Kyla Ross: ‘In college, I was more nervous to train than compete’

The 23-year-old gymnast, a US Olympic gold medallist, has seen her last year of competition come to abrupt close because of Covid-19

For most of the past 20 years, gymnastics is the only thing that Kyla Ross has known. She was doing handstands by four years old, she was an Olympic gold medallist by 15 and this year at 23 she was finishing an exceptional college gymnastics career at UCLA. This was supposed to be the season that tied all the loose ends as she achieved her final goals and then departed into the night. Instead, Ross watched helplessly as the coronavirus outbreak had the final say, briskly sending her into retirement.

For a full week in mid-March, each new day brought one more blow in a series of gut punches for college athletes. First they learned that their meets would be audience-free, then the Pac-12 national competition was scuppered, then the entire season was cancelled. By 12 March, universities were closing down. After teams held emergency meetings filled with tears and farewells, senior athletes across the United States spent the trip home trying to come to terms with the mortality of their careers.