In 2014, at the World gymnastics championships in Nanning China. Donnell Whittenburg burst onto the international stage at the age of twenty, performing incredibly difficult gymnastics routines and helping team USA win the bronze medal. One year later, Donnell was able to keep his composure under immense pressure and stood atop the World championships vault podium winning bronze again alongside the Olympic champion Ri Se-gwang and the great Marian Dragulescu. Most recently Donnell has been selected to represent team USA at the upcoming World gymnastics championships in Indonesia. Donnell is now training at EVO gymnastics and has hopes of representing the US men's gymnastics team at the LA 2028 Olympic Games. And this is his story. 

In 2024 at the Paris Olympic Games, Kazuma Kaya captained the Japanese men's gymnastics team to the gold medal in the Olympic team final. Four years earlier, Kazuma and the Japanese men had finished second to the Russian federation by just 0.103 tenths of a point. Individually at the same Tokyo 2020 home Olympic Games, he claimed the pommel horse bronze medal for team Japan. Currently Kazuma is recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon injury but has hopes of defending the Japanese team Olympic gold medal at the LA 2028 Olympic Games in three years time. Throughout his incredible gymnastics career, Kazuma Kaya has won eight World championships medals including two gold, two silver and four bronze. And this is his story. 

In 2025 I've had the opportunity to reconnect with many of my former team mates and have enjoyed spending quality time with them over the summer. We have all had very unique experiences as elite athletes competing at the very highest level of competition. Between us we have won Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth medals representing Great Britain in the sport of gymnastics. Retiring from elite sport as a young man or woman presents significant challenges & often results in a loss of identity. In light of the passing of the great Ricky Hatton, I feel passionately about sharing my own experience of adjusting to life after sport for the next generation to learn from. And this is my story. 

In August 2025, the US National gymnastics championships took place in New Orleans. The very best athletes in America were competing for the National title and a spot on the World championships team that will represent Team USA in Jakarta in October. This week I'm joined by Kensley Behel of Neutral Deductions to discuss the US championships performances, the subsequent team selection and look ahead to the first major global championships of the LA 2028 Olympic cycle. At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games Kensley played a key role in the NBC broadcasting team's coverage of the Olympic team final and was recently awarded an EMMY for her incredible work as an expert researcher. The US men's team won a bronze medal in dramatic fashion, thanks to a beautiful pommel horse routine by Stephen Nedoroscik. And this is our story.

In 2018, Dominick Cunningham became the third male British artistic gymnast to win the European floor exercise title at the European gymnastics championships in Glasgow. Dominick was a consistent member of the British team throughout the Tokyo Olympic cycle qualifying for six individual major championships apparatus finals in the process and winning a European team silver medal. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia Dominick and team England dominated the competition winning the team gold medal in the Gold Coast. Dom trained at the Earls gymnastics club alongside London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Kristian Thomas in the early chapters of his career. Over the past decade he has been part of the Birmingham gymnastics club who have had incredible amounts of success in Great Britain wining the historic Adam's shield on multiple occasions. In 2022 Dominick switched Nationalities and now represents team Ireland with hopes of competing at the LA 2028 Olympic Games. And this is his story. 

In August 2025, the men's and women's British artistic gymnastics World championships trials took place at the Lilleshall National sports centre. It was a rare opportunity to watch the very best athletes in the country compete in high level competition and see behind the curtain. I'm going to be talking about some of the standout performances and my big takeaways following the event which include highlights from Joe Fraser and Alex Cash. I'll also share my personal experiences visiting Singapore this summer, where gymnastics afforded me an amazing opportunity to revisit the country that hosted the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games. And this is my story. 

In this episode of "The Sam Oldham Podcast" I'm going to be answering questions that have been sent in by some of our amazing listeners. I'll also look at some current topical stories from the world of gymnastics and share some of my own recent personal experiences. This is the 130th episode of the podcast which marks the two and a half year anniversary of the start of the show. Thank you to all of our listeners for their continued support and of course the sponsors who believe in the work that we're doing. And this is my story. 

In 2011 at the World gymnastics championships in Tokyo. Jake Dalton helped the US men's team finish on the podium, winning a bronze medal just one year out from the London 2012 Olympic Games. Less than twelve months later Jake and his four US team mates qualified in first place ahead of the Olympic team final. After early error's however they finished the event in 5th place but just two years later they were able to learn from the mistakes made in London and once again finish back on the medal podium. It was an incredible World championships for Jake in Nanning 2014, who went on to win an individual World championships floor bronze medal behind Kenzo Shirai and the great Kohei Uchimura. Throughout his career Jake won four World championships medals for team USA and competed at back to back Olympic Games. And this is his story.

In May 2025, Casimir Schmidt finished 8th all around in the European men's artistic gymnastics final at the age of 29. At the junior European championships in 2012 he won the gold medal for team Netherlands on vault which was the beginning of an amazing career. Throughout his gymnastics journey Casimir has competed in a total of 9 major championships all around finals finishing 13th on the biggest stage of all at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Following last summer's Olympic Games, Casimir travelled across the United States performing in the gold over America gymnastics tour, headlined by Simone Biles. Back in 2017 Casimir and his team mate Bram Verhofstad came to visit Nottingham and I had the pleasure of training alongside them both. And this is his story.

In May 2025, Luke Whitehouse made history by winning his third consecutive European men's artistic gymnastics floor title in Leipzig, Germany. Luke is the first British male artistic gymnast to win three individual gold medals on a single apparatus at major championships level. He was selected to represent Great Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and competed in both the team and floor individual event finals. At the time of recording this episode Luke was preparing to fly back out to Germany to compete for Great Britain in the World university Games. Once again Luke brought back the floor title against some of the best athletes in the world, including the current Olympic all around champion from Japan. He's on an incredible run so far this year winning three floor titles already and has his sights set on the World championships this Autumn. And this is his story.