The Trampoline and Tumbling Express gym is where future and former Olympians train to compete with the best in the world and recently, they brought home a gold medal for the first time in over 50 years.
“I can't believe it has been that long, said Ahsinger. “Every time I hear that I'm like wow this is incredible.”
Head Coach Dimitri Poliaroush was a six-time world champion competing in the Olympics for Russia, the Soviet Union, and Belarus. In 1998, he came to Lafayette to train for the Olympics, and while training, he became a coach at the gym. A few years later, he was the full-time coach, and he said it was different watching the sport.
“When I was competing, you’re ready to start the show and I only focus on myself as the athlete,” said Poliaroush. “Now that I’m coaching, I still want to get on the trampoline for them but unfortunately you can't.”
Kids who are familiar with the sport already knew about the accolades of Poliaroush, and they wanted to emulate his greatness.
“Everybody knew about Dimitri,” said Ahsinger. “One day I came home and told my mom the only way I'm going to the Olympics is if I train under him.”
The kids did learn a lot under Poliaroush and most importantly built chemistry with one another. The relationship took time, and it started to form a few years ago.
“I think it was in 2017 when we received our first medal for Synchro,” said Webster. “That’s when we knew we were kind of good at this. So, we wanted to see where this can take us.”
This year Alexia, Nicole, and Sarah were among the three to bring home the gold for the United States. This would be the first world championship since 1972 for the U.S., and the moment still replays in their head.
“The fact that we were able to end the drought is amazing,” said Shostak. “I still can’t believe I’m a part of history.