Linoy Ashram Injured While Trying an Old Gymnastic Move

Olympic champion Linoy Ashram said on Saturday night that she was injured while attempting a move she once executed easily. Ashram, who retired about five years ago, said the moment brought mixed feelings, because some things still feel familiar while others are no longer within the body’s old limits.

She said people often ask whether she can still do everything she once did as an active rhythmic gymnast, but the answer is not simple. Sometimes, she noted, she can perform a skill that looks exactly like it used to, yet she immediately reminds herself, “I’m no longer 16 and I’ll probably pay for it in the next two days with sore muscles.”

Ashram framed the experience as part of an athlete’s life. “We invest years in building extraordinary abilities, and when we stop practicing them every day, some of them weaken. It’s natural,” she said. She added that five years have passed since she left competition, five years without the endless training hours, daily stretching, and intense work that defined her routine.

The Tokyo 2020 gold medalist said the body does not forget everything, but it does not stay the same either. Flexibility, strength and speed change, and “the pains come much faster than before,” she said. Still, Ashram concluded that whenever she can still do a movement that was part of her for so many years, she is reminded that gymnastics will always remain part of her identity, even if not with the same ease or level as before.