Brooklyn McMurray

I did what?

It seems like every four years our eyes turn to the Olympics and America falls in love with a new gymnastics icon. Iowa has been fortunate to have close ties to names like Liang Chow, Gabby Douglas, and Shawn Johnson. The leaps, flips, and twists are like a non-stop highlight reel.  Gymnastics takes center stage at the Olympics each cycle and then sort of slides into the background. This week, we get an inside look from former junior Olympian and Big 12 gymnast Brooklyn (Doggette) McMurray.

Brooklyn grew up in a household full of gymnasts. Her mom and sisters were collegiate gymnasts. Gymnastics is incredibly physically demanding and Brooklyn’s mom originally didn’t want her to get involved with competitive gymnastics. When Brooklyn was a little girl, her mom decided it would be ok to sign her up for tumbling classes and other beginner-type classes and then realized her daughter was pretty talented. She ended up earning a full-ride scholarship to West Virginia University, following in the Mountaineer footsteps of both of her parents. 

Brooklyn McMurray’s gymnastics career was full of success in spite of some pretty significant obstacles.  Over the course of her career, she had to overcome major injuries, including two significant ACL tears. She also became a mother in the summer before her junior year. She returned to the WVU gymnastics team just 6 weeks after giving birth to her son. Being a mom and full-time college athlete was a major challenge but she was ready for the first meet that season. 

Brooklyn and Tim also talk about Simon Biles, the Olympics, and the twisties. The twisties took Biles out of the Olympics in Tokyo and became a household term. Brooklyn speaks about her own experiences with the twisties. Imagine having the yips in baseball or a hitch in your golf swing, but add in the risk of a potential catastrophic fall. Brooklyn explains it as feeling like you are falling out of an airplane without a parachute. Though Biles had to battle it on the international stage, Brookly shares that the twisties are something almost every gymnast goes through.

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