70 Gymnastics Quotes that Will Make You Want to Flip

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published May 11, 2022

Soak up some inspiration through these gymnastics quotes from some of the world’s best gymnasts.

Gymnastics is a sport that awes many people.

Young children take to the gyms in hopes of being able to do what they see the gymnastics stars doing in competitions like the Olympics.

But what the well-trained gymnastics athletes make look so easy is anything but.

Gymnasts are incredible athletes who have both physical and mental strength.

There are many lessons that we can learn from them; whether or not we want to follow in their footsteps.

Enjoy and soak in the wisdom from these gymnastics quotes and sayings.

Don’t forget to also check out these Simone Biles quotes from the most decorated American gymnast ever.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.

Check out our inspirational quotes category page for more inspirational life quotes.

Inspirational Gymnastics Quotes and Sayings

1. “Set your goals, follow your dreams, listen to your heart, and don’t let anything stand in your way.” – Brandy Johnson

2. “Wake up every day knowing that today is a new day and only you can determine the outcome of that day. So dream big, accept the challenge, and never look back.” – Alicia Sacramone

3. “Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. It’s our goal in life to find it and keep it lit.” — Mary Lou Retton

You will also enjoy our article on gym quotes.

4. “Don’t look at the big picture as the only achievement. Start with set, smart goals and work up to something bigger.” – Jordyn Wieber

5. “If you’re following your dreams, you’re doing something you love and that you believe in yourself for.” – McKayla Maroney

6. “Jump off the beam, flip off the bars, follow your dreams, and reach for the stars.” – Nadia Comaneci

7. “There will be mistakes and there will falter. There will be things that are not a part of your plan. See the challenges in your life and accept them and embrace them.” – Dominique Dawes

8. “I just tell people to listen to your heart. Anything is possible if you are doing something you love.” – Alicia Sacramone

9. “To be a gymnast, you must have the strength to hold on and the courage to let go.” – Madison Kocian

10. “The only risk is not taking the risk. You’ve got to take that step.” – Jaycie Phelps

Motivational Gymnastics Quotes About Training and Competing

11. “Practice as if its competition, but compete as if its practice.” – Peter Vidmar

12. “The one day you don’t go into practice and use that day to the fullest is the one day someone is going to beat you.” – Blaine Wilson

13. “I’ve learned how to stay humble. I don’t want to get in over my head because when you do that it takes you off your game.” – Gabby Douglas

14. “One of the things about my sport that’s important is consistency – being able to do your routines consistently and training consistently. If you change it up or try to make everything more intense because the Olympics is coming up, you tend to put too much pressure on your mind and your body.” – Jonathan Horton

15. “I don’t think my natural talent is much different from the other gymnasts. It is a matter of how I train and how I think about my training. I also give a lot of thought to my routines.” – Kohei Uchimura

16. “Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing yourself to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.” – Mary Lou Retton

17. “Trust in your training, and make it happen.” – Peter Vidmar

18. “Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong.” — McKayla Maroney

19. “Part of being a good gymnast is being very disciplined – you have to know how to train right, eat right, sleep right.” – Jonathan Horton

20. “The main thing for a gymnast is total concentration while competing. At such moments one has to put everything else behind.” – Ludmilla Tourischeva

21. “Practice like you have never won. Perform like you have never lost.” — Kyla Ross

22. “When you are on the podium nobody is asking you if you are 15 or 30 years old. What matters is who can do great gymnastics.” – Oksana Chusovitina

Best Gymnastics Quotes About Personal Development

23. “Gymnastics has made me strong. I feel like it broke me down to my lowest point, but at the same time, it has given me the greatest strength anyone could ask for.” – Shawn Johnson

24. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable

25. “After thorough reflection, I realized that my desire to achieve my goals in this sport outweighed my self-doubt. This perseverance has helped me to be successful not only in gymnastics but in my non-athletic life as well.” – Jonathan Horton

26. “Gymnastics, for me, gave me a lot of self-pride: that drive to want to be great at something for myself.” – Amanda Borden

27. “I am who I am today because of a lot of the things I’ve learned in gymnastics.” – Katelyn Ohashi

28. “As much time as you put into it, that’s what your achievements are going to be when you come out of it.” – Mary Lou Retton

29. “As a competitor, you have to learn pretty quickly how to deal with pressure.” – Mitch Gaylord

30. “Staying humble has always been really important to me, and always being proud of what you’re representing.” – Jordyn Wieber

31. “I learned to take those experiences that were difficult in my life and in the adversity that I had overcome to use it for a positive change.” – Dominique Moceanu

32. “Don’t set your goals to be a star. Set your goals to be the best that you can be and go from there.” – Dominique Dawes

33. “All of my fans gave me confidence and reassurance that I was not just some little girl who was good at gymnastics, but that I could compete and fight for a spot in the Olympics.” – Maria Filatov

34. “Gymnastics taught me everything – life lessons, responsibility and discipline, and respect.” – Shawn Johnson

35. “Don’t be afraid if things seem difficult in the beginning. That’s only the initial impression. The important thing is not to retreat; you have to master yourself.” – Olga Korbut

36. “Competing in gymnastics is the greatest reminder of being alive as a human being.” – Raj Bhavsar

37. “I’ve learned that you don’t have to win first place to win.” – Kim Zmeskal

Gymnastics Quotes About Perseverance

38. “It’s important to push yourself further than you think you can go each and every day – as that is what separates the good from the great.” – Kerri Strug

39. “Everyone gets scared, and everyone falls. The key is to get right back up and try again.” – Shannon Miller

40. “There’s mornings when my body aches or my mind is just not with it. But that’s part of being an athlete and accomplishing a goal that seems unattainable. You have to find your motivation, what inspires you.” – Jonathan Horton

41. “Never give up and always keep fighting, because though times may be tough, the sacrifices do pay off, so just keep pushing towards your dream and just love it at the same time and enjoy it.” – Gabby Douglas

42. “You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment!” – Aly Raisman

43. “Go into the sport because you have fun doing it, not because of ‘what ifs’ and dreams of gold medals. That way, no matter what happens, you win.” – Shannon Miller

44. “Talent alone is not enough. I believe that a really good gymnast is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.” – Vladislav Rastorotsky

45. “I would tell any girl who has a dream like this to just do whatever it takes to make it, because, in the end, it’s definitely worth it.” – Phoebe Mills

46. “We can push ourselves further. We always have more to give.” – Simone Biles

47. “Being great at your sport has nothing to do with trophies or awards. It has everything to do with the decision to relentlessly chase more progress every day.” — Shawn Johnson

48. “Hard work is always hard work, for young gymnasts and old gymnasts. Whoever can handle this will be a champion.” – Svetlana Boginskaya

49. “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.” — Kyla Ross

50. “In Gymnastics, there is no such thing as an overnight success.” – Laurie Hernandez

Gymnastics Quotes For Gymnasts and Coaches

51. “Everything is about your movements and precision and timing, which is what gymnastics is about.” — Shawn Johnson

52. We always say at our gym, if you lose the nerves, you lose the sport.” – Shawn Johnson

53. If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything.” – Clara Hughes

54. “I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot.” – Nadia Comaneci

55. “You don’t drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there.” – Edwin Louis Cole

56. “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision.” – Muhammad Ali

57. “Gymnastics demands so much of our time” – Amanda Borden

58. “I love gymnastics because it has no citizenship. However, it has its own Universal language that any child can understand no matter where they live.” – Maria Filatov

59. “If there has not been such a thing as gymnastics, I would have had to invent it because I feel at one with the sport.” – Olga Korbut

60. “The first time I come to the gym I told my coach I would like to become an Olympic Champion.” – Svetlana Boguinskaia

Gymnastics Quotes To Inspire Aspiring Gymnasts

61. “I started from zero and went back to the basics in gymnastics.” — Shawn Johnson

62 “I did gymnastics when I was growing up and to this day I can still do the splits.” — Kristin Kreuk

63.”I know gymnastics. It’s always been a subjective appreciation.” — Bela Karolyi

64. “It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn’t handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.” — Shawn Johnson

65. “Gymnastics is not only a good thing to live by, but it is important to understand how it does help you in life.” — Shawn Johnson

66. “When I go in to compete, whether it’s gymnastics or anything else, I do my own thing. I compete with myself.” — Shannon Miller

67. “Strength and conditioning are the keys to good performance and longevity in gymnastics.” — Suzanne Yoculan

68. “In gymnastics, you have to be perfect every step along the way” — Shannon Miller

69. “It’s a rare challenge, both for the audience and an actor, to take part in something with this level of intelligence and wit. You have to really enjoy it. It’s a form of mental and physical gymnastics.” — Benedict Cumberbatch

70. “My earliest memory was watching gymnastics on live TV and wanting to do what the ‘big girls’ did.” – Laurie Hernandez

What did you learn from these Gymnastics quotes?

Words like determination, hard work, and motivation were used in many of these quotes.

The same principles that help to create successful gymnasts are the same principles that can be used to help people succeed in life and business.

Many of the same qualities that are used to win gold medals and trophies will also help you to succeed in other areas as well.

But as Shannon Miller said in her quote, it’s important to have fun while you’re doing it.

Determination and motivation can carry you far, but if you’re not enjoying yourself, then what’s the point.