Nilson Medeiros - Gymnastics Coach - Iowa State University Athletics

Nilson Medeiros

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
nilsonm@iastate.edu
Phone:
515-294-0555

Nilson Medieros Savage is in his sixth season at Iowa State, and in 2023 will be serving his third season as associate head coach on the Iowa State Gymnastics staff. Medieros Savage also serves as Iowa State’s recruiting coordinator. The Brazilian brings over three decades of coaching experience, including over a decade in the NCAA, to the ISU staff. His career has taken him all around the world, while being involved in club, college and international gymnastics.

Medieros Savage oversees ISU's uneven bars competitors while also assisting with floor exercise. The Cyclone bars group has been outstanding the past four seasons, amassing a team score of 49.000 32 times, including seven times in 2022.

An impressive feat under Medeiros Savage’s guidance was getting three new Cyclones to 9.900 and over in Loganne Basuel, Addy De Jesus and Natalie Horowitz in 2021.

A pair of Cyclones stood out in 2020, with Natalia Ros Vaquer tying ISU’s school record in the event with a 9.950 at Florida and Jade Vella-Wright, who became the first freshman in ISU history to score four-straight 9.990s or better on bars, capped by a 9.925 at the GymQuarters Invitational. On Feb. 2, 2019 at West Virginia Medeiros Savage coached the first bars unit in Iowa State program history where everyone lineup scored a 9.850 and above.

During the 2018 campaign, he guided Hilary Green to a pair of Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week honors for her work on bars, while he also helped oversee the progress of MJ Johnson, who got her first career 9.9 on bars and her first Big 12 Event Specialist of the Week honor.

Prior to ISU, Medieros Savage wrapped up a stint of coaching Olympic gymnast Jessica Lopez of Venezuela, who he also worked with in his time as an assistant coach at Denver. Medeiros Savage guided Lopez to a seventh place finish in the all-around and sixth on the uneven bars at the Rio 2016 Olympics, both were the highest finishes by a South American gymnast in Olympic gymnastics history. Her trip to the uneven bars final was the first event finals appearance by a Venezuelan gymnast.

During that time, Medeiros Savage also served as the President of Classic Events USA, an independent company that ran and operated the Cancún Classic, a gymnastics even that brought hundreds of Junior Olympic competitors and NCAA squads to Mexico for competition.

His time in the NCAA has seen Medeiros Savage work at a pair of current Big 12 members: Denver and Oklahoma. In his three seasons at Denver, he helped guide the Pioneers to the 2008 NCAA Gymnastics Championships and coached the aforementioned Lopez. In Norman, Medeiros Savage served as recruiting coordinator and uneven bars coach for nine years, helping guide the Sooners to five NCAA Gymnastics Championships trips.

Medeiros Savage has worked with some of the biggest and best names and organizations. In 1988, Medieros Savage spent time in the Soviet Union studying technique and strategy from some of the world’s top coaches at the time. When he moved to the United States, Medieros Savage had the opportunity to work with former Romania and USA Gymnastics National Team head coach Bela Karolyi.

From 1987-90, he served as the head coach of his native Brazil’s Junior National Team, while also serving as a coach to several members of Brazil’s Senior National Team.

Medeiros Savage graduated from Universidade Gama Filho in 1986 with a bachelor degree in physical education and a teaching certificate. He also earned a post graduate degree in exercise physiology in 1987.