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| Photo by Kavin Mistry |
The Bay Area has once again been given the spotlight in the sports world. After hosting the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Finals, the USA women’s gymnastics team rolled into San Jose at the SAP Center for the trials of the 2016 Rio Olympic games which take place in August of this year.
Highlighting this year’s trials are 2012 Olympians Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman. Douglas was the 2012 AP Female athlete of the year, uneven bars champion and gold medalist in the London Olympic games.
All the athletes participating in this weekend’s trials have come down different paths, but they all have led to San Jose, for a shot at making one of the five coveted spots on the USA Olympic National team.
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| Photo by Kavin Mistry |
“I started when I was about eight or nine,” Douglas said. “I was watching the 2004 Olympic games and I saw Carly Patterson ... at that moment I knew I wanted to go to the Olympics.”
Douglas said she has always had confidence in herself and has her role models to thank for that.
“I love watching Michael Phelps,” Douglas said. “What I love about them is they are so confident and they don’t care about the outside negativity or what people say, they really just do them and embrace it.”
Douglas is competing for her second straight Olympic appearance and hopes to help Team USA defend its gold medal finish from four years ago. With Douglas, Raisman will also look to compete for a second time on the highest stage and she said pressure does not phase her.
“I have never really second guessed myself,” Raisman said. “I am one of those people who just do it.”
A lot of eyes were on gymnast Simone Biles, who is the 2016 USA all-around, vault, beam and floor exercise champion and is a four-time U.S. all-around champion the past four years.
“Simone is really in a league of her own,” Raisman said. “I don’t even think about me competing against her because she is so good, but I love watching all these girls because it is amazing to see the transformation of our whole group.”
Raisman was asked if she would be considered the ‘mom’ of the group because she is the oldest and has the most experience. She said she is embracing the idea of being able to show the younger athletes what it’s like to compete at this level and what it takes to reach the highest stage.
“In gymnastics you have to be in crazy good shape,” Raisman said. “I just got my body fat tested and it was at five percent. They don’t recommend you go that low but in gymnastics you have to be strong to be able to withstand those landings.”
Most of the new gymnasts said they are trying to take the time to embrace the moment and understand where they are and what this means. For Madison Kocian, she has dreamed about this moment ever since she watched Nastia Liukin compete at her club.
“It’s not just about the work you put in at the gym, but also what you do outside,” Kocian said. “It is really important to make sure your body recovers.”
Kocian said that Liukin was the driving force for her believing that her dream of making the Olympics could become a reality because she watched it happen in front of her.
“I am a big baseball fan and I am from Dallas so I love the Texas Rangers,” Kocian said. “I look up to Adrian Beltre since he has had multiple injuries like me and I just got a ball signed by him.”
While these athletes are competing against each other for a spot on the Olympic team, they all said they have become a very close net family and love working with each other.
Raisman said she reminded the others that it is important that they take in everything they are apart of this weekend because it is a one of a kind experience.
“This is a unique chance to have a packed stadium of all fans cheering for you,” Raisman said. “In Rio, not everyone will be cheering for you, but here, everyone will be chanting ‘USA! USA! USA!’”
The trials officially begin tomorrow night at the SAP Center and continue through the weekend until Sunday.
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