Category: ethics

East German coach Dieter Hofmann

When Hofmann died of COVID-19 in April 2020, the international gymnastics community remembered him as an innovator and mentor.

The tributes focused on his technical knowledge shared generously, on a coach “always willing and eager” to help programs worldwide.

None mentioned “The Rose.” None referenced the Stasi files or the pharmaceutical protocols. …

I attended a number of Hofmann’s coaching courses.

He was a coaches coach. Very good at planning. A proven winner. His team won no fewer than 52 medals at Olympic Games, World and European Championships.

I have no doubt that his main passion was beating the USSR.

BUT in that era of the DDR, you cooperated with the Stasi (secret police) or lost your job.

In that era of the DDR, if higher-ups told you to test new drugs on gymnasts, you did it.

I knew very little about all these new revelations — aside from the drugs he told us about at one coaching course. Some kind of steroids. They tried them on junior male gymnasts ultimately deciding that the benefits weren’t worth the risk.

Uncle Tim put together a career retrospective on Dieter Hoffman. So far as I can verify with contemporaries, it’s very accurate. Uncle Tim is a terrific researcher.

Read more …

Gymnastics-History.com – Code Name “Rose”: The Double Life of East Germany’s Head Coach

European Gymnastics to allow AIN individuals

Personally, I would have voted against.

Putin is solely responsible for mass murder. He started this war. He could end it tomorrow.

It’s clear FIG wants AIN gymnasts back in official competition including the Olympics.

European Gymnastics has lifted its blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, clearing the way for them to return to continental competitions for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine.

The decision came on Friday at the 2025 European Gymnastics Congress in Prague.

A vote took place with 46 countries reportedly participating: 27 voted in favor of lifting the ban, 15 voted against, and four abstained. …

European Gymnastics lifts total ban on Russian, Belarusian athletes

Putin’s war has between 400,000 and 1.5 million Ukrainian estimated casualties (killed and wounded) during the Russian invasion of Ukraine from February 24, 2022 till November, 2025.

Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian war

Patrick Kiens & Daymon Jones’ interview

An excellent podcast.

Patrick Kiens and Daymon Jones, now at WCC Texas, previously coach the Romanian team.

coach Camelia Voinea – Gymnastics drama

Camelia Voinea competed for Romania between 1984 and 1988. The first gymnast to tumble a double layout to punch front on Floor.

Today Camelia coaches her daughter Sabrina, born 2007. Yes, that’s the excellent gymnast who would have won a Bronze medal on Floor in Paris IF her mother / coach had submitted an inquiry on time. Romania — at the time — thought Sabrina would win the Bronze medal, even with the wrongfully assessed 0.1 out of bounds deduction so they didn’t appeal.

Coach Camelia Voinea, we are told, is not up on the Code of Points. She tried to appeal the E-score, at one competition, for example. Not allowed, as every other coach knows.

Always controversial, Camelia is back in the headlines after recent allegations of physical, verbal, and mental abuse by multiple former gymnasts.

To get caught up, listen to the GymCastic podcast interview with former Romanian national team coaches Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens.

Romanian Gymnastics administration remains a dumpster fire.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.



Věra Čáslavská documentary

Don’t Look Away

Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská won a total of 22 international titles between 1959 and 1968 including seven Olympic gold medals, four world titles and eleven European championships.

Čáslavská was known for her outspoken support of the Czechoslovak democratization movement and her opposition to the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, she took this protest to the world stage by quietly looking down and away while the Soviet national anthem was played during the medal ceremonies for the balance beam and floor exercise event finals.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

Nikita Nagornyy interview

Nagornyy became head of the Young Army Cadets National Movement (Putin Youth) in 2020. Training young people to kill Ukrainians.

Banned from entering my nation, for life.

I hope he never competes again in an FIG competition.

BUT he is still very involved with Gymnastics in Putin’s dictatorship.

Read a recent interview.



Jakarta Worlds were excellent!

Aside from the last minute decision of the Indonesian government NOT to allow Israeli passport holders to enter the country, 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was an excellent competition.

I want to thank organizers and all the many, many volunteers for hosting a world class competition.

Without Simone, you might think the women’s competition a bit of a letdown. BUT Bars World Champion Kaylia Nemour has become the headline star already at age-18.

Sugihara Aiko (age-26) is our World Floor champion, not Simone Biles. And everyone is thrilled. She won bronze on Beam, as well, in likely the strongest Beam Final of all time. Only 2 falls.

It’s not all good news. The WAG Vault final was a disaster. And the AA Final was a mess.

Daiki Hashimoto is another Uchimura, winning his 3rd AA World title. The rivalry with Zhang Boheng makes for great sport.

Shinnosuke Oka should be co-equal challenging for the title. But he wasn’t near 100% in Jakarta, finishing fifth.

The singular highlight of Jakarta wasn’t Beam, but Men’s Vault. All agreed that it was the greatest final of all time.

Olympic Champion Carlos Yulo stuck one of the most difficult Vaults in the Code — with excellent form.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Some, including myself, would have preferred Russian gymnast were still banned from Jakarta. Great gymnasts, but more pressure on the murdering dictator-for-life would be worth the cost of leaving them home.


I heard of no direct conflict with the Ukrainian gymnasts, so that’s a positive.

Certainly FIG has made clear that they want the AIN athletes competing. Their argument is that sport should be as separate from politics as possible.

Denisa Golgotă – FLOOR

World Gymnastics Championships 2025 Jakarta.

Maybe my favourite routine at Worlds. I love the false endings. Unique choreography. The whole package.

It was great in qualifications — but the Finals routine missed passage of dance.

I did hear that she was suffering from something, perhaps food poisoning.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Sadly, Denisa is in the middle of yet another Romanian team drama.

Fujitsu software in health care

… International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), … Fujitsu Limited, and Acer Medical Inc., which provides AI-powered medical image processing and preventive medicine, today announced a collaboration …

FIG, Fujitsu, Acer Medical collaborate to develop health-promoting insurance concept to support preventative care in aging societies

… smartphone app …

I attended the press conference and LIVE, real-time demonstration of the medical package.

Smart phone video ➙ wirelessly sent to a laptop ➙ analysis ➙ wirelessly sent to a monitor.

The DEMO we watched was analysis of gait. Preventive medicine. They want to analyze elderly patients standing, sitting, and walking—turning that into valuable clinical insights for the doctor.

I was impressed.

It seemed quick enough to be used in the Gym by a coach doing analysis. By the time the gymnast gets to the monitor, the data would be ready for display.

In Japan, Fujitsu has their software working for Golf Swing, Archery, Baseball, and other sports. Gymnastics is more complicated, of course.

Watanabe was asked WHEN we might see the Fujitsu software used in FIG competition regularly. He wouldn’t commit.

Personally, I need it more IN THE GYM for coaching analysis.

The software wouldn’t need to be anywhere near as perfected for that use. I’d want to compare my gymnast performance of Tkachev in training against Kate McDonald, for example. 😀