: less racially coated as a white sport. Yeah. I mean,

784
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:03,960
Speaker 1: you do have the fact that as of two thousand seven,

785
00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:10,360
Speaker 1: only about seven percent of the American gymnastics population is black,

786
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:14,200
Speaker 1: and that is not that doesn't equate to the percentage

787
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: of African Americans in the overall population. Yeah, so basically

788
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:22,880
Speaker 1: they're underrepresented. UM. Dvora Myers, who wrote a book about

789
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:26,680
Speaker 1: the Perfect ten System UM, also was writing about this issue,

790
00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:33,319
Speaker 1: specifically fusion, and she attributes that seven percent to the

791
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:38,279
Speaker 1: fact that gymnastics is often very suburban, very expensive, and

792
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:41,719
Speaker 1: very time consuming. I mean, I know, for me growing up,

793
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:45,840
Speaker 1: if I had wanted to join a gymnastics gym, UM

794
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:48,319
Speaker 1: which pulenty of them in town. But it would have

795
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:51,600
Speaker 1: been prohibitively expensive for me to do it. And it's

796
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:55,400
Speaker 1: a bummer because back in the day, public schools used

797
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:58,920
Speaker 1: to offer affordable gymnastics y m c a s. You know,

798
00:51:58,960 --> 00:52:02,040
Speaker 1: there were ways that at anyone, especially like living in

799
00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:05,560
Speaker 1: more urban areas, could possibly get involved with it. But

800
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:10,240
Speaker 1: not anymore, definitely not anymore. Yeah, to the point where,

801
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:15,000
Speaker 1: at just sixteen years old, gymnastic Gabby Douglas had to

802
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:19,040
Speaker 1: move all the way to Iowa without her family to

803
00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:21,759
Speaker 1: live with a host family in order to work with

804
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:27,080
Speaker 1: her coach. Yeah. Um, that profile Time magazine profile of

805
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:31,359
Speaker 1: Gabby Douglas right after the London Olympics when she of

806
00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:36,040
Speaker 1: course won the gold was I mean just stunning, Like

807
00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 1: thinking about her sheer determination and I know, determination and

808
00:52:39,719 --> 00:52:42,960
Speaker 1: confidence and bravery. There was like three adjectives that always

809
00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:46,400
Speaker 1: get thrown out whenever we're talking about Olympic athletes. But

810
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:50,600
Speaker 1: just the length literally the length that she and many

811
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:53,480
Speaker 1: others I'm sure, but that she went to to pursue

812
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:57,040
Speaker 1: this specific coach whose name is escaping me, that she

813
00:52:57,200 --> 00:53:00,319
Speaker 1: saw on TV during the Olympics and she was like,

814
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:04,120
Speaker 1: that's the coach, and that coach lives in Iowa. I've

815
00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:06,879
Speaker 1: got to move to Iowa, you know, and and trying

816
00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:10,440
Speaker 1: to figure that out, and also paired with such an

817
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:15,800
Speaker 1: intensive training schedule. There was one, um, one instance apparently

818
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,200
Speaker 1: when she kind of revolted, was like, I'm not going

819
00:53:18,239 --> 00:53:23,320
Speaker 1: to practice because it's Christmas. But I mean, that's the

820
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:26,799
Speaker 1: level of dedication that it takes in order to make

821
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:30,160
Speaker 1: it this far. Yeah. And and something that's limiting to

822
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:33,799
Speaker 1: a lot of people, not just on the basis of ethnicity,

823
00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 1: but something that's limiting to a lot of people is

824
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:42,640
Speaker 1: the degree of physical expectation placed on gymnasts, much like ballet.

825
00:53:42,760 --> 00:53:46,399
Speaker 1: You know, you are expected to be live and thin,

826
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:49,759
Speaker 1: You're expected to have those high leg lines helped out

827
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:53,799
Speaker 1: by your shiny leotard um. But also kind of the

828
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,319
Speaker 1: look in general. That is where the ethnic component comes in,

829
00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:00,879
Speaker 1: because the look, especially be has so many of those

830
00:54:00,880 --> 00:54:03,600
Speaker 1: early successful gymnasts were coming out of Eastern Europe. The

831
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:07,359
Speaker 1: look has traditionally been white and delicate, and it's so

832
00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:10,080
Speaker 1: much like ballet, and you know, which is part of

833
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:17,480
Speaker 1: why Misty Copeland's success has been so outstanding. Um, since

834
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:21,280
Speaker 1: she doesn't have that quote unquote perfect ballet body type,

835
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,640
Speaker 1: which is very similar um to the quote unquote perfect

836
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:27,319
Speaker 1: gymnast body type. Um. But it's all I mean, it

837
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:30,840
Speaker 1: has to do with how the sport came out of Russia,

838
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:34,000
Speaker 1: which is also where you know a lot of early

839
00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 1: ballet was happening. And so I mean the history of it,

840
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:41,960
Speaker 1: the earliest history was very white. But the problem is

841
00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 1: now you have some people like I forget what year

842
00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:48,960
Speaker 1: it was, but there were there was a member, there

843
00:54:49,000 --> 00:54:52,759
Speaker 1: was an Italian gymnast and coach who yeah, who I

844
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:58,000
Speaker 1: think talking about Simone Biles saying, um that essentially she

845
00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:02,279
Speaker 1: was getting like affirmative action like points yeah, and and

846
00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:05,160
Speaker 1: the coach just because the the actual athletes said something

847
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:07,680
Speaker 1: like should I paint my skin black in order to win?

848
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:12,120
Speaker 1: And then the coach comes out and you're like, okay,

849
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:14,640
Speaker 1: all right, this person clearly is an idiot. Here comes

850
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:16,719
Speaker 1: the coach. Let's see what the coach has to say.

851
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:18,880
Speaker 1: This person will make it better. Oh my god, the

852
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:23,560
Speaker 1: coach made it a thousand times worse with his commentary. Um.

853
00:55:23,840 --> 00:55:27,680
Speaker 1: And a lot of it tied into ideas about that

854
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:33,160
Speaker 1: have persisted over centuries. Mind you of athleticism and power

855
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:39,680
Speaker 1: physical power among black people in general versus like elegance

856
00:55:39,719 --> 00:55:43,480
Speaker 1: and daintiness and purity of of white people. And that's

857
00:55:44,320 --> 00:55:48,160
Speaker 1: definitely a really icky, awful, ugly stereotype that you see

858
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:51,719
Speaker 1: persisting in sports, particularly when you bring people from so

859
00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:56,239
Speaker 1: many countries together, and so it's reflected a lot of

860
00:55:56,239 --> 00:55:59,239
Speaker 1: times in sports commentary, which is so you're not only

861
00:55:59,239 --> 00:56:04,360
Speaker 1: hearing diva and princess being tossed aroun, you're hearing powerful

862
00:56:04,840 --> 00:56:07,520
Speaker 1: being used for someone like a Simon Biles, which not

863
00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:12,439
Speaker 1: that she isn't uh and whereas things like elegant are

864
00:56:12,719 --> 00:56:17,480
Speaker 1: typically reserved for white athletes. Yeah, I am so excited

865
00:56:17,520 --> 00:56:21,680
Speaker 1: to watch the women's gymnastics in Rio this year just

866
00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:26,920
Speaker 1: to listen for any kind of gender and like ethnic

867
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:30,160
Speaker 1: coded language, to see just how prominent it is and

868
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:33,799
Speaker 1: see maybe we've moved past it some um and and

869
00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:38,480
Speaker 1: the thing about that, the undertone, the subtext, the subtweet

870
00:56:38,600 --> 00:56:45,080
Speaker 1: of the powerful description are allegations that Simone Biles and

871
00:56:45,160 --> 00:56:50,879
Speaker 1: these like very like literally strong gymnasts are stripping gymnastics

872
00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:55,040
Speaker 1: of its original artistry. But you hear that usually from

873
00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:59,040
Speaker 1: like Russian and European competitors, where it's like by artistry.

874
00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:03,080
Speaker 1: Do you mean white people like white, thin, long white girls,

875
00:57:03,160 --> 00:57:06,280
Speaker 1: which I'm kind of a thin, long white girl, like

876
00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:09,279
Speaker 1: no shade. But it's like, what do you really mean

877
00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:11,799
Speaker 1: by that? Yeah, Kristen is always lying down, so you

878
00:57:11,840 --> 00:57:14,160
Speaker 1: can never really describe her as tall. You just have

879
00:57:14,239 --> 00:57:17,480
Speaker 1: to say that she was long, just long. And also

880
00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:21,760
Speaker 1: we got to talk about what happened at the London

881
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:26,760
Speaker 1: Games when people complained across the internet that Gabby douglas

882
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:31,240
Speaker 1: hair was not neat enough. It's like, hold the phone,

883
00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:37,240
Speaker 1: are we really talking about a gymnast of colors hair situation?

884
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,720
Speaker 1: She is winning the gold and you were complaining about

885
00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:47,200
Speaker 1: her hair. Hello, like racist past and present? Do you

886
00:57:47,240 --> 00:57:50,080
Speaker 1: remember what the what the problem was with it? They

887
00:57:50,120 --> 00:57:55,080
Speaker 1: just said it wasn't neat enough. That's that's a case

888
00:57:55,120 --> 00:57:58,400
Speaker 1: of people not examining their own racial bias. Yeah, I

889
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 1: mean because black hair has never attracted any kind of

890
00:58:00,560 --> 00:58:03,920
Speaker 1: like unwanted or racist. Oh wait wait wait it always

891
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:08,200
Speaker 1: it always does. Um but um I did notice that

892
00:58:08,400 --> 00:58:11,440
Speaker 1: just kind of going back and looking at photos from

893
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 1: past Olympics. Dominique Dawes, who was a member of the

894
00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:19,640
Speaker 1: Magnificent Seven and the first African American gymnast to win

895
00:58:19,680 --> 00:58:23,080
Speaker 1: a gold medal. Um. She wore her hair short and

896
00:58:23,200 --> 00:58:26,040
Speaker 1: natural at the two thousand Games and I'm so glad

897
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:29,680
Speaker 1: that Twitter did not exist then because I can only

898
00:58:29,720 --> 00:58:33,120
Speaker 1: imagine the feedback she might have gotten. Yeah, And that's

899
00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:35,360
Speaker 1: that's like the two sided thing about that, right is

900
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:38,240
Speaker 1: like everybody's like, oh man, if only Twitter had existed

901
00:58:38,280 --> 00:58:40,280
Speaker 1: back then, and then Dominique Dawes could be the same

902
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:42,360
Speaker 1: level of heroin and you know the way that we

903
00:58:42,400 --> 00:58:45,680
Speaker 1: talk about a Gabby Douglas or Simon Biles. But on

904
00:58:45,720 --> 00:58:50,480
Speaker 1: the other hand, it's like, but Twitter can be so awful, Yeah,

905
00:58:50,640 --> 00:58:55,160
Speaker 1: so awful too well in that visibility factor, absolutely, you know,

906
00:58:55,200 --> 00:59:01,000
Speaker 1: contributes to the underrepresentation of jim of color in the

907
00:59:01,080 --> 00:59:03,880
Speaker 1: sport because, for instance, you know, in eight four Mary

908
00:59:03,960 --> 00:59:07,120
Speaker 1: lou Written inspired a ton of white girls to start

909
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:12,000
Speaker 1: taking gymnastics, um. But it's not until when you have

910
00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:17,120
Speaker 1: Gabby Douglas is historic gold in London, establishing her as

911
00:59:17,160 --> 00:59:21,040
Speaker 1: a role model. And now with a woman like Simone Biles,

912
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:26,440
Speaker 1: you know, I I've seen her videos shared by all

913
00:59:26,480 --> 00:59:30,160
Speaker 1: types of people on social media who are astounded at

914
00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:34,080
Speaker 1: her abilities because she she does she totally defies physics. Um,

915
00:59:34,160 --> 00:59:36,160
Speaker 1: and so you have to wonder, like I wonder what

916
00:59:36,320 --> 00:59:39,960
Speaker 1: the uh Simone Biles effect will be? Yeah, I mean

917
00:59:40,000 --> 00:59:42,920
Speaker 1: Mary lou Retton has already called her the most talented

918
00:59:42,960 --> 00:59:47,000
Speaker 1: gymnasts she's seen in her life. Um. She's the first

919
00:59:47,080 --> 00:59:51,439
Speaker 1: female gymnast to win three straight World Championships. And if

920
00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:54,520
Speaker 1: she wins three, I don't know if it's gold medals

921
00:59:54,520 --> 00:59:57,080
Speaker 1: are just medals in general. At rio, she will be

922
00:59:57,120 --> 01:00:01,920
Speaker 1: the most decorated American gymnast ever. And she already has

923
01:00:01,920 --> 01:00:05,920
Speaker 1: a gymnastics move named after her, the Biles, which is

924
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:09,680
Speaker 1: a double layout half out. If you know what that is,

925
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:13,560
Speaker 1: it's very impressive. Um. And she they viewed it at

926
01:00:13,560 --> 01:00:17,840
Speaker 1: the two thousand thirteen World Championships. And her backstory makes

927
01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:21,600
Speaker 1: her success all the more incredible. Yeah, no kidding. At

928
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:25,240
Speaker 1: just two years old, she and her three siblings had

929
01:00:25,280 --> 01:00:27,800
Speaker 1: to be removed from their home because their mother was

930
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:31,840
Speaker 1: struggling with addiction, and so uh their grandfather Ron and

931
01:00:31,880 --> 01:00:34,640
Speaker 1: his wife Nellie end up adopting the kids in two

932
01:00:34,640 --> 01:00:39,360
Speaker 1: thousand three, and at age six, Simone starts taking classes

933
01:00:39,720 --> 01:00:43,800
Speaker 1: and she's basically like a little gymnastics prodigy. She progresses

934
01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:49,400
Speaker 1: super fast and she has a terrible meat. But this

935
01:00:49,520 --> 01:00:53,160
Speaker 1: proves to be an actually great turning point for Yeah.

936
01:00:53,200 --> 01:00:56,840
Speaker 1: So after that, she struggles up with a sports psychologist

937
01:00:57,360 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 1: and USA national team coordinator, marth A Carole Um, who

938
01:01:01,880 --> 01:01:05,720
Speaker 1: is part of the Gymnastics Dream Team coaching wise. Um

939
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:08,840
Speaker 1: she's the wife of Bella Coroli, who was the previous

940
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:13,520
Speaker 1: team coordinator. Um And I don't know what that sports

941
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:18,280
Speaker 1: psychologists and Martha Crowle were able to inspire in her,

942
01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:22,600
Speaker 1: but just three weeks later she won the US Championship

943
01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 1: and two months later the world title, and since then

944
01:01:26,040 --> 01:01:30,640
Speaker 1: she has not lost a meat. I don't know. Like

945
01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:36,560
Speaker 1: people therapist, psychologists and professionals like a Martha Caroli, they

946
01:01:36,560 --> 01:01:38,280
Speaker 1: can help you get out of your head like that

947
01:01:38,400 --> 01:01:40,520
Speaker 1: was something that Gabby Douglas said that she struggled a

948
01:01:40,520 --> 01:01:42,880
Speaker 1: lot with was just getting too much in her own head.

949
01:01:43,240 --> 01:01:45,880
Speaker 1: And when you're thinking too much with your brain parts,

950
01:01:45,960 --> 01:01:48,240
Speaker 1: you can't be as effective with all your body parts

951
01:01:48,280 --> 01:01:52,560
Speaker 1: moving around. And so there's a lot of discussion about

952
01:01:52,560 --> 01:01:57,920
Speaker 1: how important it is to have that confidence and faith

953
01:01:57,960 --> 01:02:01,240
Speaker 1: in yourself that all of the sports commentators do dismiss

954
01:02:01,280 --> 01:02:03,919
Speaker 1: as diva behavior. You've got to think that you're the best.

955
01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:07,680
Speaker 1: You can't be walking around making BFFs all over the floor.

956
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:10,920
Speaker 1: We're not here to make friends. This is gymnastics. We

957
01:02:11,200 --> 01:02:15,520
Speaker 1: kick butt. And one similarity though, between that Time magazine

958
01:02:15,520 --> 01:02:18,440
Speaker 1: profile of Gabby Douglas from a few years back and

959
01:02:18,960 --> 01:02:24,120
Speaker 1: a New Yorker profile on Simone Biles is um always

960
01:02:24,120 --> 01:02:29,720
Speaker 1: circling around to the the athletes not thinking they're the best,

961
01:02:29,800 --> 01:02:31,920
Speaker 1: and that was really a major focus of the Gabby

962
01:02:31,960 --> 01:02:35,960
Speaker 1: Douglas piece. Unlike Simone Biles Um, I mean time really

963
01:02:36,080 --> 01:02:38,040
Speaker 1: seem to want to like hammer home, like she's so

964
01:02:38,040 --> 01:02:40,080
Speaker 1: good but she doesn't think she is. She's so insecure.

965
01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:43,520
Speaker 1: She's so great, but she's so insecure, Which I was like,

966
01:02:43,640 --> 01:02:47,440
Speaker 1: why that's like that one direction song which I also hate,

967
01:02:47,960 --> 01:02:52,040
Speaker 1: Oh You're beautiful because you don't know you're beautiful? Um. Well,

968
01:02:52,080 --> 01:02:54,560
Speaker 1: And I wonder though, if that's that is part of

969
01:02:54,600 --> 01:02:57,720
Speaker 1: the gendered coding of it um, And it's something we're

970
01:02:57,720 --> 01:03:00,640
Speaker 1: gonna talk about in our next episode on Women's One Boxing,

971
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:05,920
Speaker 1: where I wonder how much female athletes at the top

972
01:03:05,960 --> 01:03:08,160
Speaker 1: of their game unless you're like a Rhonda Rousey, where

973
01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:10,600
Speaker 1: it kind of comes with the territory of M M

974
01:03:10,640 --> 01:03:15,080
Speaker 1: A and UFC, whether we allow them to know that

975
01:03:15,120 --> 01:03:18,640
Speaker 1: they're the best, because the New Yorker profile ends with

976
01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:21,600
Speaker 1: Simone Biles saying, people say I'm the best, but I

977
01:03:21,600 --> 01:03:23,560
Speaker 1: still don't think that. I guess if I go to

978
01:03:23,600 --> 01:03:27,840
Speaker 1: the Olympics and do well, maybe I'll believe it. And

979
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:31,160
Speaker 1: you're the best in the world already. Why why don't

980
01:03:31,160 --> 01:03:33,560
Speaker 1: you believe it? And I just wonder if it's like

981
01:03:33,560 --> 01:03:36,320
Speaker 1: a little bit of media cherry picking, or if it's

982
01:03:36,440 --> 01:03:41,480
Speaker 1: uh like some coaching psychology where you keep them insecure

983
01:03:41,680 --> 01:03:45,200
Speaker 1: and how good they really are, or if you know

984
01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:51,200
Speaker 1: all gymnasts have imposter syndrome. I'd read that book. I

985
01:03:51,240 --> 01:03:55,040
Speaker 1: want to read that study not a perfect tin impostor

986
01:03:55,160 --> 01:04:02,120
Speaker 1: syndrome at the gymnastics gym a gymnastics gymnasium. But I mean,

987
01:04:02,160 --> 01:04:03,960
Speaker 1: do you think do you think that's the case? What

988
01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:06,960
Speaker 1: do you think is going on with that? I I

989
01:04:07,000 --> 01:04:10,920
Speaker 1: have no idea. I mean, she could be being modest,

990
01:04:11,720 --> 01:04:13,360
Speaker 1: or it could I mean it could be that like

991
01:04:13,680 --> 01:04:16,520
Speaker 1: this skill literally comes so easy to her that it

992
01:04:16,680 --> 01:04:20,440
Speaker 1: she can't see through to realize just how incredible she is.

993
01:04:20,560 --> 01:04:24,200
Speaker 1: I don't know. Also, I forget how young they are

994
01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:30,160
Speaker 1: too yeah, um, and our society doesn't exactly you know,

995
01:04:30,200 --> 01:04:34,120
Speaker 1: like build teen girls up to believe they're the best

996
01:04:34,280 --> 01:04:37,840
Speaker 1: and the strongest. Kidding, So if anyone has any insight

997
01:04:37,920 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 1: on that, please let us know. And gymnastics fans, Olympic

998
01:04:42,840 --> 01:04:47,640
Speaker 1: gymnastics fans, hope that you enjoyed this look at this

999
01:04:47,800 --> 01:04:50,400
Speaker 1: segment of the sport because it was really fun to

1000
01:04:50,480 --> 01:04:56,400
Speaker 1: dive in and um revisit the Magnificent seven, learn about

1001
01:04:56,480 --> 01:05:02,200
Speaker 1: those high tech leotards all the crystals, and my um

1002
01:05:02,240 --> 01:05:06,640
Speaker 1: my fandom for Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas and the

1003
01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:11,040
Speaker 1: rest of the USA teams only reinforced with this podcast.

1004
01:05:12,200 --> 01:05:14,320
Speaker 1: So now, listeners, we want to hear from you. Mom

1005
01:05:14,400 --> 01:05:17,040
Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com is our email address.

1006
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:20,120
Speaker 1: You can also tweet us at mom Stuff podcast or

1007
01:05:20,200 --> 01:05:22,880
Speaker 1: messages on Facebook, and we've got a couple of messages

1008
01:05:22,920 --> 01:05:28,959
Speaker 1: to share with you right now. I'll have a letter

1009
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:33,000
Speaker 1: here from Amy in response to our librarian set of episodes.

1010
01:05:33,240 --> 01:05:35,919
Speaker 1: She says, first, I want to say I love, love,

1011
01:05:36,000 --> 01:05:38,760
Speaker 1: love your podcast. I'm a fairly new listener who was

1012
01:05:38,800 --> 01:05:41,640
Speaker 1: pointed to your podcast by my digital pinpal a few

1013
01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:44,720
Speaker 1: months ago, and I'm hooked I'm already an avid listener

1014
01:05:44,760 --> 01:05:46,640
Speaker 1: of how stuff works, and I can't believe I never

1015
01:05:46,680 --> 01:05:48,840
Speaker 1: branched out to the lady side of the stuff family

1016
01:05:48,960 --> 01:05:52,480
Speaker 1: till now. I've recently listened to your Librarian episodes, and

1017
01:05:52,520 --> 01:05:54,960
Speaker 1: I'm left feeling like I missed my true calling to

1018
01:05:55,040 --> 01:05:58,360
Speaker 1: be a librarian talk about a dream job in part two.

1019
01:05:58,440 --> 01:06:01,280
Speaker 1: I believe you mentioned biblio therapy and that neither of

1020
01:06:01,320 --> 01:06:03,960
Speaker 1: you had heard about it. The amazing folks at the

1021
01:06:04,000 --> 01:06:06,160
Speaker 1: School of Life have actually been offering this for a

1022
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:09,600
Speaker 1: few years now. For a mere one hundred pounds, you

1023
01:06:09,640 --> 01:06:12,680
Speaker 1: receive a one on one bibliotherapy session in which you

1024
01:06:12,720 --> 01:06:17,240
Speaker 1: are given a stack of literature Taylor picked for you

1025
01:06:17,440 --> 01:06:22,439
Speaker 1: and your situation that it sounds incredible amy, thank you.

1026
01:06:23,000 --> 01:06:24,560
Speaker 1: She goes on to say, for a more d i

1027
01:06:24,720 --> 01:06:27,800
Speaker 1: y approach. The creators of the School of Life Bibliotherapy

1028
01:06:27,840 --> 01:06:31,280
Speaker 1: sessions also put together a book called a Novel Cure

1029
01:06:31,400 --> 01:06:34,800
Speaker 1: and a to z of Literary Remedies that reads as

1030
01:06:34,800 --> 01:06:38,560
Speaker 1: a dictionary with literary suggestions for everything that ails you,

1031
01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:42,680
Speaker 1: and the site is the novel Cure dot Com. The

1032
01:06:42,720 --> 01:06:46,880
Speaker 1: book's accompanying website offers free suggestions to chosen folks who

1033
01:06:46,920 --> 01:06:49,240
Speaker 1: write in and also have a list of ailments with

1034
01:06:49,280 --> 01:06:53,200
Speaker 1: accompanying cures to peruse online. I find it a fascinating

1035
01:06:53,240 --> 01:06:56,680
Speaker 1: resource when choosing books as gifts. Keep up the amazing

1036
01:06:56,720 --> 01:07:00,320
Speaker 1: work and thanks for all of this backstory. Amy want

1037
01:07:00,360 --> 01:07:03,440
Speaker 1: that book right now. Um, I've got a letter here

1038
01:07:03,440 --> 01:07:07,800
Speaker 1: from Marine also about our librarians to parter Marine Rights.

1039
01:07:07,920 --> 01:07:10,160
Speaker 1: I wanted to share my personal experience with the Library

1040
01:07:10,160 --> 01:07:13,960
Speaker 1: school program aimed at diversifying the profession. I got my

1041
01:07:14,040 --> 01:07:16,600
Speaker 1: Masters of the University of Arizona in two thousand and

1042
01:07:16,680 --> 01:07:19,360
Speaker 1: six as part of a special program within the Library

1043
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:22,760
Speaker 1: School called Knowledge River aimed at getting Latinos and Native

1044
01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:27,560
Speaker 1: Americans into the profession. Besides financial aid, internship experience, and

1045
01:07:27,600 --> 01:07:31,800
Speaker 1: specialized classes that focus on service to marginalized populations. It

1046
01:07:31,880 --> 01:07:33,720
Speaker 1: was a cohort of people who all got to know

1047
01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:36,280
Speaker 1: each other very well as we went through the program.

1048
01:07:36,320 --> 01:07:38,080
Speaker 1: Ten years later, I'm still in touch with some of

1049
01:07:38,080 --> 01:07:41,000
Speaker 1: the people I met. I was in the third cohort,

1050
01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:44,000
Speaker 1: and Knowledge River will start it's fifteenth class this August.

1051
01:07:44,040 --> 01:07:47,480
Speaker 1: Still going strong. Graduates work all over the country and

1052
01:07:47,560 --> 01:07:50,840
Speaker 1: all kinds of libraries. In the mid sized public library

1053
01:07:50,840 --> 01:07:53,440
Speaker 1: branch where I work three out of the four librarians

1054
01:07:53,480 --> 01:07:57,280
Speaker 1: on staff our Knowledge River graduates and to speak Spanish.

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Speaker 1: Every so often I think of that and go wow.

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Speaker 1: We have a high population of Spanish speakers and many

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01:08:02,560 --> 01:08:05,440
Speaker 1: Native American patrons as well, so it's the right thing

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01:08:05,480 --> 01:08:09,040
Speaker 1: for our community. Librarianship is still a very white profession.

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Speaker 1: You just have to wander the exhibit hall at the

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01:08:11,200 --> 01:08:13,960
Speaker 1: a l A Annual conference to see that. But with

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Speaker 1: Carla Hayden getting confirmed as the Librarian of Congress, the

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Speaker 1: first woman, the first African American, and the first librarian

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Speaker 1: with a background in public libraries in that position, I

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Speaker 1: feel that programs like KR are going to become more

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01:08:27,880 --> 01:08:32,320
Speaker 1: important than ever. Oh well, thank you so much for

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01:08:32,840 --> 01:08:35,439
Speaker 1: letting us know about Knowledge River Marine UM. It sounds

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01:08:35,439 --> 01:08:39,479
Speaker 1: like a fantastic program. And yes, shout out to our

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01:08:39,520 --> 01:08:43,240
Speaker 1: newest Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. And if you've got

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01:08:43,240 --> 01:08:45,759
Speaker 1: shoutouts to send to us, mom stuff at how stuff

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01:08:45,800 --> 01:08:48,640
Speaker 1: works dot com is where you can send them and

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01:08:48,680 --> 01:08:50,599
Speaker 1: for links to all of our social media as well

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01:08:50,640 --> 01:08:53,479
Speaker 1: as all of our blogs, videos and podcasts with our

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01:08:53,560 --> 01:08:58,000
Speaker 1: sources so you can learn more about gymnastics. Head on

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01:08:58,040 --> 01:09:05,519
Speaker 1: over to stuff Mom Never told you dot com For

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01:09:05,680 --> 01:09:08,000
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it

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Speaker 1: How stuff Works dot com