WATCH: 4x World Champ MyKayla Skinner Dips Into Goldmine of Memories To Bring Out the Incredible Journey of Her Career

The path of former American gymnast MyKayla Skinner embodies the saying, “Dream, Believe, Become.” Her journey to the Olympics was truly unfathomable; it began as an alternate in the Rio de Janeiro Games of 2016 and ended with an individual silver medal in Tokyo. What obstacles did this gymnastics guru face to becoming a four-time world champion, and how did she go from being an alternate to a silver medalist? This remains lesser known to many. With insurmountable wins and a few bumps along the way, there’s a well kept Pandora’s box she recently unfurled.

Now as she embraces the new chapter in life, the 27-year-old reminds her fans of an important message with wonderful memories of her incredible adventure as the Olympics draw near.

MyKayla Skinner shares hopeful message with fans

Back when Simone Biles withdrew, Skinner entered the vault final in Tokyo and won silver. With the Summer Olympics in six months, Skinner posted a video on Instagram with her printed profile from earlier that read, “Future Goals: To be in the Olympics.” The following scene showed junior Skinner landing flawlessly on the vault routine, followed by a transition to the Cheng and Amanar vaults in the Tokyo Olympics. She captioned it, “Dreams really do come true.” Featuring a montage of her younger days to now, it was a joyously poignant sojourn for her.

It all began when MyKayla’s mother, Kym Skinner, felt that her 5-year-old daughter would benefit more from focusing her attention on sports. She put her in a friend’s local gym. For her, it wasn’t love at first sight, though it took her time to dig into her potential when she was 15 years old and later qualified for her first Olympic trials, and the rest is history. After the Olympics in 2016, Skinner was torn: to go pro, or join the NCAA and enroll at the University of Utah?

Making the latter decision turned out to be smart, as it gave her a much-needed break for her body and enabled her to flourish in collegiate gymnastics. It took Skinner some time to decide to leave Utah and return to Elite.

How the Olympic dream gained fruition

It was only during Skinner’s junior season that the possibility of making it to the 2020 Olympics came into question. After Skinner was selected as an alternate for the United States team that won a gold medal at the World Championships in the winter of 2019, her return gathered momentum. Even though Skinner did not place first in the all-around in the Olympic Trials, she was able to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics as an individual.

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Controversy surrounded this decision because Jade Carey had already claimed the other individual berth and had demonstrated abilities similar to Skinner’s on the floor and in the vault. Later, after winning the first Olympic medal, Skinner said, “grateful I never gave up and that so many of you never gave up on me.” “Unfinished business… FINISHED,” she added. While her life has indeed come full circle, she finds moments of solace in recounting her vivid journey.

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