Laney Madsen has an unusual story for elite gymnastics – she started in cheerleading and decided to take up elite gymnastics in 2014, but continued her competitive cheerleading career. This spring, she made her international debut for Bulgaria at the Artistic Gymnastics European Championships and a month later, won World Championships in cheerleading with her team.
Her career for Bulgaria has not been without obstacles, as she got injured while in Doha last fall and was not able to compete at the World Championships. However, her season has started quite well this year and she qualified to the European Games which will take place in Minsk at the end of the month.
At Euros, Madsen talked to the media about people who inspired her, dealing with negative attitudes, possible upgrades and finally making it to the international gymnastics competition.
Madsen has experienced her share of negativity due to the unusual path in gymnastics but she also receives a lot of positive reactions from people who feel inspired by her:
“In 2012 I decided I wanted to do gymnastics as well but I started fully training gymnastics in 2014, so, obviously, I’ve done that for a lot shorter than the other girls. I trained with Kyla Ross, so it was very inspiring, very helpful to have her to look up to. She was also one of those girls that inspired me at the Olympics. So, my story’s a little bit different, obviously. Everyone else kind of started with Mommy and me classes and I kind of decided that I wanted to do gymnastics. And, obviously, a lot of people don’t agree with my choice and what I’ve always done because a lot of people, especially, in the gymnastics world, hold a certain opinion towards cheerleaders. I might get sometimes a little bit of the talk but I’m glad I can be the person to inspire so many… A random person will be like “hey, do what you want”. Because something I’ve learned with time also – people are going to talk regardless, you might as well do what makes you happy. It’s your life, do what makes you happy and chase your dreams.”
She feels that her experience in cheer helped her to get mentally tough which, in turn, was helpful in gymnastics:
“You gotta just push. It’s scary but fear is an emotion, just like happiness, sadness, why give fear more power than those other emotions? I think that’s the biggest thing, this is very common in cheer to… they teach you: push yourself, don’t be scared, fight for it. And a lot of people look at you like it’s crazy but it’s the big thing that I think I’m going to carry with me – to fight for it, not give up. So, I think that’s the biggest thing I took from cheer to gymnastics.”
Her routines at Euros were downgraded and she hopes to get some upgrades back in soon:
“This was a big experience event for me and very motivating. I’m very excited to move forward and get back in the gym and put in some upgrades. Because things were a little bit watered down right now but I’m very excited to add some skills back in, such as the German giant Pak, a lot of people like this skill. So, I plan to go back in the gym, add those in. So, I’m happy to be here and kind of just start moving forward, just a step-by-step journey, but overall, very happy to be here obviously.”
Aly Raisman’s floor was originally a huge inspiration for her when she was considering the switch to gymnastics:
“Aly was a big one. Aly and Kyla. So, Aly was the one that… I don’t know, her floor routine. That was so different. And I remember I wanted to learn gymnastics routines, so, watching her floor routine was just very inspiring, honestly. And in 2015, my first national team camp, I told her “I know your floor routine”, and she was like: “Let me see it”, so I did her floor routine. I don’t know what exactly about it, she’s just so powerful. And her personality, it’s just, she’s doing her thing. And Kyla. And I think it’s a bit funny because I’ve been training with Kyla at home and Kyla’s a huge inspiration for me from that Olympic team.”
Her path to elite gymnastics was not easy mentally:
“There’s been a ton of setbacks, when I said, well, maybe it’s not for me. Whenever there’s a hard time, it’s very important not to quit when you’re having a bad time. You have a good day, you want to quit, ok, then quit, but if you’re having a bad day, you can’t quit. So there was a time when I was like “I don’t know if I can do it” but you just have to keep going. Just step-by-step, day-by-day, I just keep pushing past the walls and things thrown at me and I expect myself to not give up.”
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