The light at the end of the run turns green, and I salute, the same way I always have, one arm up, the other to the side, before taking my place on the runway.
One breath in, one breath out, and then I go, as fast as I can: roundoff, back handspring, block off the vault, hurtling into the air, my arms tight against my chest in a full twist and a half, opening up and dropping like a pin onto the mat feetfirst.
“Yes!” I yell, throwing my arms up over my head and then turning to the judges and doing it again. A quick fist pump, and I move off the mat, straight to Janet, climbing up onto the podium. Together we shift the mat and springboard for Dani, and then I’m down the stairs to where the other girls are waiting—everyone except Dani, who’s up next.
Emma gives me a quick hug, but she can’t linger too long. She’s up after Dani.
Dani’s Amanar is high and big, just like everything else about her gymnastics, the two and a half twists completed well before she opens up to land. It’s maybe a little too powerful, and she has to take a hop out of it. She wrinkles her nose as she salutes the judges. She can do better and knows it.
I give her a tight hug, and we pull apart to bump our double fists together and then turn to look at the scoreboard, Chelsea right beside us.
It’s a 15.0, which is a fantastic score and a full point higher than the 14.0 I just got for my absolutely perfect one and a half.
Chelsea reaches out and squeeze’s Dani’s shoulder, but then she has to leave as well—she’s up after Emma.
When Dani’s score flashes away and reveals the all-around standings, I have to blink at it once and then again and then a third time.
1.Audrey Lee
58.2
2.Daniela Olivero
57.6
Dani’s in second.
I’m in first.
Wait, what is happening? My vision flies around the arena, trying to catch one of the many flashing scoreboards with the results from the previous rotation. What did those look like? But there’s nothing, just our team score, which sits at the top of those rankings.
