Retired Jordyn Wieber: From Olympic gold to a new routine

Jordyn Wieber, retired at 19.

The words look and sound every bit as odd to the Olympic gold medalist as the reality she's now experiencing. It's been a little more than a month since the member of "The Fierce Five" announced her farewell to the elite world of competitive gymnastics, and the 2013 DeWitt High School graduate continues to adapt to life away from the mats and bars.

"I started gymnastics at the age of 4 and I was competing when I was 7. So this is all I've known my whole life — always being in the gym, training and competing," Wieber, a sophomore psychology major at the University of California-Los Angeles, recently told the State Journal. "To finally close the chapter of that book and just kind of move on to the next opportunity and the new experiences in my life, it's definitely a weird feeling. I guess I could say it's sort of bittersweet, that's the best way to describe it."

Wieber has transformed from world-class athlete to everyday college student. Although, she's one who happens to have a recognizable name and face in a town that's filled with celebrity and fame.

And she is loving every second of her new normal.

"I don't think I've seen her this happy in a long time," her mother, Rita, said. "I never thought she'd be this happy so soon after being done with gymnastics."

Path to glory

Gymnastics at the Olympic level involves intense dedication at an early age, along with the understanding that the career lifespan is easily the shortest of any sport.

Even before her Olympic debut, Wieber's countless hours of practice as a young child had paid off. She won the World Championship all-around title in 2011, the U.S. National Championship all-around in 2011 and 2012, and three American Cup all-around crowns in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

"We were at the top of the mountain — World champion, Olympic gold medal," John Geddert, Wieber's longtime coach, said. "Those are opportunites that coaches who have twice my experience have never experienced, just because they didn't win the lottery."

Her final competition came at the 2012 Olympics in London, after which it was learned that Wieber competed with a stress fracture in her right leg. She finished fourth in qualifying but third among Americans behind Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman. Olympic rules allow only two gymnasts per country to advance to the finals, meaning Wieber's dream of winning individual gold was denied.

However, she combined with Douglas, Raisman and their teammates McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross to capture the team gold medal two days later.

"I just kind of realized that I reached my ultimate goal of making the Olympic team and winning an Olympic gold medal," Wieber said. "It would be amazing to be able to keep training and come back and possibly make another Olympic team."

At first, that was the plan. Then, as they say, life happened.

LIFE-CHANGING CHOICE

By the time the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro arrive, Wieber will be 21. She would be the equivalent of someone twice her age in, say, baseball or basketball, had she continued on and made the next Olympic squad.

After a whirlwind U.S. tour following the Olympics, Wieber enrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2013 with the intention of preparing for the Rio Games. She became a student manager with the Bruins' gymnastics team, working independently from the team on her own skills while helping the other women get ready for their own Division I college competitions.

Her other Olympic teammates also were gearing up again for another shot at making the U.S squad. Perhaps "The Fierce Five, Part II."

Slowly, however, Wieber began to notice a shift in her own mindset. "Maybe," she thought, "this isn't what I want to do anymore."

"I got here and I started training, and I started, I guess, jumping into this new life that I have here at UCLA. I just kind of realized that I reached my ultimate goal of making the Olympic team and winning an Olympic gold medal," she said. "It would be amazing to be able to keep training and come back and possibly make another Olympic team. But at the same time, I feel like the world has so much to offer for me."

Her mother said she knew Jordyn's choice for about a year before her daughter's essay "A New Routine" was released on theplayerstribune.com on March 6. The self-written piece would put an end to one of the most outstanding American gymnastic careers ever.

"Right after the Olympics, she just felt like she literally couldn't imagine anything but gymnastics," Rita Wieber said. "Then once she got out to college, she tried to train for the first semester. And she realized she really loved the whole college experience, and it was just gonna be impossible to try to go to college and train at that level at the same time."

Geddert, Wieber's mentor with Twistars USA in Dimondale and the 2012 Olympic coach, said he and his star pupil talked when she would return home from Los Angeles on break, but never had the conversation about Wieber's ultimate decision.

"Any time you've invested as much as she had into the sport and it's given so much back to you, that the decision has got to be excruciating. 'Do I have more in me?' All of those things," Geddert said. "I think that's why she took as long as she did to make it official. She wanted to make sure in her mind that, yep, this is what I'm gonna do.'"

Adjusting routines

Gone are her seven-hour days of intense training, double practices, the grueling international travel schedule, a rigorous docket of competition. Instead, Wieber's new routine consists of going to UCLA football games, helping her friends with their collegiate gymnastics, taking trips to the beach and attending classes all week.

"I absolutely love UCLA," she said. "When I first got here, I remembered back to my high school years where I tried to keep such a good balance and a normal life for as much as I could. I still went to public school and then I still trained twice a day, so I kind of feel like I had the best of both worlds in high school, because I got to still go to public school and train for the Olympics. It was amazing.

"That's kind of how I felt coming here to UCLA. I am this Olympian and I do have all these appearances I go to and things like that. But when I'm on campus and I'm walking to class, I feel like just a normal student. And that's something I love. I think it's great that I get to kind of experience both sides of it."

Her support team also must adjust. Her parents now only have one of their four children remaining at home — 15-year-old Kyra is a sophomore at Lansing Catholic High School — and their days have calmed down significantly.

"Our lives were full of a lot of excitement for the last several years. There's other things in life that are exciting, for sure," Rita said. "But it's something you definitely miss, the traveling and seeing (Jordyn) accomplish a lot of her goals and just being in that world. So yeah, that part of it's sad that it's over.

"But on the other hand, everything has to come to an end. And I'm really, really happy that she's so, so happy right now."

Geddert is as well, calling Wieber "true ambassador for the sport," but he can't help thinking about the what-if scenario.

"Obviously, would I love for her to be trying for Rio again and being out there in the limelight? Kids like that are like winning the lottery," he said. "I get asked all the time, 'Well, who's your next Olympian?' You can count the number of coaches on one hand that have had multiple Olympians in this sport. They don't grow on trees."

Tumbling forward

So far, Wieber is the only one of "The Fierce Five" to retire. She turned pro following the Olympics, bypassing college competition for the chance to make money on the 40-city exhibition tour that followed. Her endorsement deals are mostly finished now, but she still can earn from speaking engagements, clinics and appearances at gyms around the country.

She lives with two UCLA gymnasts who also were former Olympians. Samantha Peszek was on the 2008 U.S. team, and Christine Peng-Peng Lee was on the 2012 Canadian squad. Though she can't compete alongside them, Wieber spends 3-4 hours a day in the gym helping them and other Bruins gymnasts. They won a team regional title and will compete in the NCAA Championships that begin Friday in Fort Worth, Texas.

"My day would feel so incomplete if I wasn't involved with gymnastics in some way," Wieber said. "I have so much fun working with the UCLA team. It's always been a big dream of mine since as long as I can remember to be part of a college gymnastics team. And even though I can't compete because I went professional, it's still amazing to be able to come help out the team, be a part of it and travel with them and do all that sort of thing.

"It kind of makes my college experience everything that I wanted — because not only am I going and getting this amazing education at UCLA, where the academics are just outstanding, but I'm also getting to be a part of a very high-caliber athletic team. So I'm really enjoying it."

As a team manager, Wieber isn't quite a coach but more like a counselor. She helps design routines and decide what leotards to wear. She also takes on some grunt work, moving mats and bars for practice.

And then there is the social aspect of living in Los Angeles. There are few places in America where one of the most noticeable faces from the Olympics can blend into the crowd, but Los Angeles is one of them. Wieber makes the most of it, getting to make public appearances around town while also spending quiet time with friends at the beach or hiking in the Hollywood Hills.

"If anybody had L.A. stamped all over them, it was Jordyn," Geddert said. "She's having a blast out there, loving the student life."

The Rio Olympics could be still in Wieber's future, though it likely would be in a commentating or behind-the-scenes role. The sport is a fun diversion right now as she studies toward her undergraduate psychology degree. She has applied for internships for this summer, like most of her peers at UCLA are doing.

Beyond that, Wieber has told her mother that she wants to earn her master's and doctorate degrees. Motivational speaking is one area that interests her that could blend both her athletics and academics. Helping young gymnasts remains appealing.

In time. For now, there's plenty of new experiences awaiting Wieber every day.

"She just told me that she never realized there was so much more to life than gymnastics, and I'm not saying that in a bad way," Rita Wieber said. "I think she's having fun having the freedom. She's kind of thriving right now."