Gymnastics is usually neglected within the bigger world of athletics — it is incessantly ignored or left off lists claiming to characteristic the best moments in sports activities historical past. However gymnastics, which isn’t simply bodily taxing on the our bodies of teenagers and younger girls, but in addition emotionally and mentally difficult as properly, is lastly within the highlight due to a brand new documentary collection.
YouTube Originals and Glamour have partnered for Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Girls’s Gymnastics, a brand new six-part collection debuting Monday, Sept. 21 that explores what it takes to be an Elite gymnast and the distinctive challenges many of those athletes face as they push their our bodies to the restrict. On this unique sneak peek from the collection premiere, which serves as an introduction to the game and the ground occasion, 2016 Olympic group member Laurie Hernandez, who helped the Remaining 5 take house the group gold and likewise gained silver on the steadiness beam, affords a glimpse into her life now as she prepares to mount a comeback for the following Olympics. “I’ve Put up-Its throughout my house,” she explains. “Like, ‘I will imagine in myself and my skills. I will keep true to myself and my values. Immediately is filled with infinite alternatives.’ … Typically I’ve to remind myself of that; I will be fast to neglect.”
Hernandez, whose maternal and paternal grandparents are all from Puerto Rico, additionally touches on what it means to be Latina and competing in gymnastics, one thing she did not take into account when she was competing in Rio de Janeiro. “I did not notice the impression of being a Latina gymnast in 2016, how a lot of an impression that might have on different folks watching,” she says. “So now, coming again a second time, I feel that is one thing I am listening to. It is one thing that I am pleased with. And it is one thing I personal.”
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Along with Hernandez, Defying Gravity additionally options interviews with gymnastics icons like Nadia Comaneci, the primary lady to be awarded an ideal 10 and the recipient of 9 Olympic medals; Olga Korbut, who competed for the Soviet Union and redefined the game within the 1970s and later grew to become the primary inductee into the Worldwide Gymnastics Corridor of Fame; Dominique Moceanu, who at 13 grew to become the youngest gymnast to win the senior all-around title at U.S. nationals after which at 14 helped the Magnificent Seven seize the US’ first Olympic group gold in 1996; and Aly Raisman, who captained each the 2012 and 2016 Olympic groups and is the second most-decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time.
However it’s not simply in regards to the girls who paved the way in which; the documentary, which was filmed earlier than the coronavirus pandemic and thus the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, additionally spends time with Group USA hopefuls Jade Carey, Olivia Greaves, Morgan Hurd, Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum, Riley McCusker, MyKayla Skinner, and Trinity Thomas. And that is simply the tip of the iceberg. The collection is filled with appearances from many extra gymnasts who reveal the inside energy in addition to the extraordinary bodily coaching it takes to compete and excel in a sport that calls for perfection however typically solely will get to be within the highlight throughout the Summer season Olympics.
Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Girls’s Gymnastics premieres Monday, Sept. 21 at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT on Glamour‘s YouTube channel.
