Hi Sam I'm an Australian WAG fan and first heard your podcast mentioned about 6 months ago, maybe more, when Gymcastic referred to your conversation about Oleg Vernaiev and your observations. I came to listen to it and have listened to a bunch since, your interviews and some of the others. Its got me in to MAG alot more, I love learning from the technical stuff you talk about as well as the stories. Im really interested in the rise of British MAG you talk about from Louis and Max onwards. I've been a gym fan from the early 1990s til the mid 2000s and then didnt follow again much until about 2015. From that early time period of course I remember Neil Thomas. I was at the 1994 Brisbane Worlds when he won his secodn World Medal. I imagine his breakthrough successes would've been an inspiration for that generation that followed 10-15 years later. I'm wondering if you could get an interview with him, that would be awesome!
Hi Jenny, It's great to hear from you and thank you for supporting the podcast. I'm glad it has reignited your passion for men's gymnastics. I enjoyed reading about your early introduction into he sport and would love to have Neil Thomas share his story in teh future. Big thanks Sam
Great episode Sam.loved eh Olympic ones. Why no female watching with u. Also they should include disability gymnasts in paralympics these guys work as hard.
Hey there, thank you for listening and supporting the podcast. I hope to have some more female athletes on to share their stories in the future. I completely agree that disability gymnastics should be in the Paralympics.
Love the podcast! Just a question about creatine. I’m a high level gymnast and might be considering taking it, it’s just that I’ve read that it increases muscle performance and recovery however also water retention, and I’m afraid I will feel more heavy due to the water weight, compared to the gained performance. How would you tackle this issue?
I've rewatched the FX finals out of curiosity and Dan is wrong for saying Zapata's double front pike is straighter than Yulo's. They have the same bent legs on second revolution except Zapata had to squat deeply. I believe this is the same factor why judges didn't give the connection value on one of Whitehouse's passes. Eitherway, these wouldn't have changed the podium.
Hey there, thank you for listening and taking the time to rewatch the floor final. I think our frustration was in the lack of consistency given Yulo's obvious mistake that the judges seemed to disregard. Thanks Sam
Totally agree on Zapata & Whitehouse were hard done by in the floor finals, whilst Yulo was v lucky... I think it was a 'gymternet favourites' decision by the judges ;) Re: vault - you're right Sam, this was the first final in this quad where all of the vaults were 5.6 or above. And agree on the FIG rule change being bad - even worse when you consider the women have to do vaults for 2 different families in the vault final, but now the men don't! PS. Harry Hepworth has hinted he's going to re-start training high bar, which is great news given how short GB MAG are on good scores on that piece...
Hey there, Thank you for supporting the podcast and for the great feedback. Also nice to know I was correct in my thinking around the vault D scores in Paris. Thanks Sam
Hi mate, It's great to hear from you and thanks for supporting the podcast. I have an episode titled "Fuel The Red Ferrari EP12" Where I talk about nutrition hopefully that helps. Thanks Sam
@@samoldham8298 Love the podcast! Just a question about creatine. I’m a high level gymnast and might be considering taking it, it’s just that I’ve read that it increases muscle performance and recovery however also water retention, and I’m afraid I will feel more heavy due to the water weight, compared to the gained performance. How would you tackle this issue?
Dauser nearly missed the entire games due to a shoulder injury, had to have surgery right beforehand. I think I saw something saying he'd only been recovered enough to do three routines total, before the olympics started.
I think parallel bar was the highest-scoring apparatus in the end at these Olympics, then pommels, then vault/rings. Not an order I would have thought 5-10 years ago! PS. Vernaiev tested positive for meldonium, which was only banned by WADA in 2016. Maria Sharapova is the most high-profile athlete to have been banned for meldonium use, but many other Russians have been, and a fair number of Ukrainians. It's commonly used in Russia and several other former Soviet federation states as a treatment for heart conditions (it's made in Latvia).
Hey, thank you for the information and background on meldonium. It’s great to read back your take on the finals and I appreciate you engaging with the podcast 🫡
I need to see the breakdown of all the scores because with the coverage I was seeing, I felt like GB would have been closer. You are right that GB had bigger big scores that made it confusing for me. With this format it was difficult to keep up with scores. On any other day it could have gone differently. I wish more casual fans or "just watches during the Olympics" could understand how much these athletes can do and have done but how much of a razor's edge every performance can be. To know how they can recover from a mistake whether in the qualifications or in the same night, and give solid routines for the next performance is amazing. I would be crying in a corner somewhere. And then knowing they adjust based on the need of the moment is incredible.
Your discussion of the rings technique is very useful. I had noticed the difference in the swinging and the laxity in the rings just from watching the best rings guys here. Now I need to watch the finals more closely. American here and while we do okay on rings, we are definitely not big in that event.
Regarding your question about skill names, up yo a point in history existung mens skills didnt get renamed when women pioneered them, eg tkatchev, geinger, deltchev def etc. Yurkchenko is from the womens side and the mens code kept that name. I cant ponpoint exactly when but by the early 90s and early 2000s there was a separation and skills were named in both the mens and womens codes for the first person. Eg. The Xiao Ruizhi (often incorrectly called Marinich) is the counter-Kim in the womens code. Kim Gwang Suk did it in 1989. The Markelov is the Khorkina in womens - she did it late 90s. It works both ways eg. The Amanar from the womens code is a Shewfelt in the mens code.
China and Japan are always top 3. This year the Chinese made mistakes and basically beaten themselves but thats all part of this sport. With Russia being banned USA finally made it top 3
A great listen especially after watching the qualifications and the differences from both mine and your predictions! Some very surprising results I must say!
Great episode, Sam, and Hamish was a great guest. GB men gave too much away as a 3-up, 3-to-count team on high bar, rings and p-bars to make that step up to the podium. But TBF the team was picked for individual medal chances rather than a team medal, so there were in-built weaknesses on those pieces - the fact that they came 4th is a credit to how well those specialists hit. Re: in-bars (stoop) Tkatchevs on high bar you talked about recently: I can't think of any current MAG who does one, but the Heath Thorpe - the beautiful Australian gymnast who just missed out on qualifying for Paris - is an excellent high bar worker & does in-bar stalders, and with his flexibility has potential to do one. I guess whether he does or not will come down to what value FIG would give it.
I really dislike the BBC commentary, and wish they'd bring folks with current gymnastics knowledge on both MAG and WAG (and have the courtesy to bother learning how to pronounce every gymnast's name correctly!). Olly Hogben is a big gymternet favourite around the world: he currently commentates for FIG, OBC & Eurosport, and did some of the MAG + WAG quals in Paris with the Canadian Blythe Lawrence (an equally-excellent commentator).
American here... honestly, foster care is probably more common here because we don't have a national health care system. Kids are commonly taken from their parents due to addiction issues or other untreated mental illness. Adoption is a somewhat different issue. Infertility is a big factor for couples, and sometimes single parents adopt internationally (isn't that Morgan Hurd's story?). And Yul was adopted too, wasn't he? And Kara Eaker!
I love your podcast! What a great mix of technical commentary and personal insight. :) As you predicted... lots of shake-ups during qualifications! High bar is a huge question mark now.
Thanks for doing this interview, Sam, and letting Jay share his truth. I remember him as such a beautiful, elegant junior, and it was sad that he never got chance to share on that on the world stage where it deserved to be seen.
Kelly, please join forces with Sophie Scheder to get that release named after you - you both so deserve it! A lovely interview of mutual sharing the immediate post-retirement challenges. PS. the Simon Biles documentary is fantastic - fascinating, and really really well-made.
Regarding the Canadian Jrs, they have a good bunch, some of which will be moving into Next Gen Sr next yar. Connor Fielding is fairly strong on floor and Vault and can 3rd at U18 nationals this year. Sam Rakita won the U18 and is a fairly good fx, pb and hb worker as well as solid aa. They also have a Jr Pommel specialist- Jordan Carrol, who although didn't have a good nationals, he won the JrPanAm Champs with a 13.7/8. Thomas Tittley won the U16 with a 78 and seems like one who will have a good career and Jack Stargratt Sweeny is good on fx, vt, and pb( he was injured this season but can expect him to do well in U18 next yr and have a good career)
