Gymternet Weekly: Spiridonova retires, Douglas wins Masked Dancer, looking ahead to Winter Cup (February 15 – 21, 2021)

1.
Russia’s Daria Spiridonova announces retirement

And then there was one…

2016 Olympic silver medalist and five-time World medalist Daria Spiridonova (RUS) announced her retirement from the sport last Wednesday, making Angelina Melnikova the last remaining gymnast from the country’s 2016 Olympic team to still be active in the sport.

Spiridonova career had plenty of high notes, including the aforementioned medals, as well as five European Championship medals and two from the Summer Universiade.

In addition, the 22-year-old star met her now-husband through the sport, marrying reigning World all-around champion Nikita Nagornyy in 2018.

In the English version of her retirement announcement, Spiridonova stated, “It’s time to start new life, open new opportunities, and write a new story.”

2.
Gabby Douglas revealed as winner of ‘The Masked Dancer’

In a not-so-shocker for the gymternet, Gabby Douglas was revealed as the face behind the mask of none other than Cotton Candy on Fox’s “The Masked Dancer” last week, and in typical Douglas fashion, she came, she saw she conquered!

“it was a huge honor to be apart of the show. i loved every single moment,” Douglas said after the big reveal (and win!). “i loved that you all made it about family, heart, passion, joy, and character. i will forever cherish this experience.”

3.
Gearing up for the 2021 Winter Cup

All eyes are on Indianapolis this upcoming week as U.S. elite and club gymnasts prepare to make their return to competition – many for the first time in over a year – at the 2021 Winter Cup, which will now be a catch-all weekend, including the Nastia Liukin Cup, Elite Team Cup, junior men and women, and senior men and women.

Over the weekend, the Nastia Liukin Cup field was finalized with the addition of the final two qualifiers. In addition, USA Gymnastics revealed the official schedule for the event and the highly-anticipated rosters.

While plenty of attendees have been showing off their training and preparations over the past few weeks, Gym Now sat down with 2017 World medalist and three-time World team member Yul Moldauer to discuss the season ahead, upgrades, the three meets he already has under his belt, and more on the second episode of “Gymnasts on Zoom Drinking Coffee.” Don’t forget to check out our first episode with Eddie Penev, who will also be competing in Indianapolis, and be on the lookout for a new episode this Thursday starring Morgan Hurd!

4.
Doha World Cup moved to June, exact dates TBD

With the news early last week that the 2021 Doha World Cup – the final Olympic qualifying event for the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup series – was postponed, it was unclear when or if the meet would happen at all.

Since then, the Qatar Gymnastics Federation released the following statement across its social channels on Wednesday:

“The 13th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup has been postponed until June… A new date will be notified soon in accordance with the rules and regulations of Ministry of Public Health of the State of Qatar pertaining to the pandemic situation.”

While fans are hopeful the meet will go on, such a long delay, along with the wild card that is the pandemic, it is still unclear whether the event will happen at all, putting the results of the first seven meets into a sort of Olympic limbo.

5.
SportsCenter’s GOAT tweet is not GOAT-approved

You can call them the GOAT all day, but the real GOAT is probably the one who made you delete your tweet about the rest of them… at least, the male ones.

Last week, SportsCenter decided to continue the fiery GOAT debate that has been raging on Twitter for weeks now by tweeting, “So many GOATs, who’s yours?” with accompanying artwork featuring plenty of sports’ respective GOATs. Notably absent? Approximately 50% of the population a.k.a. women, including Simone Biles herself.

And while Biles is always humble enough to say she’s just happy to be a part of the discussion, she didn’t mince words when calling out ESPN for its sexist ways.

Even better? Biles calls them out, tweet gets deleted soon after. Luckily, one user got a screenshot and fixed the graphic for them.

And to top it all off, Aly Raisman had some things to say about the incident on her latest TODAY appearance. Check it out.

6.
Carly Patterson gives birth to son Pearson Philip

It’s a boy! 2004 Olympic all-around champion Carly Patterson and husband Mark Caldwell welcomed their third child, son Pearson Philip Caldwell, on Monday, Feb. 15, at 10:42 a.m., PEOPLE reported.

The newborn weighed 8 lbs., 7 oz., and measured 21 inches long. Pearson joins brother Graham, 3, and sister Emmaline Rae, 2.

“I couldn’t imagine a more precious angel to complete our family!” Patterson said on Instagram. “I can’t wait to tell him that he came into this world in the midst of all kinds of chaos!!…an epic winter storm with ice, snow, and negative temps, blackout power outages across the state (including our hospital-which makes for a very nerve racking c-section), and all while still in a global pandemic! What an entrance!”

7.
‘Tokyo is the plan’ for U.S. gymnast Brandon Wynn in his comeback

Seven years after winning the last of his four national titles on still rings, U.S. gymnast Brandon Wynn plans to hit this month’s Winter Cup swinging as he rallies toward this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The 32-year-old Wynn has Tokyo in view as he prepares for his comeback competition, the Winter Cup in Indianapolis from February 26-28, which will serve to name male gymnasts to the U.S. national team and qualify gymnasts to the 2021 U.S. Championships in early June. Gymnasts will then qualify from the U.S. Championships to the U.S. Olympic Trials in late June. The Tokyo Games are scheduled for July 21-August 8.

Read the full story from International Gymnast’s John Crumlish here.

8.
Oksana Chusovitina is a #mood for Winter Cup weekend because U.S. gymnastics is BACK!

Tweets and things

Competition clips: Can you spot the perfect 10?

Training clips:

This week’s training clips section includes 22 videos that feature Konnor McClain (USA), Riley McCusker (USA), Fusuke Maeda (JPN), Bart Deurloo (NED), Eddie Penev (USA), and many more national and international athletes!