The Sam Oldham Podcast

In 2010 at the age of 18, my Dad contacted Red Bull who had seen me perform at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore winning Gold and Silver in artistic gymnastics for Team GB. I was approached by a sports management company and introduced to Chris Smith a chartered accountant, auditor, business coach and trained mediator. Chris was a founding partner of Granite Morgan Smith FC who advise property owners, professional athletes and family business clients on everything from managing their finances, running a business and minimising tax. Chris has worked with the British athletes commission, England handball association and helped advise UK sport to design the new athlete performance awards. At just sixteen Chris Smith started his first business from his bedroom providing football teams with sportswear clothing which he used to fund his university degree. The landscape of elite sport is a ruthless one and in this episode Chris Smith shares incredible insights into the world of athlete finances. And this is his story. 

In 2026, we’re launching a brand-new monthly gymnastics show on The Sam Oldham Podcast. Across the year, you can expect deep dives into the biggest names in the sport, the major storylines building toward championship events, and post-competition debriefs featuring some of the most passionate experts and analysts in artistic gymnastics.

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Kensley Behel, the brilliant mind behind the Neutral Deductions team, who focus on the sport of men’s artistic gymnastics.

We take a deep dive into the recent Home Nations competitions that have taken place across the UK as athletes begin building momentum ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Kensley also brings me up to speed with all the latest news from the U.S. men’s gymnastics program, and together we recap the key performances from the Winter Cup.

Finally, we look back at the Cottbus World Cup in February, where several standout routines came from the Neutral Russian athletes—gymnasts who will undoubtedly be motivated to make an impact on the world stage in 2026.

This year, we plan to continue sharing the incredible stories of the very best athletes in the sport of gymnastics. A huge thank you to our listeners, sponsors, and supporters for being part of the journey.

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Gymnastics Show.

In 2008 at the Beijing Olympic Games, Justin Spring was part of the USA men's artistic gymnastics team that won the bronze medal in the team event. Justin's journey to becoming an Olympian in 2008 was anything but straight forward and in 2007 whilst performing a triple twist on the vaulting table at the US National championships, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. After a challenging rehabilitation process he successfully qualified for the American team that went on to finish on the medal podium in China against all odds. Throughout his competitive collegiate career Justin represented the University of Illinois winning multiple National titles. Following his retirement as a professional athlete, Justin returned to Illinois to become the head coach of the men's gymnastics program where in 2012 he led the team to an NCAA National championship title. In recent years he has decided to turn his attention to the sport of Women's gymnastics and he is now the head associate coach of the Alabama college gymnastics team who are currently sit third in the season standings. Justin's gymnastics was incredibly unique and his appetite for risk is something that was encourage in him by his father Sherwood C. Spring who logged 165 hours in space as a NASA astronaut. And this is his story. 

In 2023, Lukas Dauser performed a near perfect parallel bars routine at the men's artistic gymnastics World championships to win the gold medal for team Germany. Lukas took silver on his favoured event at the Tokyo Olympic Games that were held in 2021, finishing behind arguably the most dominant champion in the sport in the modern era Zou Jingyuan of team China. His first major championships success came at the European gymnastics championships in 2017 at the age of 23 where again Lukas finished on the medal podium on his specialist apparatus winning silver. Throughout his career he represented Germany at three Olympic Games, first performing alongside his heroes Fabian Hambuchen and Marcel Nguyen in Rio 2016. Lukas Dauser battled through multiple injuries during his career to become only the seventh Germany artistic gymnast to be crowned a world champion. Following the Paris 2024 Olympics, Lukas retired from the sport and has plans to inspire the next generation of aspiring German athletes in a. joint venture together with his former teammate Andreas Bretschneider. And this is his story. 

In 1993, Neil Thomas won a World gymnastics championships floor exercise silver medal for Great Britain in men's artistic gymnastics in front of a home crowd in Birmingham. A year later in 1994, Neil performed one of the best routines of his professional career, defending his silver medal at the World championships held in Brisbane Australia. He had been inspired watching the Seoul Olympic Games 1988 and decided to dedicate himself to the sport, which culminated in him being selected to represent TeamGB at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games four years later. Throughout his career Neil Thomas won eight major championships medals including the 1994 Commonwealth Games All Around title. Neil competed in an era where the great Soviet Union teams dominated the sport of gymnastics but was able to garner huge amounts of respect thanks to his exceptional performances on the World stage. Neil Thomas stood alone as the sole British artistic gymnast cable of winning medals at the highest level in the 1990's and inspired many of the brilliant athletes that emerged in the early 2000's for Great Britain. And this is his story. 

In 1983, Eileen Langsley became the official photographer of the international gymnastics federation and held that position for nearly two decades. Eileen has photographed fourteen Olympic Games throughout her career and specialised in artistic gymnastics, figure skating and women's sport. In 2010 she was given the award of merit by the international hall of fame for services to the sport of gymnastics. Eileen's incredible career began in the world of education as a PE teacher and her journey into the world of sports photography was driven by a passion to showcase women's sport during a time period when the profession was dominated by men. She has photographed the very best athletes in the sport of artistic gymnastics including the great Soviet Union teams of the 1980's and more recently the legendary Kohei Uchimura. And this is her story. 

In 2025, Abigail Martin won the World gymnastics championships bronze medal on the floor exercise for Great Britain in the sport of women artistic gymnastics. At the age of just sixteen Abi was selected to represent Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where she was part of the artistic gymnastics team that finished 4th in the women's team final. This followed a European team silver earlier that spring, where Abi made her international senior major championships debut finishing 7th individually in the floor exercise final. Abigail Martin's incredibly successful transition into senior gymnastics culminated in her remarkable 8th place finish at the World gymnastics championships in the all around final at just seventeen. And this is her story. 

In 2025, Crystelle Lake represented Great Britain at the World University Games in the sport of women's artistic gymnastics finishing 9th place in the all around final. Crystelle is the Scottish women's all around National champion and over the past twelve months has consistently produced personal best all around scores heading into the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer. Most recently she broke 52 points at the first Commonwealth Games trial for team Scotland and has her sights set on competing in front of a home crowd in Glasgow. Crystelle's father Derek Johnstone played 500 games for Glasgow Rangers football club and made 14 international appearances for Scotland. Crystelle is currently training at Park Wrekin gymnastics club alongside Tokyo Olympic medalist Alice Kinsella. And this is her story. 

In 2026, we’re launching a brand-new monthly gymnastics show on The Sam Oldham Podcast. Across the year, you can expect deep dives into the biggest names in the sport, the major storylines building toward championship events, and post-competition debriefs featuring some of the most passionate experts and analysts in artistic gymnastics.

In this week’s episode, we look ahead to the start of the competition season for both the British and American MAG teams, highlighting the athletes to watch as the year unfolds. Max Whitlock announced his comeback at the end of 2025, and we discuss how he could factor into the three major championships taking place in 2026.

The NCAA season is now underway, with major stars such as Asher Hong and Frederick Richard aiming to lead their teams toward a national title this spring. We also discuss two of the biggest names in men’s artistic gymnastics currently in the process of switching nationalities. Manrique Larduet, the 2015 World All-Around silver medalist and horizontal bar bronze medalist for Cuba, is hoping to represent Italy going forward. Meanwhile, Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalist Ilia Kovtun, formerly of Ukraine, is now based in Croatia with ambitions of competing for them at the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

This year, we plan to continue sharing the incredible stories of the very best athletes in the sport of gymnastics. A huge thank you to our listeners, sponsors, and supporters for being part of the journey.

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Gymnastics Show.

In 2014, Stacey Ervin Jr was part of the Michigan men's gymnastics team that won back to back NCAA championships titles. Alongside World championships medalist Sam Mikulak, Stacey Ervin was a key member of the Michigan gymnastics program under head coach Kurt Golder throughout the 2016 Olympic cycle. Stacey Excelled on the floor exercise winning fifteen event finals on the apparatus during his collegiate career including National honours at the US championships. Tragically Stacey's mother passed away just before he started University but ultimately his dedication to the sport is what helped him manage his grief and find a way to keep moving forwards. Since retiring from gymnastics Stacey spent time coaching men's gymnastics, had a contract with the WWE and is now personal trainer. And this is his story.