Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 193. MyKayla Skinner, Gymnast & Olympic Silver Medalist

Transcript

193. MyKayla Skinner, Gymnast & Olympic Silver Medalist · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: And there's been so many devastating things that I've had
0:02
Speaker 1: to go through and had to overcome and prayed and
0:06
Speaker 1: decided to keep going because this is what I was
0:08
Speaker 1: supposed to do and it was just really hard. I
0:11
Speaker 1: wanted to give up so many times. I wanted to quit,
0:13
Speaker 1: but I had that grit, that grit that pushed me.
0:16
Speaker 1: I was like, I want this. I don't care what
0:17
Speaker 1: people say, I don't care what people think. I want
0:20
Speaker 1: this bad enough, and I'm going to go out there
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Speaker 1: and I'm going to do it and I'm going to
0:22
Speaker 1: get it.
0:36
Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, Emily Abadi here coming to you from the
0:40
Speaker 2: Age Studio. You are listening to Hurdle a While, this
0:43
Speaker 2: focus podcast where I connect with everyone from your favorite
0:46
Speaker 2: athletes to top experts and industry CEOs about their highest highs,
0:50
Speaker 2: toughest moments, and everything in between. We all go through
0:54
Speaker 2: hurdles in life, and my goal through these discussions is
0:57
Speaker 2: to empower you to better navigate yours and move with
1:01
Speaker 2: intention so that you can stride towards your own big
1:04
Speaker 2: potential and of course have some fun along the way.
1:09
Speaker 3: For episode one ninety.
1:11
Speaker 2: Three, Wow, Where's the time Gone? I am chatting with
1:16
Speaker 2: Mikhayla Skinner. She's a gymnast and Olympic silver medalist, and
1:20
Speaker 2: we're really getting into it today. I mean, we are
1:22
Speaker 2: talking about some high highs and some low flows.
1:26
Speaker 3: But Kayla talks to me about how.
1:28
Speaker 2: Challenging twenty twenty and twenty twenty one were for her,
1:32
Speaker 2: dealing with the postponement of the Olympics, catching COVID followed
1:37
Speaker 2: by pneumonia while already dealing with a painful bone spur.
1:42
Speaker 2: All this it had her out of gymnastics for over
1:44
Speaker 2: a month, super emotionally taxing, especially again during an Olympic year.
1:49
Speaker 3: She talks to me about the emotions that surrounded.
1:51
Speaker 2: That big moment with teammates Mombiles in Tokyo, and how
1:56
Speaker 2: it fell for her to show up for her team
1:58
Speaker 2: and her country, and plus I ask her what it's
2:01
Speaker 2: been like to be heavily criticized. A lot of people
2:04
Speaker 2: have a lot of opinions about Mikila and her confidence,
2:07
Speaker 2: and we talk about where that comes from, where she
2:09
Speaker 2: gets her confidence from, where she finds her motivation. We
2:13
Speaker 2: also get into what she wants to do next, what
2:15
Speaker 2: her hopes and dreams are coming down the pipe.
2:18
Speaker 3: And so much warm. Thanks so much Mikila for this combo.
2:22
Speaker 2: We had some technical difficulties coming into it, but I'll
2:25
Speaker 2: all ended up with a really good.
2:28
Speaker 3: Chat to bring here to the feed today.
2:30
Speaker 2: I'm keeping this intro short and sweet this week, but
2:32
Speaker 2: I do want to throw a little like challenge into
2:35
Speaker 2: the mix.
2:35
Speaker 3: If you will for social media, I would love it.
2:39
Speaker 2: If you are a regular hurdler, if you identify as
2:42
Speaker 2: a hurdler, do meet a sola this week on your
2:45
Speaker 2: social media, post your favorite episode. Everyone has the ability
2:49
Speaker 2: to throw a link into their Instagram stories now, so
2:52
Speaker 2: if you could in your Instagram story post a screen
2:56
Speaker 2: grab and a link to your favorite hurdle episode, Tell
2:59
Speaker 2: your friend friends, tell your followers what it is that
3:01
Speaker 2: you like. It doesn't matter how big you're following is.
3:05
Speaker 2: It helps get the show out there, It helps bread
3:07
Speaker 2: the word and that makes all the difference. I'm excited
3:09
Speaker 2: to see which ones are your favorites again over at
3:12
Speaker 2: Hurtle Podcast.
3:13
Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily a Body And with that, let's
3:16
Speaker 3: get to hurdling today.
3:26
Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Mikayla Skinner. She is an
3:30
Speaker 2: Olympic silver medalist gymnast. How you doing to name Mikayla,
3:34
Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty good.
3:36
Speaker 1: Thanks.
3:37
Speaker 3: How are you feeling right now?
3:38
Speaker 2: You are at least four months removed from Tokyo, How
3:43
Speaker 2: are you feeling at this point?
3:44
Speaker 1: I feel like life's been treating me pretty good. It's
3:47
Speaker 1: kind of nice waking up not having to stress about
3:49
Speaker 1: going into the gym and you know, wanting to cry
3:52
Speaker 1: or it's going to be a hard day and having
3:54
Speaker 1: to work to get through it. So it's actually been
3:56
Speaker 1: really really good. I've I've been enjoying life and kind
3:59
Speaker 1: of enjoying being a normal person.
4:01
Speaker 3: It's kind of weird a animal person.
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Speaker 2: You have had such an impressive career thus far as
4:08
Speaker 2: a gymnast, and I am so excited just to hear
4:12
Speaker 2: a little bit more about it from your POV. I mean,
4:16
Speaker 2: let me click into some of these headlines that I
4:18
Speaker 2: remember seeing last year. Mikayla Skinner pulled it off, Mikayla
4:22
Speaker 2: Skinner Whents Unexpected Silver Medalist, the Untold Truth of Mikayla Skinner,
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Speaker 2: so many different angles and whatnot. But for you, how
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Speaker 2: do you feel about how things went in Tokyo?
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Speaker 1: A lot of emotions are all over the place. I mean,
4:41
Speaker 1: it was just such a crazy journey. I mean, even
4:43
Speaker 1: coming into this it was like I didn't know if
4:46
Speaker 1: I was going to make the Olympic team. I just
4:47
Speaker 1: wanted to have no regrets. I wanted to come back
4:49
Speaker 1: into it knowing that I did everything I could, because
4:52
Speaker 1: the Olympics has always been my dream ever since I
4:54
Speaker 1: was a little girl, and you know, going into college,
4:57
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, I'm still throwing these huge
4:59
Speaker 1: skills that I could go back into Elite and my
5:03
Speaker 1: body would be able to hold up because in college
5:05
Speaker 1: I never really got injured. I was still doing really good,
5:07
Speaker 1: and I was like, you know, age is just a number,
5:10
Speaker 1: so why not let's go and try this. So I
5:12
Speaker 1: never would have thought I was gonna make the Olympic team.
5:14
Speaker 1: I know, I placed fourth at Olympic Trials in twenty sixteen,
5:17
Speaker 1: but going into Tokyo and being named as an event
5:21
Speaker 1: specialist was kind of was not what I was expecting.
5:24
Speaker 1: I came back into Elite trying to do the four
5:26
Speaker 1: man team just because Jade Carey they had already said,
5:29
Speaker 1: was trying for the individual spot and me and her
5:32
Speaker 1: are very similar in floor in vault, so I decided,
5:36
Speaker 1: you know, okay, I'll I'll do the four even though
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Speaker 1: I'm not good at bars and beam, but I'll go
5:41
Speaker 1: for it anyway. So I did, and then of course
5:44
Speaker 1: I placed fifth at Olympic Trials and he decides to
5:47
Speaker 1: take you know, rank order, which is totally fine, but
5:50
Speaker 1: then I was kind of left, you know, am I
5:52
Speaker 1: gonna make it? Are they gonna put me alternate again?
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Speaker 1: Like I didn't know what to expect, And then he
5:56
Speaker 1: put me as the event specialist and I was like, oh, okay,
6:00
Speaker 1: Like I made the Olympic team, so I can't complain,
6:02
Speaker 1: but this is definitely be very different than when I
6:05
Speaker 1: was ever expecting. So I kind of went into it
6:07
Speaker 1: with a little bit of a different mindset than I
6:09
Speaker 1: thought I was going to. But I was like, I
6:11
Speaker 1: just going to make the best of this. I'm going
6:13
Speaker 1: to do this for me and for nobody else. That's
6:15
Speaker 1: the most important thing. So being able to go into
6:17
Speaker 1: Tokyo and you know, try to place individually was really
6:23
Speaker 1: really hard, especially when you have simone that's really good
6:25
Speaker 1: on floor invault and you have Jade. So I knew
6:28
Speaker 1: there's going to be kind of a competition and there's
6:30
Speaker 1: a chance I wouldn't make anything. So my main goal
6:32
Speaker 1: was going into prelims, just trying to do the best
6:35
Speaker 1: that I could do, to go out there, give it
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Speaker 1: my all, compete my hardest because I was like, this
6:40
Speaker 1: could be, you know, my last competition ever as an
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Speaker 1: elite gymnast. So I went in, did everything I could
6:46
Speaker 1: and killed it. Had the meat of my life, which
6:48
Speaker 1: was just crazy. You know, still didn't make anything, but
6:51
Speaker 1: of course everybody knows the story of how, you know,
6:54
Speaker 1: Simone had to back out and I got to go in,
6:57
Speaker 1: So I don't know. It was just the the craziest experience.
7:01
Speaker 1: Never would have thought it would have happened, but at
7:04
Speaker 1: least making it to Tokyo was just that was just
7:07
Speaker 1: a dream come true. Never would have thought that would
7:09
Speaker 1: have happened with you know, COVID and everything that postponed
7:12
Speaker 1: me with getting COVID in pneumonia and my foot injury.
7:15
Speaker 1: So it was just I was just grateful to be there.
7:18
Speaker 2: So much to digest here. Nothing has happened, is basically
7:21
Speaker 2: what I heard you just I heard you just explain
7:25
Speaker 2: first and foremost, let's talk about I guess the word underdog.
7:28
Speaker 2: I feel like we hear that a lot when it
7:30
Speaker 2: comes to your story, especially when it comes to a
7:33
Speaker 2: lot of your critics, you mentioned being a gymnast in
7:36
Speaker 2: college and then coming out to go back into elite,
7:39
Speaker 2: So talk to us about kind of how that works
7:40
Speaker 2: for people that are unfamiliar with retirement versus like unretiring.
7:44
Speaker 1: So yeah, So after twenty sixteen, I decided to go
7:48
Speaker 1: to college and I wanted to try something different. I
7:52
Speaker 1: kind of hated elite gymnastics just because it was so brutal,
7:55
Speaker 1: and you know, with the Marta era, it was just
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Speaker 1: hard and abusive, and I was just ready to move
8:00
Speaker 1: on try something different. Went to college, fell in love
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Speaker 1: with the sport. For people that don't really know or
8:06
Speaker 1: college gymnastics, it's a lot easier. You train like twenty
8:10
Speaker 1: hours a week. In elite gymnastics, you're training thirty two
8:13
Speaker 1: plus hours a week. So it's just a big, big,
8:16
Speaker 1: big difference. I was like, Wow, this is nice, Like
8:19
Speaker 1: I don't have to train that much. My skills are
8:21
Speaker 1: a lot easier. For my fluorotine, it used to be
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Speaker 1: four passes and three the passes you're running off of
8:28
Speaker 1: one foot, and then you go to college, it's like
8:30
Speaker 1: three simple, easy passes. But I decided to keep some
8:33
Speaker 1: of my elite skills in college, even though I wouldn't
8:36
Speaker 1: get the difficulty for it. So that kind of what
8:38
Speaker 1: made me stand out compared to everybody else, which that's
8:41
Speaker 1: kind of what I wanted. I feel like college is
8:43
Speaker 1: all kind of on the same level, and I just
8:45
Speaker 1: wanted to be different. And I feel like I have
8:47
Speaker 1: made such a difference in college because now when I
8:50
Speaker 1: go back and watch within the last two years and
8:52
Speaker 1: I was watching Utah and watching the girls compete, it's
8:55
Speaker 1: so cool to see some of them throwing the bigger tricks,
8:58
Speaker 1: you know, even though they don't get the difficulty for it.
9:00
Speaker 1: So I love that. But yeah, I decided to come
9:04
Speaker 1: back into elite. Thought I had retired. I was like,
9:07
Speaker 1: after my freshman year, I was like, I am never
9:09
Speaker 1: going back to elite gymnastics. Like college is great, Like
9:12
Speaker 1: this is awesome. I'm living my best life. It's so
9:15
Speaker 1: much fun to be with a team and to have
9:17
Speaker 1: like a sisterhood and to just go out there and
9:20
Speaker 1: compete and enjoy what you're doing instead of feeling stressed
9:22
Speaker 1: and like you're going to throw up all the time. So,
9:25
Speaker 1: thinking I was retired but soon comes to be, I
9:29
Speaker 1: decided my junior year. Right after season, I kind of
9:32
Speaker 1: thought about it the whole year, decided to come back
9:34
Speaker 1: to Elite, and you when you when you think about it,
9:37
Speaker 1: you kind of are like, oh, yeah, Like I know
9:39
Speaker 1: Elite gymnastics was really hard, but like at the time,
9:42
Speaker 1: I kind of like forgot how hard it was just
9:44
Speaker 1: because it had been three years and so, like I
9:46
Speaker 1: knew it was going to be hard, but once I
9:48
Speaker 1: got back into the gym, I was like, what did
9:50
Speaker 1: I get myself into? This sucks, Like this is so
9:53
Speaker 1: much harder than I thought, because like even though I
9:56
Speaker 1: was doing some hard skills in college, it's like you
9:59
Speaker 1: forget you have to add in that fourth pass on
10:01
Speaker 1: floor your bar team has like twenty more skills in it.
10:05
Speaker 1: And then I have to go back learning a pack
10:07
Speaker 1: instead of doing a bail and I hit my chin
10:10
Speaker 1: on the bar about broke my face, just like so
10:12
Speaker 1: many things. And the older you get, gymnastics gets scarier.
10:16
Speaker 1: I forget like I used to be such a daredevil
10:18
Speaker 1: and was like I'll throw anything, chuck anything, like I
10:21
Speaker 1: don't care. But the older you get, you realize you're like, wow,
10:23
Speaker 1: this is actually really scary, and I know that I
10:26
Speaker 1: can seriously get hurt. So it was definitely an adjustment
10:29
Speaker 1: for me. But in three months of coming back into elite,
10:33
Speaker 1: I competed at Classics and then two weeks later made
10:37
Speaker 1: the national team and then made the world's team, you know,
10:40
Speaker 1: all of three months of training, which I don't think
10:42
Speaker 1: anybody's ever done that, And it's been very rare for
10:45
Speaker 1: elite gymnasts that went to college to come back. I
10:47
Speaker 1: know Brenna dal did it, you know, going into twenty
10:50
Speaker 1: sixteen Olympics, but I think I've kind of been the
10:53
Speaker 1: only one that has done something like this, which I
10:55
Speaker 1: think is really really cool. But I hope that I've
10:57
Speaker 1: been able to inspire so many other athletes, like knowing,
11:01
Speaker 1: you know, no matter how old you are, you can
11:03
Speaker 1: still do gymnastics as long as you watch your training,
11:06
Speaker 1: take care of yourself, and you know, don't train as
11:08
Speaker 1: many hours.
11:09
Speaker 2: And I would say that that attitude is something that
11:12
Speaker 2: obviously carries along with you into the rest of the
11:16
Speaker 2: things that you do. Right obviously learning that in that
11:19
Speaker 2: time period that when you're willing to put in the
11:21
Speaker 2: hard work and really dedicate yourself to something, then like
11:23
Speaker 2: really awesome and amazing things can happen. And what I
11:26
Speaker 2: also hear from you as you talk about all of
11:29
Speaker 2: this and share your story is such a presence about you,
11:33
Speaker 2: but also like a really large amount of pride, and
11:37
Speaker 2: at times, as many people may know, that pride and
11:41
Speaker 2: perhaps that confidence has also been something that others have
11:46
Speaker 2: looked at as maybe a little too much. So talk
11:49
Speaker 2: to me about how you feel about that pride and
11:52
Speaker 2: that confidence that you bring not just to your gymnastics,
11:56
Speaker 2: but of course to everything else that you do.
11:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's been hard. I mean, you know a
12:01
Speaker 1: lot of people just sit online thinking, you know, they
12:03
Speaker 1: know everything about you. But if anything, I've been through
12:07
Speaker 1: so many trials, there's so many things to my story.
12:10
Speaker 1: I want to write a book. I kind of want
12:13
Speaker 1: to write a book doing about me, my coach's perspective,
12:16
Speaker 1: and the parent's perspective, because with most books, you know,
12:19
Speaker 1: you kind of get the story of the athlete, but
12:21
Speaker 1: I want people to really know like what the parents
12:24
Speaker 1: have to go through with the coaches have to go through,
12:25
Speaker 1: and kind of all the behind the scenes stuff that
12:28
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't get to see or hear about.
12:30
Speaker 1: And there's been so many devastating things that I've had
12:33
Speaker 1: to go through and had to overcome, and you know,
12:36
Speaker 1: prayed and decided to keep going because this is what
12:39
Speaker 1: I was supposed to do and it was just really hard.
12:42
Speaker 1: I wanted to give up so many times. I wanted
12:44
Speaker 1: to quit, but I had that grit, that grit that
12:47
Speaker 1: pushed me. I was like, I want this. I don't
12:49
Speaker 1: care what people say, I don't care what people think.
12:51
Speaker 1: I want this bad enough, and I'm going to go
12:52
Speaker 1: out there and I'm going to do and I'm going
12:53
Speaker 1: to get it. And I think a lot of people
12:55
Speaker 1: could see, you know, wow, Mikayla. You know fell, she
12:59
Speaker 1: got back up, she kept going, she kept pushing, and
13:03
Speaker 1: you know, look where she came. She pushed through all
13:05
Speaker 1: of that and ended up at the top. And I think,
13:08
Speaker 1: you know, those fails are definitely what made me stronger.
13:11
Speaker 1: And I know I can kind of be a little
13:12
Speaker 1: spicy and you know, kind of have a little go
13:15
Speaker 1: go get it attitude. But if anything, I think my
13:18
Speaker 1: competitiveness is what brings it out in me. I'm super competitive.
13:22
Speaker 1: If I'm playing a board game with my family, Jonas's family,
13:25
Speaker 1: my husband's side of the family. He even my husband's
13:30
Speaker 1: really competitive, so we don't do good when we play
13:32
Speaker 1: games together, but it gets really intense. I get really heated.
13:35
Speaker 1: If I lose, I just I can't. I have to
13:37
Speaker 1: like leave the room. I'm like, this is it? So
13:39
Speaker 1: I think, if anything, the reason that I'm you know,
13:42
Speaker 1: that helps me my gymnastics is just being so competitive.
13:44
Speaker 1: I I want to go out there. I want to win.
13:46
Speaker 1: I want to show people how hard I've worked. And
13:49
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes I know it's not always about the
13:51
Speaker 1: medals or you know, the trophies or you know, the
13:54
Speaker 1: money anything like that. It's not It's about showing that
13:57
Speaker 1: all my hard work has paid off. And I wanted
13:59
Speaker 1: to be there. I wanted to be good. I wanted
14:01
Speaker 1: to catch up to Simone. I want I want to
14:03
Speaker 1: be as high as they are. They're amazing athletes. And
14:07
Speaker 1: you know, if you want it bad enough, like I said,
14:09
Speaker 1: never give up, anything is possible. You just got to
14:11
Speaker 1: go out there and get it. So yeah, I think,
14:13
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes life isn't fair, and you know, sometimes
14:15
Speaker 1: you get pissed off. That just happens. But if anything,
14:18
Speaker 1: I just you know, want to go out there and
14:20
Speaker 1: just show the world what I got. And you know,
14:22
Speaker 1: I want to be that inspiration for so many girls
14:24
Speaker 1: out there, and gymnastics is hard. You want to quit.
14:27
Speaker 1: There's blood, sweat and tears, and it's just a hard sport.
14:30
Speaker 1: But it's definitely worth it if you just keep working
14:33
Speaker 1: at it, and you know, you never give up on it.
14:35
Speaker 2: You mentioned being knocked down so many times, and of
14:39
Speaker 2: course you also mentioned COVID and pneumonia before the Olympics.
14:44
Speaker 2: Before we get to that point, let's even dial it
14:46
Speaker 2: back a little bit more, reflecting on some of those
14:50
Speaker 2: times previous to twenty twenty one that you truly felt
14:54
Speaker 2: just like you were totally knocked down on your knees.
14:57
Speaker 2: When I bring that up for you, what comes to mind.
15:00
Speaker 1: Honestly, just that year pushing through it with COVID, I
15:05
Speaker 1: just I seriously wanted to quit. I was like this,
15:08
Speaker 1: I don't even know if this is worth it. I
15:09
Speaker 1: might Me and my husband are married. He's had to
15:11
Speaker 1: take time off of school. I had to take time
15:14
Speaker 1: off of school as well, and you know, there's so
15:17
Speaker 1: much to life, and I was like, is this even
15:18
Speaker 1: like worth it just for a sport? You know, I'm like,
15:21
Speaker 1: does it really even matter? Like even though like the
15:23
Speaker 1: Olympics is such a big deal. I was like, is
15:25
Speaker 1: that even worth it? Like, I know, I've worked so
15:27
Speaker 1: hard for it, but I was like, this is just
15:29
Speaker 1: brutal having to stay another year. I only had expected
15:33
Speaker 1: to train for a year, and I was doing so well,
15:35
Speaker 1: and I'd pushed so hard, and I was like, I
15:37
Speaker 1: wanted to do this for a year. That's all I
15:38
Speaker 1: want to do. Just give it one year. And you know,
15:41
Speaker 1: it was really hard. I wanted to quit every day.
15:43
Speaker 1: I was crying every single day. My body was in
15:45
Speaker 1: so much pain. I was telling my husband, I'm like,
15:48
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry you have to deal with me because
15:50
Speaker 1: I just feel like a wimpy little baby. But it's
15:53
Speaker 1: it's true. My body, it's exhausting. Allegimnastics was just so hard.
15:57
Speaker 1: So I think definitely going into that last push, you know,
16:01
Speaker 1: before season was starting, going into the Olympic year, it
16:03
Speaker 1: was just it was hard. I seriously wanted to quit
16:06
Speaker 1: every single day. I then I had to take a
16:08
Speaker 1: step back and was like I had to tell myself,
16:11
Speaker 1: you know, why are you doing this. I wrote down
16:13
Speaker 1: on a piece of paper, I do two circles, and
16:16
Speaker 1: in the middle circle it was you know, the topic,
16:20
Speaker 1: and then on each side was what I can control
16:22
Speaker 1: and what I can't control, and so I had to
16:24
Speaker 1: push all the things that I couldn't control and focus
16:27
Speaker 1: on the things that I could and the reasons why
16:29
Speaker 1: I wanted to do this and why I'm here and
16:32
Speaker 1: why I should never give up. So it's definitely been
16:34
Speaker 1: a challenge, but look, I pushed through it, and you know,
16:38
Speaker 1: everything just fell into place the way it was supposed to,
16:40
Speaker 1: and I just had had faith in God that this
16:43
Speaker 1: is what I was supposed to do, and even you know,
16:46
Speaker 1: being at the Olympic Games, I had gotten down on
16:48
Speaker 1: my knees and prayed and prayed and prayed and just
16:51
Speaker 1: had an overwhelming feeling of knowing, you know, this isn't
16:54
Speaker 1: the way it's supposed to end. And so it was
16:56
Speaker 1: just so crazy the whole thing played out, you know,
16:58
Speaker 1: with saman it was very unfortunate and it was just devastating,
17:01
Speaker 1: and I was crying myself because I was like, I
17:03
Speaker 1: didn't want this for her. You know, me and her
17:05
Speaker 1: have been really good friends for a long time and
17:07
Speaker 1: it was really sad to see her have to go
17:08
Speaker 1: through that. But even just the love and support that
17:11
Speaker 1: she had and was giving me to be able to
17:13
Speaker 1: step in for her was just incredible. It just felt
17:16
Speaker 1: so amazing to have that love and support from her,
17:18
Speaker 1: because it would have, you know, made it worse if
17:20
Speaker 1: we didn't have, you know, that great friendship and that
17:23
Speaker 1: love for each other. But I'm super grateful for all
17:26
Speaker 1: the opportunities that I've had, all the trials that I've had,
17:29
Speaker 1: all the setbacks. I think, if anything, those have made
17:31
Speaker 1: me stronger. I'm glad that it didn't just come easy
17:33
Speaker 1: and I got to win everything or you know, get
17:35
Speaker 1: first all the time. I'm glad that I've had these
17:38
Speaker 1: trials because it's it's going to set me up for
17:40
Speaker 1: life to know that I can conquer anything that comes
17:42
Speaker 1: my way.
17:43
Speaker 2: You know, you're sharing something that is just such a
17:45
Speaker 2: through line with what we talked about here on the
17:47
Speaker 2: show is the idea that it's not in our easiest, breezy,
17:52
Speaker 2: most like victorious moments that we learn a ton of
17:55
Speaker 2: these lessons, but rather in these trials, in these tribulations,
17:59
Speaker 2: in these struggles, that you have the opportunity to really
18:02
Speaker 2: learn not just about your circumstance in the situation, but
18:05
Speaker 2: how to better move forward in your day to day
18:08
Speaker 2: to give us a accurate timeline.
18:11
Speaker 3: So when did you get COVID.
18:14
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like it's been a while now,
18:16
Speaker 1: so I got I remember, but it was like during
18:19
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and like Christmas. I got it like a couple
18:23
Speaker 1: days after my birthday. So I was really really sick
18:25
Speaker 1: for two weeks and kind of thought I was starting
18:28
Speaker 1: to get better. After there was like twelve days We
18:32
Speaker 1: went to Utah for Christmas, which probably didn't help traveling
18:36
Speaker 1: and you know, being in Utah because I was preezing.
18:40
Speaker 1: But even Jonas's family could just tell like I wasn't myself.
18:44
Speaker 1: I was just really tired, was sleeping all day. Even
18:46
Speaker 1: though I was feeling better, my body just had no energy.
18:50
Speaker 1: And I was like crying to Jonas. I'm like, I
18:51
Speaker 1: just really don't feel good. And I was like, I
18:53
Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen. Like I got to
18:55
Speaker 1: start training, you know, the Olympics is coming up in
18:57
Speaker 1: the summer, so it was just a really really stars
19:00
Speaker 1: full time. And right before that, I had a bone
19:03
Speaker 1: spur in the back of my foot. So it was
19:05
Speaker 1: like a huge bone spur kind of up by my achilles,
19:08
Speaker 1: and so we kind of thought maybe I should do
19:10
Speaker 1: surgery to take it out. But it's kind of like
19:12
Speaker 1: I think I've had this most of my life. It's
19:15
Speaker 1: just growing and it's gotten bigger. So we decided not
19:17
Speaker 1: to do the surgery. I did a PRP injection, did
19:20
Speaker 1: lots of shockwave therapy and different things to strengthen it
19:23
Speaker 1: and get it better because the surgery just would have
19:26
Speaker 1: kept me out too long. So I did all that,
19:29
Speaker 1: and right as I just started to come back from
19:32
Speaker 1: kealing and I got to start tumbling again, I got
19:35
Speaker 1: hit with the COVID. So it was just like one
19:38
Speaker 1: thing after the other and I was just like I
19:40
Speaker 1: just kind of felt like giving up at this point.
19:42
Speaker 1: So that Sunday, when I started feeling sick again, I
19:44
Speaker 1: was like, this just can't be happening. Like I'm so
19:46
Speaker 1: far behind. I don't even know if this is worth
19:49
Speaker 1: going to the Olympics. So right after that, the next day,
19:53
Speaker 1: I called my mom and Jonas was leaving for work
19:56
Speaker 1: for a week and so he was going to some
19:59
Speaker 1: other state, and so I went to my mom's house.
20:02
Speaker 1: She's like, come to my house and I was just
20:05
Speaker 1: falling and I was like, I just really don't feel good.
20:06
Speaker 1: I don't know what's wrong with me. My parents sent
20:08
Speaker 1: me to the hospital and I was there for like
20:11
Speaker 1: six or eight hours and I had pneumonia, so they
20:14
Speaker 1: gave me an injection, put me on beds, and then
20:16
Speaker 1: I had to take like a whole another ten days
20:18
Speaker 1: off from gymnastics. So I was out for like a month,
20:21
Speaker 1: and it was like the longest I've ever been out
20:23
Speaker 1: of gymnastics because I've never had injuries that have kept
20:25
Speaker 1: me out for a long period of time. I've never
20:27
Speaker 1: had a surgery, so it's kind of crazy thinking my
20:29
Speaker 1: whole career of gymnastics, I've never had a surgery or
20:32
Speaker 1: a broken bone besides a stress fracture in my back
20:35
Speaker 1: that I got an injection for and just kept going.
20:37
Speaker 1: So it was just it was. It was hard. It
20:40
Speaker 1: was I didn't even think I was going to be
20:41
Speaker 1: able to make it even coming back. My durance was
20:44
Speaker 1: so bad, but I pushed through it and was able
20:47
Speaker 1: to come back. I just had to take things one
20:48
Speaker 1: day at a time and take it slow, but it was.
20:51
Speaker 1: It was pretty wild.
20:57
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Speaker 3: Well, let's get back to it.
24:22
Speaker 2: So, starting off an Olympic year with back to back
24:25
Speaker 2: COVID pneumonia and then feeling just I mean, as of
24:31
Speaker 2: those two things for anyone wouldn't be like a complete
24:35
Speaker 2: downer to then have to navigate the frustrations that come
24:39
Speaker 2: hand in hand with not being able to exercise or
24:42
Speaker 2: move how you want to. I can't even like, I'm
24:45
Speaker 2: just sitting here shaking my head thinking about how frustrating
24:47
Speaker 2: that must have been. I would assume at this point,
24:50
Speaker 2: aside from Jonas and your immediate family, it probably really
24:53
Speaker 2: helped to perhaps talk to like a therapist or a
24:57
Speaker 2: sports psychologist about what you were dealing with.
24:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did. I had Clay, my mental trainer, and
25:02
Speaker 1: he's from Utah, and he reached out through us through
25:05
Speaker 1: social media and was just like, hey, I don't know
25:07
Speaker 1: if you've ever had one before, but like I'd love
25:09
Speaker 1: to help you, you know, going back into your elite career,
25:12
Speaker 1: and if there's anything you want help with or anything
25:15
Speaker 1: that I can do, just let me know. So we
25:17
Speaker 1: decided to use him, and you know, we have our
25:19
Speaker 1: YouTube channel, so he thought it'd be cool to share
25:21
Speaker 1: with other athletes that need help because I realized how
25:24
Speaker 1: much it was helping me, and so we're like, we
25:26
Speaker 1: wanted to share this with others. So we did a
25:29
Speaker 1: little YouTube video about it, and he worked with me,
25:31
Speaker 1: you know up until the Olympics, which was really cool,
25:34
Speaker 1: and he gave so many things that just really helped.
25:36
Speaker 1: And you know, I've had different mental trainers before and
25:39
Speaker 1: coaches that have talked to me, and sometimes I feel
25:42
Speaker 1: like there's stuff just kind of messing me up, getting
25:44
Speaker 1: in my head. But we really focused on things that
25:47
Speaker 1: I needed and that I could work on and talk
25:49
Speaker 1: to him about, even if I just vented to him
25:52
Speaker 1: about you know, my coach was doing this or I'm
25:54
Speaker 1: struggling with this. For me, it was just you know,
25:57
Speaker 1: sometimes I got a vent. You know, Jonahs sometimes doesn't
26:00
Speaker 1: get it. It was nice to have him be able
26:02
Speaker 1: to help me, you know, go back and think, you know, okay,
26:05
Speaker 1: well maybe our coach was thinking like this for this reason.
26:09
Speaker 1: And he did also really help me be able to
26:11
Speaker 1: talk to my coaches more. You know, I used to
26:14
Speaker 1: be so scared to talk to my coaches and that's
26:16
Speaker 1: something I've really had to work on in building that
26:18
Speaker 1: relationship with my coach and you know, being able to
26:21
Speaker 1: go up and tell her like I just can't physically
26:23
Speaker 1: do this today, and that's okay, you know, because I
26:26
Speaker 1: didn't want to get hurt. I didn't want to do
26:27
Speaker 1: something stupid. So I think that's the most important thing,
26:30
Speaker 1: is building that relationship with your coach. So he definitely
26:33
Speaker 1: helped me in so many different ways, And I really
26:35
Speaker 1: recommend it for all athletes because I think, you know,
26:37
Speaker 1: sometimes you know, even though you know you can do
26:41
Speaker 1: what you can do and you've done it for so long,
26:42
Speaker 1: and I thought I wouldn't ever need that, but having
26:45
Speaker 1: that help and learning different things to help me get
26:48
Speaker 1: through those things is what, you know, made the whole
26:51
Speaker 1: picture come together and you know, help me make that
26:53
Speaker 1: last push through that last year. So I think it
26:55
Speaker 1: is very important and every athlete, every athlete needs it.
26:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean beyond every athlete, I would say, I
27:02
Speaker 2: feel like obviously talk therapy and all of its different
27:05
Speaker 2: forms can be so helpful for so many of us.
27:08
Speaker 2: I'm also sure that it probably helped you navigating a
27:12
Speaker 2: lot of the criticisms that you were receiving. Talk to
27:15
Speaker 2: me about how you've been able to keep.
27:19
Speaker 3: Your peace, perhaps let's call.
27:22
Speaker 2: It that, despite the criticisms that have come your way,
27:26
Speaker 2: whether it be via social media or other conventional sources
27:30
Speaker 2: of media.
27:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've had to learn the hard way. There's been
27:35
Speaker 1: a couple of times, you know, where I've said stupid things,
27:37
Speaker 1: which I feel like everybody does or makes mistakes, or
27:40
Speaker 1: sometimes you say something but it doesn't need this and
27:42
Speaker 1: people take it as that and you're just kind of like,
27:45
Speaker 1: that's not what I meant at all. I promise. So
27:47
Speaker 1: it does get it does get really hard at times.
27:49
Speaker 1: But over the years, I've just realized that, you know,
27:52
Speaker 1: like I've said, nobody really knows you, nobody knows where
27:54
Speaker 1: you come from. And I think, you know, people have
27:58
Speaker 1: to learn, you have to grow sometimes you to make
28:00
Speaker 1: those mistakes to grow as a person. And if anything,
28:03
Speaker 1: you know, I just feel like sometimes people like to
28:05
Speaker 1: sit on social media and savrude things because it makes
28:08
Speaker 1: themselves feel better. So if anything, sometimes when I see
28:11
Speaker 1: a comment pop up, I kind of just laugh and
28:13
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, you don't know anything, so it's just
28:15
Speaker 1: it's just kind of funny. I just kind of laugh
28:17
Speaker 1: at it and kind of make it like a joke
28:19
Speaker 1: more than like, oh that's offensive where it hurts, and
28:21
Speaker 1: I just kind of will either, you know, block that
28:23
Speaker 1: account if they're going to say hurtful things. It's like
28:25
Speaker 1: if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it
28:27
Speaker 1: at all.
28:27
Speaker 2: Like, I'm sure you didn't always have that approach though, right,
28:31
Speaker 2: Like I'm sure you said it took you time, Like
28:33
Speaker 2: do you remember before you maybe got to this place
28:35
Speaker 2: where you understood more of like kind of the thought
28:38
Speaker 2: process and why these people might be saying these things
28:40
Speaker 2: of how you weren't this excellent at reacting this way.
28:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I got a lot of quick criticism
28:48
Speaker 1: too because I'm not flexible, and I totally get it,
28:52
Speaker 1: like being a gymnast, you need to be flexible, you
28:55
Speaker 1: need to have execution. But it's like they don't understand
28:57
Speaker 1: that I've worked so hard to get more flexible, but
29:01
Speaker 1: my body just isn't flexible. I've tried so many things.
29:04
Speaker 1: Every time I go to therapy, I go to doctors,
29:06
Speaker 1: they just can't believe how my body and all my
29:09
Speaker 1: joints just don't move. And so sometimes I'm like, I'm like,
29:12
Speaker 1: I wish I could just tweet and say, like I
29:14
Speaker 1: should get extra credit for being able to do gymnastics
29:17
Speaker 1: without being able to bend. I'm like, now I see
29:20
Speaker 1: why it's so hard for people that are like famous musicians,
29:23
Speaker 1: artists like I'm just like, I don't know how they
29:26
Speaker 1: do it. But if anything, I just had to sit
29:29
Speaker 1: back and take the time and just say, you know,
29:31
Speaker 1: people are gonna say mean things. It happens, you know,
29:34
Speaker 1: I've you know, everyone talks behind people's backs, and that's
29:37
Speaker 1: just something that you have to sit back and realize, like, Okay,
29:39
Speaker 1: like I shouldn't do that. That's actually really rude, that's
29:41
Speaker 1: really hurtful. And so sometimes I kind of just look
29:44
Speaker 1: at it like that, like, you know, they just got
29:46
Speaker 1: to learn from their mistakes and hopefully they can be
29:47
Speaker 1: a better person. And I feel like, you know, this
29:50
Speaker 1: day and age, like we all just need to come together.
29:52
Speaker 1: Everybody needs to be nice, you know, with COVID and
29:54
Speaker 1: everything going on, the world's just been crazy, and I
29:57
Speaker 1: think the best thing to do is just be a
29:58
Speaker 1: friend and just love everybody for who they are. So yeah,
30:03
Speaker 1: I just I just had to take a step back
30:05
Speaker 1: and just be like, I just I can't look at this.
30:06
Speaker 1: This isn't worth my time. And it's really hard sometimes
30:10
Speaker 1: not to want to respond and just be like that's
30:12
Speaker 1: not that's not what it is, you know. But if anything,
30:15
Speaker 1: you just got to ignore it and just move on
30:17
Speaker 1: with your day and you know who you are, you
30:19
Speaker 1: know yourself, and you know what you believe in. So
30:22
Speaker 1: you just got to stick up for yourself and just
30:24
Speaker 1: keep being you. And for me, just helping those those girls.
30:29
Speaker 1: It's social media is hard. I think a lot of
30:31
Speaker 1: people struggle and I've struggled, you know, with the way
30:34
Speaker 1: that social media is. And it's just like I just
30:36
Speaker 1: want to post, you know, positive things, and hopefully other
30:40
Speaker 1: girls can take that and you know, feel that positivity
30:42
Speaker 1: in their life as well.
30:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
30:44
Speaker 2: And I mean you're not just talking about social media
30:47
Speaker 2: in terms of Instagram and Twitter. You have like a
30:51
Speaker 2: massive YouTube following. Talk to us a little bit about
30:54
Speaker 2: what it was like for you to kind of get
30:56
Speaker 2: into that platform and what it is that you like
30:58
Speaker 2: about it.
30:59
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I've always wanted to start a YouTube channel.
31:02
Speaker 1: It was just hard because so I know how to
31:05
Speaker 1: edit videos because I've gone to school for communications and
31:08
Speaker 1: journalism because I want to do sports broadcasting. I took
31:10
Speaker 1: a video production class and I just hated editing. So
31:14
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't even know where to start
31:16
Speaker 1: with this. I don't know who to hire for an editor,
31:19
Speaker 1: and like there's just so much that goes into it.
31:22
Speaker 1: So I kind of pushed it off. I wanted to
31:24
Speaker 1: start it in college and you know, kind of show
31:26
Speaker 1: people what the college scene is like and you know
31:29
Speaker 1: what we do behind the scenes. Never happened. And then
31:32
Speaker 1: when I got married. My husband when he was younger
31:35
Speaker 1: and his friends would make like funny videos and so
31:38
Speaker 1: he would edit them and he was actually like really good.
31:40
Speaker 1: So he was like, if we start a YouTube channel,
31:42
Speaker 1: I'll edit, I'll do it, Like, let's do it. This
31:44
Speaker 1: will be so fun, like let's document your journey. And
31:47
Speaker 1: so I was like, okay, we'll do it. And it
31:51
Speaker 1: was kind of hard at first. I didn't realize how
31:53
Speaker 1: hard YouTube was, and it's so stressful because you know,
31:56
Speaker 1: to keep getting that following, you need a post two
31:59
Speaker 1: to three times a week, and I'm just like, I
32:01
Speaker 1: have so much going on in my life that is
32:03
Speaker 1: just really hard. So we tried to stick with once
32:05
Speaker 1: a week. Sometimes it would be like every two weeks,
32:08
Speaker 1: and currently it's like once a month. But we've had
32:11
Speaker 1: the holidays and I went on tour and we've I
32:14
Speaker 1: just kind of needed a break. I needed a break
32:16
Speaker 1: from social media. I just I just don't like hatching
32:19
Speaker 1: to post all the time. I'm just like, I just
32:21
Speaker 1: want to live my life. I want to be in
32:23
Speaker 1: the moment and enjoy it and not have to worry
32:25
Speaker 1: about I gotta get a picture, I got to document this.
32:27
Speaker 1: Like I get people want to see that and they
32:29
Speaker 1: love that. But at the same time, I'm like, I
32:31
Speaker 1: just want to live my life. So it's been kind
32:33
Speaker 1: of hard. But YouTube's just it's been a blasts. It's
32:36
Speaker 1: really sad because you know, I started the YouTube to
32:39
Speaker 1: do documenting my journey to the Olympics. Jonas was in
32:42
Speaker 1: the gym all the time filming me moving my mat.
32:45
Speaker 1: It was just a blast. And so now we're trying
32:48
Speaker 1: to transition into like what do I do now with YouTube?
32:51
Speaker 1: Because my whole YouTube was about gymnastics, and so I'm
32:54
Speaker 1: not doing that anymore. So we're trying to come up
32:56
Speaker 1: with different ways and different videos of different things we
32:58
Speaker 1: can do. So YouTube might be a little bit of
33:01
Speaker 1: a struggle for a little bit, but I hope that
33:04
Speaker 1: it gets you know, going again, and I want to
33:06
Speaker 1: I want to be I just want to be that inspiration.
33:08
Speaker 1: I want to help people. I don't know if that
33:10
Speaker 1: will ever be through YouTube, but like I just I
33:12
Speaker 1: want to make a difference in the world. I want
33:14
Speaker 1: to make a difference. You know, even in college gymnastics,
33:16
Speaker 1: there's so many things that I feel like could be changed,
33:18
Speaker 1: could be different, And like I said, social media is hard,
33:22
Speaker 1: and so I just want to help people be able
33:24
Speaker 1: to get through that and know that, you know, it's
33:26
Speaker 1: not what it what it seems like. So who inspires
33:30
Speaker 1: you through gymnastics. I'd have to say Sean Johnson was
33:33
Speaker 1: always my role model, but I think like the main
33:37
Speaker 1: person that inspires me has been my sister Chelsea. I
33:41
Speaker 1: don't know if that sounds kind of cheesy, but I've
33:44
Speaker 1: been able to follow in her footsteps and she's a
33:46
Speaker 1: mom of four and you know she's been through it.
33:49
Speaker 1: You know she helps me. I can call her whenever,
33:52
Speaker 1: and you know, she always knows the right things to
33:54
Speaker 1: say and what to do. So I'm just super grateful
33:57
Speaker 1: for her and her experiences and you know, her journey
34:01
Speaker 1: that has helped support mine to get to where I am.
34:03
Speaker 1: So she's been my biggest cheerleader, my lucky charm. So
34:07
Speaker 1: she's inspired me.
34:10
Speaker 3: You mentioned the Gold Over America Tour.
34:11
Speaker 2: What was it like to jump into that straight after
34:15
Speaker 2: coming home from the Olympics.
34:18
Speaker 1: It was really hard. I remember when I was signing
34:20
Speaker 1: on a tour. I met with the whole crew at
34:23
Speaker 1: Olympic Trials after the first day of competition, which was
34:26
Speaker 1: kind of crazy because I was like, I didn't want
34:28
Speaker 1: it to be a distraction, but at the same time,
34:30
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to do it, so I was like, well,
34:32
Speaker 1: let's just talk because they were all there. So I
34:35
Speaker 1: went and met with them, and I was super excited
34:36
Speaker 1: and wanted to do it, and I knew when the
34:39
Speaker 1: time came around, i'd be like, I don't want to
34:41
Speaker 1: do it just because the whole if I went to
34:43
Speaker 1: the Olympics and with everything going on, I was just like,
34:46
Speaker 1: I'm just going to be exhausted and I'm still gonna
34:48
Speaker 1: have to be doing gymnastics and traveling. And I did
34:50
Speaker 1: a little bit of the Kellogg's Tour after twenty sixteen,
34:55
Speaker 1: and I didn't do the whole tour, but I did
34:57
Speaker 1: like nine cities and I was exhausted, so I kind
35:01
Speaker 1: of knew what to expect, but I was like, this
35:04
Speaker 1: is going to be thirty five cities in a month
35:07
Speaker 1: and a half. Usually the Kellogg's tours three months long.
35:10
Speaker 1: You do maybe three shows a week with the With
35:13
Speaker 1: the Goldover America tour, we did five shows a week,
35:17
Speaker 1: two days off, so it was just a lot, but
35:20
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun. I met one of
35:22
Speaker 1: the dancers, Alexa. I me and her became really good friends.
35:25
Speaker 1: And she lives in LA right now, but she's from Utah,
35:28
Speaker 1: so she comes here a lot. They were just here
35:30
Speaker 1: for Christmas, so it's really fun getting to see her
35:32
Speaker 1: and just making all those memories. And the last show
35:36
Speaker 1: definitely hit me hard, just because I was like, I'm
35:39
Speaker 1: basically retiring now. I mean, you can never say never.
35:42
Speaker 1: Who knows if I'll make a comeback. Not saying I am,
35:44
Speaker 1: but you just never know. But I I just got
35:48
Speaker 1: so emotional. I was like, this is all coming to
35:50
Speaker 1: an end. And I made the Olympic team, I made
35:53
Speaker 1: all my goals I could check off the list, you know,
35:56
Speaker 1: and I'm here on the tour just getting to enjoy
35:59
Speaker 1: it now. Just getting to live my life, having some
36:01
Speaker 1: fun and having all these people come and watch us
36:04
Speaker 1: was just it was just incredible. I'm like, we have
36:07
Speaker 1: a story to tell. I'm so glad that they came
36:09
Speaker 1: and that they all enjoyed it and got something from it.
36:12
Speaker 1: You know, all of us, you know, have our own
36:14
Speaker 1: stories and our own experiences, and we got to tie
36:16
Speaker 1: it all in and share it with the world. So
36:19
Speaker 1: it was it was incredible and I wish I could
36:21
Speaker 1: relive it, not maybe be with twenty girls every day,
36:25
Speaker 1: but it was, it was. It was so cool. I
36:28
Speaker 1: don't know if you've got a chance to see it
36:30
Speaker 1: or see anything on social media, but it was. It
36:32
Speaker 1: was incredible, so super grateful I got the opportunity and
36:35
Speaker 1: the opportunity that they asked me to be a part
36:37
Speaker 1: of it. So it was fun.
36:39
Speaker 2: You mentioned checking off all of your goals. When you
36:42
Speaker 2: think about like what's to come, what excites you Right now.
36:46
Speaker 1: It's so hard. I feel like I'm really lazy right now.
36:49
Speaker 1: I'm like I just want to like sit, it's okay.
36:52
Speaker 1: I want to say it's okay, but then I kind
36:56
Speaker 1: of feel like I'm not productive and it's so hard
36:58
Speaker 1: because my every day I'm you know, doing something seven
37:01
Speaker 1: hours a day, and I'm just like now, just like
37:03
Speaker 1: don't know what to do with myself. But at the
37:04
Speaker 1: same time, it's like awesome, Like I just kind of
37:07
Speaker 1: want to sit and stare at the wall and do
37:09
Speaker 1: nothing like that sounds fun to me. I'm like, is
37:11
Speaker 1: that weird? But I mean, I'm going back to school
37:13
Speaker 1: to finish my senior year, so a little bit stressed
37:16
Speaker 1: about that. But I mean, I've been doing so many collaborations,
37:19
Speaker 1: working with my agent, doing some fun things that I've
37:21
Speaker 1: always wanted to do. I just came out with a
37:24
Speaker 1: dress with Ide Citykill. I'm coming out with a leotard
37:27
Speaker 1: collection with Ozone, which is coming out this month. There's
37:31
Speaker 1: just so many fun opportunities that I've wanted to do
37:33
Speaker 1: for a really long time. So it's really cool to
37:35
Speaker 1: see all my dreams come true and that they're happening
37:37
Speaker 1: and I can bring them to life. So it's just
37:40
Speaker 1: been it's been fun. So we'll see what the future brings.
37:42
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm going to school for sports broadcasting. We'll
37:46
Speaker 1: see if I decide to do that or not. I
37:48
Speaker 1: also would like to start my own company of some
37:50
Speaker 1: sort down the road. I want to start a family,
37:53
Speaker 1: so hopefully the next year. So I'm excited.
37:55
Speaker 2: There's absolutely nothing on your to do list. Maybe I'll
37:58
Speaker 2: go into sports broadcasting, maybe I have a child.
38:01
Speaker 1: Maybe yeah, maybe maybe maybe we'll see I know.
38:05
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well, I mean, yeah, I don't blame
38:08
Speaker 2: you for wanting to sit around and look at the
38:11
Speaker 2: wall for a little while and meet Aside from traveling
38:14
Speaker 2: all over the place, to finally be still, I'm sure
38:17
Speaker 2: is like one large exhale, but also probably a little
38:21
Speaker 2: bit unsettling at the same time.
38:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, you finally.
38:25
Speaker 2: Have the opportunity to like sit down with thoughts that
38:27
Speaker 2: you probably hadn't had moments or time to truly process
38:30
Speaker 2: before this point.
38:31
Speaker 1: It's fun. It's fun to not stress. I just remember
38:34
Speaker 1: like waking up and wanting to throw up, or like
38:38
Speaker 1: I would want to sleep intill like nine or ten
38:40
Speaker 1: o'clock because it got my mind off of thinking about
38:43
Speaker 1: the day or what was going on, you know, that
38:45
Speaker 1: week if I was going to camp or going to
38:47
Speaker 1: a meet, and it was just it just made me
38:49
Speaker 1: feel so sick, and I was just like, it's weird
38:52
Speaker 1: not having that like hover over me anymore. Like I
38:55
Speaker 1: just I feel so good. It's like a nice stress reliever.
38:58
Speaker 1: I just feel I feel good. I haven't missed gymnastics yet,
39:02
Speaker 1: which I'm surprised. I feel like maybe once college season
39:05
Speaker 1: starts an Elite season starts back up. I'm sure I'll
39:07
Speaker 1: miss it a lot more, but like right now, I'm
39:10
Speaker 1: just like, this is great. Like I've waited so long
39:13
Speaker 1: for this moment to just enjoy life, go on vacation
39:16
Speaker 1: because I've done twenty years of gymnastics. Haven't had the
39:19
Speaker 1: time to do that. So now I get to live
39:20
Speaker 1: my life. So it's fun. I love it.
39:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean not for nothing, but to have
39:26
Speaker 2: this time to home back in and focus in on
39:29
Speaker 2: your relationships, its probably really special.
39:33
Speaker 1: Oh it's so fun. I mean, I feel like this
39:35
Speaker 1: is the time me and Jonas really get to spend
39:36
Speaker 1: time together because we got married in twenty nineteen, November
39:40
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, right before COVID happened, so we were lucky
39:42
Speaker 1: on that, but of course, you know, we were stuck
39:45
Speaker 1: with each other inside the house and I was doing gymnastics.
39:48
Speaker 1: I feel like we really haven't had that time to
39:50
Speaker 1: like bond and get to enjoy being married. It's just
39:53
Speaker 1: been like stressful the whole time. So I don't know,
39:56
Speaker 1: it's just been so great. I'm loving it. I love life.
39:59
Speaker 2: You're kind of touching here on something that you learned
40:03
Speaker 2: about I would argue a lot sooner than most, and
40:08
Speaker 2: that is exercising boundaries that make sense for you. The
40:12
Speaker 2: thing about boundaries is that oftentimes we either put them
40:16
Speaker 2: up or don't put them up because we're trying to
40:19
Speaker 2: people please, or just do what we feel like we
40:22
Speaker 2: quote unquote should be doing. But for you, going after
40:25
Speaker 2: such a massive goal, you really had to exercise your
40:31
Speaker 2: boundaries very early on.
40:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. Isn't that kind of crazy to think about. I'm like,
40:36
Speaker 1: at such a young age, we have such great discipline,
40:39
Speaker 1: and I just feel like I'm so much more mature,
40:42
Speaker 1: which is kind of cool. I feel gymnastics really matures
40:45
Speaker 1: you at such a young age. Yeah. I just feel
40:47
Speaker 1: like ever since, you know, I started to lead gymnastics
40:49
Speaker 1: and went to the Corollas ranch, it was just kind
40:51
Speaker 1: of like whipped into shape. Knew what I wanted, knew
40:53
Speaker 1: what I needed to do, knew I needed the rest.
40:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean, again, you're talking about from such
40:57
Speaker 2: a young age. It's just the experience now. I mean,
41:00
Speaker 2: twenty years of doing anything will legitimately teach you the most.
41:04
Speaker 2: So to be at this point in your career where
41:07
Speaker 2: you have had all these opportunities and been able to
41:09
Speaker 2: learn all of these lessons has truly been I'm sure
41:13
Speaker 2: something that in the long run has been so advantageous
41:16
Speaker 2: for you. Right now, if someone was to go to
41:20
Speaker 2: your social media, of course they would see that you're
41:22
Speaker 2: an Olympic silver medalist, a twenty year gymnast, someone with
41:26
Speaker 2: over five hundred thousand followers. But when you look in
41:29
Speaker 2: the mirror, what is it that you see looking back
41:31
Speaker 2: at you?
41:32
Speaker 1: I really like that. That's a good one. I don't know,
41:34
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, even this morning, just getting
41:38
Speaker 1: ready for this podcast, you know, just reflecting on the
41:42
Speaker 1: girl that I've grown up to be. It's just been
41:44
Speaker 1: it's been amazing. It's amazing to see, you know, that
41:47
Speaker 1: little girl that was working every day, crying, wanting to
41:50
Speaker 1: give up, and she kept pushing and even you know,
41:55
Speaker 1: with those hard days, she didn't want to quit. She
41:59
Speaker 1: kept going in and was able to conquer the world
42:01
Speaker 1: she went through and she did it and she never
42:03
Speaker 1: gave up and she keeps working hard for her dreams.
42:06
Speaker 1: And that's just pretty cool to see. You know, through
42:09
Speaker 1: my childhood, everything that I was able to do is
42:12
Speaker 1: just it was incredible and I'm so proud of myself
42:14
Speaker 1: and being able to achieve the Olympics and make it here.
42:17
Speaker 1: Just very happy with myself and couldn't be prouder.
42:20
Speaker 2: A strong woman looking back at you in the mirror
42:23
Speaker 2: for sure. Final question here, right now, you have an
42:27
Speaker 2: opportunity to offer the Mikaela who is at the end
42:32
Speaker 2: of the trifecta, the bone spur, the COVID, the pneumonia.
42:36
Speaker 2: She feels like she is totally knocked down time and
42:39
Speaker 2: time again. You have an opportunity to offer her one
42:43
Speaker 2: piece of advice looking back on that time right now,
42:46
Speaker 2: what do you tell her?
42:49
Speaker 1: It's going to be hard and the best thing to
42:54
Speaker 1: do is have love from your friends and family to
42:57
Speaker 1: support you, because whenever you have those hard days, that's
43:01
Speaker 1: what's going to make it easier. And you know, without
43:04
Speaker 1: my friends or family, I don't think I would have
43:05
Speaker 1: been able to do it. Not even without my husband
43:07
Speaker 1: pushing me keeping me going, I think I would have
43:10
Speaker 1: quit many many times. So having that love and that
43:13
Speaker 1: support from your family will help you go a long way.
43:17
Speaker 2: So grateful for your time today. I love to hear
43:19
Speaker 2: a little bit more about your journey, Mikayla. How did
43:21
Speaker 2: the hurdlers follow along with you? How do they keep
43:24
Speaker 2: up with you? Give me all your details.
43:26
Speaker 1: You guys can follow me at Mikayla Skinner twenty sixteen
43:29
Speaker 1: on Instagram and Mikayla Skinner on Twitter and Facebook, and
43:33
Speaker 1: with our YouTube channel just Mikayla Skinner. So follow me
43:37
Speaker 1: along my journey. Hopefully it's still as exciting as a
43:40
Speaker 1: silver medal, but he can keep in touch with me there.
43:43
Speaker 2: I'm over at Hurdle Podcast and at Emily Abadi another
43:46
Speaker 2: Hurdle conquered.
43:47
Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time