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In this Hang Up and Listen Olympics Extra, Josh Levin talks with writer Dvora Meyers about the U.S. women’s gymnastics team’s dominant win in the team all-around. Plus, David Epstein of ProPublica explains why elite female gymnasts are shrinking.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
- Michael Phelps won two gold medals on Tuesday night. He celebrated appropriately.
- The Olympic diving pool turned green from algae growth. “Ermm … what happened?!”
- Forty-one-year-old Hungarian fencer Géza Imre came so close to beating 20-year-old South Korean Sang-young Park in the men’s epee gold-medal bout.
- Follow Dvora Meyers on Twitter. Buy her book The End of the Perfect 10 and read an excerpt on how the Karolyis changed American gymnastics.
- In 2014, Meyers wrote in Slate that Simone Biles was the best gymnast in the world.
- Watch Meyers’ video on how gymnastics scoring works.
- In Slate, Ruth Graham wrote that “NBC’s usual anxiety-amping tricks were no match for the greatness of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.”
- Read Slate’s Katy Waldman on the U.S. women’s leotards.
- Follow David Epstein on Twitter and buy his book The Sports Gene.
- Tiny gymnast Simone Biles posed back-to-back with hulking volleyball player David Lee.
- Josh’s Olympics Extra Vinicius: Bryan Curtis’ 2004 Slate post about how gymnastics commentator Tim Daggett is the Olympics spirit personified.
Podcast production and edit by Dan Bloom and Efim Shapiro.
Our intern is Laura Wagner.
You can email us at hangup@slate.com.
