![]() ![]() the Olympics, and maybe have a better experience with it because I feel like my last experience was just so miserable. “Because I think I was supposed to come back and try for. “I just feel like it was meant to be that I was. MyKayla emphasizes that things are dramatically better for elite gymnasts now that they’re under new leadership, and she even calls gymnastics “fun” again. Not a chance,’” she recalls with a laugh, now that both she and Simone are vying for one more shot at Olympic glory. “Simone and I would sit there and be like, ‘If we made the Olympic team, that’s enough to accomplish. She remembers when former Team USA gymnasts Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas decided to make a run for a second Olympic appearance in the 2016 games. “If gymnasts could last longer and be older, you just know your body and how it works so much better.” Watching me and Simone, you don’t see a lot of gymnasts, especially here in the US, the age we are. “The older you are, the better you know yourself. I don’t think she was ever left alone with. ![]() I like to make sure my athlete is being taken care of appropriately, so that’s what I did. “I stayed next to her at the table,” Spini told AZCentral. She recalls Nassar taking her into a back room with curtains closed for treatment and Spini being sure to come with her. In retrospect, she can see that caution by her coach, Lisa Spini, likely kept her safe. As viewers watch the documentary, they likely wonder how MyKayla escaped the abuse when it is clear she attended the same training camps and can frequently be spotted in the competition footage. He was ultimately sentenced to serve at least 100 years in prison after being found guilty of various sexual abuse crimes against young gymnasts. MyKayla hasn’t watched the documentary Athlete A on Netflix, which details Nassar’s abuse. ![]() “And then I started thinking, ‘How did I walk out of that?’” “I was right there, and I didn’t know any of that?” MyKayla remembers wondering. But what she didn’t see or experience was Nassar’s abuse of many young gymnasts, so she was shocked when the news surrounding the team doctor broke. So when reports of the corruption surrounding USA Gymnastics broke out soon after the 2016 Olympics, they didn’t all come as a shock to MyKayla, who saw much of it in living color. “I kind of had the feeling like I knew they weren’t going to pick me, but then you still have that hope,” she says.Īnd yet, when Marta Karolyi, the national team coordinator, and her staff came in with their decision, MyKayla listened as five names were read-none of them hers. Deep down they all, MyKayla included, had a hunch she wouldn’t make the team. ![]() As they watched, it seemed to her family like the team had already been selected. Meanwhile, many of MyKayla’s family members were at home and had already seen most of the other front-runners and their families be interviewed on television. So, while MyKayla had done her part to make the team, her sister said they would just have to wait and see. MyKayla’s performance should have been enough to secure a spot on the team that would come to be known as the “Final Five,” but her sister knew there is often more to these decisions than meets the eye. Families of gymnasts know how the sport works-and the Skinner family has watched a lot of gymnastics over the years. MyKayla wanted to know if her sister thought she would make the team, which would include five gymnasts. While she awaited the news of who would be on the Olympic team, she texted her sister. On July 10, 2016, 20-year-old MyKayla sat in a room in the SAP Center-an arena in San Jose, California-where she had just finished fourth all-around in the USA Olympic Gymnastics Trials. ![]()
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