“UCLA football.” -A tweet from Miss Val that definitely wasn’t meant to be a DM, no.
Comp news
What about the dudes? They had their day. The U.S. men’s world team selection camp happened (relive it here), and the team was named. Just don’t fault them for having dreams.
What about the rest of the world? A few things: The Szombathely Challenge Cup happened, we have new Swiss and Norwegian champs, and Georgia-Rose Brown won the Australian Classic.
Anything else? Yup, two more things: The YOGs nominative roster is here, and world team rosters are starting to trickle in.
Other news
Miss Val announced her retirement. UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos “Miss Val” Field announced her retirement on Thursday. Field has been with UCLA for 36 years, with 27 as the head coach.
She’ll be leaving after the 2019 season to pursue other interests, including a sequel to the Oscar Award-winning Full Out based on the life of Peng-Peng Lee.
Jetter spoke out. Former elite and Alabama gymnast Amanda Jetter shared her story about being abused at 13 by Larry Nassar on Wednesday. She said that Nassar abused her and recorded it at Michigan State University.
Jetter’s father said he approached Amanda’s coach Mary Lee Tracy with his concerns, but that she defended Nassar. Tracy said in an interview that this conversation didn’t happen. She also described the poor conditions at the Karolyi Ranch, calling the camp “dungeons.”
Speaking of VKF and MLT, they appeared together for an interview on Gymcastic, and Vanessa Atler had something to say about a recent Facebook comment from MLT.
Perles, Ludwig denied Davis’ story. MSU Trustee George Perles denied that he tried to cover up Erika Davis’ alleged rape in 1992. Martha Ludwig, Davis’ coach at the time who was allegedly forced to resign over the incident, said she has no memory of it.
- How Michigan officials handled Larry Nassar’s abuse has become a subject of controversy in the state’s gubernatorial race. Rachael Denhollander weighed in.
- Thema Williams testified in regards to her $11 million lawsuit against the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation for pulling her from the 2016 Olympic Test Event. A decision is scheduled for November 20.
- Qatar has promised to allow the Israeli flag and national anthem at this year’s world championships.
- Fifty national governing bodies voted to give SafeSport $1 million more in funding on Friday.
Required reading
- Miss Val and Alyssa Beckerman in search of solutions for the next era of USA Gymnastics (Inside Gymnastics)
- Survivor Jessica Howard on what her life is like after coming forward (Time)
- Sexual assault survivors like Jamie Dantzscher risk their lives to stand up to powerful men (USA Today)
Star status
Retirements. Word on the street is that Viktoria Komova has stopped training, and former elite and current Alabama junior Peyton Ernst announced her retirement. We wish both the best of luck in their future right-side-up adventures.
Comebacks. Unlike our president’s masculinity, Jessica Lopez’s meniscus in intact, and Musty still looking toward worlds.
Upgrades. Great Britain’s Latalia Bevan did a beautiful triple turn. Meanwhile, I just got dizzy from turning my head to cough.
Staying social
Expect the unexpected. Simone Biles is most confident on bars now, you guys.
Falling is fun. Say what you will about dem Bruins: They look like they’re having a kickass time.
Spooktacular. Turn down the lights, say Jade three times, and the Ghost of Gymnasts Past will come scare you and the rest of Emily R.’s 10th birthday sleepover party.
Collect your trophy. Jonathan Van Ness’ Instagram bio qualifies him for this year’s Gymnerd of the Year, Celebrity Edition.
Amazing, then and now. Baby Aly Raisman is better than you, and grown-up Aly was better than you on NPR.
Last words
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“the Oscar Award-winning Full Out” HAHA nope
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A little confused that Komova decided to retire, she seemed really eager to get back at the beginning of the year, almost made Euros and then both she and her coaches said afterwards that they would shift her focus to Doha, and has said repeatedly that she wanted to go to Tokyo. Maybe she’ll pull a Nabieva style “I retired. Just kidding I didn’t” move? but she also snap chatted back to Lorette Charpy saying she’s happy, so it doesn’t really matter as long as that’s what she wants. Also am I the only one who thinks that Kocian should totally do Kate Richardson’s 04 routine? I feel that their personalities are so similar, and I think that it’ll give Kocian a whole new look that I would love to see. Thoughts?
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You all have some fault in Komova’s huge underachieved career.
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“Qatar has promised to allow the Israeli flag and national anthem at this year’s world championships.”
There shouldn’t have even been a need for this promise. Your country requested to host a World Championship Event, and guess what! Israel is part of the world. If you couldn’t be mature about hosting, then you should’ve never made the request…
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Amanda Jetter is not a current Alabama gymnast. She was a senior in 2017.
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OK, so I am 100000% NOT trying to “defend” Mary Lee Tracy, but one possible interpretation of the quote she posted (“strong women don’t play victim, don’t make themselves look pitiful, and don’t point fingers…”) is that she was referring to herself. As in, yes, I got fired and was publicly shamed, but I’m not going to point fingers; I’m going to stand up and deal with it.
Don’t get me wrong – EVEN if this is what she meant by posting it, to post something like that without context is pretty idiotic. When I read it, I also definitely thought it was a victim-shaming post (and who knows, it might very well be). She is tone-deaf, she seems to ALWAYS fail to think about the effect her words will have, she liiiiiies, and judging by her recent GymCastic interview, I think she really doesn’t *get* why so many of her past actions are wrong. I’m not posting this because I want to defend her in any way, but because I hold out some hope for humanity and want to believe that she was simply trying to say “I’m a grown ass woman who is not bitter!” (which… yeah, you shouldn’t be, since this is definitely your fault and you should have never been given that job in the first place) rather than attacking survivors yet again.
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Good
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