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USA Olympic Gymnasts of the Last 10 Years: How They Got Involved in Gymnastics
The USA Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team is a team that is always made up of girls that are seen as overall, very strong people. If you have ever seen an eight or nine-year-old gymnast, then you know what I’m talking about. At a very young age, these girls have sculpted legs, arms, stomachs, and backs. Competitive artistic gymnastics is a sport that takes an immense amount of dedication and hard work to make it to the Olympics. We’re talking 4 to 8-hour practices six or even seven days a week, especially when you make it to elite gymnastics.
From the outside looking in, it is hard to watch these sixteen-year-old girls train for the Olympics and not wonder what made them choose this path for themselves. Let’s be honest; why would anyone choose to give up most of their life for a sport that takes so much out of you?
Every young girl that gets involved in gymnastics has a story that is unique to her for why she started. Gymnastics is a sport that you have to love in order to be good at it, and when you love something that much, it’s hard to forget something so important like why you started in the first place. Personally, I was two years old when the 1996 summer Olympics aired. I watched Kerri Strug break her ankle on her first vault and stick the landing of her second vault on one leg, and I turned around to my mom and said in an awestricken voice, “Mommy, I want to do that!” Only a few months later, I was going to my first practice.
Different Reasons Why Girls Get Involved in Gymnastics
If you look at the USA Gymnastics Archived Bios, you can find the answer to this question by any gymnast on this roster. The most common response is that parents just wanted to tire out their kids, or Jordyn Wieber’s response which states, “My parents thought I looked like a gymnast, and I could balance on one foot for a long time, so they put me in a recreational class when I was four years old”.
Some gymnasts, like Sydney Johnson-Scharpfand Nastia Liukin, had family members that were gymnasts, so them getting involved in the sport seems a little more viable. People like Kristy Powell got their start in unconventional ways. Kristy states, “My brother Rusty got my started in gymnastics by putting pillows on the floor and flipping me over.”
Whether you were a kid that couldn’t stop flipping over things or you are like Emily Lee whose dad, “found a coupon for a free class in the newspaper,” you’ll notice that in almost every story, the sport sweeps them off their feet and the gymnast never looks back.
Everyone’s story is different, but they are all meaningful, just the same. Gymnastics is a sport that stays with you long after you are finished with it. That’s what makes it so easy to connect with the stories of the other girls on the list especially if you are a gymnast yourself!
Check out a list of answers for more of the answers by present and past members of USAG National Teams. You will find a lot of funny and uncommon ones!
“I went to Bannon’s on a day care field trip. While there I imitated the other gymnasts, and Coach Ronnie noticed. The gym sent home a letter requesting that I join tumbling or gymnastics” – Simone Biles
“My mom was a coach so I was in the gym all the time. I played in the gym until I was old enough to take classes” – Ragan Smith
“After attending a cousin’s birthday party at Elite Gymnastics in Baton Rouge” – Carly Patterson
“My mom said: The wild child just needs something to do!” – Shawn Johnson
“I was very active as a young child, so my parents signed me up in order to channel my energy” – Bridget Sloan
“I got put in a summer camp 2 years in a row and after the second year I really liked it and kept going” – Rebecca Bross
“I was always standing on my head and trying flips off the couch so my mom put me in gymnastics” – Sophia Butler
“My parents could not keep me from cartwheeling down the aisle of any open space or walking on my hands instead of my feet. People kept asking if I was in gymnastics. I had a lot of energy! So they put me in gym” – Jordan Chiles
“My dad wanted me to be an ice skater but I didn’t enjoy falling on hard ice and decided to do gymnastics and really loved it” – Leanne Wong
“My mother was tired of me flipping all over the house and furniture. So, at age 7 she took me to a gym for a try out for their competitive cheer program. The gymnastics coach saw me and invited me to the gymnastics team” – Trinity Thomas
“My mom put me in gymnastics because I would always climb out of my crib” – Madison Kocian
“My mother thought it would be a great idea to put me in class to keep me busy while we were waiting for my brothers to finish their baseball lessons. After the 1st rec class, a head coach extended an invitation for me to join her team and I’ve loved” – Victoria Nguyen
“When I was younger my parents put me in different activities such as swimming, soccer and ballet. My sisters studied classical ballet and when it was time for me to take ballet class, all I wanted to do was swing on the ballet bars and do cartwheels” – Emily Gaskins
“Watched Cirque du Soleil at age 3 and was hooked” – Megan Skaggs
“Tae kwon do masters wanted me to enrol in gymnastics classes to help my flexibility” – Alexis Vasquez
“My mom put me in gymnastics because i had so much energy and i was always running around, so she thought gymnastics might take away some of the insane amounts of energy” – McKayla Maroney
“I was invited to a friend’s gymnastics birthday party, and from the first time I stepped in the gym I knew that’s what I wanted to do” – Sabrina Vega
“My grandpa picked me up from preschool one day to find me hanging upside down on the rings by my legs so he put me in gymnastics to teach me how to fall” – Brandie Jay
“I walked on the edge of the bathtub” – Amanda Jetter
“I started when I was 17 months old because i kept jumping off the furniture! We found a local program that I could do which let me jump whenever I wanted!” – Cassandra Whitcomb
“My first sports were soccer and gymnastics. My parents went with the gymnastics route, considering that all I did was flip down the soccer field” – Margzetta Frazier
“My older brother and sister played soccer. My parents wanted some variety and decided to have me take gymnastics. It ended up being a great fit for me” – Alaina Johnson
1 Comment
Great content! Keep up the good work!