Eight-year-old twins from Fort Mill win SC gymnastic medals

Amy Bailey was searching for something her twin daughters to do for fun and exercise, but struck gold when she enrolled them in gymnastics.

Bailey said her daughters – Nora and Charlotte – had expressed interest in trying gymnastics, so she enrolled the 8-year-old Doby’s Bridge Elementary second graders the summer after their kindergarten years.

The girls have since moved up to Level 2 and Bailey said the girls’ teachers often commented on their talent, but she thought little of it at first. When the South Carolina Level 1-5 state championships came March 12-13 to the Winthrop Coliseum, Bailey said she didn’t know what to expect as Nora and Charlotte had never entered a meet of that magnitude.

“They did pretty well,” Bailey said.

“We’re kind of new to it and we weren’t sure going in if they were going to be top anything. They had been telling us at the gym that they were really good, but we didn’t have any experience with it, so we didn’t know what to expect.”

The girls proved their pedigree and natural talent with a dominating performance that helped lead their gym – Thomas Gymnastics in Rock Hill – to the team championship.

Nora said she likes “almost everything” about gymnastics and “doing all of the things and seeing what place you come in” is the best part.

“(I did) really good,” she said. “We also got the banner that said first place.”

While the twins helped lead Thomas Gymnastics to the team title, they also made quite an impact on their own.

Charlotte placed first in all five events. She tied Nora scoring a 9.725 on the vault, which Charlotte said is her favorite event, scored a 9.35 on the bars, 9.175 on the balance beam and tied Upstate’s Eva Anderson with a 9.275 on the floor exercises. Those performances led to a 37.525 all-around score, which was the second highest of the 88 or so Level 2 Hot Shots division competitors. Alana Gray, 7, of Rock Hill had the overall highest score at 37.575.

Nora more than held her own as well. In addition to tying Charlotte for the lead on the vault, she placed second with a 9 on the balance beam, placed third on the bars with 9.225 and tied for fifth in the floor exercises. Those totals left her as the runner-up behind Charlotte with an all-around scored of 36.95.

“They were excited, but I don’t think they really understood how well they did with them being that young and with it their first one,” Bailey said.

“I think they were really happy about the team winning. They’re very encouraging of each other, but they’re just now starting to get a little bit of competition between them. We try to stress when one wins they both win, but they help each other and are good at picking out what they are missing. At 8 they are still young, but they are happy to be here.”

Bailey said the girls are itching to get back into competition, asking if there were bigger meets upcoming. The state championship is the last event of the season, but the girls will continue to train their two-hour sessions three days a week and prepare for the next big event in October.

Bailey said the girls may move up to Level 3, but it’s an invitation the coaches will have to extend. Either way, the girls are having success and loving their time in gymnastics.

“We tried not to do the whole individual thing,” Bailey said.

“As parents with them competing against each other it’s hard. When they do well, it’s ‘Oh my gosh they are really doing well.’ It’s fun to see. It’s nice to win, but we do it for fun and make sure they’re enjoying it and doing it for all of the right reasons.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Eight-year-old twins from Fort Mill win SC gymnastic medals."