167: Romanian and Italian Nationals

WHAT: Elevate of The Stage: Xcel, J.O., with Auburn vs. Alabama dual meet finale WHEN: January 16-17, 2016

WHERE: Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama SPECIALNESS: It's on podium and the college coaches will watch the top levels on Saturday night.

TWO PRIZES:

• $250 off of a gym's registration (20 or more gymnasts) to compete in the JO meet and no team Fees.
• Four VIP passes to watch the college meet on the floor, access to hospitality and four free t-shirts. ***With this, the winner will have to be someone 18 or older because recruitable gymnasts can't be on the floor during college meet competition (blame the NCAA rules).

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Like us on Facebook
2. Send us an email with the subject line “Elevate the Stage” to gymcastic@gmail.com

DEADLINE: Sunday, October 18th More details on the Elevate the Stage podium meet here.

In the news, Jessica, Lauren Hopkins, and Uncle Tim chat about:

• Ages and height of the US women's Olympic teams since 1972
• Why Russian gymnastics fans are the best!
• Who's on and who's missing from the preliminary US World Team, including Brenna Dowel!
• Is 4th place all-around the worst place to be for an American gymnast?
• Romanian Nationals:
  • Marian Dragulescu won a zillion medals
  • Larissa Iordache is back on top
  • Catalina Ponor is injured, but hopefully will be back in time for Glasgow
• The Junior Japan International
  • Cameron Bock, is he the next Sam Mikulak?
  • Jazzy Foberg takes silver and Laurie Hernandez goes undefeated in the all-around in 2015
• The London Open
  • Never count Louis Smith out, he is on the nominative roster for Glasgow.
  • Max Whitlock recovered from his mono and won with a 7.2 D score on pommel horse!
  • Brinn Bevan is gorgeous on high bar and why Kristian "The Legs" Thomas should do a cameo in an episode of Outlander.
• Italian Nationals
  • The perilous status on Vanessa Ferrari
  • Erika Fasana is amazing on floor, as usual
  • Why Russian fans should love the new all-around champ, Tea Ugrin
  • Did Carlotta Ferlito fix her execution problems during her mono-induced competitive hiatus?

Our weekly roundup of the latest news stories from around the gymternet include:

• Marian Dragulescu shows us allll of the places he shaves.
• Sho Nakamori launches www.totaltaiso.com
• Dubmash (lip sync) videos we want our favorite gymnasts to post on Instagram
• Shannon Miller launched her own line with Alpha Factor.
• Australian Olympian, Larissa Miller, shares her story of sexual abuse by a family member in order to help others.
• Your letters and voicemails about combating abuse, the "joker" system for elite, British teams update, lyrics in floor music.
• Why Danell Leyva is a wonderful leader, a true feminist and a irrefutable gentlemen.

• Bai Yawen is on Instagram instagram.com/baiyawen0909
• Adult Gymnastics news: the most adorable Instagram account of a dad and his daughter doing gymnastics together. https://instagram.com/my_gym_dad/

Update to the GymCastic-approved acceptable exit transitions from the dreaded wolf turn mentioned last week:

• Wolf turn to gradually standing double turn
  • Seda Tukhalyan https://youtu.be/IitX_4Vg4YQ?t=1m8s
  • Lauren Mitchell https://youtu.be/Gy2vmdqMak4
• Wolf turn to split
  • Maddie Gardner (Canada, Oregon) wolf turn to reverse split/I’m the baddest woman in all the land - thug life beam pose
  • Chelsea Tang (OU) wolf turn to side split beautifulness
• Wolf turn to needle scale turn
  • Melitina Staniouta https://youtu.be/4DoBZ1Zfsq0?t=20s

• 52: Four Nations Cup Italy, Russia, Romania and Colombia
• 90: The 2014 Women's NCAA Championships! Plus details from the Ljubljana World Cup, Korean Meet and Romania takes on Belgium and France
• 117: Youth Olympic Games, Romanian Nationals, Russian & Novara Cup
• 152: Four Nations Cup Italy, Russia, Romania and Colombia
• 166: Aliya was like Nu-uh Rodionenkos!
• Episode 46: Russian Cup Results and Gabby Dancing With The Stars?
• 117: Youth Olympic Games, Romanian Nationals, Russian & Novara Cup
• 165: Ponor is Back!
• 164: Marian Dragulescu
• 163: ENOUGH
• Tim Daggett: A GymCastic Classic Episode
• Episode 56: Preventing Abuse in Gymnastics

Ruby Harold gets a smooch from her teammate on the scoreboard.