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There are two types of people in this world: those who know their Stalder Shaposhnikovas from their Pak Saltos — and those who have absolutely no idea whether the first half of this sentence was even written in English.

For the group that does know, though — the hard-core gymnastics fans — a set of blogs, podcasts and resources has been emerging to fill a gap in the major broadcast coverage of women's gymnastics. It's called the "gymternet," an alternative group of sites that are shaking up the ways the sport is covered.

Specifically, these superfans are moving to correct what they see as condescension in broadcast coverage of the sport.


"It was very much focused on these 'little girls dancing on a playground.' That's a cliche you would hear on NBC over and over again," says reporter and gym fan Elspeth Reeve, who wrote about the gymternet in the 

. "Even at the 2012 Olympics, you had the Russian gymnasts referred to as 'divas' and 'temperamental.' It was honestly a bit sexist."
Reeve points to one example in particular, when an NBC commentator 

 to getting a tear in her wedding dress right before walking down the aisle.


But starting around 2008, Reeve says, blogs began popping up to give gymnastics addicts the in-depth coverage they craved. The gymternet was born around the same time as Tumblr — the site popular for sharing animated GIFs — perhaps because watching a gymnast do a backflip works out to be a good GIF length.

 "provide the real necessary pushback that's not about the sparkles and the girlishness," Reeve tells host Ray Suarez on 

. "It's about the crazy workouts, the incredible athletics, the injuries, coming back from injuries."


The Gymternet website covers gymnastics from all over the world, not just the U.S. You'll find results from competitions in South Korea, South Africa, Turkey, Russia and more.


But here in the U.S., the big action is the upcoming 

 on July 8 and 10, which will determine the members to represent the country in the Olympic Games in Brazil next month.
Nineteen-year-old Simone Biles leads the way and is expected to rack up gold medals in Rio de Janeiro. Last weekend she 

 at the P&G Championships in St. Louis. She's already a three-time world champion.


"If she stays mentally healthy and physically healthy, she could walk away with five golds," Reeve says.


The athletes embrace the clout of the gymternet too. Biles has almost half a million followers 

. Reeve writes that McKayla Maroney, a gold medalist, announced her retirement on the GymCastic podcast instead of a major network.
Women's gymnastics qualifying in the Olympics starts Aug. 7 — and there's a good chance the gymternet will have full coverage.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sports

As the Olympic trials loom in women's gymnastics, an informal group of blogs and podcasts called the "gymternet" has been shaking up how the sport is covered -- focusing on athleticism, not sparkles.

Irked by broadcast coverage, gymnastics sites aim to raise the bar

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