Gymnastic routines are a world of their own. With the Olympics recently on, people are pretty familiar with how incredible a good floor routine can be. It’s like a full-body dance that, once seen, can’t be looked away from.
Of all the “viral” sports videos, people seem drawn to floor routines specifically.
Not many sports clips or highlights are watched by both men and women alike. When the rare clip surfaces, it shows that the love and appreciation for incredible athletic performance is a wonderful thing that we can all share. For one gymnast from UCLA who performed one of those rare routines, it turned into a viral hit.
Nia Dennis is a gymnast from UCLA and decided to perform the song “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce.
When the music started, the crowd really didn’t know they were about to see something beautiful. Nia starts in the corner after a quick acknowledgment to the crowd and sets up, ready to go. As the music starts, the 21-year-old began the performance that she would soon be known for.
“Ramping up” is cool, but not for Nia.
She didn’t hesitate when the music kicked on, she lept into some of the toughest moves without warming the crowd up through some smaller and simpler ones. The reaction? Immediate amazement.
Leaping into a handspring, she launches herself into the air.
Watching aerial work is always pretty amazing. It seems impossible that someone can launch their body so high into the air, but still, people do! Since it’s so amazing, it’s always a shock to see the first pop off the floor that sends the athlete flying upwards.
Speed isn’t always a good thing, but Nia uses hers to her benefit.
Just because something is faster doesn’t mean it’s necessarily better… but a good usage of speed can sometimes “wow” a crowd. Nia did just that. With an incredible burst of speed, she flies around the floor precisely hitting moves that seem in-human.
Her team knows just how well she was performing.
As Nia seemed to float and fly across the floor, her team could be heard cheering her on. With hoots and whistles, they let her know that she was doing incredibly and she had her whole squad behind her! Knowing that you have people in your corner can be a huge mental advantage.
As she finishes her routine, you can’t possibly imagine her getting less than a 10.
Still, the judges seem to have caught something that others didn’t – and people weren’t happy!
“Seriously, where is the deduction, how was that not a 10?”
“It’s in moments like these that I feel like NCAA judging is somewhat arbitrary. This was a 10.”
Still, it was amazing enough that over a million people have watched it!
Whether or not the judges think it deserves a 10 is sort of irrelevant that this point – the world thinks it was amazing! People all over have commented just how beautiful they thought it was – what do you think?
Check out her amazing routine in the video below!
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