15-Year-Old Battling Life-Threatening Disease Inspires The Gymnastics World With Iconic Twisting Skills

The senior gymnastics team has unfurled their victory flags at the 2024 Winter Cup, a much-needed honing ahead of the Paris Olympics. Kayla DiCello and Yul Moldauer stand with their all-around titles, but the other competitors aren’t falling short as well. Shifting our focus from the pro athletes a bit, we have the Junior Winter Cup winners setting the pace well.

This 15 year old phenom is also coincidentally the all-around bronze medalist and shared the podium with the medal finishers. But her tumutltuous life journey makes her the most robust of all. The gymnastics bug bit her early, but a noxious and debiliating syndrome bug almost put a stop to her growing career.

Gymnastics youngster Tyler Turner hailed by the sports world

Among the budding gymnastic stars, Tyler Turner is a name that will reverberate for years. Sporting peak determination since very young, the 15-year-old etched her name in USA Gymnastics history. For more context, the bronze finisher of the Junior Winter Cup 2024, who scored a whopping 50.450 all-around, was afflicted with Guillain-Barré Syndrome while pursuing gymnastics. Since 7, the 15-year-old has garnered inspiration from YouTube videos, only to entitle her parents to sign her up for the sport. However, after the GBS detection, the disease hit her nervous system, resulting in paralysis. Initially, her mother Corrin had thought “it was a stomach bug”. But such wasn’t the case as GBS turned out to be life-threatening for her child.

Let alone her gymnastic dream fulfillment, she had to learn to walk from scratch. Registering with the Airborne Gymnastics Training Center also came with a set of consequences. The thirty-two-hour-per-week training schedule, while also managing studies and healing, looked impossible for the family. But now, her repertoire doesn’t look like she missed out on any major achievement.

Turner’s stellar career up until now

Being the State and Region 1 champion at the Junior Olympic Level 7 made her a top choice for national testing out of 4000 others. The 300+ National A camp has her in the 45th place. In the recently concluded Winter Cup event, the San Jose native clinched silver in floor exercise, bronze in all-around, and eighth place in balance beam. At the 2023 Core Hydration Classic, the 15-year-old secured 3rd place in the uneven bars routine. Moving on, at the 2023 American Classic, Tyler Turner earned the uneven bars bronze.

A hardcore fan of Rihanna and Harry Potter, Turner always shared a great bond with her parents. I told my parents I wanted to do it and they put me in”, asserts how easy convincing her parents was for her. Now a successful Junior sportsperson, her only goal for gymnastics is the “Olympics”.

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