Brooklyn Moors ready to go for Olympic dream, virtually

The 2019 Pan American Games floor exercise champion Brooklyn Moors has always dreamed of going to the Olympics.

“I've always said, ‘I want to go to the Olympics,’ even before, like, I knew what it was when I was little,” Moors told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview.

She’s seen it up-close, attending the artistic gymnastics competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London to cheer on her sister, Victoria, who was an inspiration for starting the sport years ago. It was a moment that cemented her desire.

“Just seeing that in person really set a spark,” she said. “I just saw how amazing it was, and I really wanted to do it.”

That journey looks a lot different in 2021 than she could have ever expected. Gymnastics Canada has opted not to hold any in person events, instead hosting virtual competitions at each athlete’s home club. Judges – either in person or on zoom – monitor the process, which is designed to simulate competition as closely as possible.

“I'm a person that likes to perform in front of a crowd, but I think I got used to it,” said Moors. “I still got the adrenaline going.”

Time to heal, reflect for Brooklyn Moors

After taking several months off in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Olympic postponement, and a nagging back injury, Moors recently competed in one of Gymnastics Canada’s technical trial events. There, she performed on three of the four apparatus only.

The event gave her a chance to get back into action after not having competed in over a year.

“It was more about just getting back into it. I have been off for like eight or nine months from injuries, so it was just kind of for me to get going,” Moors explained. “I just did watered-down routines on floor and vault, so they went they went pretty well. But I definitely have some fixing up to do for nationals.”

This week, she’ll complete those nationals routines for the first of two days of competition that make up the Canadian Championships. The routines will then be judged on 18 May. Athletes then film their second day routines from 19-21 May, with judging set for 23 May. The Canadian Olympic team for the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021 will be announced on 17 June.

Moors time off served two purposes: heal an ailing back, and a chance to reflect. The former is mostly accomplished, with Moors saying she’s gotten all her old skills back, minus a few turns that she just can’t do properly anymore.

“Honestly, this week and last week has been the most ramped up I've been yet,” she said. “And I'm almost I'd say almost 100 percent.”

The latter was more of a process, one that revealed to the 20-year-old areas in her life that deserved more of her energy.

“I think this year I've really matured, and I changed, and now I see like what's really important,” Moors said of how the challenges of 2020 changed her. “I always had trouble separating myself from my gymnastics, so it was it was good to kind of find myself."

That’s included putting more emphasis on her mental health and spending time with her normally very busy family.

“My family obviously has been busy our entire lives because my sister was always training. We've never, ever spent time as a family, pretty much because we're always busy,” said Moors. “I was able to kind of stay home with them and just enjoy doing nothing, which I've never done.”

A focus on artistry

One thing that hasn’t changed for Moors in 2021 is her striking artistry. Her presence on the floor exercise has garnered her worldwide attention, and the even the Longines Prize for Elegance at the 2017 Worlds.

That recognition is important, she says.

“The artistic part of gymnastics doesn't really get as much credit as it needs,” says Moors, who explained that the requirement to include so many difficult acrobatic and dance elements in her routine hinders her performance ability.

“I can't have as much difficulty because I want to kind of contribute more to my dance. But at the same time, I'm like, ‘I really need to step it up,’ and that means I need to tone down the artistic part a little bit,” she continued.

Moors, who says she’ll keep her 2019 music and choreography, has done her best to strike the balance and blend the difficulty with the beauty. Moors has made each of the last three floor exercise finals at the World Championships, finishing fifth in 2017, eighth in 2018, and seventh in 2019.

She hopes others are taking note, but says the messages she receives from fans and other gymnasts are enough. “I know that, hopefully, I am making an impact on the sport and for the artistic side thing of things,” Moors said. “But, you know, just knowing that those people are behind me really is really amazing.”