What's Under the Chalk: Jan Stechmann and Jeanette Wörner of SPIETH

Every gymnast at Worlds lands on the same mats, swings on the same bars and punches off the same boards. Jan Stechmann and Jeanette Wörner of SPIETH, the company that built them, spend the hour on what nobody watching at home thinks about. SPIETH has been building gymnastics equipment since the 1950s. It made the tension springboard that debuted at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, has supplied twelve Olympic Games, and is the apparatus supplier for the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam. Jan Stechmann is managing director of SPIETH America and runs the company's business across Germany, Canada and the US. Jeanette Wörner is head of sales and marketing at SPIETH Gymnastics in Germany. Gina recorded this two days before Rotterdam opens, as the trucks were arriving. It is a physical therapist's tour of the equipment: what "bouncy" actually means to a body, why foam wears out where everyone lands, how a floor is built so it never comes apart under a triple full, and what a gym can check tomorrow. In this episode: Fifteen to twenty trucks, two podia and seven sets of equipment: what it takes to load in a World Championships Why nobody at Worlds competes on brand-new equipment, and who breaks it in first What "bouncy" means as ground reaction force, and why 78% back versus 85% throws off a landing How a new springboard gets dropped on a thousand times before an athlete ever touches it The question every gym owner asks a supplier, "how long does it last?", and Jan's answer: what are you doing with it? When did you last lift the carpet? The safety check most gyms never do Vorspannung, the German idea that the equipment works with the gymnast, not against her Inside a competition floor, from the concrete up: a sandwich, and a puzzle Cable tension on bars and rings, measured instead of guessed by whichever coach set the bar Why the podium feels different, and why the first few rounds of podium training are about over-rotation The skill Jeanette still holds her breath for Jan Stechmann and Jeanette Wörner are with SPIETH Gymnastics, the apparatus supplier for the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam and the equipment supplier for the LA 2028 Olympics. The practitioner directory, the gymnastics sports medicine certification for healthcare practitioners, and every episode's show notes are at https://medgym.net. New episodes of The MedGym Podcast every other Thursday. If this one is useful, send it to a coach, a parent, an athlete or a practitioner who needs it. Chapters 0:00 What's under the chalk at Worlds 1:20 The load-in: trucks, technicians and two weeks in Rotterdam 6:17 Athletes, engineers and the rule book 9:41 What "bouncy" really means 11:34 From wood shop to foam: how the floor evolved 13:47 The bowling ball test, a thousand times in a row 15:39 Tires, WOGA and Level 5s: when foam wears out 17:01 Nobody competes on brand-new equipment 17:54 Why gymnasts love a SPIETH beam 21:40 How long does gym equipment last? 23:40 Service visits and the 120-pound athlete 25:57 When did you last lift the carpet? 27:13 Twice-a-day checks at Worlds 28:58 How equipment gets certified 32:23 Mats, cores and absorbing the triple back 36:07 Vorspannung: equipment that works with you 37:31 Achilles injuries and next-generation equipment 40:14 Inside a competition floor: a sandwich and a puzzle 44:09 Cable tension, measured 47:36 Why the podium feels different 50:35 Hopes for the future: beam dismounts, multi-mats and gym design 55:39 LA 2028 57:29 One thing to carry out of today