Katelyn Ohashi put the social media world on notice -- and simultaneously thrust the college gymnastics world into the spotlight -- with her viral floor performance in January. While Ohashi's talent has never been in question, her drive and passion for her craft was a different story entirely.
In a candid interview with ESPN at the espnW: Women + Sports Summit this week, the former UCLA star recalled a time in her life when she "no longer wanted to be great anymore." Ohashi was quick to credit her coach, Valorie Kondos Field (also known as "Miss Val"), for encouraging her to find the joy she had lost "somewhere around 11 years old" as gymnastics began to resemble a cumbersome job more than a sport and outlet. Now, Ohashi is determined to pay it forward by helping the next generation to avoid the same pitfalls and live what she considers an authentic and full life. Oh, and to be compensated for their efforts along the way.
On avoiding the burnout in sports ...
"I feel like you can avoid the burnout by being really real with yourself and listening to your body and your mind and taking the time that you need to to really understand what it is that you need to succeed. Also, enjoying what you're doing and making sure it doesn't feel like it's work and it's something you love and you get inspiration from outside of it as well to drag into what you're doing to help motivate you every single day."
On getting her joy back at UCLA ...
"I would say how I found my joy throughout my college career was having a coach who allowed me to find joy in it before it was necessarily encouraged. Not only was it hard to find joy it was also like, 'You shouldn't be happy in this, it is a job, this is serious -- you shouldn't have fun.' That helped a lot having Miss Val. And then on top of that, I think how I touched upon finding inspiration outside of sport. Found a lot of my passions that had nothing to do with gymnastics, such as writing, and [combating] homelessness and domestic violence, and all these different things, and I got to bring it into my sport and realize that I wasn't validated by my sport anymore. I had so many other things that created who I was, and I didn't need to find my self-worth within the sport."
On separating our sense of self-worth and identity from the sport we play ...
"It's so crazy how there's so many of us and we like to pretend like we are, we don't have our identity tied in our sport. As much as we try to set ourselves up in that way. How can you not when you're in your sport at least 20 hours a week? And so when it ends, and let's say you feel like you didn't succeed -- so many times we feel like we didn't achieve what we set out to do within our sport. And it is hard because you don't have the opportunity to come back and redeem yourself, and what not. You have to finish wherever you finished.
"I think the best thing to do is starting to think about that, because sports are so temporary, and we all know that going into them. We can't do that until we're 90-100 years old. We're going to have to give it up at 20-30s. Realizing that we aren't our sport and we have so much more going for us. And really, it starts at such a young age because our parents, I know growing up, it was like, 'How was gym today?' And that was the only question that was asked. It's like, how am I doing as a human being? So the way our parents raise us and set us up as people, knowing that we aren't our sport. We are so much more. Validating your children for anything else, but always putting the human first. I think that's really important to do. So they know when everything ends, they're still a human being."
On how her coach gained her trust ...
"We had a very hard time coming into my freshman year. I had a lot of baggage that I allowed to get into our relationship. I had a hard time trusting and that was something we had to work on. She would take me to lunch, at least once a week. We would go get food and talk about everything but gymnastics. She wouldn't bring it up unless I brought it up myself. That was something that helped let me know that she cared for me, and didn't just want results.
"I also think she's mastered this thing of 'not winning.' UCLA Gymnastics gets so much attention whether we're winning or not. And that's something so beautiful because it lets us know that we don't have to win to have all this attention and be human beings, like that's how I felt a lot growing up. My gold medals were who I was, if that wasn't happening I didn't know what I was worth. So I think that's really something special. And I remember my freshman year I came crashing down on my neck, and she starts running towards me and rolls her ankle and I'm like, 'Don't you die too!' So I think that shows her as such like a mothering character within all of our lives."
On staying authentic on social media ...
"It's so funny because I was just talking to my friend the other day, and we were talking about how much social media can make you moneywise. I was like, I don't make a dime from Instagram. I have a million followers and I don't use my platform for that because I don't think it's important and I feel so uncomfortable. I've done one post where I was like, 'Hey guys use my code' and it's really, really uncomfortable for me.
"My goal is for people to be able to relate to what I'm doing and everyone to kind of see me. We're so used to seeing a one-dimensional side of a human being on Instagram. So when people DM me saying, 'I'm in love with you,' it's almost insulting because I'm like, you don't know me. You haven't seen me at my best, you don't see me at my worst. So who are you to tell me that you're in love with me? And I just wish more people understood that it's only what we want you to see that you see.
"So I try to use my platform to help those that feel alone because I have felt alone so many times. And I've put everything out there like I have so many skin conditions and I just added another one this summer, Psoriasis, after I got strep. It's like all over my body and I try to cover it. I just did a photoshoot and someone was like, 'I can like edit it' and stuff. I was like, I truthfully don't care. It's almost better to leave it in. So people can see that, and I run into so many people that have it and are ashamed of it. And so it's just like, I want people to see all all the good, the bad, the gross."
On being an advocate for "Pay to Play" (the recent California law that permits college athletes to hire agents and be paid for endorsements) although she'll never reap the benefits ...
"That's what's so cool about being able to advocate for that, because it's not for my benefit. It's not for my personal gain. It's because I have experienced it and I don't want anyone else to experience it. I'm trying to work on a couple of things right now. ... It's already happening in California, but we don't want it to be just California we want it to spread across the nation. So it's something that can keep going and have a domino effect in a positive way. So I think it's really important to get the message out. And I think so many times we talk about compensation and that's what always gets attention drawn to it. The fact of the matter is, it's beneficial in so many other areas. The fact that I can't even put a poetry book out there that has nothing to do with gymnastics. That's what's upsetting to me. We don't even have rights to our image, name, and likeness.
"Listen, let's say I was desperate and needed money, I needed to put food on the table, and I wanted to sell my book. I couldn't even go on social media and be like, 'Hey, guys, I released this book' to get more people to have access to know what I'm doing -- then it's not even worth it. So many people really are struggling. So many of my friends live at home so that all their stipend money goes to pay for rent for their family. And the fact that athletes are doing that to help their family survive ... no one takes that into consideration. Everyone's like, 'Oh, you guys are selfish for just wanting to get money while you're getting a free education' -- it's so much more than that."
On her message for teenage girls who are struggling with body image ...
"We are stuck inside our bodies. We're the only ones that are going to have our back at the end of the day. I fully believe in being able to control the things that we can control. So that's why it's not necessarily for looks. No one really cares about how you look. At the end of the day, it's how you feel about yourself. So let's say you're uncomfortable with this or that, what is it really that's driving you? What do you really want to benefit out of looking a certain way? It's how you feel. So just trying to be confident in yourself and doing whatever it takes to feel good."