The ‘gymternet’: Gymnastics’ devoted, sometimes toxic online fans

O’Beirne, right, interviews Mandy Mohamed, an artistic gymnast from Egypt, after the women’s artistic gymnastic qualifications at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on Monday, July 26, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Many in the world of gymnastics have a love-hate relationship with their noisy, often noxious, corner of the Internet that they call the gymternet. O’Beirne started her podcast in 2012 because she didn’t like how mainstream media covered the sport. Women athletes were often infantilized and presented as objects without agency. — AP

TOKYO: Fresh off Tokyo’s competition floor, four Olympic gymnasts lined up for a press conference. A podcaster offered a question on behalf of what has become a potent voice in the small world of elite gymnastics.

“The gymternet would like to know...” she began.