Dear Final Five

Dear the Final Five team,

Gabby, Aly, Simone, Madison, and Laurie, I don’t know you but I’ve been watching your incredible performances for a few years. Gabby, when my daughter was two, she watched all of your routines in London on record for about 3-4 months. I signed her up for gymnastics right after that. She was obsessed and still is.

I wanted to write to you ladies to say thank you. Thank you for representing our country in such a classy, enthusiastic, and memorable way. Thank you for being the epitome of a stellar athlete. Thank you for your strength, your skills, and your positive body image for women everywhere. Most importantly, thank you for providing my daughter with the most incredible role models a child could ask for.

I watched your routines with a bated breath. I’ve always been in love with watching gymnastics. Gymnasts make what they do look incredibly effortless. I’m in awe how you can twist and bend your body. I’m in awe how you swing gracefully from bar to bar. I am flabbergasted how you can do the things you do on that tiny beam. It’s remarkable. It’s unbelievable. It’s incredibly beautiful.

Lyla - aspiring gymnast

My six year old daughter has high hopes. She loves gymnastics (as much as she loves me her mother, which she reminds me of daily!). We watched the Rio games, all of the gymnastics and she was in love. After every routine she would tell me what she liked about it. I would ask her if she wanted to do that one day and she’d nod her head enthusiastically. Then I’d ask her how you ladies can do all those amazing things and she’d say practice. I’d tell her lots of practice. I’ve reminded her many times that she can do anything she wants to do with hard work, perseverance, and passion.

She has loved everything about all of you this entire Olympics with the exception of your makeup! I think she was just jealous of all the sparkle!

We live in an amazing time with innovative technology, more opportunities than most in this world, and the reach of dreams right at our fingertips. My daughter can be anything she aspires to be. If she wants to make it to the Olympics someday or simply perform gymnastics for fun, she can do it. And no matter where she ends up, I know she’s got some amazing idols out there in you all.

So again, thank you for dedicating your young lives to this elegant sport and being there for all the young girls in America. Some day there will be a new Olympic champion and when they hang that gold medal around her neck, she’ll say she looked up to you.

Sincerely,

A Gymnastics Mom/Wannabe gymnast/Fan