Laney Madsen was first supposed to compete for Bulgaria at the 2018 World Championships but got injured shortly after arriving in Doha. This year, she used the European Championships and Games to prepare for Worlds and hopes to qualify to the Olympics in Tokyo.
After the podium training, she said the experience of being at Worlds is even more incredible since she wasn’t able to compete last year:
“Overall, I’m very grateful, because what happened last year was very difficult. Not only to go to Worlds as a whole, not only to experience it physically but mentally. I obviously worked very hard to get to that and I was really hoping it could be last year but injury happened. Obviously, no one likes them, they’re the worst part of gymnastics but it’s a part of it, it’s a part of life, with its ups and downs.”
“But overall I’m very grateful that I’m healthy because, above all, I’m physically healthy, enough to be here. I’ve worked many years to get to this point. Of course, I have nerves, just like any other athlete but I’m glad I can be here and do this, do what I love.”
She sees it as her mission to show that if someone discovers gymnastics later that future Olympic athletes are supposed to start training, they can still achieve a great level in the sport:
“I want to be me at this competition, just to do my thing. There are plenty of gymnasts around me but at the end of the day we all just want to do our thing, so I would say that’s my expectation. To go out there and not only showcase what I’ve been working on recently but all the years leading up to this because, obviously, this is a very important competition, the Olympic qualification, so I feel like I almost owe it not only to my current self but also to my younger self that started gymnastics later than everyone around me and everyone told me, “You’re not going to be able to do gymnastics at all”. I’ve had some tough competitions recently but I want to contrast what I’ve been doing recently and just be me, just do my thing.”
Madsen recently changed her floor routine in order to have something more upbeat and matching her personality:
“Don’t you think it’s more fun, this music? I think it’s more fun, I like it. I actually just got it, maybe, a month ago? It’s kind of unusual. Usually, you get routines a decent amount of time in advance. But a month ago I randomly decided that I wanted a new routine. I was in the car with my mom listening to music and I was like “I like this music, this is really cool”, my mom actually found it. And then I heard it and thought I wanted to do a floor routine to this. And my mom said: “Ok, this is a good idea for the next year, maybe?” And I was like, “No, I want it now”. And I just got it. It’s more upbeat, more exciting. From my cheerleading background, I wanted to be able to express myself more. My personality is very crazy and wild. If you know me outside the gym, you know I’m very energetic and even crazy in some sort of way. So, I feel like this expresses my personality much much more. And I feel like I can play around with it, and it has little booty shakes in it before my third pass, it’s my favorite part.”
Madsen really wanted to have an element named after herself in the Code of Points – to leave a trace in the history of gymnastics. She debuted a new turn in the podium training:
“I like turns a lot. Before, it was the other turn, the scorpion turn and I wanted that named after me. I really wanted that to be called the Madsen but some other gymnasts had done it in the past, so I was a little bummed over that. So I needed to think of something new. I thought of a few different turns. There are a couple I’ve played around with but I came to this one because I enjoy watching rhythmic gymnastics. I was watching rhythmic gymnastics and I saw them do a penché turn and I thought “let’s try that”. It exists in rhythmic gymnastics but no one’s done it in artistic. The difficulty hasn’t been determined yet. Just like with anything else, someone had to be the first one to do it.”
However, the next day the International Gymnastics Federation announced that, while the turn will be added to the Code of Points, it will be rated as a B skill and won’t be named after Madsen, as only C skills and higher can be named.
Madsen has recently announced her verbal commitment to UCLA and hopes to start her studies next fall:
“I was choosing between quite a few schools. I live in California and I want to stay there, I love California, it’s my home. The team is incredible, the entire team. I love every single one of those girls, it’s a really fun environment. My personality is very bubbly, very wild and fun and the team matches that beyond perfect. I can’t think of anything else that’s more perfect than this school. Hopefully, all goes well and next year in the fall, I’m going there.”
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