The gymternet is moving (slowly) to Bluesky. Join us! — GymCastic covers the death of Bela Karolyi
By Lela Moore
The IX: Gymnastics Saturday with Lela Moore, Nov. 23, 2024
Continue reading with a subscription to The IX
Get unlimited access to our exclusive coverage of a varitety of women’s sports, including our premium newsletter by subscribing today!
Already a member?
Login
Many online communities, fed up with X (formerly Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk), are migrating to Bluesky. The gymnastics community is one of them.
If you’ve been around long enough, you know that Gym Twitter™ was once excellent. It was where you found all the gossip, and you were able to verify some of it. It was where you made friends who also loved the sport and would watch meets with you on TV or, sometimes, in person.
It was where someone like me, a writer who wanted to cover gymnastics, met other gym writers. I networked with them, shared my work with them, and slowly started to feel like one of them. A generation of gym fans made Gym Twitter their own — and when it was good, it was very, very good.
And, as the nursery rhyme goes, when it was bad, it was horrid. Twitter became X. Musk fired three-quarters of the staff, removed protections against hate speech and distributing disinformation, killed the ability to block harassers, and lost many respectable advertisers. Reporters, in particular, saw the writing on the wall and ceased posting, ultimately deactivating accounts and leaving the network for good.
Enter Bluesky. The app, which intentionally resembles the Twitter of yore, grew by 2.5 million followers in the days after the election (about eight new users every second) and continues to grow.
Now, online communities that once thrived on Twitter are making the move — slowly at first, but as word-of-mouth increases, so does the migration.
While the gymternet is still making the move, I wanted to give you all some resources should you also be heading to Bluesky and wondering whom to follow.
Most importantly, of course, me! I’m @runlelarun over there, and while you’re at it, follow The IX, too. Give all the amazing writers here some love!
Other good handles to follow to stay up-to-date on gymnastics:
- GymCastic
- The Gymternet
- College Gym News
- Gymnastics History
- Will Graves (AP reporter)
- Emily Giambalvo (Washington Post reporter)
- Maggie Astor (New York Times reporter)
- Juliet Macur (New York Times reporter)
- Nancy Armour (USA Today sports reporter)
- Kathy Johnson Clarke
- Olly Hogben
- Kensley Behel
- USA Gymnastics
Many individual gymnasts and most NCAA teams have not made their way over, and maybe they won’t. However, the above handles will allow you to follow news in the sport and the big headlines; I’m hoping that by January, we’ll be able to follow more NCAA on Bluesky.
Your business can reach over three million women’s sports fans every month!
Here at The Next and The IX, our audience is a collection of the smartest, most passionate women’s sports fans in the world. If your business has a mission to serve these fans, you should reach out to our team at editors@theixsports.com to discuss ways to work together as we make our 2025 plans.
Other gym news
We saw remembrances of Bela Karolyi, who died last Friday, from a few of the gymnasts he coached or oversaw during his various Olympic stints. As you can see, they vary in tone quite dramatically. Here is a sampling.
Nadia Comaneci:
Dominique Moceanu:
Dominique Dawes:
Svetlana Boguinskaia:
Mary Lou Retton:
College Gym News reports on the beginning of the class of 2025’s signing period, as well as the class rankings.
ESPN announced its 2025 broadcast schedule for gymnastics.
Kiya Johnson, former LSU standout, will begin her coaching career this season as an assistant coach at Southern Connecticut State University.
Swedish gymnast Tonya Paulsson has changed her nationality to Chinese Taipei, where her mother is from.
2016 Chinese Olympian Shang Chunsong is now the world parkour champion.
Win a New York Liberty trading card when you subscribe!
Until the end of November, every new subscriber (and subscription renewal) to The Next will be entered to win a Panini trading card celebrating the WNBA champion New York Liberty. And maybe, just maybe, it will be the highly coveted Ellie rookie card!
Podcast episode of the week
CW: Sexual abuse
The big gymnastics story this week was the death of Bela Karolyi last Friday. GymCastic released an episode to discuss it. The episode contains news of a previously unreported allegation of sexual abuse against Karolyi.
| 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: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX |
| Fridays: Hockey |
| By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden |
| Saturdays: Gymnastics |
| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
