From Barcelona to Atlanta: A Gymnast’s Journey of Olympic Triumph and Homecoming

Absolutely. I mean, that’s what got me to come back to the sport of gymnastics. My first Olympic games was at 15 years old in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. I then signed a full scholarship to go to Stanford University in 1994. I was excited to go off to college, but a little birdie got in my ear and said, there’s another Olympic games in two years. I was peaking and more importantly, it was on American soil. It worked out for me winning gold in Atlanta and being a part of the Magnificent Seven. And that’s why Atlanta has always been like a second home to me. So I could see that being a little bit of a draw or an allure to a Simone Biles or even a Jordan Childs. The way that the sport of gymnastics has changed, you do not have to compete in the all around. You can actually just specialize in an event or two. So who knows, maybe we’ll see Simone Biles’ spectacular floor exercise and she’ll redeem herself and win gold there or her double pike vault, which is amazing.