Katelyn Ohashi hopes to keep joy in new UCLA gymnastics floor routine despite backlash
LOS ANGELES — If there was one thing the internet could agree on, it was Katelyn Ohashi’s first floor routine this year. The senior’s dimpled smile, unbridled joy and breath-taking tumbling made her an instant viral sensation as she danced to a medley of Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Earth, Wind & Fire.
The world wide web didn’t react as kindly to her second routine.
After debuting a revised floor routine at the Pac-12 championships on March 26, Ohashi wrote a post on her blog last week about why she changed her routine from the set that brought her international acclaim.
As Ohashi and the second-ranked Bruins performed in front of record-breaking crowds, the former U.S. national team member relished the opportunity to bring joy to the audience for a 90-second interlude in a chaotic world.
Joy remained a catalyst while modifying the routine in light of HBO’s documentary “Leaving Neverland” about Michael Jackson and his alleged sexual abuse of children released in March.
Ohashi wanted “to stand beside those who know what it is like to be sexually abused,” she wrote in the post published April 7, one day after UCLA won the Ann Arbor regional final to advance to the NCAA championships.
“I have always wanted my routine to spark joy, for all people,” she continued. “So I stood, and I made a change. Not to play judge or jury, but to get back to joy. If my Michael Jackson routine left even one person feeling uncomfortable or less joyful, I felt like it was in everyone’s best interest to change the music to my routine.”
The response was “horrible,” Ohashi said flatly Monday as the Bruins prepare to defend their national title at the NCAA championships in Fort Worth, Texas beginning Friday. “Terrible.”
There were some messages thanking her, but other social media users accused her of only using Michael Jackson’s music to get famous. Some called her hypocritical by removing the music when she said she didn’t intend to judge Jackson.
“It was not exactly what I was expecting,” Ohashi said.
She was upset at first. She spoke with head coach Valorie Kondos Field, who asked Ohashi if she would have, in hindsight, not posted the blog. Ohashi answered no. In hindsight, would she have used different verbiage, Kondos Field asked. No, Ohashi answered.
Then she had to move on.
“If you have no regrets for what you said and you own it, you can feel really good about that because a lot of people don’t take a stand on things and therefore they don’t make change in society,” Kondos Field said of her message to Ohashi, who scored a perfect 10 at the Pac-12 championships on the first performance with her new routine and followed it with a 9.95 at the regional final. “And good for you for taking that stand.”
Since her first routine went viral, Ohashi has appeared on dozens of TV and radio shows, spreading her message of joy while advocating for body positivity and female empowerment. It’s no coincidence Ohashi’s new routine has an all-female soundtrack that includes Tina Turner, Janet Jackson and Beyoncé.
Kondos Field called this the “year of the woman,” echoing a term used to describe the record-breaking number of women running for office and winning in 2018. She hopes the Bruins, who teamed with Oklahoma to honor survivors of sexual abuse in a meet last year, can contribute to the movement.
“The adjectives of strength and competitiveness and grit and determination and all of those things that used to be attributed to men, we’re showing that we can embody all of those with sparkles,” Kondos Field said. “They’re not exclusive adjectives to men, they’re just for courageous people and it doesn’t matter your shape or size, it doesn’t matter your gender, courage is something that we all have that, when we develop, can enlighten us.”