We’ve all seen it. It’s one of the biggest draws for the summer Olympics. Whether it’s the balance beam, rings or the floor routines, gymnastics is engaging to watch. We sit on the edge of our seats, waiting for a slip, a fall, an awful dismount. If watching gymnastics can be so nerve-wracking, imagine actually doing it.
Gail Murphy, a sophomore at the University of Iowa, began gymnastics when she was seven years old, and it hasn’t been an easy road.
“I went through age 13, and then I stopped for three years,” Murphy said. “I got sick for like a year and took more time off. I went back for a year and got injured and stopped again, and then I went back in college and started again.”
It’s a hard train to follow. Murphy has sustained several injuries from gymnastics over the years that have made it a difficult path for her, having to take many breaks for time to heal.
Murphy didn’t originally come to the University of Iowa looking to be on the gymnastics team. She actually started out by helping with the men’s team along with former gymnast Taylor McClendon. McClendon, like Murphy, was forced to step down from the gymnastics team for injuries.
“Gail was a burst of energy to our creative team,” McClendon said. “We were proud to have called her a fellow team manager.”
“Taylor told me I needed to contact the women’s coach and should try to get on the team, but I never did,” Murphy said.
Murphy had started working out during open gym when the men’s assistant coach, Brad Virkler, spotted her. Impressed by her gymnastic abilities, Virkler contacted the women’s assistant coach, Linas Gaveika, who came to watch Murphy practice. Shortly after, Murphy was brought onto the women’s gymnastics team at Iowa.
“It’s a pretty cool story,” Murphy said. “I really wasn’t even trying to get on the team.”
Murphy’s favorite event to compete in was the balance beam, even though that’s where she sustained most of her injuries.
“I don’t care that it’s how I got hurt,” Murphy said. “I still love it. I would pick that event over any other event any day.”
But Murphy’s run on the team only lasted a short semester. Murphy had to undergo another knee surgery to clean up damage from a previous ACL injury. She had been having problems with her wrist as well.
“It’s a very demanding sport,” Murphy said. “I have injuries, lots of injuries.”
Now even less demanding exercise is difficult for Murphy. Simply going for a run causes her lots of joint and muscle pain.
Though Murphy still deals with pain and misses gymnastics greatly, there are upsides to not being on the team anymore. Murphy enjoys having more time to devote to her studies (majors pending) and is still able to help manage the women’s gymnastics team.
Though Murphy’s doctor holds out hope that she will be able to return to gymnastics later if she desires, Murphy thinks that part of her life is done.
“It’s just too much strain,” Murphy said. “I want to be able to walk when I’m like 30.”
McClendon summed up his and Murphy’s struggle through gymnastics, “Gail’s absence from physical gymnastics is much like mine, but that did not stop me nor her. I believe we are both happy to be where we are, representing the University of Iowa Gymnastics Programs in their respected divisions.”