CHICAGO (CBS) — The 51-year-old gymnast from Algonquin represented Team USA at the Gymnastics Masters Team World Cup in Germany last week, bringing home a silver medal.
Alison Wright won silver on balance beam in an international tournament for gymnasts over 30 from the United States, Germany, Great Britain and Japan.
She first started gymnastics when she was three years old and continued to do so for about 15 years until she “retired” at the age of 18.
“In the ’80s, 18-year-olds were considered senior citizens.” she told CBS 2’s Marissa Perlman last week.. “Then two years ago, I stumbled across an article about adult gymnastics. I didn’t know there was such a thing. So I looked it up and found a whole community of adult gymnasts doing this. .They’re doing it for fun,’ they’re doing it to compete, and that’s kind of how I learned about it and started getting into it again. ”
Wright said training for competitions is much different now than when he was a kid.
“My body doesn’t work like it used to. I’m not as flexible. I get injured every other day. It’s always something,” she said.
She returned to competitive gymnastics two years ago and trains at Royalty Gymnastics, Tumble and Dance in Huntley.
“Participating in Royalty Gymnastics is the best part of my day, really,” she said.
Edmar Nicholas, co-owner of Royalty Gymnastics, was a gymnast himself as a boy, but couldn’t find a gym that would allow adults to participate in a gymnastics program after graduating from high school, so he created a community for adult gymnasts. He said he would like to provide. He said he started an adult gymnastics program at Royalty because of her Wright, and she said her young gymnasts now look up to her.
This summer alone, Wright competed in the Amateur Athletic Federation and won five medals. She took home one gold medal, two silver medals, and two bronze medals at her AAU gymnastics national championships in Florida.
“She was a bit of a celebrity to us,” he said. “She’s our first national title here and now she’s our first international. It’s very exciting.”