The Sam Oldham Podcast

🥇 In 2026, we’re launching a brand‑new monthly gymnastics show on The Sam Oldham Podcast. Each month, we’ll explore the biggest names, emerging storylines, and major championship build‑ups in artistic gymnastics — plus post‑competition debriefs with some of the sport’s most passionate experts and analysts.
In this week's episode, I'm going to look at the biggest stories from the world of artistic gymnastics throughout the month of May.
The NHK Cup took place in Japan and served as the final selection competition ahead of the World Gymnastics Championships, which will be held in Rotterdam later this year. Oka Shinnosuke, the reigning Olympic all-around champion, took the title after posting the highest all-around total in the world so far this year, becoming the first gymnast to break the 86-point barrier.
Daiki Hashimoto was leading the competition after performing the Yonekura vault on the second day of competition, but a fall on the high bar opened the door for Oka to claim his third consecutive NHK Cup title.
The Japanese men's team is widely regarded as having one of the most rigorous and transparent selection processes of any federation, with athletes required to compete across four days of competition. Japan also selects its major championship teams considerably earlier than most nations. The team that will represent Japan at this year's World Championships consists of Oka Shinnosuke, Daiki Hashimoto, Shohei Kawakami, Doi Ryosuke, and Maeda Fusuke.
At the Chinese National Championships, first-year senior Yang Haonan won the gold medal, defeating Zhang Boheng, with Wang Chengcheng finishing in third place.
The World Gymnastics Federation has officially confirmed that the Russian Federation will be eligible to compete as Russia at this year's World Championships. We'll look at what a potential Russian team might look like and discuss whether any members of the Tokyo Olympic gold medal-winning squad could make a return to competitive gymnastics.
Following a recent podcast conversation with Sam Mostowfi, who spoke about the impact of the pandemic and the increase in pommel horse specialists that emerged during that period, I'll be reflecting on some of the other lasting effects that time away from the sport may have had on the new generation of gymnasts competing today.
Finally, after five years in retirement, I'll be returning to competition to perform a high bar routine at the British Team Championships on June 6th, raising money for Parkinson's UK and the Samaritans.
This year, our mission remains the same — to share the stories behind the finest athletes in the sport of gymnastics. Thank you to our listeners, sponsors, and supporters for being part of the journey.

Welcome to Episode 5 of The Gymnastics Show 🎙️

At just 22 years of age, Jesse Moore is already rewriting the history books for Australian gymnastics.
At the 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta, Moore delivered the performance of his career, finishing 11th in the men’s all-around final — the highest placing ever achieved by an Australian male gymnast at the World Championships. 
Twelve months earlier, at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Jesse stepped onto the sport’s biggest stage and qualified for the all-around final against the very best gymnasts in the world. Competing with composure and confidence, he became the first Australian male gymnast since London 2012 to reach an Olympic all-around final, ultimately finishing 21st overall. 
For a country still emerging in the global gymnastics landscape, Moore’s rise represents something bigger than individual success. It signals a new era for Australian men’s artistic gymnastics.
Now, with 2032 Summer Olympics on the horizon, the opportunity ahead is enormous.
For Australian athletes, a home Olympic Games represents more than competition. It brings funding, exposure, belief, and the chance to inspire an entire generation. And for Jesse Moore, Brisbane 2032 is not simply a dream in the distance — it is a target.
Already in the opening months of the 2026 World Cup season, Moore has continued building momentum, winning multiple medals internationally and proving he belongs among the sport’s elite. His performances have showcased not only technical excellence, but also the resilience and maturity that define world-class athletes.
This year, Jesse is chasing a top-10 finish at the World Championships in Rotterdam. Beyond that lies another major opportunity: the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he hopes to challenge the best gymnasts from across the Commonwealth and contend for medals on one of the biggest stages of his career.
This is his story.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were ultimately held in 2021 due to the global pandemic, Anna Hopkin swam the anchor leg for Team GB’s 4 x 100m mixed medley relay team alongside Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty and James Guy. Together, they won Olympic gold for Great Britain while breaking the world record in the process.
Across her professional swimming career, Anna won a total of seventeen major championship medals. Following her Olympic success, she was awarded an MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours List for services to swimming.
In 2024, Anna qualified for her second Olympic Games, representing Team GB in 2024 Summer Olympics, before shortly afterwards announcing her retirement from professional swimming.
Anna’s journey to the Olympic Games was far from conventional. As a teenager, she stepped away from the sport after falling out of love with swimming. Yet through resilience, determination and rediscovering her passion, she returned to reach the very pinnacle of her sport.
And this is her story.

In 2025, at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, Kameron Nelson announced himself on the world stage. Competing in his first major championships for Team USA, Nelson qualified for the floor exercise final and narrowly missed the medal podium, finishing an impressive fourth against the world’s best.
His rise to international gymnastics had been anything but conventional.
Nelson joined the Ohio State Buckeyes gymnastics team in 2021 as a walk-on athlete, determined to prove he belonged among the NCAA elite. Over the course of his collegiate career, he developed into one of the most exciting floor exercise performers in the country, capturing multiple NCAA medals on the event. In 2025, he reached another milestone by claiming the NCAA National Championship title on vault.
Building on that momentum, Nelson opened the 2026 international season with another breakthrough performance, earning the bronze medal on still rings at the Cottbus World Cup in Germany.
Now training at the EVO Gymnastics Centre alongside some of America’s most accomplished gymnasts — current World Champion Brody Malone, World medalist Donnell Whittenburg, and Olympic medalist Stephen Nedoroscik — Nelson continues to push the boundaries of the sport.
He made gymnastics history by becoming the first artistic gymnast ever to compete two triple back somersaults in the same floor exercise routine, cementing his reputation as one of the sport’s boldest innovators.
With the LA 2028 Olympic Games on the horizon, Nelson has firmly set his sights on earning a place on the U.S. team that will begin Olympic qualification this autumn at the World Championships in Rotterdam.
This is Kameron Nelson’s story.

🥇 In 2026, we’re launching a brand‑new monthly gymnastics show on The Sam Oldham Podcast. Each month, we’ll explore the biggest names, emerging storylines, and major championship build‑ups in artistic gymnastics — plus post‑competition debriefs with some of the sport’s most passionate experts and analysts.
In this week’s episode, Lewis Thomson — the young, talented athlete turned independent gymnastics journalist — joins us to discuss the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup circuit. We’re also joined by Kensley Behel, the brilliant mind behind Neutral Deductions, who breaks down the conclusion of the NCAA Championships season.
We explore the world‑class field that attended the Osijek World Cup in April, reviewing key routines and standout performances. In Japan, Daiki Hashimoto captured his sixth consecutive National Title at the All‑Japan Championships in Takasaki, narrowly edging out reigning Olympic all‑around champion Oka Shinnosuke. Over in the U.S., Stanford University claimed the 2026 NCAA men’s gymnastics title, holding off Oklahoma, while Fred Richard continued his impressive start to the season, taking the all‑around crown.
This year, our mission remains the same — to share the stories behind the finest athletes in the sport of gymnastics. Thank you to our listeners, sponsors, and supporters for being part of the journey.
Welcome to Episode 4 of The Gymnastics Show 🎙️