By Louise Schultze, Marketing and Outreach Specialist
From the age of 4, Stanford OHS alum and Olympian Evita Griskenas knew exactly what she wanted to be. After seeing a rhythmic gymnastics event on TV, she fell in love with the sport and told her parents to sign her up for classes. However Evita’s first class was in artistic gymnastics (think Simone Biles), to which she exclaimed, “This is not the right kind of gymnastics!”
Evita was hooked, and from then on spent 3-6 hours a day, six days a week, in the gym training for events including hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon. As a high school student keeping these rigorous hours in the gym, she needed a school with a more flexible schedule.
“It was kind of an accident how I found Stanford Online High School,” Evita said. “During my freshman year, my friend’s mom suggested I apply, and then literally sat me down and made me fill out an application to the school at the last minute. I got in, took one class, and loved it so much that I took more and more classes each semester. Stanford OHS gave me the freedom to travel abroad for tournaments without missing anything. I could take classes from an airplane! I traveled to over 11 countries during high school including Japan, Israel, Bulgaria, Russia, Spain, and Peru. The teachers were super understanding of my gym schedule, the curriculum was superior to my local high school, and I was able to transfer so much of my learning to college.”
Though her first year at Columbia University in New York was all online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Evita proudly wore her Stanford OHS Alumni t-shirt during classes that read, I did online school before it was cool! Throughout her time at Columbia once classes returned in-person in Fall 2021, Evita traveled back and forth from New York City to her hometown of Orland Park, Ill., outside Chicago, where she trained several days a week. Without a proper gymnastics facility in New York City to train at, Evita worked out on basketball courts, in parks, and anywhere she could to stay in shape on the days between training with her coach back at her gym in Illinois.
“I love learning, and I love gymnastics, so I had to make both passions work. There was no other choice for me,” said Evita. “Stanford OHS is a really unique community, and I’m really grateful for my experience since it prepared me for university in many ways, and gave me a solid foundation. I learned appropriate study methods, how to read and critically analyze academic material, how to set up study groups (in-person and remotely), and time management, which is a lifelong skill. I also learned to communicate very effectively, as well as maturity and responsibility at a young age. If you put the effort in, you can do anything!”
Evita is a member of the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team and won multiple medals in international competitions. In August 2019, she was recognized for having won the most medals by any single athlete in any sport at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, after winning four gold medals (including the All-Around gold) and one bronze medal. But her eyes were always focused on the Olympics.
“When I was growing up, I knew I wanted to go to the Olympics,” Evita said. “Once I made the National Team, the events grew more and more competitive, and it fueled me to work towards the games.”
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Evita was at the Lisbon International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament in Portugal. The tournament was canceled, all athletes were sent home, Evita’s Olympic dreams were put on hold, but she stayed determined. Evita trained for events on the grass in her backyard, and in her basement, “I broke a few light bulbs!” and a year later, she was able to begin competing in international competitions again. Despite these setbacks, Evita qualified for the Team USA Rhythmic Gymnastics team and competed in Tokyo, Japan for the postponed Summer Olympic Games in 2021. She placed 12th overall, and was pleased to have maintained her focus even with no audience present.
Evita attended the Tokyo Closing Ceremonies and grew emotional watching the Olympic flame being extinguished, but she immediately set her sights on training for the next Summer Olympics in Paris 2024. Evita continued training and competing, and she was named USA Gymnastics' Athlete of the Year in 2022 and 2023. But in the summer of 2023, Evita suffered a broken foot during a competition, which sidelined her for many months and put her Olympic dreams into question.
While her competitors continued practicing their routines, Evita lay in bed recuperating. She competed on a not-fully-healed foot at the Pan American Games that Fall, and amazingly earned the individual nominative spot for the Paris Olympics. There, Evita was the only rhythmic gymnast to represent the United States.
“In Tokyo, there were more protocols, restrictions, and safety measures, and it was so awkward that there was no audience to watch,” Evita said. “You tell a story in rhythmic gymnastics, and you try to connect with the audience, which was hard when there were only judges and media watching. Paris was so special because it was the first time having my family there to support me abroad. I did very well, I put up a really good fight and put on a really good show. There were things I could have done better, but my goal was to pass the energy to the audience so they could feel the emotion in my performance, and I think I achieved that!”
In addition to her Paris Olympic achievements, Evita graduated this spring from Columbia University with a degree in Psychology, and she intends to pursue a Master’s degree in Sports Psychology. But she considers herself a career gymnast, eyeing the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 next.
“I love academia, and continuing to read and learn makes me a better athlete,” Evita said.
We are all looking forward to seeing what Evita does next!