Joscelyn Roberson can’t remember much of the London Olympics. She was only six years old in 2012, and although she already loved gymnastics, she couldn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of the event. There is one thing, though, that she remembers vividly: her instant love of Jordyn Wieber.
“It was the weirdest feeling, and it’s really hard to explain,” Roberson said of watching Wieber, a member of the Fierce Five, compete at the Olympic Games. “I wanted to be right beside her so bad. It was this crazy intense feeling. I remember telling myself, ‘I have to be good enough one day to meet her.’”
Roberson soon became serious about her gymnastics dream. She quickly climbed through the rankings, moving from level 4 to level 8 in only two years. In 2019 she qualified elite and competed at the U.S. national championships in both 2021 and 2022. Wieber, in the meantime, retired from elite, graduated from UCLA and eventually became head coach at Arkansas in 2019.
Ten years after Roberson was starstruck watching Wieber at the London Olympics, one shared passion made the two women’s paths cross once again: college gymnastics.
As an aspiring college recruit, Roberson saw Wieber twice before getting to speak to her. The first time was at the Metroplex…
