James Hall

A roundup of this week’s news, competitions, social media gossip, and more!

In the News

James Hall retires. James Hall, a 2020 Olympian for Great Britain who helped his team to two world championships medals, the European team title in 2022, and two Commonwealth Games golds for England, announced his retirement today at the age of 30 after more than a decade as a core member of the British MAG program. Individually, he also won all-around medals at Euros and the Commonwealth Games, and in one of his final competitions – the Doha World Cup last year – he competed a new skill on parallel bars, which was added to the code of points under his name.

“Every athlete deserves to go through the sport and when they get to the end, whenever that may be, to feel how I do about my career,” he wrote. Congratulations, James, and best of luck for what’s next!

Nicolae Forminte is coaching the Romanians again. Former head of the Romanian WAG program Nicolae Forminte is back leading it again following the resignation of Corina Morosan, which came in the wake of how she handled the drama surrounding Camelia Voinea’s abusive coaching and behavior toward other athletes.

The program had great success under Forminte in the 2010s, disintegrated after his departure in the lead-up to 2012, and began to show promise again when he returned with his Deva-trained juniors post-2016, though he kinda dropped the ball and was dismissed due to the team’s poor showing going into 2020. Now 69 and a known abuser, he’s not exactly an inspired choice, especially after Morosan coached the team to its most successful quad in over a decade. And Voinea gets to continue doing whatever she wants! A mess.

Kittia Carpenter fired from Buckeye. Longtime elite coach Kittia Carpenter – most known for coaching Gabby Douglas in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic Games only to be dropped for her assistant in the most dramatic fashion AT the U.S. Olympic Trials – was once again made redundant, this time by Buckeye Gymnastics, where she began coaching in 1986.

The gym sent an email to parents informing them that both Carpenter and Charlie Tamayo, a 2003 world vault medalist who defected to the U.S. during the Anaheim competition, were let go due to the launch of a Safesport investigation. Based on the email, the gym’s president doesn’t seem to believe the allegations against either coach, and basically admits to firing them mainly to avoid bad publicity for the club, so he must’ve learned a lot from the fallout after Al and Armine Fong were suspended despite actively coaching for years whilst under investigation.

Apparently Carpenter was still judging at a recent U.S. national team camp per Instagram, though, so… *gestures wildly* We will never learn.

First U.S. WAG national team camp of the season. Speaking of the U.S. national team camp, the first camp of the year for WAG took place last week, and included 2025 Pan Am champion Gabrielle Hardie, junior world championships medalists and first-year seniors Charleigh Bullock and Caroline Moreau, and U.S. Classic silver medalist Simone Rose.

Will Elena Colas stay in France? Despite doing the absolute most for France over the past two years of her junior career, the French federation refused to allow Elena Colas‘ Avoine coaches to travel to a training camp in Martinique, so Colas – and teammate Perla Denechere – didn’t attend, and now Colas’ mother is threatening to change her nationality (the United Arab Emirates currently seems to be the most viable option).

If this sounds familiar, it’s pretty much the same exact reason Kaylia Nemour chose to begin representing Algeria internationally, but Nemour has since denounced her former club coaches – Marc and Gina Chirlicenco – for the abuse she suffered in their care, saying she put up with it in the lead-up to the Paris Games, but then left when she “matured” and realized that their training methods weren’t healthy or aligned with her needs and values. With this knowledge and these coaches under investigation, I’m surprised Colas’ mother is pushing so hard to let her daughter stay with them, especially knowing she could be an absolute star for the French senior program – which desperately needs her.

Félix Dolci is on Canadian Big Brother. On the premiere of Big Brother Célébrités 6 in Canada this week, it was revealed that 2024 Olympian Félix Dolci is one of the participants. The season is currently underway, meaning he’s in the house right now, until he gets kicked out or wins. His goal for appearing on the show? “To avenge the honor of the athletes who have never won.” I support this, though guess we’ll miss him at Elite Canada!

Jim Hartung passes away. Sorry to end this with some sad news, but the University of Nebraska released a statement announcing the passing of Jim Hartung, a two-time member of the U.S. Olympic team who helped the men’s program to its first and only team gold medal in 1984. A national champion as a collegiate athlete for Nebraska, Hartung worked as an assistant coach for the team over the past 19 seasons, “giving back to the championship program he helped build.” Hartung was only 65.

Upcoming Meets

Vegas Cup National Qualifier. The first U.S. national qualifier for the WAG program takes place tomorrow, January 16, at the Vegas Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada. There will be three optional sessions for elite- and hopes-level athletes, and results should be available via MeetScoresOnline.

Senior elite athletes need a 50.500 all-around score, 39.300 three-event score, or 26.600 two-event score to qualify to elite, which also includes berths at the Winter Cup, American Classic, and U.S. Classic, while juniors need a 48.500 all-around score, and hopes athletes need a 46.500 in the 13-14 age division or a 44.500 in the 11-12 age division. Don’t forget that all season long, you can follow along to see who qualifies to elite and national championships on our tracker!

MAG Winter Cup qualifiers. This weekend will also see three of the four qualifying meets for MAG athletes hoping to qualify to this year’s Winter Cup, held next month in Louisville, Kentucky.

This weekend’s meets include the Ohio State Open, the West Point Open, and the Rocky Mountain Open (streamed for free on YouTube), and the top two non-qualified all-around athletes from each competition will lock their spots. Of note, Yul Moldauer will make his return to competition at the Rocky Mountain Open, hitting the floor for the first time after being freed from his 16-month USADA suspension.

Here’s a list of the athletes who are already qualified, courtesy of USA Gymnastics!

Must-See Content

The MAG Database. It only took us nearly 12 years of existence before we finally got our lives together with a MAG athlete profile database. Launched on January 1 of with 25 profiles – kicking it off with the top ten all-around finalists and all apparatus medalists at last year’s world championships – we are hoping to add around ten new profiles each week with a goal of 500 profiles before the end of the year. You’re welcome! Enjoy!

Ana Barbosu makes NCAA debut. 2024 Olympic floor medalist Ana Barbosu made her NCAA debut for Stanford this weekend, competing all four events and winning the all-around with a 39.400. Her floor is everything and you need to watch it.

The Final Five reunite. Four of the gymnasts who make up the 2016 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team – otherwise known as the Final Five – met for a little reunion on FaceTime today, which has me screaming because there’s no way this was almost ten years ago. Also a great time to revive #WheresGabby!

Article by Lauren Hopkins