Expand your international gymnastics horizons — Other gym news — Thoughts from Emma Spence on GymCastic
By Lela Moore
The IX: Gymnastics Saturday with Lela Moore, May 27, 2023
Happy Gymnastics Saturday! And happy Memorial Day weekend to all who celebrate. If you have to work:
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Sorry, couldn’t resist the greatest gymnastics GIF of all time. (Also, I’m a freelancer. I’m rarely not working, so I feel your pain.)
Perhaps due to the impending holiday weekend, perhaps due to a bit of American insularity, the gymternet has been quieter this week. So I’m going to encourage you to take the time to watch some international gymnastics where Americans do not dominate.
Both the Pan Am Championships and African Championships are this weekend, so it’s an important time for worlds qualifications. Here’s a refresher on how that works.
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The Americans are at Pan Ams, of course, and there are several Americans competing for other countries who will also be in attendance in Medellin. But check out the quality of the gymnastics from Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, in particular. The former two are looking to qualify teams to worlds.
Spencer at The Balance Beam Situation also helpfully compiled the schedule (scroll down) along with a streaming link for Pan Ams.
Unfortunately, there will not be a stream for the African Championships. You can follow the action via the South African Federation. And this tweet has links to the federation’s social media, where it will post updates from the meet.
Sandra Elsadek, who competed collegiately for Ball State and Georgia, is part of the Egyptian team at African Championships.
The Olympic Channel spoke with Caitlin Rooskrantz and Naveen Daries, both of whom represent African Championships host country South Africa, about the excitement of competing in Pretoria.
And finally, we also have the Varna Challenge Cup this weekend. Here’s a geolocked live stream.
Other gym news
Aurelie Tran won the Canadian national title this week, with Ava Stewart taking silver and Jenna Lalonde bronze. Tran and Lalonde will compete at Pan Ams.
The Chinese nationals are ongoing this week. Qiu Qiuyan sits atop the women’s qualification results in the all-around.
A lovely article on Kerri Strug’s post-Mag 7 life.
TeamUSA.org has a nice feature on Joscelyn Roberson by gymternet heroine Blythe Lawrence.
Suni Lee casually trains a dismount that is giving me the twisties.
The Mountain West Conference will add women’s gymnastics for the 2024 season. The four competing schools will be Air Force, Boise State, San Jose State University and Utah State University.
UCLA’s Emma Andres will return for her fifth year.
Speaking of UCLA, College Gym News analyzed its potential relative to other Big Ten schools. UCLA will join the Big Ten beginning next season.
Social post of the week
Elsadek posted a series of photos from Egypt, including one of her doing a handstand on a camel that, if I were queen of the FIG, I would say merits sending her straight to the Olympics.
Five at The IX: Emma Spence on GymCastic
Not my interview this week, but I did want to draw your attention to GymCastic’s interview with Canadian gymnast Emma Spence, which begins at the 32:50 mark and ends at the 46:22 mark.
Spence was part of the historic bronze-medal-winning Canadian squad at worlds last year, which qualified the team for the Olympics. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Spence was the bronze medalist in the all-around and on beam. She also competes collegiately for Nebraska, where she will be a junior in the fall. (Per this interview, she will compete in college and train for the Olympics simultaneously.)
In this interview, Spence talks about representing Canada at the G7 Summit. She traveled to Japan in April with nine other international gymnasts, including Nastia Liukin and Uchimura Kohei, for the summit. It’s a really interesting conversation.
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| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
| Tuesdays: Tennis |
| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
| Wednesdays: Basketball |
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| Thursdays: Golf |
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| Saturdays: Gymnastics |
| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
| Mondays: Soccer |
| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
| Tuesdays: Tennis |
| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
| Wednesdays: Basketball |
| By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next |
| Thursdays: Golf |
| By: Addie Parker, @addie_parker, The IX |
| Fridays: Hockey |
| By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden |
| Saturdays: Gymnastics |
| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
