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Gymnastics

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: All roads lead to gymnastics

By Sarah Firth | April 28

During my junior year, I started writing a column in the sports section about gymnastics. Twenty-five editions later, this column has become one of my favorite things I have written for our paper. Now, I’m graduating, I’m retiring from college sports ...

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: All roads lead to gymnastics

By Sarah Firth | April 28

During my junior year, I started writing a column in the sports section about gymnastics. Twenty-five editions later, this column has become one of my favorite things I have written for our paper. Now, I’m graduating, I’m retiring from college sports and I’m closing this chapter of writing for the Daily too.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: A new mixed team event at Los Angeles

By Sarah Firth | April 16

The International Olympic Committee just released the event program for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and it’s official: there will be a mixed event in artistic gymnastics! Gymnastics is following in the footsteps of other core Olympic events like swimming and figure skating, adding a medal event where men and women compete together. The specifics haven’t been shared yet, but what’s known is that it won’t expand the quota — the event will include athletes already in the Games.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: Jackie Bender and her handstands

By Sarah Firth | April 9

I remember watching a youtube video with my mom when I was young. I must have been in third grade, since this was 2011. We were in our old apartment, watching on my mom’s old white laptop. My mom’s old friend from gymnastics had sent her the video. There were no words or background noises in the video, only anonymous gymnasts performing daring and original balance beam mounts, all accompanied by the haunting strains of Ravel's Bolero. This video, titled “The Mount That Dare Not Speak Its Name”, went on to be one of the most well-known and captivating videos ever posted.

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: My kingdom for a hold

By Sarah Firth | April 4

There has recently been a lot of talk in men’s gymnastics about the new ‘scale’ requirement on floor exercise. This was an old requirement that has been brought back to increase the level of artistry in men’s gymnastics and make the exercise more fluid. Essentially, this means that the gymnasts have to show their range of movement and ‘lines’ through a standing balance. Jacob Harmon of Ohio State is currently winning best scale in my book, really demonstrating the qualities the scale requirement is meant to exemplify in men’s gymnastics.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: The ‘Yang’ and potential future new skills

By Sarah Firth | March 26

This week, Yang Fanyuwei successfully performed the full-twisting layout Jaeger on uneven bars at the 2025 Antalya World Cup qualifiers, making the skill officially named after her. Suni Lee had also attempted the skill at the Winter Cup but slipped off the bars and, due to not meeting international assignment criteria, focused on making the Olympic team instead. Now that the skill has been named after Yang Fanyuwei, Lee has indicated she may be officially retired.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: Male gymnasts deserve functionality in their attire too

By Sarah Firth | February 26

Leading up to the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup, Olympic bronze medalist Frederick Richard teased what he called an innovative new uniform for men’s gymnastics. In a video for The Players’ Tribune, he shared his frustrations with the traditional men’s uniform, which consists of a form-fitting top and either loose shorts or long pants, depending on the event. Richard revealed that he had designed a new kit. Despite the uniform not meeting the official requirements, he announced that he would wear it at the Winter Cup, accepting the necessary deduction.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: Life after sports

By Sarah Firth | February 11

When sports come to an end, athletes stand at a crossroads and must decide what comes next. Leaving sports can feel like the end of an era, but for many athletes, it can also be the beginning of a new chapter. Let’s explore the career paths of top gymnasts after their retirement.

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: Yul Moldauer’s suspension for whereabouts violations

By Sarah Firth | January 22

The biggest news of this week is certainly that 2020 Olympian Yul Moldauer has been suspended for 16 months due to three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. As one of the top gymnasts in the United States, Moldauer is part of the USADA’s Registered Testing Pool. Athletes in this pool are required to declare their location for one hour each day between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m., ensuring they are available for random out-of-competition drug testing without prior notice. Over the course of the year, testing officers attempted to conduct a test three times at the location Moldauer had designated, but he was not there on any of those occasions and missed the tests.

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: Ana Bǎrbosu and international gymnasts in the NCAA

By Sarah Firth | January 15

Ana Bǎrbosu of Romania recently stunned the gymnastics world with her announcement that she had committed to Stanford University for gymnastics. Bǎrbosu is notable because she was the Romanian gymnast involved in the dispute with American gymnast Jordan Chiles over the floor bronze medal at last year’s Olympics. In case you missed it: Bǎrbosu and her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea were tied in third place with a score of 13.700. 

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Columns

The Round-off Roundup: Ellie Black — the people’s gymnast

By Sarah Firth | December 10

Ellie Black sometimes gets overlooked by casual fans because she is from Canada, but she is one of my favorite gymnasts of all time. To be fair, I’m partial to any gymnast who does front handspring vaults, and she has an excellent handspring front full (and even a rudi at one point). I also have to give props to anyone who can rock a maple-leaf-themed leotard — I appreciate Canada’s commitment to a theme.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: GIS and Gymnastics

By Sarah Firth | November 26

Last semester, I did my final project for my Geographic Information Systems class on what I called the “Geographic Origin of Human Capital in American Women’s Gymnastics” — in other words, where do the top gymnasts, coaches and clubs come from? It was a very fun project.

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Gymnastics

The Round-off Roundup: The original script of ‘Stick It’

By Sarah Firth | November 13

Content warning: This article contains mentions of abuse.This weekend, I stumbled across a copy of Jessica Bendinger’s original script for the 2006 gymnastics classic “Stick It.” First, if you read my column and haven’t seen this movie, go watch it. While the first version of the script follows the same basic plot, the final movie tells almost a completely different story.

The Setonian
Columns

On Queer: On keeping quiet

By Rainbow House 2016-2017 | April 10

When I was a kid, I did gymnastics. I loved the sport, the aggressiveness contrasted with grace. Sometimes, I did not love the people I did it with. The gym I trained at was full of people very set in their ways and of the opinion that people unlike them are somehow less deserving of their respect. ...

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