The U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team has the potential to medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, NBC reports. | Instagram
The U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team has the potential to medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, NBC reports. | Instagram
A Libertyville native athlete will be competing in a gymnastic competition in which the United States has never competed in.
The rhythmic gymnastics team, a discipline that entered the Olympic Games gymnastics program 37 years ago, will be led by 21-year-old veteran Laura Zeng, the country’s most acclaimed rhythmic gymnast, according to NBC.
The team has the potential to medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, NBC reports.
For Zeng, making history was a decision that she can trace back to childhood and deciding what sport to participate in at the age of seven.
“That was a big turning point in my life,” Zeng said. “It was one of the two pathways. It's a good thing that I chose gymnastics because I don't think I have the height to be a swimmer.”
Zeng referred to the famous Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” when describing her decision.
“Rhythmic is so individualized; you can make whatever you want of it. That was definitely the two paths in the yellow wood. I had to choose, and I chose gymnastics,” she said.
Zeng was 11th in Rio, two years after taking bronze at the Youth Olympics, and any improvement on that in Tokyo would be the highest finish ever by an American.
Still, she has carried some reservations about competing in this year’s Olympics, and wondered if they would ever come to fruition.
“It wouldn't be human if you didn't have doubts,” she said. “When the pandemic first started and the Olympics were postponed, I doubted as much as anyone else because I had already [delayed college] for two years, and it was a big commitment.”
While the United States isn’t known for its rhythmic gymnastics, Zeng believes that having a former Bulgarian national team member as a coach in Angelina Yovcheva will be an ace up her sleeve.
“I've been with my coaches since I was 13 or younger. They’ve seen me grow up,” Zeng said to flogynmastics.. “They've been spending as much time with me second only to my parents. I think that is a huge factor.”
The rhythmic gymnastics event is scheduled to take place on Aug. 5.
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