Joscelyn Roberson, a 17-year old Texarkana native, felt surreal when she came to Antwerp, Belgium, to make her debut appearance at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships alongside four of the most renowned American gymnasts.
Young Roberson
Roberson’s love of gymnastics began when she was three years old. Initially, she asked her parents to let her join her siblings in T-ball, but they declined and instead sent her to gymnastics classes and cheerleading. And this decision proved to be beneficial, as Roberson quickly developed a passion for the sport.
Her parents revealed that Roberson had always had a competitive nature, even at such a young age, but they had no idea that this would one day become her driving force for success, as she made the six-woman World Championships roster.
Selection Camp
Roberson earned a score of 54.900 during the selection camp and will compete in the upcoming championships alongside some of the world’s most famous gymnasts, including Simone Biles, Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely, Leanne Wong, and Kayla DiCello.
In a video posted by FIG on X, Roberson described her feelings about traveling to Belgium with the best American gymnasts and making her international debut.
“So I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little three years old. And I keep telling Simone, I just feel like I’m not here. Like it doesn’t feel real yet. And I feel like it’s really sinking in now,” Roberson said. “Now that I’ve seen the podium, I’ve seen the competition room and everything, so, I feel like it’s really sinking in.”
She went on to explain how her teammates helped her overcome her fear of the competition.
“Whatever I need, if I ask questions, they know the exact answers. So I feel like I’m really comfortable where I’m at. I don’t need to be nervous because they’ve all done it before. So I feel like I’m just not really as nervous as a normal rookie would be just because I feel like I’ve lived through all of their experiences. They’ve told me as much as they can, so I’m really grateful for all of them.”
It's that first World Championships feeling for Joscelyn Roberson 🫶#ARTWorlds2023 | @USAGym pic.twitter.com/AeNDSOZVV3
— FIG (@gymnastics) September 29, 2023
Roberson and her long-time connection to Simone Biles
Roberson always had an invisible string with Biles, their connection spanning more than a decade. This perhaps started when Roberson made a school poster project that featured her idol, Simone Biles.
And not long after making that project, Biles discovered a vine of 9-year-old Roberson performing a routine and reposted it on her X with the caption “im in awe.{perfect}😱😍👯some1 help me find this cutie. I wanna meet her, so she could teach me a thing or two #goals”.
im in awe.{perfect}😱😍👯some1 help me find this cutie. I wanna meet her, so she could teach me a thing or two #goals https://t.co/E2ij4cVwMu
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) April 22, 2015
Last year, they finally had the opportunity to get close to each other.
Roberson’s relocation
After her mother was hired at Houston, Roberson was forced to leave Northeast Texas Elite and relocate. She then joined the World Champions Center, which is owned and operated by Biles’ family. Through training there, Roberson not only improved her ranking to No. 7, but she also formed a deep connection with her hero, Simone Biles.
To top it all off, Roberson, whose performance significantly improved, qualified with Biles at the selection camp and was selected for the US Championships team that will compete in Belgium.
She has long admired Biles, and this year she will finally have the opportunity to compete on the same stage as her idol.
The photo above is from a YouTube screengrab