These gay college gymnasts turn into superheroes on the mat as The Powerpuff Girls
Charlie Larson, Ben Letvin, and Jude Norris found joy in gymnastics when they landed on the same team. Now they're spreading that joy on social media. The post These gay college gymnasts turn into superheroes on the mat as The Powerpuff Girls appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Dramatic TV Narrator: Balance beam. Vault. And floor exercise.
These were the ingredients chosen to create the University of Minnesota men’s gymnastics team.
But during the 2024 season, gay gymnasts Charlie Larson, Ben Letvin, and Jude Norris joined forces to add an extra element to the concoction: Ingredient Slay.
Thus, The Powerpuff Girls were born!
Using their astounding athletic skills and tight-knit friendship, Charlie, Ben, and Jude have dedicated their college careers to bringing fierceness to their sport on the floor, beam, and social media.
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All while striking more poses per minute than the “Abracadabra” video…
Photo courtesy of Ben Letvin
Origin stories filled with imposing obstacles are a vital part of a hero’s journey. Sure enough, each of the gymnasts, collectively known as The Powerpuff Girls, had to overcome significant roadblocks on the path to combining their abilities.
Jude and Charlie originally met in high school when they trained together in Minnesota. At the time, Jude had been competing in artistic gymnastics for years while Charlie had just switched into the event. Outsports had a chance to interview the trio to see how it all came together.
JUDE: I was like, “Why is this kid here?” And then he went on floor and I was like, “Oh, he’s really good!”
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The two became friendly, making small talk in rotations and bonding over social media. They stayed in touch while advancing through high school gymnastics but appeared to part ways when they started college at different schools.
Origin story
A year later, though, they met up again at the University of Minnesota while both were recovering from competitive low points.
Jude was part of the Golden Gophers roster during his freshman year and, by his own admission, was burned out. He had grown sick of the mental and physical grind of the sport and briefly quit the team.
JUDE: At the time, I was like, “I frickin’ hate this sport. I’m so ready to be done. I never want to do anything gymnastics-related again.”
Minnesota Coach Mike Burns talked him into staying on the administrative side. It was in that role that he reconnected with Charlie, who was rehabbing after a big physical setback.
Charlie briefly attended the University of Oklahoma but after breaking his leg and tearing his MCL, he was dropped from the team and decided to rebuild his career competing on the club level at Minnesota.
One of the other new members of the team was a freshman who seemed like he might fit in well with the two of them. There was only one problem…
BEN: We were the only three gay people on the team. We gravitated towards each other.
JUDE: Wait, can I tell this story? Because everyone actually thought Ben was straight on our team.
CHARLIE: Oh my God!
BEN: (laughing) Maybe I should tell this story…
It was a story familiar to countless gay athletes attempting to figure out how to navigate the sports world as their true selves.
BEN: When I first got here, I was like, “I need to gauge if this is a safe space or not.” And for the first week or two, I didn’t act very much myself.
During that brief time, he purposely dialed down his personality and tried his best to keep up with guy talk.
Photo courtesy of Ben Letvin
BEN: It was just like not being very flamboyant, I’d say.
CHARLIE: You were just more quiet.
BEN: I was just getting a feel.
CHARLIE: Your voice was like an octave lower too.
BEN: OK, gurl…
CHARLIE: (laughing) I’m kidding.
Despite his efforts, Jude and Charlie clocked who Ben was right off the bat. After a couple of weeks, Ben eventually let his guard down and shared his true self with the rest of his teammates.
From there, on a large roster with 15 new faces, the three of them gravitated toward one another.
While gymnastics is a remarkably breathtaking sport in competitions, it can also be demanding and monotonous during the endless hours of practice it requires. One thing all three found early on was that having two other close friends who understood them for who they were made the experience so much more fulfilling.
Becoming besties
JUDE: I fell in love with the sport again because I just loved spending time with Charlie and Ben in the gym. Honestly, just practicing together was the most fun part.
CHARLIE: For me, personally, having them in the gym made the gym so much more fun for me. And that was the first time I had real friends in the gym in almost my whole career. I always had friends in the gym but never really best friends. And I was coming back from an injury too. And I feel that’s a big reason why I got so much better so quick because I was so eager to go to the gym every single day.
Their camaraderie also benefited them at competitions.
CHARLIE: We could laugh things off. Having someone to make the meet a little bit less stressful can do so much.
As the three were bonding, part of Jude’s role as an administrator was assembling videos for Gopher Gymnastics social media. With so many new faces on the squad, he put together “Mic’d-up Monday” segments to introduce the roster to their followers.
In late November 2024, Minnesota gymnastics’ “Mic’d-up Monday” featured Charlie and Ben. From the very first shot as Charlie flubbed the opening line and instinctively assumed a playful faux-diva “Cut the camera!” face, their natural chemistry and friendly banter was perfect. In between shots of the two gymnasts on the vault and balance beam, they playfully read each other with snark like “OK, it’s giving high school…”
The video generated 80,000 views and was by far the most popular of the series. For their next video, Jude decided to join in on camera, doing a stint on the balance beam while rocking blue jeans.
Simone Biles could never. (Well, OK, she probably could but still…)
That video got 180,000 views. The Powerpuff Girls were a hit.
As they continued publishing content, a few prominent names in the sport took notice. Fellow gay gymnast Heath Thorpe left comments as did four-time NCAA champion Ian Gunther.
BEN: We have so much fun doing it. Also, we’ve gotten a lot of really good feedback from the gymnastics community and also the queer community in general.
JUDE: Getting attention within the gymnastics community, that was what I was most proud of. And also just representing gay gymnasts. Because when I was growing up, there weren’t many within that generation. Obviously, there were a lot before me but competing alongside me, there weren’t that many who were out.
Not only were their videos popular, but the trio noticed that they were having an impact outside of their sport.
Making an impact
BEN: We have fun looking at the comments because some of them get kind of crazy. I like reading the hate comments! It’s funny to know that us being ourselves is making someone so uncomfortable to where they have to go out of their way and leave that comment.
CHARLIE: I think that for every hate comment, though, there’s like a hundred good ones.
BEN: Yeah, that’s true!
CHARLIE: For me, I think the biggest impact was people who had absolutely nothing to do with the sport commenting good things. Because we’re reaching outside the gymnastics community now and people are just liking us for us.
What’s more, the trio saw a sizable LGBTQ presence among their newfound online fanbase and were inspired by it.
Each of them had firsthand experience of how the world of men’s gymnastics could be destructive for queer athletes. Being a source of unapologetic gay representation in their sport made them all immensely proud.
JUDE: It just means the world to us that we’re able to be that voice. Because when I was competing and especially growing up, I was the only openly out gay kid. I did get bullied for it — that’s why I switched gyms multiple times.
BEN: A lot of people quit because there’s a lot of queer people in gymnastics who aren’t that good [at the start]. And maybe they’re like, “Oh, I can’t be myself. I’m not gonna push further. I’m not going to go to college to do gymnastics.” [Our content] hopefully helps people want to be themselves or try to be themselves more in a straighter environment.
CHARLIE: When I’m playing around on beam, I would get a lot of hate for that like, “Oh, that’s a woman’s event.” But I’m like, “It’s still gymnastics! Why does this piece of wood have to be for a woman and can’t be for a man?” Or the opposite: Why can a woman not go on the rings? So I think it’s really cool to see people responding to us in a good way and help move gymnastics beyond the binary. Men’s gymnastics is very hetero, very masculine. Just helping open up its possibilities is my main goal.
JUDE: It means the world because I wanted someone to look up to and now that people look up to us, it’s honestly such a full-circle moment. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
After a year and half with the Gophers, Charlie transferred to the University of Michigan last season and once again became part of a Division I program. Despite no longer competing for the same school, though, the Powerpuff Girls stayed together, both as friends and as a social media presence.
The three remained in each other’s lives by texting every day and Facetiming frequently. When they found ways to reunite in person, as in this meetup in Chicago captured for Jude’s YouTube channel, their infectious joy could have lit up the entire city.
Each other’s biggest fan
Because Minnesota competes on the club level in college gymnastics while Michigan is part of the NCAA, the Powerpuff Girls still visibly support each other without running into a conflict with their respective teams.
When Ben’s Minnesota squad competed for the GymACT National Championship this year, Charlie was there to cheer him on. And with Michigan on the path to its eventual 2025 NCAA national title, Jude and Ben made a road trip to support him and the Wolverines in a competition against Ohio State.
Photo courtesy of Ben Letvin
Looking toward their respective futures, Jude is creating and overseeing his own cosmetics brand and hopes to find a career in corporate fashion, Ben is studying civil engineering and Charlie is concentrating on nutrition while looking to become a dietician.
CHARLIE: I also want to grow my social media beyond myself as an athlete. Because I feel like I’ve been an athlete my whole life and that’s what everyone knows me as. So I feel like I’m trying to produce some more authentic content so that when I’m done with gymnastics, I don’t fall off the face of the Earth and everyone unfollows me. I want to be likable as Charlie and not just Charlie the gymnast.
BEN: I’m not as social media savvy as Jude and Charlie are. I don’t have nearly as much of a following. But I love making the videos with them so whenever we’re together, we’ll probably make a video or do something of some sort. Personally, I’m just going to get a job. It’d be OK with me if we were just friends and we didn’t have social media.
JUDE: Social media for me is always just a side thing. Together, we’ll always do something. I don’t know how frequent but for sure it’ll still happen in the world.
Which means that just as with gymnastics, there will be many real world opportunities to conclude by saying…
So once again the day is saved thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!
You can follow Ben, Charlie and Jude on Instagram.
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The post These gay college gymnasts turn into superheroes on the mat as The Powerpuff Girls appeared first on Outsports.
