Gymnast MyKayla Skinner wins first Olympic medal in wonderful comeback

“MyKayla is living proof that you can achieve anything you want,” says her husband. Jonas Harmerwrote on Instagram. “She went back on the Olympic route two years ago to chase unfinished business from Rio 2016 and I’ve never seen a person so resilient. The world has no idea what this girl has been through.”

Born in Arizona, the path to the Tokyo Olympics was not easy. MyKayla, who is also a gymnast from the University of Utah, failed to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics and was named as a replacement for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She told NBC Sports last year that “it’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do while doing gymnastics. All my time in Rio, I’ve probably cried every night.”

Last year, MyKayla also suffered from health problems. She injured her Achilles tendon last December, and a month later, she contracted COVID-19 and was later hospitalized with coronavirus-related pneumonia.

Earlier this month, MyKayla announced on Instagram: “The Olympics will be my last gymnastics competition before I officially retire.” Last weekend, the gymnast competed as an Olympic athlete for the first time in the qualifying round of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, competed as a lone fighter, but was not high enough to make it to the final.

“Heartbroken is an understatement, but I’m proud of myself for coming here after everything I’ve been through,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “That closes the book on my gymnastics career, and I only regret things that are beyond my control. So no regrets.”

She added on Twitter: “#NeverGiveUp”.