Auburn Gymnastics 🥇🥈🥉

[steeleagle 2,945]

2 hours ago, AUreo said:

This! 

“Lee could have an outstanding all around career in the NCAA. She will likely have an immediate impact on the bar, beam and floor lineups in particular. Some months ago, Lee revealed that she wishes to compete her Nabieva on bars at Auburn—she would be the first gymnast to perform that skill in college.”, source: College Gym News, https://collegegymnews.com/2021/07/20/previewing-ncaa-gymnastics-at-the-tokyo-olympics/ )

 

The Nabieva?

Watch this video and guess who has done it. It is so difficult but an exciting gymnastic move.

 

[augolf1716 21,093]

18 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

The Nabieva?

Watch this video and guess who has done it. It is so difficult but an exciting gymnastic move.

 

Damn

[AUBwins 10,064]

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31849287/us-gymnastics-star-sunisa-lee-long-winding-journey-olympics-2021

JOHN LEE IS waiting for his daughter to call. On a Friday afternoon in late June, he's sitting in a wheelchair in a hotel lobby in St. Louis with his partner, Yeev Thoj, and four of their six children. In a few hours, their 18-year-old daughter, Sunisa, will compete in the Olympic gymnastics trials, where she is favored to secure a spot on the U.S. team and become the first Hmong American to represent the U.S. in the Games. "She's calling!" John says, and the group quiets as he picks up the call. Yeev leans in close. Nine-year-old Lucky squeezes in. "You ready?" John asks. "I'm nervous," Sunisa -- "Suni" to most family, friends and gymnastics fans -- says on FaceTime. "I think I'm going to throw up." "Calm," Yeev responds. "You're not doing this for nobody else anymore," John says. "Not for your friends, not for the Hmong community. You are doing this for yourself now. OK?" He pauses. "Enjoy," he says. "That's your only goal. You got this." "I got this," Suni echoes. John's pep talks have become something of legend within elite gymnastics circles, especially since a fall from a ladder in 2019 left him paralyzed from the chest down and unable to attend his daughter's meets. That's when Suni began sharing the content of their FaceTime conversations and talking publicly about how her dad's words calm her premeet jitters. "I try to be confident for her," John says, "but inside there is nerves." The Lees have relied on each other for strength even more than usual in the past two years -- through John's accident and recovery, the Olympic postponement and the death of close relatives during the pandemic. In St. Louis, Suni will carry the support and expectations of her family and Hmong people around the world. And she will compete knowing it is the final time her family will be in the stands to cheer her on as an elite gymnast. Because of COVID-19, Suni will travel to Tokyo without them, and in the fall, she will leave her supportive home in St. Paul, Minnesota, to attend Auburn University in Alabama, 1,200 miles away. No matter what happens, trials marks the end of a long, difficult road toward the Tokyo Olympics, the beginning of Suni's life as an adult and a chance to make her own name alongside the greatest gymnast in the history of the sport. Suni, second from right, is one of six kids in a tight-knit family. She relies on her dad, center, for premeet pep talks, and her sister Shyenne, second from left, to keep her grounded. Courtesy Lee Family GROWING UP, SUNI'S bond with her dad was forged through movement. John loved to climb and flip as a child and was a natural athlete who excelled at sports in high school. A favorite family video shows John and Suni throwing synchronized backflips off an oversized lounge chair at a Florida beach when Suni was 8. In another, they backflip into the deep end of a hotel pool. John often marvels at how alike he and Suni are, how she shares his fierce competitiveness and drive in a way none of her siblings do, even though he is not her biological father. John was recently divorced with two kids, Jonah and Shyenne, when he met Yeev and her 2-year-old daughter, Suni. Suni is only 12 days younger than Shyenne, and many of their classmates believe they are twins. John and Yeev also have three children together: Evionn, Lucky and Noah. It was Suni's decision, despite the fact that John and Yeev have never legally married, to change her last name to Lee. "She wanted his last name," Yeev says. play 0:22 U.S. Olympic gymnast Sunisa Lee backflips with her dad at age 8One of the Lee family's favorite home videos shows the future Olympic gymnast and her father backflipping on a Florida beach. Suni was 12 when she won her first big bet with her dad. As she prepared to compete in a high-level meet for pre-elite gymnasts, John bet her that if she won first place in the all-around, he would buy her the iPhone she wanted. When she did, he sold an old truck he'd fixed up to pay for it. John has always had a keen sense of how best to motivate her, how to apply just the right amount of pressure at just the right time. "When Suni started competing as an elite, I traveled with her almost everywhere," John says. "I always talked to her before the competition, and sometimes I'd be hard on her and she'd get mad. When Suni's mad, she focuses a little better." But as Suni climbed the international ranks and the pressure mounted, John's talks shifted in tone. "Now she's used to me telling her to go out there and have fun," he says. Then, just before her first senior nationals, everything changed. TWO DAYS BEFORE Suni was set to leave for her first senior national championships, on Aug. 4, 2019, John fell from a ladder while helping a friend cut a tree branch. He broke his right wrist and several ribs and injured his spinal cord, paralyzing his body below his chest. He remembers waking up in the hospital and being told he was unable to use his legs. Suni contemplated skipping nationals. But John convinced her to go to Kansas City with her coach. On the first day of competition, he FaceTimed from his ICU bed and told her it didn't matter how she finished, just that she did her best. She would always be No. 1 in his eyes, he said. Suni, then 16, has said she arrived in Kansas City feeling unsettled and unfocused. She didn't mention her dad's injury to anyone. But because she knew he was watching on TV, she competed for him. And she was stellar. She finished behind only Simone Biles in the all-around and took gold on uneven bars. It was her biggest performance to date. The next month, she was named to the U.S. team that took gold at the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, where she won individual medals on uneven bars and floor. As John, a Navy veteran, began working toward regaining his independence in a recovery unit at the Minneapolis VA hospital, his daughter became a favorite to make the 2020 Olympic team. John has not regained feeling below his chest and uses a wheelchair. But he has not given up hope of one day standing or taking steps. He recently had a device that can stimulate movement in his legs surgically implanted in his back. "Hopefully in the future, if I have upper-body strength, with the use of an exoskeleton, I can do a little walking," John says. "That's my goal." Watching John set small, achievable goals on the path toward larger, long-term ones motivated Suni. "She always says she knows it's harder for me to be where I'm at now," John says, "and it inspires her. I know it's hard for her to be in her position, too." Watching Suni work toward her goals helps John keep going on tough days, too. "Before my injury, I was active and athletic and I fixed everything around the house," John says. "I can't do any of that now, and it's hard. But when I get so angry at myself, I look at Sunisa and think about what she has had to go through to get to where she's at, and she inspires me." Suni's uneven bars routine is one of the most difficult in the world, and she is the gold-medal favorite in the individual event. Carmen Mandato/Getty Images "THAT'S JUST SOME of our family," Shyenne says as she zooms in on a photo. In the image, roughly 150 people, all wearing matching navy T-shirts, pose in a lush, tree-lined field. A few hold dogs or cradle babies. "That's me. There's Evionn ... Lucky ... There's our grandma," she says. "Suni wasn't there because she had to practice." The photo was taken on the first day of an annual family summer camping trip that started in honor of the family's patriarch, Cher Yee Lee, after he died in 2008. "My dad came to this country and didn't have an education or understand the language, and he worked two jobs to support 11 kids," John says. "This is what we do for him." John was 7 when his parents brought him and his siblings to the U.S. from Laos, one of several countries where the Hmong, an ethnic group of between 6 million and 12 million people, live. John's father was a Hmong soldier who fought alongside the U.S. military during the Vietnam War in what is now known as the Secret War. It was evening on St. Patrick's Day, 1979, when the family arrived in St. Paul. "It was super cold and we didn't have jackets," John says. "We had never ridden in a car. We'd never seen lights. We didn't have electricity in Laos. It was the first time I ate dinner at a table." Yeev, who is also from a large Hmong family, was 12 when she arrived in St. Paul with her mother and older sister from Laos in 1987. "We went to a grocery store, and I thought it was magic. Vanilla ice cream in a box. Starburst. And girls wore jeans instead of skirts. I was so excited to wear jeans," she says while wearing a pair of stonewashed jeans. Today, more than 300,000 Hmong people live in the U.S., mostly in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Twin Cities boasts the largest and most organized Hmong population in a metropolitan area, and John jokes that he and Yeev are related to most of them and connected to them all. When Yeev had her first child, she named her Sunisa after her favorite Thai soap opera actress and gave her a Hmong middle name. Traditionally, a person's Hmong name precedes their American name, but to save her daughter a lifetime of mispronunciations, Yeev -- whose name is pronounced "Yeng" -- flipped the script. She also uses only Suni's middle initial, N, on documents. Like John, Yeev was a high school athlete and wanted her daughter to participate in sports even though "it wasn't part of our culture," she says. When a friend saw Suni doing somersaults at the park and suggested Yeev take her to a gymnastics class for toddlers, she signed her up the next week. "Our elders thought sports was a waste of time," John says. Before the pandemic, John and Yeev planned to take the entire family to Thailand and Laos after the Olympics. "We really wanted the kids to see life there," John says. "It's not as easy in Laos as it is here, where they have everything. Especially Sunisa and Shyenne, I wanted to take them before they go off to college in the fall." As Suni has become one of the world's best all-around gymnasts, she has felt the weight of representing her family and Hmong people around the world. "A lot of people don't understand Hmong people or that we went through a really rough life to get here to the United States," John adds. "Many groups of Asians get lumped together. Did you see the movie with Clint Eastwood, 'Gran Torino'? It was based on the Hmong people, and even still no one knows. Maybe because of Sunisa, people might know us." Every year, the Lee family goes on a summer camping trip in honor of the family's patriarch, Cher Yee Lee, who immigrated to the U.S. from Laos after the Vietnam War. He was a Hmong soldier who fought alongside the U.S. military. Courtesy Lee Family AFTER THE OLYMPICS were postponed in March 2020, Suni found herself at home all day every day for the first time since she was a kid. The gym where she spent 30 hours or more each week shut down, and she questioned whether she wanted to continue for another year. She wondered if she would still be able to compete her routines after taking so much time off. But when her parents asked her, "Why would you quit now?" she didn't have a good answer. She owed it to herself and her years of training to continue, so she followed her dad's example and set small, achievable goals on the path toward larger, long-term ones. Then, shortly after Suni returned to her gym in June, she broke her left foot. That summer, her aunt and uncle contracted COVID-19. First, her aunt, her mother's sister and one of Suni's biggest supporters, died. Her uncle initially recovered but died 13 days after his wife from a heart attack. "That was the hardest time," John says. Suni couldn't attend either funeral and had to say goodbye to her aunt over Zoom. She missed her uncle, a Hmong shaman who gave her herbal teas and helped heal her injuries. Yeev knew her daughter was hurting physically and emotionally, so when Suni came home sore and bruised from a workout, Yeev applied Hmong rubs and massaged her muscles like Suni's uncle once would. All of this took place against the backdrop of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis and months of protests down the street from the family's home in St. Paul. As anti-Asian hate crimes rose around the country, John and Yeev advised Suni and her siblings not to go outside alone. Suni leaned on her sister even more. "We always make time for each other," Shyenne says. The sisters got their driver's licenses. They did each other's nails. John says that Shyenne knows the right thing to say -- or not say -- when her sister is stressed. After Dad's pep talks, Suni often texts Shyenne for sister-level real talk. "I keep her life from being only gymnastics," Shyenne says. "I keep her social life active. I keep her normal." When she returned to competition this winter, Suni looked every bit the gymnast she was pre-pandemic. Her bar routine, considered one of the most difficult in the world, improved every meet. With her dad in the stands for the first time since his accident, she finished second in the all-around, behind Biles, and took gold on uneven bars at the U.S. championships in early June. "It's been a tough year, but I'm super proud of myself," Suni says. "After COVID and quarantine, I was unmotivated because we had so much time off and I felt I wasn't good enough anymore. But now I've been a lot better mentally, and you can see it in my gymnastics." "WE'RE GOING THROUGH a tunnel. Everyone, hold your breath!" Yeev is navigating the family's white minivan through rush-hour traffic toward The Dome at America's Center in downtown St. Louis. Trials begin in less than an hour. As Yeev pulls into a parking spot outside the arena, she and the kids move with precision. She opens the van's back hatch and retrieves John's wheelchair. Evionn assists her in reattaching its wheels. Shyenne pushes it to the front passenger door and helps her dad out of his seat and into the chair. Lucky grabs the handles, spins the chair 180 degrees and points his dad toward the venue. "I push him all over the place," Lucky says. Inside, they split up. Yeev and three of the kids go to the second row in front of the floor exercise. Because of his wheelchair, John has to sit in an accessible seating area on the second level. Lucky watches from his lap. John is overjoyed to watch his daughter compete again in person, to know that she can look up when nerves strike and catch his confident gaze. "But it's not the same," John says. "With my injury, I can't be down there for her. With my lung capacity, I can't scream too loud. There's a lot of things I can't do. I tell Lucky, 'You have to scream loud for me.'" During the meet, Suni nails the best bar routine of her career. She is flawless on beam, and her floor routine is a crowd favorite. Shyenne screams at each stuck landing. "I actually did hear my sister scream when I was on floor," Suni says. "I heard her again on beam and got distracted. She's so loud. I love it." On the second day of trials, Suni is even better. Her all-around score tops the day, making her the first gymnast to earn a higher single-day all-around score than Biles in more than eight years. Biles is still the heavy favorite to repeat as all-around champion in Tokyo, but Suni proved it is possible to beat the sport's greatest star, and on the right day, she has the routines to do it. When the Olympic team is announced, Suni looks into the stands and sees her parents, tears streaming down their faces, and hears Shyenne shout her name. "I feel really relieved and very emotional," she says after the meet. "It's so surreal to say I am an Olympian. ... Hopefully when I go back to the hotel, I will be able to talk to my family." Suni, second from left, became the first Hmong American to qualify for an Olympic Games and will carry the hopes and expectations of her family -- and her community -- to Tokyo. Carmen Mandato/Getty Images A WEEK AND a half before Suni leaves for Tokyo, John and Yeev organize a block party on their street in St. Paul. They announce the event on Facebook, hang banners and sell more than 1,000 autographed Team Sunisa T-shirts to raise spending money for her trip. Neighbors, friends and family stop by throughout the afternoon. They write well wishes for Suni on slips of paper and hang them from a clothesline. Suni doesn't attend the party because of COVID-19 protocols. But earlier that afternoon, the family holds a small, private send-off at their home with a few Hmong elders. "We wanted a traditional Hmong celebration," John says, "but we modified it a little bit." Traditionally, each family member would tie a white string around Suni's wrist and make a wish. "Instead, we got one long string, one elder tied it around her wrist to symbolize the connection, and we all held on to it and made wishes," John says. Suni had to cut off the string before practice. But she will carry the wishes with her to Tokyo. The U.S. is favored to win gold in the team competition on July 27. Suni is a favorite to take gold on bars and could medal in the all-around, beam and floor as well. If she makes the beam final, she will compete on Aug. 3, one day before the second anniversary of John's accident. Although it begins at 3:45 a.m. local time in St. Paul, Yeev and Shyenne will be on text alert, and John says he will be ready with his final FaceTime pep talk of the Games. It will be perhaps the last time his little girl will need to borrow his confidence or hear him say, "You've got this." "It's real now," John says. "After Tokyo, she's done and she'll go off to college, and I won't be part of it anymore. Her life will change. "It's a big moment for all of us."

PS. There may be a few media jargon still in the article.  Hard to copy and paste

[blakem 296]

On 7/22/2021 at 3:31 PM, AUreo said:

It seems like Konnor is somewhat leaning LSU right now (scheduled to visit LSU in November 2021 after Worlds) but Auburn seems to be a close second (esp. now with Suni and Liv coming). Would be a major commitment for Auburn as Konnor generates a lot of hype and media attention already…she really is a top contender for Paris 2024. 
 

Konnor McClain, rising U.S. gymnast, focuses on 2024 Olympic cycle

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2021/06/02/konnor-mcclain-gymnastics/

Just asking….. How are you so sure we are top 2 for Konnor? I looked on Instagram and it showed she wasn’t even following our gymnastics account.

[AUreo 753]

5 hours ago, blakem said:

Just asking….. How are you so sure we are top 2 for Konnor? I looked on Instagram and it showed she wasn’t even following our gymnastics account.

I think she follows Auburn gymnastics on Twitter though. Apparently, she also does an IG live every week and provides lots of LSU hints but also some Auburn hints at times - some followers post recaps online. In addition, scanning some gymnastics message boards, most people think it’s between LSU and Auburn (she seems to be very close friends with Suni and also friends with Olivia Greaves according to some people and her Twitter/IG activities). I think we have a shot but LSU is still top choice. 

[AUBwins 10,064]

2 hours ago, AUreo said:

LSU is still top choice

They're history of being an elite program I'm sure is a big reason. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

That story about John, Suni, her family and the Hmong community was awe inspiring. Auburn is lucky to get such a wonderful young lady. She now has her family the Hmong Community and the Auburn family behind her. 

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

I am very proud of Suni! What a wonderful performance! 

[AUBwins 10,064]

Are they airing the all around tonight on replay? 

[AUreo 753]

46 minutes ago, AUBwins said:

Are they airing the all around tonight on replay? 

NBC Primetime most likely.

[AUreo 753]

INSIDE GYMNASTICS MAGAZINE

 

 

Suni Lee Set to Be a Trailblazer in NCAA at Auburn

By Chris Korotky

For the first time in history, an Olympic All-Around Champion will be a part of NCAA gymnastics. Just weeks after earning gold in Tokyo, superstar Suni Lee will be on the plains of Auburn University, preparing for her freshman year of college and her first year competing with the Tigers. 

“I’m looking forward to that so much,” Lee said after winning gold. “I’m so excited! I don’t want to miss that college experience.”

[…]

With an engaging personality, unique gymnastics routines and a journey of perseverance and determination that inspired so many, Lee was clearly one of the most intriguing figures of the Games across all sports. Her social media following grew from a couple hundred thousand to nearly 1.5 million in about a week and shows no signs of slowing down. She’ll be gracing magazine covers. She’ll be invited to red carpet and event appearances. And when the college season starts, she’s sure to be a highlight of those weekly TV broadcasts. It’s also a possibility that she could make appearances at a few of the Gold Over America Tour stops, and Jeff Graba says they’ll have a plan to accommodate that if she so chooses.

[…]
 

https://www.insidegymnastics.com/news-features/sunileesettobetrailblazerforauburn8621/

Edited August 9, 2021 by AUreo

[AUreo 753]

Currently, there is so much focus on Suni but Auburn also signed a top 4-star gymnast this year:
 

Sophia Groth

 

College: Auburn
Current CGN Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Groth is a five-time level 10 nationals qualifier (2015-19). She won multiple medals there over the years, including a bronze in the all around in 2016 and gold on beam in 2015.

Why She’s Worth Noticing: We feel a bit for Groth because she is joining Auburn the same year as Sunisa Lee, and as a result it is likely that she will not get all the attention she deserves. She should, though, because her gymnastics is difficult and her form is exceptional on all four pieces. Her bar and beam work is particularly exquisite, but she could become a top all arounder, too.

https://collegegymnews.com/2020/11/08/underrated-gymnasts-in-the-class-of-2021/

 

[AUreo 753]

Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee addresses the media for the first time as an Auburn gymnast

 

 

[steeleagle 2,945]

15 hours ago, AUreo said:

Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee addresses the media for the first time as an Auburn gymnast

 

 

She handles the media pretty well, and is pretty forthcoming with her answers.

I thought this quote was interesting... "And I’m excited for the atmosphere. It’s just way different than I thought it would be." in talking about being in Auburn.

I wondered specifically what she thought about AU vs what she actually is experiencing now that she is here. Would be interesting to know her specific thoughts on that comment...

[AUreo 753]

Apparently, Konnor McClain is going to announce her college decision tomorrow (most likely LSU).

[AUreo 753]

1 hour ago, AUreo said:

Apparently, Konnor McClain is going to announce her college decision tomorrow (most likely LSU).

Looks like she announced her commitment to LSU earlier today.

UPDATE

Five-Star Konnor McClain Commits to LSU for 2024 Season

http://collegegymnews.com/2021/08/14/five-star-konnor-mcclain-commits-to-lsu-for-2024-season/

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by AUreo

[AUreo 753]

2023 recruiting
 

Not sure who could be our top 2023 target now. Graba recently mentioned that some high profile recruits are currently showing strong interest in Auburn. 

The top 2023 elites are Sky Blakely (her sister is a Gator), Addison Fatta (leaning LSU, Florida), the Gadirova twins (both are British Olympians and won team Bronze in Tokyo, Jennifer is a 5-star recruit and  sister Jessica a 4-star recruit. However, other top British gymnasts recently signed with California and Utah), Morgan Price, Jamison Sears + Sydney Barros and Katelyn Rosen (both UCLA commits).
Konnor McClain was the only top 5star elite who would frequently mention Auburn and 4-star elite Lyden Saltness (another Graba/Graba gymnast) is already committed to Auburn. Maybe Suni can still flip Konnor in the coming months.

Some Top 5-star L10s are Elizabeth Gantner (UGA commit), Kylie Coen, and Lily Smith. I would love to land a 5-star L10 as many of them are perfectly trained to compete in NCAA right away (rules are very similar). Elites are great for media hype and PR but sometimes need some adjustment periods.

Edited August 15, 2021 by AUreo

[steeleagle 2,945]

20 hours ago, AUreo said:

2023 recruiting
 

Not sure who could be our top 2023 target now. Graba recently mentioned that some high profile recruits are currently showing strong interest in Auburn. 

The top 2023 elites are Sky Blakely (her sister is a Gator), Addison Fatta (leaning LSU, Florida), the Gadirova twins (both are British Olympians and won team Bronze in Tokyo, Jennifer is a 5-star recruit and  sister Jessica a 4-star recruit. However, other top British gymnasts recently signed with California and Utah), Morgan Price, Jamison Sears + Sydney Barros and Katelyn Rosen (both UCLA commits).
Konnor McClain was the only top 5star elite who would frequently mention Auburn and 4-star elite Lyden Saltness (another Graba/Graba gymnast) is already committed to Auburn. Maybe Suni can still flip Konnor in the coming months.

Some Top 5-star L10s are Elizabeth Gantner (UGA commit), Kylie Coen, and Lily Smith. I would love to land a 5-star L10 as many of them are perfectly trained to compete in NCAA right away (rules are very similar). Elites are great for media hype and PR but sometimes need some adjustment periods.

Isn't Olivia Greaves our commit, who is also a 5* for 2023? And I think after all these years this is the first and second only 5*s that Graba has gotten since he came to Auburn., correct?

[AUreo 753]

1 hour ago, steeleagle said:

Isn't Olivia Greaves our commit, who is also a 5* for 2023? And I think after all these years this is the first and second only 5*s that Graba has gotten since he came to Auburn., correct?

Yes, 5-star Olivia Greaves is a Fall 2022 commit. She might compete for Team USA at the World championships later this year (if she is healthy and makes the team). 

Suni and Olivia are both sr international elites and 5star recruits. The gymnastics star-rating system is still relatively new though (started just a few years ago).

Olivia Greaves bio

https://wagymnastics.fandom.com/wiki/Main:Olivia_Greaves

2018

Greaves made her televised debut at the Nastia Liukin Cup in early March, where she placed eighth in the all-around. She qualified elite later that year, making her elite debut at the American Classic in early July, where she placed fourth in the all-around. Later that month, she competed at the U.S. Classic, where she won bronze on floor exercise, and placed sixth on beam, ninth in the all-around, twelfth on vault, and twenty-fourth on bars. She qualified to her first National Championships, where she placed fourth on floor, sixth in the all-around and on uneven bars, tenth on vault, and twelfth on beam. She was subsequently named to the National Team.

2019

Greaves made her international debut at the International Gymnix in Canada in March. She won team gold, all-around, vault, and floor exercise silver, and placed fifth on bars and beam. In July, she competed at the U.S. Classic, winning gold on uneven bars, bronze in the all-around, and placing fourth on beam, ninth on floor, and tenth on vault. In August, she competed at the National Championships, winning gold on bars, bronze in the all-around, and placing fourth on floor, fifth on vault, and tenth on beam.

Edited August 15, 2021 by AUreo

[augolf1716 21,093]

Not sure if this has been posted just to clarify....interesting that she decommitted from Florida and committed to us.

 

Senior elite and 5-star recruit Olivia Greaves, a 2022 graduate who trains at the World Champions Centre, has announced her commitment to Auburn. She is Jeff Graba’s second 5-star recruit after Sunisa Lee, an Olympian who will join the Tigers in time for the 2022 season. Greaves was previously committed to Florida but announced last month that she had uncommitted and was searching for a new program.

Greaves is a three-time national team member. In 2019, she was one of the best junior gymnasts in the country, winning gold on bars at both the U.S. Classic and the U.S. national championships, as well as bronze medals in the all around at both competitions. The previous year, she won gold on bars at the American Classic and bronze on floor at the U.S. Classic.

She made her international debut in March 2019 at the International Gymnix in Canada, where she won silver medals in the all around, on vault and floor.

At Auburn, she will join 3-star recruits Hannah Hagle and Hailey John for the 2023 season.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at where Greaves will contribute in her Recruit File, coming next week. Plus, to see a full view of Auburn’s future classes, visit our Rosters & Commits

[AUreo 753]

29 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Not sure if this has been posted just to clarify....interesting that she decommitted from Florida and committed to

There was some drama between her parents and Riley McCusker’s parents (some major dispute regarding a former elite coach). The Gators are also stacked with numerous 5-star elites coming in (even UCLA can hardly keep up with Florida recruiting).
 

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by AUreo

[AUreo 753]

There is some reddit discussions on current top contenders who could represent the U.S. at this year’s World Championships:

Based on peak AA scores this year, they have “Kayla DiCello, Olivia Greaves, Konnor McClain, and Karis German” make the team. This would be an All-SEC team: DiCello (Florida), Greaves (Auburn), McClain (LSU), and German (Alabama)”. The other top sr. elite gymnasts will either join the Simone Biles’ “Gold Over America Tour” or rest for the upcoming NCAA season. This would be a great chance for Olivia to get some more international elite experience and generate more publicity for Auburn.

Recruiting Update 

Some online rumors that Elizabeth Gantner (5-star and #1 recruit in the nation) has re-opened her recruiting and is no longer committed to UGA. Let’s hope Graba is on the recruiting trail…

Edited August 22, 2021 by AUreo

[AUreo 753]

 

[steeleagle 2,945]

12 hours ago, AUreo said:

 

Gee....I wonder who that is swinging on the bars?

 

[AUBwins 10,064]

1 hour ago, steeleagle said:

Gee....I wonder who that is swinging on the bars?

 

Don't know, but she looks pretty good.  I hope she can contribute this year.