UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi blows up Twitter, melts hearts after perfect 10 floor performance

[Etrian Oddity]

At an NCAA gymnastics competition last Saturday, UCLA's Katelyn Ohashi danced her way to viral status after earning a perfect 10 on her floor routine:



Twitter went crazy. Tons of people retweeted it, captivated by Ohashi's technical perfection and by how much fun she had performing it.

The backstory is just as important. Ohashi had been a gymnast all her life, but fell out of love with the sport at the Olympic level. She got stressed and had self-confidence issues, always coming up second or third at the big meets. A car accident and the subsequent physical rehabilitation magnified this:

"I've been told I looked like I swallowed an elephant or a pig, whichever was more fitting that day," she wrote in a series of posts about body shaming on her site, Behind the Madness. "I was compared to a bird that was too fat to lift itself off the ground."

Per USAToday

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The idea of Ohashi being called "fat" may seem ludicrous, but in the confines of the fucked-up gymnastics world it's sadly believable. But I think that's also what made her performance so endearing--with all the awful, terrible news coming out of USA Gymnastics the past several years, it's nice to see a genuinely positive moment.

I also think this isn't just a bright spot for gymnastics, but for PoC. Alessandria Ocasio-Cortez, Kamala Harris, and Jemele Hill were some of the bigger names who tweeted out to Ohashi, and all three represent a fight against the white patriarchy. This is a sport largely dominated by white women, with Simone Biles being one of the only exceptions. More diversity is always a good thing.

I posted this in Asian-ERA, but it's just such a feel-good story that I wanted the whole site to see it. There's so much bad, upsetting, infuriating shit going on in the US that we need some more smiles like Ohashi's. Hopefully this brightened your day up.

 

[sibarraz]

That was an amazing performance with a lot of grace.

I could see why the gave her a 10

 

[Haloid1177]

She's fucking awesome. I immediately went and read up on her after seeing it, and it's so cool that she found the fun in it again.

 

[UnluckyKate]

I love how the entire team dance with her on the floor

 

[Shake Appeal]

Heck yeah, that ruled.

 

[GarthLordOfTheSith]

What a god damn badass!

 

[so1337]

Ohachi machi!

 

[Mr. X]

Dope medley.
Dope routine.
Shoutouts to her beating the adversity she faced.

 

[Shadybiz]

Yeah, saw that routine the other day; really great stuff, and I think it was deserving of the 10.

Didn't know about the backstory though. People are awful, and that sucks about the car accident, but I'm glad she found her mojo.

 

[Static]

I love how the entire team dance with her on the floor

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Holy shit they are so into it it's fucking great.

 

[Fuzzy]

I laughed at the person that tried to put up her hands after she had already passed her.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

She fucking nailed it..

Thanks OP. That and the back story brightened up my day ♡

 

[Boze Man]

I'd honestly like this to be what we see in the Olympics. The fact that the peak prime of a women's gymnast is 12-14 with a per-pubescent body hasn't sat right for me even before all we've learned in the last year.

 

[LiQuid!]

All gymnastics look the same to me. Sometimes the gymnasts stumbles or falls, sometimes they don't. Congratulations to this woman for not falling!

 

[TetraGenesis]

I've watched the routine so many times, it's just incredible. Amazing that she got this exceptional while recovering from injury and burdening that adversity. It's inspiring.

 

[Lulu]

All gymnastics look the same to me. Sometimes the gymnasts stumbles or falls, sometimes they don't. Congratulations to this woman for not falling!

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Way to be reductive

 

[krazen]

She fucking murdered it. I love seeing such high level athleticism and it's a damn shame she almost left because of 'people suck' bullshit.

 

[TetraGenesis]

All gymnastics look the same to me. Sometimes the gymnasts stumbles or falls, sometimes they don't. Congratulations to this woman for not falling!

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Imagine watching this routine and having the gall to claim this is what gymnastics has always looked like.

 

[Twstr709]

Body shaming assholes. Great routine. I'm happy for her.

 

[LiQuid!]

Imagine watching this routine and having the gall to claim this is what gymnastics has always looked like.

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Every time I see Olympic gymnasts it's exactly the same as this. Some random dancing with a few flippy spots peppered in.

 

[Masoyama]

Every time I see Olympic gymnasts it's exactly the same as this. Some random dancing with a few flippy spots peppered in.

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Soccer is just people kicking a ball into a goal or into the hands of a goalie. In basketball you shoot the ball and it either goes in or it doesn't, what's the big deal?

 

[Young Liar]

I don't know jack about gymnastics, but by god was this awe-inspiring to watch. Absolutely wild what humans can do with their bodies. Her energy is also just infectious. Love how everyone on the team was feeding off of it and feeding her their energy too. It's beautiful, powerful stuff.

 

[deadmonkeyuk]

 

[Armaros]

Every time I see Olympic gymnasts it's exactly the same as this. Some random dancing with a few flippy spots peppered in.

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Your favorite sport is people tossing around a saftely compliant round object around with either their feet, hands, or wooden stick.

All exactly the same.

 

[LatteToGo]

Good God, she's cute. Love the way she make the crowd so happy. Don't understand why she have a confidence issue, she looks like a happy go-lucky kind of girl. Did I mention she's cute?!

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Every time I see Olympic gymnasts it's exactly the same as this. Some random dancing with a few flippy spots peppered in.

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How old are you? because you're acting like an obnoxious teenager who thinks being jaded towards things makes you look cool.

 

[Instro]

Yeah I saw this yesterday, cool routine. The only thing I'm confused by is the way she lands some stuff. Like I thought you're supposed land flips and stuff clean on your feet, but it seemed like a few times she dropped straight into a split.

 

[NervousXtian]

She's awesome.. and fuck those calling her fat for having some booty. Gymnastics is better for having people that have real bodies competing.

 

[Sheepinator]

That was amazing. I don't watch a lot of gymnastics, but that move where she falls into a splits then immediately bounces up to standing, is that common? I don't recall ever seeing it before, and it seems like it would be very challenging but she makes it look so easy.

 

[AMAGON]

I'm in love! 💕💕

 

[WascallyWabbit]

damn, people need to get off their high horse, if she can compete at the highest level just fine then clearly she's in good enough condition

 

[LiQuid!]

Your favorite sport is people tossing around a saftely compliant round object around with either their feet, hands, or wooden stick.

All exactly the same.

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I agree with this, but don't feel it's particularly relevant. Sports aren't judged based on performance, other than when they are flashy beyond reasonable expectation (i.e. in a highlight reel). They are contests that are won by firm metrics. If anything I'd compare gymnastics to another thing I like, professional wrestling, which is similarly choreographed performance art. I could tell you a good wrestling match from a bad one based on many of the components that make it up. Selling from individual wrestlers, in-ring psychology, storytelling, the layout of the match. There are a lot of ways wrestling matches differ from one another, though I admit they might not be apparent to someone who hasn't seen enough of them to be informed.

So maybe it's my ignorance of floor based gymnastics that I'm not able to tell a "perfect" performance vs. a lot of the typical routines I see when I tune into the Olympics every four years. My only frame of reference between all the routines I've ever seen is how many stumbles/falls are accrued at the end of the 2-3 big flippy bits peppered throughout, which is what I commented on. Good for her for not stumbling and falling, making this is among the best gymnastics routines I've ever seen. Sorry if that's reductive.

How old are you? because you're acting like an obnoxious teenager who thinks being jaded towards things makes you look cool.

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37

 

[ThatMeanScene]

She did an awesome job and I didn't know about her story at all. She is even more inspiring now.

 

[Mr Jones]

Yeah I saw this yesterday, cool routine. The only thing I'm confused by is the way she lands some stuff. Like I thought you're supposed land flips and stuff clean on your feet, but it seemed like a few times she dropped straight into a split.

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I was wondering the same thing. It didn't look like she was landing her flips cleanly.

But that first run was crazy. She lost a lot of momentum, yet she was still just killing those flips, and making it look effortless.

What I liked the most though was the energy. She looked SO happy throughout the routine. All her girls were dancing with her in the background. I don't think I've seen a floor routine that looked so... fun. That probably infected the judges, as well. Way to go, Ms. Ohashi.

 

[VectorPrime]

damn, people need to get off their high horse, if she can compete at the highest level just fine then clearly she's in good enough condition

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This isn't the highest level though.

 

[StrangerDanger]

How old are you? because you're acting like an obnoxious teenager who thinks being jaded towards things makes you look cool.

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Way to judge a person because of a tame statement they made. Staright up attacking them, irony. Also, you could have helped by educating or showing the person examples of what you enjoy about the sport to give them better insight but you resorted to attacking. Great job.

 

[skillzilla81]

I watched this this past weekend, but didn't even notice how her team was dancing with her. This is just awesome. Makes me smile.

 

[HStallion]

So maybe it's my ignorance of floor based gymnastics

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This is all you needed to really say

 

[dreams]

I agree with this, but don't feel it's particularly relevant. Sports aren't judged based on performance, other than when they are flashy beyond reasonable expectation (i.e. in a highlight reel). They are contests that are won by firm metrics. If anything I'd compare gymnastics to another thing I like, professional wrestling, which is similarly choreographed performance art. I could tell you a good wrestling match from a bad one based on many of the components that make it up. Selling from individual wrestlers, in-ring psychology, storytelling, the layout of the match. There are a lot of ways wrestling matches differ from one another, though I admit they might not be apparent to someone who hasn't seen enough of them to be informed.

So maybe it's my ignorance of floor based gymnastics that I'm not able to tell a "perfect" performance vs. a lot of the typical routines I see when I tune into the Olympics every four years. My only frame of reference between all the routines I've ever seen is how many stumbles/falls are accrued at the end of the 2-3 big flippy bits peppered throughout, which is what I commented on. Good for her for not stumbling and falling, making this is among the best gymnastics routines I've ever seen. Sorry if that's reductive.

37

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All wrestling matches look exactly the same to me. The only difference is costumes and sometimes there is a cage and sometimes there isn't. Sometimes there are props and sometimes there aren't. You can be reductive about any sport you're ignorant about.

 

[Thac0]

I agree with this, but don't feel it's particularly relevant. Sports aren't judged based on performance, other than when they are flashy beyond reasonable expectation (i.e. in a highlight reel). They are contests that are won by firm metrics. If anything I'd compare gymnastics to another thing I like, professional wrestling, which is similarly choreographed performance art. I could tell you a good wrestling match from a bad one based on many of the components that make it up. Selling from individual wrestlers, in-ring psychology, storytelling, the layout of the match. There are a lot of ways wrestling matches differ from one another, though I admit they might not be apparent to someone who hasn't seen enough of them to be informed.

So maybe it's my ignorance of floor based gymnastics that I'm not able to tell a "perfect" performance vs. a lot of the typical routines I see when I tune into the Olympics every four years. My only frame of reference between all the routines I've ever seen is how many stumbles/falls are accrued at the end of the 2-3 big flippy bits peppered throughout, which is what I commented on. Good for her for not stumbling and falling, making this is among the best gymnastics routines I've ever seen. Sorry if that's reductive.

37

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Gymnastics are graded on a firm metric also. You hand the judges a list of the moves you are going to perform and they grade you based on how you complete your outline. It's not like the judges are going "Oh, she did a "move A" I think I'll give her some points". It's more that there is a perfect execution for move A and she recieves points based on how close she is to that baseline with points deducted for physiognomy outside that perfect form. Harder moves are worth more points.

 

[MetalMagus]

There's a write up on SLATE about Ohashi's routine, part of it explains why it's so dynamic and looks so different from Olympic routines

tldr; NCAA point standards are different than the IOC's which allows for more fun and creativity in floor exercises. Also, Ohashi is an amazing talent and her school, UCLA, is a U.S. gymnastics dynasty.

Great stuff all around. Plus her haircut is FIRE.

Way to judge a person because of a tame statement they made. Staright up attacking them, irony. Also, you could have helped by educating or showing the person examples of what you enjoy about the sport to give them better insight but you resorted to attacking. Great job.

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Coming into a thread about a routine that everyone is pretty excited about to say - "eh, I don't get it, the entire sport is dumb" - is the essence of thread shitting. It deserves clap-back.

 

[Korigama]

I saw clips of her routine on Colbert last night. Great performance and a wonderful story.

 

[StrangerDanger]

..

Coming into a thread about a routine that everyone is pretty excited about to say - "eh, I don't get it, the entire sport is dumb" - is the essence of thread shitting. It deserves clap-back.

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All i read was mention of watching Olympic gymnastics and nothing where he said the entire sport was dumb. Just his/her watching of OLYMPIC gymnastics seemed similar to him/her. So you are putting words into the mouth of the user also.

 

[shintoki]

Queen

 

[MetalMagus]

All i read was mention of watching Olympic gymnastics and nothing where he said the entire sport was dumb. Just his/her watching of OLYMPIC gymnastics seemed similar to him/her. So you are putting words into the mouth of the user also.

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"All gymnastics look the same to me. Sometimes the gymnasts stumbles or falls, sometimes they don't. Congratulations to this woman for not falling!"

Is a statement so dripping with sarcasm and disdain that my monitor is starting to glisten. There's no "please enlighten me about what makes this routine special" it's just snark for sake of shitting on gymnastics in general. Seriously, "congratulations to this woman for not falling!" is transparently trolling. It adds nothing to the conversation beyond an attempt to devalue the topic itself. It's thread shitting.

 

[2CL4Mars]

Human beings can be pretty incredible can't they?

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Way to judge a person because of a tame statement they made. Staright up attacking them, irony. Also, you could have helped by educating or showing the person examples of what you enjoy about the sport to give them better insight but you resorted to attacking. Great job.

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Quite how you view my comment as harsher than the attitude displayed by the person I replied to is beyond me. You don't need to know anything about gymnastics to acknowledge the talent on display. Reducing it to "well done for not falling down" is a shitty attitude no matter how you look at it.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

This isn't the highest level though.

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Is it for her though? Or is she a potential Olympian?

 

[GestaltGaz]

Thanks OP. What a great story I would otherwise have missed. True grit and self belief on show here. Good going.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Human beings can be pretty incredible can't they?

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Debateable.