Blakely opens up on race, resilience ahead of return to elite gymnastics

Two-time world champion Skye Blakely last weekend made her first elite competition since the 2025 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Blakely won bars (14.100) and beam (14.250) in apparatus competition at last Saturday’s USA Gymnastics U.S. Classic in Hartford, Connecticut.

Before the event, she spoke to reporters, including MSR, on a July 13 Zoom call.

“I’m hoping to go out there and just kind of be a week to dig my toes back into competing elite again,” said the Frisco, Texas, native, “and an opportunity to compete my elite in front of a crowd and really just do my best and to enjoy the opportunity.”

Blakely has been in gymnastics since 2008, competing alongside older sister Sloane. She has medaled multiple times: gold at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, silver at the 2022 Pan American Championships and bronze at the 2019 Junior World Championships. She most recently helped the University of Florida to a third-place finish at the 2026 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships.

Black female gymnasts over the years have shown they can compete successfully on both the domestic and international stage, among them Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Jordan Chiles and Dominique Dawes, in a sport that has traditionally been predominantly white.

Biles said in a 2023 interview that despite the historic success she and other Black gymnasts have demonstrated, “I feel like every Black athlete … could say that they have experienced (racism) through their career.”

MSR asked Blakely whether she had experienced racism during her career.

“Starting with just being a younger Black gymnast growing up in a sport that’s predominantly white can be hard,” she admitted, “and even sometimes just being on a team when you don’t see many other athletes who look like yourself can be difficult.

“I thankfully had my sister alongside me at that moment growing up, but it definitely came with challenges. Challenges of people talking about your hair and how your hair should look, and how you’re expected to wear your hair because it looks different from other gymnasts,” Blakley said.

“But I have learned to embrace my natural hair and the clothes that I have. I’d say in my gymnastics career I have been thankful to not have experienced any really harsh racism in this sport,” Blakely continued, “but there have been moments of prejudice or just a lot of microaggressions.”

Blakely added that more Black gymnasts are competing at every level. “I’d say it’s been really cool to grow in the sport and to see more athletes who look like myself and to be surrounded by them. Even being at the University of Florida, there’s a lot of other athletes on our team who do look like me. It’s also really cool to see how diverse our team is.”

“There’s a lot of diversity, and I think it’s really cool to have representation in sports, so young gymnasts can see themselves in a sport that they love and be inspired and know that it is possible, and that they can overcome any prejudice or microaggressions that they face and become who they want to be and reach their dreams.”

She said attending the Black Student Athletes Summit for the first time in May was a rewarding experience.

“It was my first time going to the summit,” Blakely said, “and I went with four of my other teammates here at the University of Florida. I had a great time.”

“There was so much to take away from it. I was inspired. I learned a lot. I was pushed and encouraged in my career, which is the health field, and it was honestly an experience that I would want to go through several times again. I really enjoyed myself,” she concluded.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.