Connor McCool is undoubtedly a big name in NCAA men’s gymnastics. As well as captaining the fourth-ranked Illini, the four-time All-American is one of the best collegiate floor workers in the country and qualified to the 2022 U.S. elite national championships as a floor and vault specialist.
Even if you’re strictly a fan of elite or women’s gymnastics, odds are that if you’ve spent any quantity of time on gymnastics Twitter, you still probably know who McCool is—or at least as his handle, @GymFan5.
McCool, a Missouri native, joined Twitter in high school after developing an interest in women’s gymnastics, thanks in part to a famous clubmate.
“Sarah Finnegan finished her high school J.O. career at my gym, and I started following her just as she went to LSU. After that, I got really into it and I found the gymternet.”
Once in college, he was initially reluctant to reveal his online identity to both gym fans and fellow gymnasts alike, but he soon decided anonymity wasn’t worth the effort.
“Early into my first season, I think I was responding to one of Mia Takekawa’s beam routines and I was sitting next to some of the girls on the women’s team,” McCool recalled. “They were like, ‘Are you tweeting?’ After that, I just said, ‘I don’t…
