I was 10 years old and doing recreational gymnastics when the Magnificent Seven captured gold at the 1996 Olympics, and as an American, my love affair with the sport naturally began there. The team’s posters and magazine scraps literally covered my bedroom walls.

Looking back, however, I always had a special appreciation for the Russian gymnasts as well. Before being able to name it, I noticed something compelling in their gymnastics and in their personalities. When I began writing for TCG in 2013, this was the area I focused on, and I look forward to continuing that focus while expanding into others, including U.S. content and more meet coverage.

Writing for TCG has been a real joy. I am an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and writing for the website has afforded me a much-needed work balance. When I’m done writing sermons (to date, I have only used ONE gymnastics-related illustration in a sermon: it was the Rosa Galieva/Tatiana Gutsu fiasco at the ’92 Olympics. I figure I’m allowed one of those per year!) I enjoy scavenging You Tube for new footage, marking the code of points with question marks, and putting together fantasy teams in my head. Perhaps most significantly, writing for TCG has afforded me the excuse to travel and to turn fandom into something that feels productive!

 My goal has always been to capture the sport and the athletes we love in words and to communicate that passion to others. I hope to continue doing that as Editor.

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Craig Tilley – I am from Great Britain in the southern coastal city of Portsmouth. I am currently a journalist in training, studying for a National Council of Training Journalist Qualification, and yes it is a very tough course!  My future ambitions are to work in broadcasting as a career, both radio and television.

During the 1996 Olympics a fluff aired about Dominique Moceanu and Nadia Comaneci and since then I’ve been hooked; I was 10 and a half at the time. I love everything artistic; love watching figure skating, diving, rhythmic gymnastics and ballet, but there is something special about artistic gymnastics that makes me the number one fan of the sport. Unfortunately following the sport in my country, Mexico, has not been easy, we only get tv coverage of Worlds and if it weren’t for Youtube I would have most likely quit following the sport a decade ago.My favourite team is Russia and the event I enjoy watching the most, is the floor exercise and after Olympics and Worlds, Europeans is my favourite competition. I also love to do gymnastics montages.I have a natural passion for writing if I weren’t writing about gymnastics I’d be writing about something else for sure. I asked Brigid for an opportunity to start writing for the TCG in September of 2011 when the World Teams were being announced for Tokio. My first article was a profile of my own country’s World team. Since then I try to write as much as possible about my own country’s gymnastics, do history pieces and write the birthday profiles.

Thank you Brigid and Bea for being such great editors, for always trying to help out; thank you for letting be a part of this amazing community, The Couch Gymnast.

My gymnastics obsession began in 1992 during the Barcelona Olympics.  I was a recreational gymnast at the Illinois Gymnastics Institute in Westmont, IL USA (outside of Chicago), but I started late in life (eleven years old) and was too scared to compete!  Pretty soon, a diagnosis of mild scoliosis and admission into a private high school ended my short gym career.  But my obsession for the sport never stopped!  I taped every competition and watched them constantly- I still have some of the commentary memorized! (not to mention the routines, the scores, etc.)

I maintained my love for the gymnastics world while navigating college and my career.  Today, I am a teacher and department chairperson at a Catholic high school outside of Chicago (go Spartans!) where I also work in pastoral ministry.

In 2012, I was encouraged by a fellow gym fan to reach out to my favorite blog, TCG, and ask if I could write some pieces.  Given my memories of gymnastics from another era, as well as my interest in the history of the sport and its progression, I ended up writing mostly retrospectives for TCG.  Soon, these articles became part of ‘The List’.  I love to think of compilations that will create conversation and hopefully expose the readers to old favorites and new legends.  I am so thankful to Brigid for bringing me into the TCG family, and now to Bea, for continuing the relationship and patiently waiting for my newest list!  Thanks to the faithful readers and everyone who contributes with their own list.

In my non-gym time, I love reading, going to concerts, volunteering, and I am working on my second masters.  But no matter where I am, I am always checking my Twitter- @SuperGymFan.  I’m obsessed with pointed toes, a pretty Delchev, commenting on YouTube gym vids, and avant garde choreography.  My personal list of all time faves are: Kim Zmeskal, Lilia Podkopayeva, Nadia Comaneci, Anna Pavlova, Aliya Mustafina, and Sui Lu.