Remember the “goodest boy” of the USA gymnastics team? The first therapy dog for USA Gymnastics lovingly supported the athletes during the Olympic Trials.

At the last national championships in Fort Worth, Joscelyn Roberson said, “Beacon, I just love you so much! He’s so cute! I’ve already told people that this is the best thing that U.S.A. Gymnastics can do for us.”

Well, the Golden pup was supposed to go to Paris with the team, but the Logistical challenges and restrictions posed a significant barrier. It proved too complex to bring Beacon along with the team to the Olympics in France, so he cheered from home. But last year, in September, things went south for him.

In early September 2024, Beacon was admitted to an emergency veterinary hospital after experiencing stiffness, labored breathing, and a fever. Despite treatment with anti-inflammatory medication and cold laser therapy, his symptoms continued. X-rays revealed fluid in his chest cavity, at least partly responsible for the breathing difficulty, which prompted a referral to specialists. He spent six days hospitalized, during which medical staff helped drain the fluid from his chest and began treatments that helped reduce its accumulation.

Now, he is back and seen at Championships, mostly recently at the Xfinity Championships. But fans were angry with the broadcaster.

Gymnastics Now made a post yesterday during the 2025 Xfinity Championships on X. “The whole arena is currently watching intently as Beacon plays with a tennis ball on the floor while ‘who let the dogs out’ plays 😅”. The championships featured a show from the goodest boy of the USA gymnastics team. There was also an image attached to the tweet where Becaon could be seen playing with Flip, the USA Gymnastics mascot. It looked like Beacon was about to grab a tennis ball while Flip lay on the mat, encouraging him, with podium blocks and scoring markers in the background.

The tweet had the fans saying, “Top content- NOLA missed out by not showing up for Beacon.” He brought genuine comfort and joy to the gymnasts and everyone watching. But with fewer fans present, New Orleans missed out on that uplifting live experience. In the images that came out, the arena looked barely filled. Given the 17,791-seat capacity, the arena here appeared less than half full, like only 25-35% percent filled.

But now, Beacon has flown out of NOLA.

UCLA Gymnastics head coach, Janelle McDonald, tweeted on August 11, “Best seat on the plane!!! Flying home next to@USAGym pup, Beacon! 🐾❤️🤗”. But right now, fans are unhappy with the US gymnastics team for lacking coverage of him coming back to the sport after his injury.

US gymnastics faces backlash from fans

Beacon’s owner, Tracey Callahan Molnar, actively kept the public informed through updates on social media. She shared details about his symptoms, hospitalization, and recovery process, which were appreciated by fans who were concerned about his well-being. But not a lot came from US gymnastics, which hurt the fans.

Now, after watching him on the mat, fans couldn’t hold back on their excitement. “Peacock just doesn’t understand that they can stay live once the competition is over because I’d 100% watch this.” Certainly, everyone would have loved to watch Beacon take on the mat after the championship was over. 

Gymnastics now agreed with this fan and even said, “He should’ve been used to market the event 😭” The women’s finals tickets were priced as low as $30 for juniors and $47 for seniors on August 10, unusually cheap for a national championship finale; yet, fans did not show up. But the cute presence of Beacon could’ve boosted the attendance on the final day of the Xfinity US championships.

One user also took to the comment section to say, “It was the best part of the meet, although the cheng was a close second.” Leanne Wong crushed it with the Cheng vault at the championships with incredible precision, scoring a solid 14.600, which is a D-score (difficulty) of 5.6 and an E-score (execution) of 9.0. And yet it falls behind Beacon’s performance.

Then, another fan called the pup’s presence, “The height of entertainment.” And we cannot agree more. Have you seen the video yet? No wonder, fans were asking more of it…