Trinity Thomas: “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do next”
The 22-year-old NCAA superstar on how collegiate gymnastics has given her fresh perspective ahead of her return to elite-level gymnastics.
Artistic Gymnastics
When a 17-year-old Trinity Thomas committed to compete on the women’s gymnastics team at the University of Florida, she was – by her own admission – shy, reserved, and afraid of disappointing anyone around her.
Five years and one of the greatest NCAA women’s gymnastics careers later, Thomas has transformed.
“I think now I have grown into this young woman that knows life is not going to be perfect,” the three-time NCAA champion told Olympics.com in May. “It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do next.”
For Thomas, next is one last run at her Olympic dreams. The 22-year-old announced on 1 July that she would pursue a berth on the U.S. team for next July’s 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Thomas explained on a media availability on 5 July. “I didn’t want to get too ahead of myself. I wanted to focus on everything that was happening when it was happening.
“It’s one more year of gymnastics, I love gymnastics,” she continued. “It can be as big or as small as I want it to be, and I still have fuel in the tank, so let’s see how much.”
"Success is so much more than any title"
A four-time U.S. national team member, Thomas wasn’t at full strength ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Games as she dealt with a series of ankle injuries that convinced her to focus on her NCAA career instead.
Thomas has been on a tear since.
In 2022, she claimed the NCAA all-around title before taking the extra year of eligibility offer due to COVID-19 in 2023, where she tied the NCAA record for most 10.0 scores by a single gymnast.
Though, she’s not focused on all the superlatives, titles and records she’s racked up.
“Success is so much more than any title, any score, and I’m successful for many reasons other than the 10.0 record or a national championship or an SEC championships,” said Thomas. “I’ve been successful at being a good team-mate and picking myself up when I’m down and being able to move forward on the hard days.”
Some of those hard days came recently.
An injury to her lower leg at April’s NCAA Regional Championships limited her in the final days of her NCAA competitive career.
Nearly healthy now after spending the last several months rehabbing, Thomas plans to kick her training up to full gear in the fall and is targeting the November U.S. national team camp.
Thomas on U.S. women's gymnastics team: "It's one of the hardest teams to make"
With the likes of Olympic gold medallists Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee also on the road to Paris, Thomas has no illusions about the road ahead.
“It’s one of the hardest teams to make,” she said of the U.S. squad. “It’s definitely not a walk in the park and the odds are not necessarily great and that’s okay. I’m not really worried about the thing at the end of the tunnel. I’m just worried about doing it one step-at-a-time and building on the foundation that I have now.”
It’s a foundation first laid during early years as a gymnast when she trained at Prestige Gymnastics in Pennsylvania and then honed further in Gainesville where Thomas says she found a home that let her blossom.
“Confidence I feel like is a skill that you have to constantly work on, just like most other skills,” she said. “I wasn’t the most confident when I came into the collegiate scene. College gymnastics has helped me grow my confidence significantly and I’m so thankful for that. I’m not the same little girl that started here.”
Still, some of that 17-year-old Thomas must remain, pushing her to see just how much gas is left in the tank of the dream she’s held for so many years.
But beyond that long-held dream, the newly minted graduate assistant coach seems to be seeking closure and the satisfaction of knowing that she gave everything she had.
“I’m really too focused on, ‘Oh, am I going to make the team?’” explained Thomas. “That’s gonna happen or it’s not gonna happen at the end of the day. All I can focus on is what I do to try to get there.”