The 2016 Rio Olympics just wrapped up, so most of us won’t think about the Olympics again until the next one rolls around — but for six-year-old San Angelo native Sophia Pashow, the Olympics aren’t just every four years.
They’re every single day in the back of her mind, as she trains to realize her dreams.
Our Margaux Farrell shares her story.
When I first met Sophia, I asked her, “Why do you love gymnastics?”
“It makes me feel like I’m gonna fly!”
She’s recently been elected to train at WOGA — or the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy — in Plano, Texas, that’s famed for producing top-tier gymnasts like Olympic medalists Nastia Lukien and Maddy Kocian.
“She needs to be around that kind of competition, and to have those people that she rally looks up to in the gym,” Kevin Kirkland, Sophia’s coach, said. “She’s at that place right now, age-wise, where she is really going to have to rise to the occasion…and she will.”
But she’s only six-years-old!
“In gymnastics, if you’re not kind-of peaking out at 11, 12, 13-years-old, then you’re probably not ever going to get to there,” Kirkland said.
So, Sophia trains — currently 12 hours a week, but that’s soon to be upwards of 20 when she starts at WOGA.
“She’ll be doing her school right there in the gym, and she’ll just live there…and that’s how you get to the top.”
But can a six-year-old really handle that?
“Yeah. She whines and gripes just like every other little kid, you know, sometimes, but she loves to work, and she loves to just be here, and it doesn’t matter…If you leave her in here for 10 minutes, she’ll be bouncing off of something.”
“I just love it. It’s so fun!” Sophia said.
For Sophia and the many other little aspiring athletes across the world, it comes down to hard work, which we know Sophia puts in and support.
“You have to have people around you that are willing to give you a chance at that ultimate success.”
And now if you really ant to put it all in perspective, consider this:
“2028, that’s the number that we have written down for sure…written down and circled.”
2028 — as in the 2028 Olympic games. Which doesn’t even have a host city assigned yet!
Moving away to eat sleep and breathe gymnastics in the midst of some of the world's most elite gymnasts sounds daunting, no?
“I’m not nervous for it. I’m kinda…but not that much. It doesn’t really matter…I don’t care about that part,” Sophia said. “I just care about working my hardest there.”
So, remember her name, folks. Because who knows? You might one day be hearing it at the Olympics. After all, Texas did bring home quite a few medals this year. So, why not in 2028?