After earning a spot on the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Team Sunday night, MyKayla is heading to Tokyo to compete in the Olympic Games.
The 24-year-old is thrilled to have fulfilled a childhood dream. She was an alternate at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Hoda Kotb, TODAY’s correspondent, said that “some dreams take a while.”
Skinner was concerned that this might not happen, but it did not happen too long ago.
The coronavirus was contracted by the Utah Red Rocks’ athlete in December. After fighting the illness for 2 weeks, she was finally diagnosed with pneumonia. She was hospitalized for one week, and she was unable to return to the gym.
Hoda was told by her, “I survived.” She said, “It was so hard to believe that I survived.” “I was like, I don’t even think I can do it anymore.
She was able to recover in time to qualify for Tokyo Olympics.
Skinner stated that “having these girls and my family supporting me through it all has really helped” him.
Skinner was just five minutes away from her fifth all-around win at the trials and had finally realised her Olympic dream. She’s not sure she’ll ever get enough sleep, so she may not be able to dream of anything else.
She said, “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping,” “You know, even though the Olympics were so close, I’m glad I didn’t give up on my dream and kept going.”
She is not the only person on the team that has overcome hardships to achieve her Olympic dream.
Sunisa Lee (18 years old) had a dream of becoming a member of Team USA. Her father, however, was paralysed in an accident two years ago.
He was still there Sunday night to celebrate her success with the rest.
Lee told Hoda that this has been our long-held dream, basically since we were babies. He’s always been there for me through all of it, so it was an incredible honor to have him at the Olympic trials alongside me.
You can see more from the six U.S. Women’s gymnastics team members as they travel to Tokyo next month.
