JOs Highlights: Risk and Reward for Kyana George with 'The George'

JOs Highlights: Risk and Reward for Kyana George with 'The George'

Kyana George of Metroplex Gymnastics showed off a very risky and impressive skill on beam at J.O. Nationals this year. She performed a triple wolf turn, whi

Jun 6, 2016 by Rebecca Johnson
JOs Highlights: Risk and Reward for Kyana George with 'The George'
Kyana George of Metroplex Gymnastics showed off a very risky and impressive skill on beam at J.O. Nationals this year. She performed a triple wolf turn, which has never been done at the J.O. National level. This skill, which she does at the beginning of her routine, is now officially called "The George."

Video via USA Gymnastics

After she completes the skill, you can see her teammates' and friends' excitement to the right of the beam, as well as her coaches exchanging a high five. George scored a 9.7 for her beam set (4T) and had a big 38.55 all-around score to earn the silver medal in the Jr. D age group. 

Q&A: Kyana's J.O. experience and "The George"

FloGymnastics: How long have you been working on the wolf turn?
Kyana George: I’ve been doing double wolf turns all season. I began training the triple wolf turn last summer and then picked it back up after Regionals. My goal for the triple was to perform it at Nationals.

It’s a very tricky skill. Did this skill always come naturally to you?
It is a tricky skill; however, it does come naturally to me. 

How and when did you realize you would be the first to do this at Nationals and get it named after you?
At practice, after Regionals, Marnie pulled me aside to tell me she asked Carol from USAG about the triple not being in the J.O. Code book. Since the plan was to perform it at Nationals, we needed to find out the start value so she submitted the paperwork allowing me the opportunity to have it named after me.

How did you feel when you successfully completed it?

I was so nervous to even compete with it. I had all these cameras pointed at me and during my warmup I couldn’t even complete a single wolf turn. Right before I competed, Marnie told me to breathe, spot the first turn, second turn and go for the third! I did just that, but I was still very nervous because I still had the rest of my beam routine to finish. But as soon as I finished the routine, I was ecstatic. It was an amazing feeling. I ran up to Marnie and gave her a huge hug. I was so happy to hear and see my Region 3 team cheer me on too!

Seeing the little ones look up to me and say they want to do “The George” is pretty cool.

Rapid-fire questions:


Favorite event?

Floor, because I get to express who I am and my personality

Favorite skill?
Tkachev and now “The George”

Favorite color leotard to wear?
Black with a hint of a color

Favorite thing to eat before practice?
Chick-fil-A or Panera Bread

Favorite conditioning exercise?
Squats



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