Minnesotan Shane Wiskus reflects on making U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - JUNE 26: Shane Wiskus reacts after competing on high bar during the Men's competition of the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials at America’s Center on June 26, 2021 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) ((Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) / Getty Images)
(FOX 9) - The last 24 hours have been a blur for Minnesotan Shane Wiskus after securing a spot on the U.S. Olympic men's gymnastics team.
"I haven’t had much time to process it yet, still feels amazing," said Wikus. "Feel a lot better today knowing I made the Olympic team. I just took a thousand pounds off my shoulder and it’s just incredible."
Wiskus finished third overall in the Olympic Team Trials this weekend, with top-five results on four events. This performance is a major rebound after he fell off the high bar three times during the national championships three weeks ago.
The former Minnesota Gopher says this has been his toughest year in the sport after the University of Minnesota Board of Regents voted to cut the men's gymnastics program last fall. In November, Wiskus made the gamble to move to Colorado to complete his Olympics training.
"You want consistency in gymnastics, so leaving and starting a new training regime 6-7 months out was obviously a huge leap of faith," said Wiskus.
Since all his Olympics teammates have experience in NCAA, he says they plan to use their platform to highlight the dwindling state of men's gymnastics in the U.S.
"We're facing extinction," said Wiskus. "Have to use this platform to spread the word and get something rolling to slow the bleeding a little bit."
The team will have a training camp in early July before heading out to Tokyo later that month.