When Joscelyn Roberson was a toddler, her father told her she was too small to play T-ball with her older siblings. So instead, her mother signed her up for gymnastics. Before long, Roberson was spending more time on her hands than her feet. “I remember learning backflips on my parents’ bed, because they wouldn’t let me do them on the trampoline,” she tells ELLE.com. “Because my arms were so small, they didn’t go completely over my head, so I always hit my head first.”
Now, the 18-year-old gymnast from Texarkana, Texas, is heading to Paris, where she is serving as an alternate for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics. In the final weeks before the Games, she is thinking back to some encouragement she got growing up. “The best advice I have ever gotten from a coach was to just do my normal,” she says. “A lot of the time you get nervous, and you forget that you’re good enough to be where you’re at, otherwise you wouldn’t be there. So, just doing your normal is good enough. That calms my nerves a lot.”
From left, Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson, Suni Lee, Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Leanne Wong.
This will be her first time at the Olympic Games, but Roberson has been a fixture in the gymnastics community for a long time. Back in April 2015, she captured the attention of gold medalist Simone Biles, who saw a video of Roberson, then nine years old, landing a backflip on Vine. “I’m in awe.{perfect},” Biles wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Some1 help me find this cutie. I wanna meet her, so she could teach me a thing or two #goals.”
As a member of Team USA, Roberson is now competing alongside Biles, one of her biggest inspirations. The two are also training partners. In July, Roberson shared a selfie with Biles and gold medalist Aly Raisman on Instagram, followed by a photo from when she met them as a kid, nearly a decade ago. “Now and then 🥹❤️,” she captioned the post.
Her other gymnastics hero is Jordyn Wieber, who competed as a member of the “Fierce Five,” with Raisman at the 2012 Summer Olympics. “Growing up, she’s always been my favorite, and as I’ve grown up, I keep learning from her in so many ways,” Roberson says. “She teaches so much—not just about gymnastics. Her resilience and determination throughout her gymnastics career is just so special.”
Roberson and Biles after their victory at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
Roberson quickly progressed in her gymnastics career, but the journey hasn’t without tribulation. In October 2023, she fell during vault warmups at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and hurt her leg. The injury forced her to step out of the competition, but she returned back to the mat stronger than ever.
At 2024 Olympic trials, Roberson came in sixth place overall, tied for first on balance beam, and earned fourth on both vault and floor. But she admitted that her injury initially led her to lose hope. “You kind of figure out what works for you to basically reset your brain and body,” she says. “For me, I always had to go back to the very basics and do those so many times until they felt normal again. Then you build your way back up. Sometimes it took me weeks, sometimes only days.”
Roberson and Biles at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.
Watching how Biles handled her own case of the “twisties” back in 2021, has helped Roberson deal with her own setbacks. “Anyone can get the twisties,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how good you are at gymnastics. Being able to understand her and what she is thinking and feeling has helped her, and it definitely has helped me.”
Get to know even more about Roberson, below.
What is your favorite pre-routine song to listen to, and why?
I don’t have a specific song. I kind of go through phases. However, during gymnastics championships, I was listening to a lot of Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar, and Jack Harlow.
What is your favorite gymnastics move?
My favorite gymnastics move is a double twisting double layout on floor, because it feels like I am flying through the air, and I never thought I’d be able to do it.
If you could have a move named after you, what would it be?
Not sure what it would be exactly, but I’d like to have something named after me on floor. That’d be super cool.
If you win a gold medal, who will be your first call, and why?
Probably my dad, because he understands how much I wanted this and how long I have worked for it. Also, he’d most likely be with my mom, and she never answers her phone, so then I could talk to her.
Roberson competing at the 2024 Olympic trials.
If you could put together a dream Olympic team with any gymnasts from history, which five would you pick?
I mean, obviously Simone Biles. Then I would choose Shawn Johnson East, Jordyn Wieber, Madison Kocian, and Dominique Dawes.
What’s your beauty routine before a meet?
I do two braids, then makeup—concealer, liquid bronzer and blush, powder, powder bronzer and blush, eyeshadow, eyebrows, mascara, lip liner, highlighter, and lastly, lipgloss. I finish my hair, and then I put on my leotard.
Do you have a good luck charm?
I have a bunch of little charms from all the places I’ve been that I like to keep in my bag. It’s a lot of stuff I pick up from fans, like bracelets and keychains.
Roberson after competing at the 2024 Olympic trials.
This interview has been edited for clarity. Additional reporting by Madison Feller.
Bri is the editorial and social media assistant at ELLE.com. Before joining the team at ELLE, she worked as the editorial assistant for Seventeen.com and Cosmopolitan.com where she covered all things celebrity news and pop culture. You can probably find her sipping an oatmilk iced chai while searching for the best new makeup products or thrifting her entire wardrobe.