The N.C.A.A. ladies’s gymnastics championship is historically a gathering of excellent gymnasts who compete a bit under world class worldwide occasions.
However swinging on the bars and balancing on the beam this week in Fort Price is the Olympics all-around gold medalist, Sunisa Lee, competing for Auburn. And whereas she has gained one occasion, so sturdy is the competitors this yr that she completed solely second within the all-around.
Faculty gymnastics was not usually an possibility prior to now for elite gymnasts with Olympic gold medals. Alternatives to be on Wheaties bins and TV adverts meant that teenage all-around gold medalists like Mary Lou Retton, Nastia Liukin and Gabby Douglas misplaced their eligibility for school competitors.
However due to new guidelines permitting school athletes to learn financially from their names, photographs and likenesses, Lee and others can compete in N.C.A.A. occasions whereas nonetheless incomes revenue within the wake of their Olympic triumphs.
Whereas a number of Olympians like Jamie Dantzscher and Bridget Sloan have gone on to N.C.A.A. championships after their worldwide careers, Lee is the primary ladies’s all-around Olympic gold medalist to compete collegiately.
The gymnast who beat Lee within the all-around on the N.C.A.A.s on Thursday was Trinity Thomas of Florida. Thomas was an Olympics contender herself however dropped out of the running final spring with an ankle damage.
Her triumph on the N.C.A.A.s was capped by an ideal 10 in profitable the ground train.
Thomas additionally gained the uneven bars, whereas Lee gained the stability beam and Jaedyn Rucker of Utah gained the vault.
Three different 2021 Staff USA members are competing in Fort Price: Grace McCallum for Utah, Jordan Chiles for U.C.L.A. and Jade Carey, who completed fourth general for Oregon State.
Lee credited a pep discuss from Chiles for calming her and serving to her to her second place end.
Lee had deliberate to go to Auburn earlier than the Video games, and her surprising gold medal after Simone Biles dropped out of the all-around competitors with a psychological well being problem didn’t change her plans. “No one meant for me to win the all-around gold; I didn’t intend for that to occur,” Lee told The Montgomery Advertiser. “So it was type of like I already had my thoughts set on going to Auburn.”
Lee is coached at Auburn by Jeff Graba, the dual brother of her private coach, Jess Graba.
“If she had this yr in 2020 when she was 17 and there was no N.I.L. and that sort of stuff, I believe it’s a totally totally different ballgame,” Jeff Graba instructed The Advertiser, referring to the brand new identify, picture and likeness guidelines. “I don’t know if she truly can go to varsity with all of the endorsement offers that she would have had at her toes.”
Competitors continues Saturday with the staff closing, which can embody Florida with Thomas, Auburn with Lee, Utah, and Oklahoma. For Auburn, that assures a highest-ever end within the meet, thanks in no small half to the Olympic gold medalist on its roster.
