Hana Ricna

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Hana Ricna Interview

Ricna is a Czechoslovakian two-time World medalist, 1988 Olympian and three-time Olomouc medalist (the Soviet organized Alternative Olympics in 1984). She took second all-around at Olomouc to Soviet great, Mostepanova. The stadler tkatchev is named after her; a skill used often by the current generation of elites. Her son competed for Stanford gymnastics and Czech Republic at the Rio Olympics. Her daughter just finished her senior year on the Stanford gymnastics team, where she performed her mom's floor routine in tribute. She started gymnastics at age four and thinks she won her first pre-elite junior championship around age 8 (Czech papers reported she was 8. Ricna she said she thinks she was 9 but doesn't remember).

• How The Ricna came to be and what she thinks of the way her skill is performed now
• All the trouble she got into and wild things she did as a young gymnast
• Skills she trained, including a tucked full on beam and a full twisting Hindorf
• Her shoulder dislocation on vault at the 1986 Ahoy Cup in Rotterdam and subsequent surgeries
• Her experience post-injury at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
• What the Czech athletes were told about the boycotted 1984 Olympic Games
• Competing at the legendary, famed, holy grail of gymnastics, the alternative-Olympics in her home country, the Olomouc Friendship Games
• The great Czech Olympic Champion, Vera Caslavska as a coach and friend
• Reflects on how she was trained and fueled in the 80's
• What she would change about her elite training now that she has coached for 30 years
• The divergent attitudes of her gymnast children - Stanford, World Championships and a Rio Olympian who was obsessed with Kohei.
• Watching her daughter, Sandra Jessen (FIG licensed as Jessenova ), compete her 1980's floor routine this year, for Stanford
• Transiting to post-professional athlete life and flying into the U.S. Customs without a visa
• RELATED PODCASTS
  • Olympics of Difference Makers in Gymnastics
  • A History of Political Protests in Gymnastics
  • 1984 Fight! Olomouc vs 1984 Olympics
  • Olomouc gymnastics video

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• Links to watch and scores for each conference Championship - The Balance Beam Situation

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• RESOURCES & CITATIONS
  • Call for volunteers for a study on skin color bias in judging. Help with the online survey here
  • NCAA Power Ranking – January 26, 2024
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  • Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim
  • Follow the effects of the Russian invasion to Ukraine at Gymnovosti
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