Georgia hires co-head coaches for gymnastics program

ajc.com

Credit: ArLuther Lee

Credit: ArLuther Lee

Georgia as a new gymnastics coach – two of them.

On Thursday, the school announced that Cecile Canqueteau-Landi and Ryan Roberts have been named co-head coaches. Canqueteau-Landi was a USA Gymnastics coach and Roberts has spent the past six seasons as an assistant coach at Alabama and Georgia.

“Cecile and Ryan are two of the most accomplished gymnastics coaches in the sport,” athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement. “The combination of their leadership and experiences will give us one the most dynamic coaching staffs in the country. Both coaches have developed and mentored the very best gymnasts in the world, and I know our current and future student-athletes will be excited to learn from two of the best coaches in the country.”

Canqueteau-Landi has trained and mentored 13 USA Women’s Senior National Team members, including Olympic and World team and individual champions Simone Biles and Madison Kocian and World team champions Alyssa Baumann, Jordan Chiles and Joscelyn Roberson. She and her husband, Laurent, are personal coaches to Biles. Canqueteau-Landi competed for France at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and currently coaches at the Worlds Champions Centre. Roberts has served as an assistant coach at Georgia for two seasons, and before that spent four years at Alabama, where he helped lead the Crimson Tide to the 2021 SEC Championship and a No. 5 national ranking.

Courtney Kupets Carter, the greatest gymnast in UGA history, was fired last week after seven years as the GymDogs’ coach. Georgia, which once won five consecutive national gymnastics championships and has won 10 overall, never contended for a title under her leadership. The Bulldogs finished last at the SEC Championships this past season.