Rocky Mountain Flying High

By Meredith Hanover, Sports Illustrated

I arrived at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Club at ten o'clock in the morning on a Saturday I thought I'd gone to the wrong place. You see, I was supposed to be interviewing four members of the US Women's National team, a member of the Men's National team and their coach, a four time Olympic Gold Medalist. When I got there, all I saw were little girls, really little girls, six or seven years old tumbling slowly on padded mats and girls slightly older, maybe eight or nine, doing small hops on a balance beam much closer to the ground than the one you see on television during the Olympics. Where were my elite gymnasts, the ones I'd flown almost 3,000 miles to come see?

I was quickly approached by one of the gym's managers, an attractive woman in her late twenties. She asked if I was the Sports Illustrated reporter. I imagine I came off as extremely rude when I said, "Yes, obviously," from between gritted teeth. I was annoyed because it looked like I had wasted my time and I hate when people waste my time. She managed to remain pleasant, however. She escorted me up some stairs and said, "They'll be right with you. They've been in the gym since six this morning, a couple of them since five and they wanted to shower and change."

I did a double take, "Since what time?" I asked for clarification and she repeated herself. It was Saturday, I reminded myself. Saturday at ten o'clock in the morning. I had expected to arrive and the group I was interviewing would be waiting for me, dressed in their best, with arrangements made for us to sit down and talk, followed by a session afterwards for some photographs. The interview hadn't even begun yet and it already wasn't going as expected.

Just moments later, a fair haired man in his late twenties emerged through the front doors of the gym, hair still wet from his shower. Almost instantly, his gymnasts began to appear from a door in the back corner of the gym, where I assumed there were showers and a locker room. They were dressed, casually, one in a track suit, another in jeans and a pretty top, the lone male in ripped jeans and a shirt with cut off sleeves. One of the young ladies had taken the time to dress up in a short skirt and blouse, while the last one out of the locker room wearing a yellow sundress, was throwing her brown hair up into a quick ponytail. Suddenly, I felt like I was intruding, like I had absolutely no business interrupting their day.

"Miss Hanover?" a voice asked me in a clipped British accent. It was the fair-haired man who'd entered the gym moments before. I recognized him now that he was up close: Sasha Beloff, four time Olympic gold medalist, the coach that led the Romanian Women's Team to Gold in 2004 and current coach at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Club. I quickly shook his hand and he introduced himself, although I'm sure he knew he needed no introduction. He quickly escorted me to a room at the back of the gym I assumed was used for birthday parties by its décor and I remembered the children outside practicing their tumbling. There they all sat, Sasha Beloff, Austin Tucker, Payson Keeler, Kaylie Cruz, Emily Kmetko and Lauren Tanner. A rare assemblage of talent that all happened to train at the same gym. Think of it as if Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh had all played on the same AAU team as little kids. It was silent for a little while, when suddenly I realized I was supposed to be interviewing them, not staring like an overwhelmed fan, which in the span of three minutes, before even speaking to them, I had rapidly become.

I asked them if they were ready to get started and they were, so I turned on my tape recorder and began.

MH: Coach Beloff, this is an extremely talented group you've assembled here at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics club. How do you account for your team's success at the National and International level?

SB: It's not something I can take credit for, in general. These four ladies were here when I was brought in to coach and Austin joined us sooner after. As far as our success at the big meets, I think it has a lot to do with the attitude of this club. We're fighters. We never back down from a challenge.

I wasn't entirely pleased with his answer. It felt like he'd rehearsed it, which he probably had, but I pushed on.

MH: Speaking of challenges. Payson, your history is well known. You're come back is an incredible story. How did you do it?

PK: Just a lot of hard work and a coach that believed in me when no one else did.

That was it. That's all she was giving me. This was the girl who had returned to the sport of gymnastics after breaking her back during the 2009 Nationals to become the World Champion only months later. And all she had to say for herself was that she worked hard? That her coach believed in her?

But again, I persevered. Maybe the guy she was supposedly dating would shed some more light.

MH: And, you Austin. You came to this gym just after the French Invitational event earlier this year. What's it been like to train alongside your girlfriend, especially now that you've both won this year's World Championships?

AT: Uh, well, Payson's not my girlfriend. We're just friends. But it's been nice training with her. She's very focused and driven and she inspires all of us with her dedication.

Austin Tucker supposedly didn't care what anyone thought about him. Why would he stay so tight lipped? I was starting to think that this was going to be impossible. These people just weren't going to open up, no matter what I asked them.

MH: Kaylie, the entire sports world was extremely concerned when you weren't able to compete at this year's World Championships. What happened and are you on your way back?

KC: I am on my way back, now. In my effort to not only become the best gymnast in the US, but also the best gymnast in the World, I went a little crazy with my training. I was completely exhausted by the time I got to Worlds. I just wasn't fit to compete, but I'll be back.

She said all of it with a smile plastered across her face, as if she'd been instructed by someone to just keep smiling throughout the interview, which she probably had.

I looked at Lauren Tanner and the icy glare I received in response was enough to completely stifle any urge I had to ask her a question. That left Emily Kmetko, the World silver medalist on the Uneven Bars. And I'll admit, my frustration completely got the better of me when I asked my question.

MH: Emily, I'm sure you've heard about the controversy surrounding the judging at the World Championships. Do you think your silver medal on the uneven bars is legitimate?

I could feel the room freeze up entirely. Every single pair of eyes in the room was fixed on me and if looks could kill, I'd have been dead six times over again.

EK: I won that medal on my own merit and I believe the investigation conducted by the F.I.G. will prove it.

I opened my mouth, this time to ask their Coach what he thought of the scandal at the World Championships, but he was standing up and each of his gymnasts followed suit. "I think this interview is over," he said, reaching over and stopping my tape recorder. They filed out of the room together and I sat there for a while completely stunned. Time passed, but I didn't notice at all. I just sat there and fumed at how incredibly rude they had all been. It was an honor to be featured in Sports Illustrated. Finally, I gathered my things and prepared to make a hasty exit, but as I entered the gym again, I stopped in my tracks. The little kids who'd ruled the space when I arrived were gone. The only gymnasts around were the ones I'd been interviewing.

They'd all changed from the clothes they'd worn to speak to me back into the leotards and workout gear. Austin Tucker was on the parallel bars, working on a skill I couldn't identify if I tried, all I know is that the human body isn't supposed to be able to hold itself that way and he was doing so for at least five seconds. He dismounted and looked towards Sasha Beloff, who'd been standing not far off. Sasha nodded approvingly and moved on towards the vault, which was situated just behind the parallel bars. Payson Keeler ran down a path straight towards the frightening looking brown mass, sprung on a springboard and flipped and twisted her body in the air before landing perfectly upright, arms in the air. It was amazing, but oddly enough she frowned and turned towards her coach who shook his head.

"No," I heard him say, all the way across the gym.

"You always say no," Payson, the All-Around World Champion was arguing with her coach. Great, I thought, maybe here's a story. I moved closer, listening to their conversation all the while.

"No, I don't," he said and smiled at her.

"You always say no to the extra half twist to my Yurchenko vault. Do you remember the double straight? One day you're just going to walk in here and I'm going to have that extra half twist and then you'll be," I strained to hear what she was saying, but she had stopped talking and they both had begun to laugh.

I couldn't imagine what was funny, but oddly enough their laughter had me smiling as well. I looked over towards the balance beam where Lauren Tanner and Emily Kmetko were both training. Lauren saw my gaze drift over to them and she renewed the glare she'd given me earlier. She turned towards Emily and told her something I couldn't hear.

"Oh, just trust me," Lauren said, as Emily gave her a look of disbelief. The gymnast whose weakness was definitely the balance beam climbed atop it and landed a perfect front tuck salto. She hopped off and she and Lauren high fived.

I looked to my left and saw Kaylie Cruz begin her routine on the uneven bars. She was working with one of the assistant coaches who was explaining something to her. It sounded extremely technical to my non-expert ears, but Kaylie seemed to understand perfectly. She chalked her hands, pulled herself up on the lower bar, transitioned up, completed several rotations on the higher of the two bars and then released, doing a complicated set of twists and turns before landing on two feet, taking just the smallest of hops.

"Excellent job, Kaylie," Sasha Beloff called from across the gym where he was now working with Austin on the still rings. She beamed at him from across the room and proceeded to repeat her effort.

"What about me? Aren't I doing an excellent job, Sasha?" Austin asked from between gritted teeth as he did something on the rings that looked extremely painful and could possibly dislocate both his arms.

Sasha looked up, "No, your form is terrible and your toes aren't pointed. I would have wiped the floor with you," he said, but there was a smile on his face. Austin released himself from the skill and did a quick spin on the rings before somersaulting off onto the mat.

"Keep telling yourself that, old man," he said and they both laughed. Austin went to the water cooler and Sasha approached Payson who was now working on her floor routine.

Again, just as I had when I walked into the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Club and watched as these elite athletes and their coach stopped training simply to talk to me, I felt like an intruder. This was sacred ground, like the field at Yankee Stadium or the 12th hole at Augusta or center court at Wimbledon. This gym floor was their sanctuary, a place where they came to focus their entire selves, body and soul towards one goal: Olympic Gold. I was an intruder. They weren't rude or uncooperative, not really. This, their training, their work, it was just more important than sitting down and talking about medals and winning and controversy and their personal relationships. The only thing that matters at the Rock, as they call it, is the hard work, the discipline and the overriding feeling of family you sense from the moment you arrive. Those five athletes and their coach, they are a family. And if right now, they're a little closed lipped and standoffish, if they find it hard to express what's been going on outside of their gym walls, if they have no interest in talking about their personal relationships? That's okay, because two years from now, in London, I plan to see these five again, with gold hanging around their necks and my awkward couple of hours at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Club will be a distant memory to the new Olympic Champions.