“It’s not me standing on the podium with medals. It’s me being able to walk out with a smile on my face and truly being happy with myself.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“My back is permanently messed up.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Using my voice has empowered me to take complete ownership of my life. So, in return for speaking my truth, I listen.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“There are so many things that we have to be grateful for. It gets so easy to get caught up with one thing that, you know, isn’t perfect or not going the way you thought it would, but we always need to be grateful for what we have.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“One habit that’s important for keeping me mentally healthy is having meaningful conversations with the people around me. That’s a habit that fuels my body and my mind. I also like to go to the beach and write, and I’ve been trying to focus on giving myself time to be alone.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I have always wanted my routine to spark joy for all people.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“There’s days when my body’s better than other days. It still gives me problems. But it’s very manageable. Rehab is forever my friend.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I think what I show is joy when I do stuff, so I think always having a love for what you do every single day is something that I hold extremely close to my heart because I know what it’s like to not feel that.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“As a gymnast, I’ve always compartmentalized my life, which is a blessing and a curse. But over time, I’ve learned that my sport doesn’t fully define me, and I think that’s where a lot of the joy in my routines comes from now: I’m not compartmentalizing as much, and I know who I am beyond my sport.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“My teammates and my coaches have all allowed me to step into my individuality and not be defined by just being a gymnast.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I was encouraged to use my voice and explore my passions outside of the sport. And when I did that, I was finally able to realize my true self-worth. I was more than that of a gymnast.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Floor is where I get to express myself. That’s, like my party time, like my play time.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“During my freshman year of college, it became undeniably clear that I didn’t want to be great again. I correlated greatness with misery.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“How I’ve always felt is that the fun in gymnastics got taken away from me too soon.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Before bed, I just brush my teeth and fall asleep. I don’t usually wear makeup, but if I do, I’ll wipe it off. Then it’s pajamas and falling into bed, no other routine; I’m pretty good at just falling asleep right away.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“For dinner, I like to have a protein and veggies again. But because of my ulcerative colitis, really healthy foods are hard on my stomach. Sugars aren’t good, and I have to be careful with vegetables. So it can be tough to find food that feels good.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“In life, we are told to do or be so many different things and expected to fit so many different expectations; I think that’s something I always had a hard time with.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“In elite gymnastics, I was surrounded by this bubble, that gymnastics was literally all I knew, and I’d like to know about worldly issues.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I’ve had two shoulder surgeries.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“At just 16 years old, I was told that my back would never be the same again. My well-being had been neglected for the opportunity to win a gold medal.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Watching something on the TV or Internet is not nearly as incredible as it is when you see it in person.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I want to put out a few books throughout my lifetime.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I can’t control what other people think.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“As much as you love a sport, I don’t think love and joy necessarily go hand in hand. I think you can still be in love with the sport but just not happy in it.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“There was a time where I was on top of the world, an Olympic hopeful.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I think I finally have really taken ownership of myself and me as a gymnast.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I’ve said before, ‘gymnastics is abusive,’ but now I know it’s not the sport that’s abusive – it’s the culture that was created and accepted and normalized.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“The joy had been ripped away from me, but deep down, I loved the competition floor. And I thought, ‘Gymnastics is literally the only thing I have.’”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Growing up, I was often put under a lot of pressure. Being an athlete, I’ve been dealing with pressure for a long time.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I think gymnastics can be a really brutal sport. I don’t think it’s supposed to be a brutal sport.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Gymnastics was my worth – it was my life – and I hated myself.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“If my Michael Jackson routine left even one person feeling uncomfortable or less joyful, I felt like it was in everyone’s best interest to change the music to my routine.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I can’t control what the judges give me.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“By 2012, I probably had, like, three stress reactions in my back. Two stress fractures in my fibula.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I have said that gymnastics can be abusive and brutal. That was my experience. I felt trapped in a world where authority figures were dictating my future.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I learned at a young age that my voice was not wanted or heard, so I went silent. I did what I was told and set goals based on what everyone else expected of me.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“This may sound shocking, but I never dreamed about going to the Olympics.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“As athletes, you always know that mistakes happen, and not everyone is perfect, and you can’t be perfect.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Too frequently, we hear about coaches and programs willing to win at any cost.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I won the 2011 Visa Championships, the 2012 Pacific Rims, and then the 2013 American Cup (the first and only senior elite competition of my elite career).”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I think competing is one of my favorite things ever.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I’ve always had an undeniable love for gymnastics.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I was a mess my freshman year of college. I still had so much pain in my heart.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Gymnastics has taught me so many lessons, and I couldn’t be more grateful for everything that I’ve gone through.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I was compared to a bird that was too fat to lift itself off the ground.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I’ve been told I looked like I swallowed an elephant or a pig, whichever was more fitting that day.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I was unbeatable – until I wasn’t.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“You can still get results without abuse.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Stuff happened in every sport. Every sport can become abusive.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I know it’s important to stay humble.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Be yourself. It’s really important not to try and be someone else.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Women are ‘expected’ to have skinny waists yet still be voluptuous. People surrounding us tell us we need to eat but then look at us in disgust if we cross the invisible line of overeating.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“All I can do is go out there and do my best.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I am who I am today because of a lot of the things I’ve learned in gymnastics.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I feed off the audience a lot, their energy.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Performing is my favorite thing.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I’m healthy – for a gymnast.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“As an athlete, you learn to keep pushing through the pain until the pain eventually becomes unbearable. Even then, you are told to continue.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“As a little girl, I could not sit still until my parents told me it was time to go to the gym.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“The truth is, gymnastics is a beautiful sport that has allowed me to grow and learn invaluable life lessons: sacrifice, dedication, discipline. Eventually, it led me to my voice.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Both my parents had never been to New York, so when they got to go out with me for ‘Good Morning America,’ they were so happy.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“My entire college career has kind of been me stepping into my joy.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I think just being able to experience college gymnastics the way I have has allowed me to really express myself and have so much fun in the sport.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“Whenever I had to move away from my dad, it was so hard; like, I would cry myself to sleep.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I used to hate my legs. Now I’ve learned to embrace them. They’ve allowed to do everything that I am able to do.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“You will never have the perfect body, and to sit there and compare yourself to another person or what someone else likes – we’re the only people that have control of our body. We’re the only people that live inside of our body 24/7.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I would have never guessed I have, like, senators reposting me.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I was in the gym seven hours a day, six times a week, and Sunday was my day of rest. So there wasn’t a lot of time that I had to myself, and obviously, that kind of ruined the joy of the sport.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“My mom was a high school gymnast.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“I want to keep upgrading my routines and focus on cleaning them up and being consistent.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“When picking my original music, Tina Turner was someone I wanted in my routine because of the strong impact she has had on my life. I admire her courage and resilience.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“You can tell when someone recognizes you and they want to say something, but they don’t want to bother you.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
“The Olympics were something that was put in my path. I knew I was capable, I worked so hard for it, so I guess it’s like, Why wouldn’t I want to go to the Olympics? But it was never something that I was really, really dead set on. It was just what my coaches and everyone else forced upon me.”
― Katelyn Ohashi
Leave a Reply