Almost every athlete dreams to compete in the Olympic Games, a dream that only a handful of athletes worldwide will actually experience – a dream of senior All-American Jessica López’s that came true this summer in Beijing.
“I can still remember the feeling after each event, the feeling that everything I did was worth it. It doesn’t matter after the meet, I was happy with my results. It doesn’t matter the results because I think I did the best I could. Just feeling prepared and feeling that I was at the top of my game, and I was enjoying my gymnastics.
“It was good because we worked so hard for so many hours and you only have five minutes of gymnastics and that’s it, so you have to enjoy it. I enjoyed every single moment and I enjoyed the competition,` and the feeling of being there and doing your best.”
López, the only gymnast representing her native Venezuela, and the first-ever gymnast to compete from DU, finished 43rd of the 62 gymnasts in the women’s all-around with a score of 56.175.
Of her four routines, López finished 52nd overall in the floor exercise, scoring 13.95 and finished 61st on both the balance beam and uneven bars with scores of 14.050 and 13.800, as well as 56th overall on the vault recording a 14.375, her highest score of the four events in the Olympic Games.
“I am very happy, I qualified for the Olympics at World where I was 78th in the world and right now, at the Olympics I placed 43rd so that’s really good,” López said.
“I moved 35 spots and that’s really good in nine months. With being a fulltime student-athlete and competing every single week, you don’t have that much time to compare, so I think that was good for me.”
But López’s Olympic achievement did not come easy.
“Right now, looking back, it was fun and it was an amazing experience,” López said. “It was hard sometimes, especially in training. It takes a lot of preparation and it takes a lot of hard work. It was really intense training; you have to physically and mentally prepare.
“It [training] was intense. It was about seven to eight hours a day, six days a week, and you get one day off. You have to be ready every day, every day counts and in the morning and afternoon and during the summer. I wasn’t taking classes so I would work out from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., sleep and rest, and go again, so it was very intense.”
López’s official training for the Olympics began in the beginning of June in Barcelona.
“I went to Spain and at the beginning of June I had to workout in Barcelona, then, we went to Madrid for 20 days, and that was the beginning of preparation and I had a really good experience being there. I was training with other girls also prepping for Olympics.
“After that we went to London for another meet. We had a meet in the beginning of June and then a meet at end of June and it helped us see where I was and where I needed to improve.
“After that, we went to Brazil and I trained there for 15 to 17 days and still it was getting ready.”
From Brazil, López made her way to Beijing 16 days before her meet, which took place on Aug. 10.
Although López arrived in Beijing early, she did not have an opportunity to attend the opening ceremonies.
“I didn’t go to the opening ceremony because the competition was two days after,” she said.
“My country and I decided it was better for me not to go so I could rest and be ready for the meet. When you are training that hard you don’t want to make a mistake that can influence your performance.”
López had plenty of time after her competition to explore China.
“After the competition I went shopping and I went around to other places I went to the Great Wall and I went to a theater where they have the best acrobats from China.”
This will hopefully not be López’s last Olympic experience.
“I really got very excited and I think I can do better than right now, and in a few years I can be in the top.
“I’m really happy with my performance and I’m happy with the results I’m happy because it was really an amazing experience and I would love to have that experience again in my life.”
