Gold Medal Winning Olympian, Madison Kocian, Sets the Bar High for Gymnastics

Samantha Peszek is on a mission to connect athletes, coaches, and parents with the best resources the gymnastics world has to offer. Utilizing Samantha’s gymnastics network, (she really does have cool friends) guests will be experts in their field and shed a light on hot topics, tips for improvement, and inspiration. Listeners will have the opportunity to learn from some of the sport’s greats, participate in giveaways, and apply relevant tips to everyday life, in and out of the gym.

Madison Kocian’s reputation precedes her — her numerous accolades are just a representation of her hard-working, determined, and accomplished self. Some of her awards include winning the team gold medal with the “Final Five” and the uneven bars silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games, becoming the 2015 world champion on bars, and being a member of the UCLA gymnastics team. Towards the end of the season, Madison came back from shoulder surgery and was still able to help her team win the NCAA championship title this year.

In this episode, Madison speaks about her gymnastics career both in the elite world and in the college world, where she competes for UCLA. She speaks about her experience training for the Olympics and how she learned to overcome her injuries and what she did to become a better gymnast, physically and mentally. Aside from gymnastics, Madison mentions how she is able to live, or at least tries to live, a normal life. In addition, Madison shares some advice for listeners on how to succeed as gymnasts as she looks back on her elite career.

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Key Takeaways

· Sam’s first memory of Madison was at Madison’s first championships in 2009

· Madison’s first memory of Sam

· Gymnastics has four “separate” sports within it

· Madison is a rising junior in college and has recently turned 21

· What age did Madison start gymnastics and when did she decide she wanted to go to the Olympics

· Going through the “elite time” and Madison’s relationship with her parents

· Gymnasts can be normal too!

· Your drive for gymnastics has to come from yourself

· Dealing with injuries as a young gymnast

· Some other ways Madison became a better gymnast while she was injured

· You have to take time off and let your body heal after an injury

· How Madison handles negative thoughts and doubt

· Coming back in the nick of time for the NCAA championships

· Madison’s thoughts on college gymnastics

· Reflecting back on freshman year of college

· Giving your all every single day and the gas tank analogy

· The difference between college gymnastics and elite gymnastics and which one Madison prefers

· Something Madison likes about elite gymnastics over college gymnastics

· Something Madison likes about college gymnastics over elite gymnastics

· An unforgettable moment so far in college

· The hardest part mentally for Madison on training for the Olympics

· Some advice for gymnasts from Madison looking back on her elite career

· A story about Madison and Aly as roommates during the Olympics

· What happens when you’re late to an assignment, according to Sam

· How big of an influence it was for Madison to train at the same gym as Carly and Nastia

· Laurent Landi as Madison’s head coach

· A pep talk Laurent gave to Madison that still means a lot to her

· Madison on Laurent coaching Simone Biles

· What contributed most to Madison’s success as an elite

· Madison knew she always wanted to do college gymnastics

· Why did Madison pick UCLA

· A life lesson Miss Val taught Madison

· Some rapid fire questions

· Madison’s biggest fear

· What’s one way listeners can get one percent better

Tweetable Quotes

It definitely has to come from yourself because there’s no one else that can push you to reach your goals or your dreams and that’s really important to have it somewhere deep down inside.

The weird/cool thing about gymnastics is you peak when you’re so young and so you’re training like you’re an elite athlete when you’re like 10–15 years old because that’s just the nature of the sport.

It’s really important and really crucial to have a good relationship with your parents, all of your friends, teammates, and coaches.

At the end of the day, we are normal human beings just like everyone else.

Gymnastics in general is a tough sport, but the elite world is even a notch higher than that so if you don’t wholeheartedly want to do that for yourself, there is no way you’re gonna make it.

If you want it bad enough and you set your mind to it you definitely can accomplish it.

It’s not all about the training day in and day out, there’s a lot of mental side to everything.

There was not one day or one moment that I do regret; through the challenges, the ups and downs, there really high moments, really low moments, but I think for me, each of those moments developed me into the person I am today.

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