The world is totally enamored with UCLA gymnast Sophina DeJesus, whose amazing floor exercise became a viral sensation mere hours after she competed this weekend against Utah. If you’ve been following gymnastics a while, DeJesus’ dancing and performance ability is nothing new. But it is completely awesome that it’s finally getting worldwide acclaim.
Back in 2008, the then junior elite DeJesus competed at the National Championships at Boston’s Agganis Arena with a floor exercise that used college marching band music. It was captivating, fierce and beautiful, even if she had a bobble here and there. She finished 11th on floor exercise and 14th overall (this is a meet where 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas finished in a tie 16th, so that should help you put things in perspective.)
Here is the only video I can find of the routine at the moment, which is from the first day of competition. She steps out of bounds on the landing of the first tumbling pass, but it doesn’t shake her performance quality a bit.
I watched 2008 Nationals as a spectator (it helped that I could walk out of my office, walk three blocks and be at the arena) and wrote this about DeJesus’s routine in a post about day two of competition.
Sophina DeJesus’s (Precision) floor – This girl sells every move she does on every event, and her floor routine shined just like it did on Day 1. She uses marching band music (think the movie Drumline) and has great choreography and just a perfect smidge of attitude. Her difficulty isn’t there yet, but gosh, she ought to get bonus points just for having unique music! Please, please, please keep this music for as long as possible.
Let DeJesus’ amazing performance be a reminder to the world that there are more fabulous gymnasts in the world than the ones you may see at the Olympics.