Gymnastics Zone: All About Women's College Gymnastics
Chapter 1 FINDING JOY IN GYMNASTICS The crowd cheered when the music started Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi moved from her frozen spot standing on the floor in her sparkling blue leotard She shook her arms and hips in motion with the music She lifted her head to show a smiling face and bobbing brown curls From there she ran across the mat for her first tumbling pass sticking the landing with both feet firmly in place Katelyn Ohashi’s 2019 floor routine was fun and energetic 4
She kept a smile on her face as she continued her routine for the next 90 seconds Anyone could see how much fun she was having She showed off confident looks during her dance moves Her University of California Los Angeles UCLA teammates looked on from the sidelines with anticipation and excitement They even mimicked some of her moves and motions in between their cheers Viral Moment Wins ESPY For her viral perfect 10 floor exercise at the Collegiate Classic Ohashi took home two awards at the 2019 ESPYs an annual awards show by the sports TV network ESPN She won the Best Viral Moment and Best Play awards She was the third female athlete to ever win in the Best Play category Just six months after her performance a video of the routine had been viewed more than 125 million times online 6
Ohashi ended with one final turn Then she ran over toward the sidelines to high-five her line of thrilled teammates A few gymnasts jumped up and down with their arms raised They showed all 10 fingers on their hands predicting Ohashi’s score for the routine The judges at the Collegiate Classic meet in January 2019 agreed Ohashi earned a perfect 10 for her floor exercise The fourth perfect 10 of Ohashi’s career on the floor exercise helped give her team a total score of 49 700 in that event It was the fifth-highest mark that a UCLA team had ever received UCLA won the competition with a 197 700 score Ohashi had been through many challenges before she performed that fun routine Ohashi started practicing gymnastics when she was three years old She became an elite gymnast by age 12 with the goal of making the Olympics 7
