FAYETTEVILLE — Three members of a legendary U.S. Olympic squad will be at the heights of their new professions Thursday when the Arkansas Razorbacks compete in the afternoon session of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
Fifth-year Arkansas Coach Jordyn Wieber and her second-year assistant Kyla Ross were members of the Fierce Five, the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2012 Olympics in London.
One of their teammates, Aly Raisman, will be calling the action in the 3:30 p.m. semifinal when the Razorbacks take on LSU, California and Stanford for the right to compete in Saturday’s finals.
Wieber, who has directed Arkansas to its first appearance at the NCAA Championships since 2018, was elated to hear Raisman, who won the gold medal on the floor exercise in the 2012 Olympic Games, would be part of the announcing team for ESPN.
“We chatted a couple of days ago,” Wieber said Monday. “We had our coaches call. It was just funny. I’ve never had her interview me before. But it will definitely be a really fun reunion.”
Ross, the youngest of the Fierce Five, joined Wieber’s staff as a volunteer assistant after graduating from UCLA in 2021 and immediately put her experience on the balance beam into play. The Razorbacks had perhaps their best balance beam team ever in 2023, Ross’ first season as a full-time assistant, and they crushed their NCAA regional record on the beam two weeks ago with a 49.525 at Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
Wieber said she had been hoping to bump into Raisman at a meet during the season, but it didn’t happen until now.
“We’ve been talking a little bit throughout the season about how we had wished that she had been able to do an Arkansas meet,” Wieber said. “And then now we finally get to see her.
“So with three...of the Fierce Five that are going to be there in some capacity, it feels really cool that we’re all still in this gymnastics world and in the NCAA gymnastics world, which is so fun.”
Wieber discussed how women’s sports are seeing a rise in the public consciousness.
“Just with women’s sports, where it is right now, being on the kind of tail end of the women’s basketball excitement and being able to go there and have Aly be the commentator, it just all feels really special and really big,” Wieber said. “I’m just so excited to see our athletes perform and then to have one of my Olympic teammates be able to commentate it, it’s pretty cool.”
The other members of the 2012 Team USA gymnastics squad were Gabby Douglas, who took the gold medal in the all-around competition at London, and McKayla Maroney, who took home a silver medal in the vault.