U.S. gymnast Konnor McClain has transformed in the last year: "I'm brighter now, there's a light in me."
The Konnor McClain that’s wrapping up her first NCAA gymnastics season this month is not the same Konnor McClain from 12 months ago.
Last April, McClain was rehabbing back and hand injuries. She had just left a Texas-based training gym for one in Seattle.
Two months later, she had moved again: this time to her native Las Vegas.
Shortly after making it to Vegas, where she trained at GymCats with coach Cassie Rice, McClain announced that she would join the Louisiana State University women’s gymnastics team a season early after originally planning to join the squad after a run at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
That decision made all the difference.
“I feel like Konnor McClain a year ago was just very down on herself and just, like, sad in general,” the 19-year-old told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview.
“I feel like now – obviously, college matures you and makes you grow up a bit, but I feel like I was already very mature last year just because everything that’s happened in my life – but, now, I just feel like a completely different person,” said McClain of the difference a year has made for her. “I have a very different look on life, so I feel like I’ve just changed completely and I feel like I’m brighter now, there’s a light in me.
“The light wasn’t there, it was very dim last year.”
She credits the turnaround to her “rational decision” to come to LSU in the fall of 2023, one that now-teammate Aleah Finnegan helped her come to.
“I never knew gymnastics could be this fun,” McClain says.
That realization didn’t happen overnight, however.
“Coming here, I kind of had to switch [my mindset] just because I still had the elite mindset, which I want to keep,” explains McClain. “But, I also had like a ‘I hate gymnastics mindset,’ so I also had to find the love again and switch that mindset around.
“I feel like just looking at everyone and seeing how happy everyone is just to be in the gym every day and practice every day,” continues McClain, “I was like, ‘I kind of want to practice that.’ Me hating gymnastics is getting kind of old, so I practice loving the sport and just being happy to be there. It’s working.”
Building Confidence
It’s also producing results on the field of play.
McClain ended the North American collegiate regular season ranked third nationally on the balance beam, having scored two perfect 10.0s on the apparatus including at the SEC Championships.
The freshman has appeared in 11 meets of the 2024 season, giving her the opportunity to practice competing in a way that those in elite gymnastics – where they may only compete four or five times in a season – had not.
“I actually kind of like it just because I get to go back-to-back instead of taking a two month break in between,” McClain says of the college schedule. “It’s just nice to go out there and build your confidence.”
In a rhythm now, she admits the nerves in her first collegiate competition against Ohio State University got to her.
“I feel like for me against Ohio State, I could feel my heart pounding my chest. It’s so scary the first time you go out there because you don’t know what to expect,” admitted McClain.
A busy month ahead for the American gymnast
What McClain can expect for now is a busy a schedule.
She’ll be with her #2-ranked LSU Tigers at the Regional Championships Thursday (4 April) and Saturday (6 April).
Assuming McClain and her squad advance, as is expected, she’ll have about one month between the end of the NCAA Championships on 20 April and her one opportunity to qualify to the U.S. nationals, the U.S. Classic on 18 May.
She’s determined to do it – and determined to give her Olympic dream a chance.
“I’ll definitely be at Classics and compete there. The goal is to do all-around,” McClain said. “Me and [LSU head coach] Jay [Clark] have talked about it a lot recently, just like what I’m going to do and how my plan after season is going to go. We’ve kind of mapped it out a little bit just to prepare and make sure we both know what’s going so we don’t lose track. We do have a plan.”
The 2022 U.S. all-around winner says she’s used the team’s days after competitions to focus on the different elements and routines she’ll need for the elite level.
“With our college schedule, we usually comeback from a meet and we have a light day,” McClain explains. “So, then, I’ll just practice my extra elite skills and make sure I still have them and make sure I get the consistency I need with my elite routines.”
The demanding schedule hasn’t deterred McClain. The Paris Games are something she’s dreamed of since she was a little girl, and she’s not willing to put that dream to bed quite yet.
“The Olympics has always been my dream, so I was like, I might as well try just because I can. I’m capable of it, so just try and not give up on my dream. I’m never going to give up on the dream that I have of going to the Olympics,” she said.
“The Olympics part [of my gymnastics] is for myself, that’s what the little girl in me wanted, [it's] what I want now.”