A "growing network of blogs and social streams" called The Gymternet was launched after the '12 London Games, and led by hardcore fans it has "upended the way women's gymnastics is covered," according to Elspeth Reeve of the NEW REPUBLIC. Gymternet also has an eponymous blog on the site run by Lauren Hopkins that focuses on breaking news and "provides injury reports, live blogs and analysis of competitions, interviews with elite gymnasts, and critiques of leotard fashion." At first some of the best sources were "parents of gymnasts." Now, Hopkins said that her followers include the "biggest names in the sport, as well as the professional journalists who cover it for a living." Hopkins during the Rio Games will serve as a "gymnastics researcher for NBC's digital broadcast team." Meanwhile, one of the podcasts on the site is "GymCastic," run by Jessica O'Beirne, where top athletes and coaches "sit for interviews, and a panel of informed fans provides analysis." O'Beirne said, "We wanted gymnastics to be treated like a normal sport. To get the same press coverage all year long, every year, that the NFL, the basketball, the hockey, all those sports get." Reeve noted during the Rio Games, Gymternet will serve as an "antidote to the inane and sometimes sexist coverage provided by mainstream broadcasters." It will focus more on "athleticism than on tears of teenage girls" (NEWREPUBLIC.com, 6/29).
