An explosive snail path to the Olympics

When Izzy Connor (Crown ’25, astrophysics) steps on the carpet at the Tokyo Olympics on August 7, it will be a milestone for the United States and also a highlight for years of both personal struggle and success.

Connor, who turns 21 on July 22, is Team USA’s rhythmic gymnastics team, a five-member team whose sport combines elements of dance and gymnastics such as rims, balls, bands and clubs to stop the heart. The rims fly through the air to land on the outstretched legs. The balls spin from teammate to teammate as the group moves in a perfectly choreographed routine. It is a sport that requires coordination between hands and eyes, agility, endurance and concentration. To date, U.S. athletes have never made it to all three Olympic rhythmic gymnastics venues: two individual and one group.

“This is definitely a historic year for us,” Connor said by phone from the Lake Placid Olympic Center, where he and his teammates trained before leaving for Israel for the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix and then for the Olympics.

However, his achievements did not come easily. Connor not only spent years training – even left Manhattan Beach in California, which was a high school year, to practice at the North Shore Rhythmic Gymnastics Center in Deerfield, Illinois – he also had to refocus his goals. The 2020 Olympics were postponed due to a pandemic. In addition, in 2018, he faced severe anxiety and the ensuing depression that forced him to rediscover his love for his career.

“I strongly believe you won’t start to fully feel yourself or grow up as a person until you’ve gone through something that breaks you,” Connor said of that time. “That’s when you start to grow and progress as a human being.”

He turned his pain into strength, he said.

According to Connor, he started his sport quite late. He distracted from rhythmic gymnastics when he was 8 years old, and then focused on artistic and dance, returning to sports at the age of 10. It soon became his passion.

However, he never thought about going to the Olympics.

“I thought it was too much pressure. As a child, I was very insecure and anxious, ”he said. “I never let myself dream big.”

Instead, he set small goals. However, small goals turned into big accomplishments, and at the age of 17 he was asked to join the U.S. team’s national team and moved to Illinois to train. In 2018, however, he suddenly suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks.

Connor struggled quietly for a while and then took inspiration from decorating a swim from Michael Phelps, who has spoken openly about his depression, and also from a four-time Olympic gold medalist, gymnast Simone Biles, who has said regular visits to a psychiatrist and self-help helped alleviate his own anxiety, open up and treat their anxiety like injuries that needed work to heal. He told his coach and teammates about his struggles – they were very supportive, he said – and was able to find techniques that worked for him. Today, he considers himself healed and stronger than before.

In 2019, odds against the U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team secured a spot at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 only to be disappointed when games were postponed.

Now, however, Connor is heading to Tokyo with the goal of helping U.S. teams succeed and feel good. When the games are over, he said he plans to retire from his sport and settle in UC Santa Cruz, where he studies astrophysics on campus, which he described as beautiful and peaceful. There, he said, he also follows his other passion, which is writing. She hopes to write articles about her experiences throughout her career as well as promoting mental health as a way to help others.

“Even though we sometimes look like super-people, we athletes are human and experience the same feelings and struggles as everyone else,” Connor said. “The important thing is that things like anxiety and depression don’t have to stop you from making dreams come true or define you. They should be normalized and treated accordingly.”

Follow the team’s journey on Instagram @ izzy.connor