Viral UCLA Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi Recites Poem About ‘Body-Shaming’ on ‘GMA’

January 18, 2019

Katelyn Ohashi, the UCLA student-athlete who recently won the 2019 Collegiate Challenge, shared a poem she wrote about her experience with body-shaming.

In an interview with “Good Morning America” on Thursday, the 21-year-old gymnast shed light on her experience with body-shaming which she first encountered at age 14.

“In the gym. Outside of the gym. On the internet. It’s something that you can never really escape,” she said in the interview, adding, “as a 14-year-old it’s kind of hard to cope with because you are still developing as a person and so everything really impacts you.”

Ohashi then recited the poem titled “Self-Hatred Goodbyes,” according to the Huffington Post. Here’s what she wrote:

“I’ve been consumed with the thought that bigger is synonymous to less than,

That only those people with the right, perfect bodies have the right to stand.

But here today, I stand, with the love that penetrates deeper than any wedding band.

Because I am my own size, and no words or judgmental stares will make me compromise.”

Ohashi, a former United States national team member, went viral earlier this week after pulling off a perfect 10 score with her routine. She danced to The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and “The Way You Make Me Feel.”

Featured Image Screenshot via YouTube / Good Morning America (Left), UCLA Athletics (Right)

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