“I didn’t get to end my elite career on my own terms” - Morgan Hurd opens up about missing out on Tokyo Olympics trials

22-year-old Morgan Hurd recently opened up about her failure to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics Trials. The American gymnast explained her constant attempts to make it to the Olympic Trials despite suffering from an injury. The incident saddened her as she could not end her elite career the way she wanted.

Morgan Hurd was a five-time member from 2016 to 2021. Throughout her elite career, the young gymnast achieved several accolades. She became the world champion in the all-around event and won the silver medal in balance beam in 2017. In the following year, she won the gold medal with her team, a silver medal in floor exercise, and a bronze medal in the all-around. Nevertheless, Hurd was also a member of the gold-medal-winning American teams at the 2018 World Championships and the 2019 Pan American Games.

Hurd kept on excelling until the American Cup in March 2020. However, then came the COVID-19 pandemic that postponed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. During the year-long wait for the big event, Hurd suffered an elbow injury in August 2020. Later on, she experienced another injury in March 2021.

Despite her injuries, Morgan Hurd desired to compete in the upcoming competitions. She was trying to work on petitions with her coach Slava Gazounov to help her ease her qualifications.

Hurd at U.S. Gymnastics Championships 2019 - Day 2

In a recent Leaps n Bounds podcast with gymnast Heath Thrope, Hurd revealed that her coach asked her to compete and that her petitions would get accepted. However, nothing worked well for the young gymnast. At the national championship, she ended up 26th and 23rd respectively in the balance beam and floor exercise. She could not make it to the national team, nor did she qualify for the 2021 Olympics.

Morgan Hurd expressed in the interview,

"I didn’t get to end my elite career on my own terms and I think that’s what kind of hits me the most whereas if I had made it to, if they had accepted my petition to Olympic trials realistically, I would have been like yeah I’m not making Olympics, that’s fine, but I’m at Olympic trials and I knew that’s how I wanted to close out my career," she told.

Furthermore, she added that she was disappointed with her coach lying to the media and making her look delusional. It made Hurd lose a lot of respect for him.

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Morgan Hurd hopes to return to gymnastics sometime later

Morgan Hurd at the 2020 American Cup

After a heartbreaking experience before the Olympic trials, Morgan Hurd tried to distract her mind by traveling with her friends. However, she was adamant about continuing her elite career.

Eventually, Hurd decided to concentrate on her college life after finding herself struggling in the training sessions. She began college at the University of Florida in the spring semester of 2021.

However, she told Olympics.com that she might be back someday. She gave an example of gymnast Chellsie Memmel who returned to the sport after having two kids. Hurd stated she has kept her options open and not closed any doors.