MyKayla Skinner on Her Journey to the Olympics
MyKayla Skinner began gymnastics when she was only five years old. “My two older sisters were in the sport already so it was fun to practice with them. They had been teaching me gymnastics ever since I came out of the womb but my mom never officially signed me up until I was five.” She wasn’t really in love with the sport, she admits, but she liked it because her sisters were in it and she discovered she was very talented. “Gymnastics has always had a love/hate relationship in my heart because I do enjoy learning skills and competing but practice is intense and the elite gymnastics path makes it hard to have a normal life.”
MyKayla had been going to the USA National team camps since she was 12 and had dreamed of making the Olympic Team ever since. “I had switched gyms at age 11 because I was too advanced for my first gym and my coaches kept telling me to go to a gym that could take me further. After switching to my current gym, my gymnastics career really took off and I went from level 9 to level 10 to JO nationals to Junior International Elite all in one year and the next year I made the national team.”
She went on to compete with the national team for five years and went to two world championships, leading up to the 2016 Olympics. “Training my whole life for that one moment was the most challenging and difficult thing I had ever done but I wouldn’t change it for anything and that experience helps fuel me now as I train for the next Olympics in 2021.” MyKayla doesn’t think that anyone really understands what it's like to be an elite gymnast and have to miss out on so many normal life experiences. “It’s definitely amazing to be a USA Olympic Team member but such a sacrifice as well.”
MyKayla placed fourth at Olympic Trials in July right before the 2016 Summer Olympics. “Even though it was a 5-woman team and the top 5 were supposed to make it, the selection committee decided to replace me with someone else and I was put as an alternate. I still traveled to Rio with the team and trained just as hard, but I was never able to actually compete. This is the biggest reason why I left college to train in elite again; I have always felt like I’ve had unfinished business here and still want to fulfill my goal of competing in the Olympics.”
The advice she would give to any young athlete or gymnast who wants to make it to the Olympic level would be to never quit, especially when it gets hard. “Going through the hard times are what make you stronger and if you want it bad enough, you can make anything happen.”
Growing up, MyKayla says that the gym was pretty much her home. She had to train seven hours a day and could only go to school for half of the day. “Because of this, I had to do summer school and I was homeschooled for a few years. I traveled all the time for national team camps and international meets and rarely got to go on vacations or even spend much time with friends. I really had to stay committed and dedicated so it could all be worth it. It wasn’t always easy but that’s just what you have to do if you want to become an Olympian.”
Her favorite part about being a gymnast and having accomplished everything she has in her career is being able to compete for and represent team USA. “There is no better feeling than having that medal around your neck and knowing that all your hard work paid off.”