Angelina Melnikova, Morgan Hurd and Chen Yile will star in the new documentary series about gymnastics called All-Around. The Olympic channel’s original series will follow three promising athletes from traditional gymnastics powerhouses on their way to the Tokyo Olympics.
The creators of the series got unprecedented access to what’s going on behind the scenes in the lives of elite gymnasts, they were able to film at Round Lake and the Chinese National Training Center. The three gymnasts are at relatively different stages of their gymnastics careers. Angelina Melnikova is already an Olympian and a silver Olympic medalist but she was injured during the Rio Olympics and didn’t quite have the performance she hoped for. In addition, at 16 years old, she was overshadowed by her more experienced and more decorated teammates. Now, though, as a European champion and the leader of the Russian team, she is preparing for the Olympics in a different status and hopes for an individual medal.
Morgan Hurd is a World all-around champion but she’s never been to the Olympics and with the depth of the US team, her participation at major competitions is always doubted. She’s not exactly an underdog but likely faces much more competition trying to make the Olympic team than Melnikova.
Chen Yile is the youngest of the three and only turned senior last year. in 2017, she was an outstanding junior, beating seniors at national competitions and winning the all-around at the Junior Asian Championships. In 2018, she won the all-around at the Asian Games but had a less steady performance at the World Championships where she placed 6th in the AA final. She is currently recovering from an injury, so we haven’t seen her this season yet.
The first episode of the series will be out on August 6th and new episodes will come out monthly. The series will be available worldwide on the Olympic Channel website with subtitles in multiple languages.
This is super cool. I don’t think they’ve done anything like this before.