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Editorial: All-around inspiring
Op-Ed · April 20, 2017
Adeline Kenlin and the Iowa Gym-Nest’s accomplishments in Italy’s City of Jesolo Trophy competition — an international gymnastics contest — are nothing short of impressive.
Very, very impressive.
To reach such a high level takes extraordinary dedication. Kenlin started with the Iowa Gym-Nest when she was 2 years old. Today’s she’s 14.
She appears small and skinny in street clothes, but the flexibility necessary for throwing herself around on bars, beams, vault and floor hides her muscles and tone.
Many of us have seen gymnasts perform in the Olympics, but it may be difficult to determine how much is physics and how much is strength because the moves they do are so different than anything we do even when exercising or participating in other sports.
So lets draw back from the spotlight and move behind the scenes to the gym itself, where many competitive gymnasts spend 20 hours a week. Something a bit closer to home would be their warm-up exercises. One example has the gymnast setting on a mat, feet extended in front of them in a V-shape. The gymnast places their hands in front of them on the mat, leans forward and lifts their legs off the mat entirely.
Try to do this at home.
But wait — that’s not the entire exercise.
Next they lean forward while stretching their legs outward, then upward, into a handstand — from sitting to a handstand in one fluid, pivoting exercise.
Don’t try this at home.
Not only are gymnasts unbelievably strong, but those skills give them a fantastic sense of confidence by knowing many of the limits of human physical ability.
Now look at the pool of competitors. Kenlin and others with similar training compete in local, state and multi-state competitions, which whittles away at the pool. By the time Adeline earned a spot on Team USA, she had accomplished more than thousands of competitors.
When she and her four teammates hopped on a plane to Italy, they knew they would face competitors who had survived the same best-of-the-best vetting process.
To call this tough competition is an understatement. To give a little perspective, the Super Bowl only includes teams from one country, and the World Series includes teams from just two.
The City of Jesolo Trophy? Eight countries.
Gymnasts from Russia, Canada, Italy, France, Australia, Japan, Brazil and the United States — met on that mat. Those 30 junior-level girls represented countries with a total population of more than 975 million people.
When the competition ended, Adeline earned third place on the bars with 14.25 and third place on the beam with 14.15. She scored 14.25 on the vault and 13.25 on the floor. These scores gave her fourth all-around as an individual competitor and the team earned first place, and took the gold medals.
Wow.
Congratulations to Adeline, a 14-year-old freshman at West Branch High School and the Iowa Gym-Nest are very, very well-deserved. Your accomplishments are nothing short of inspiring.
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