I sat in my hotel room in Paris pondering my future. My roommate had left for the competition already. He hadn't qualified for any of tonight's event finals, but he was an avid photographer, and wanted to get everything on film. A knock at the door broke me out of my trance.
"Come in! It's open!"
Dad and Uncle Jack appeared at the door. "You ready to go Jett?"
"Soon Dad! Can I ask you two a few questions before we leave?"
"Sure son, we have plenty of time!"
"When ever you two played football did you take any bizarre chances. Something that may have made you a star, but if it didn't work you would be seen as a bum?"
Uncle Jack replied, "All the time! Had to, or you just end up in the middle of nowhere with all the safe ones."
"And you Dad?"
"Every game, every play."
"I am going to attempt a tumbling pass on floor exercise tonight. If I hit it I am going to be famous. I could end up more famous than you Uncle Jack. If I miss it, well people will know who I am. I could play it safe, and still possibly win the floor exercise, but it will just be another routine someone did a year down the line. I have to make that decision right now!"
I sat up in the bed, and faced Uncle Jack asking, "Is it really hard being famous?"
"Yeah kid, it is!"
"Do you think you two will ever be able to tell the world you are a couple?"
"Son we think about it everyday, and yes we want to soon."
"I am afraid for tonight because I am afraid I will become famous."
"Son, you had a spectacular Nationals, and now you are having a spectacular World competition, I think you are dragging fame around you already."
"I know but this may be a catapult!"
"I say go for it," Uncle Jack spat out.
"Remember we will always love you no matter what happens Jett."
"Thanks Dad! Well I am more than ready now!"
Cassandra Johnson turned on the television set, and tuned it into the station that was hosting the World Gymnastics Championships.
"Hi I am Ryan Baxter..."
"...and I am Sharon McPhee. We are live at the Word Gymnastics Championships in Paris, France. Ryan the USA Men's team has just been phenomenal at this meet."
"They have Sharon, and they have been driven by the dynamic routines from Jett Wickler. What a story this kid is, when he was 17 he qualified as the first alternate to the Olympic team. Everyone thought he was the future of USA gymnastics, but he just never developed much after that. Even at this year's NCAA competition he..."
"Mom it's on! Come quick!"
Rhonda Johnson ran into the family room, and ran to the sofa for a seat.
"If he forgets who I am now that he is famous, I will hunt him down you know!"
"Cassandra hush I want to hear what they're saying!"
"They are saying Jett is a star, and I know him. That's what they are saying!"
"Hush!"
"...He just took USA gymnastics by surprise at Nationals Ryan taking second in the All-Around event, and then winning three of the individual events. He surprised everyone here with a bronze medal finish in the All-Around placing better than anyone in the USA, then a silver medal on the Parallel Bars, and now we are at the event he is most favored to win, the Floor Exercise."
"Lets go to Anne on the floor for more on Jett Wickler, Anne..."
"Ryan this is just an incredible story of family and support. Jett's mother Maria Hancock/Wickler was a USA first alternate for the Olympics in 1976. She married New York Jets running back Adam Wickler, and they started a gymnastics club where Jett started at the age of two. She died when he was 5-years-old, and his father promised her that he would keep Jett in gymnastics. His father has purchased front row seats so he can sit in front of every event located in this arena. Jett has a ritual before he competes, he will go and visit his father and uncle, they talk about something, embrace and kiss, and then he walks out on the floor for his event."
"Thanks Anne! Sharon this event is huge for Jett. He will be the only competitor in the competition who will be competing a routine that allows him to get a score up to 10. The next closest competitor will only be able to score a 9.85, that is how difficult his routine is."
"Ryan his first tumbling run is so incredible that no other gymnast has ever tried any of its components before. He is going to attempt a double back layout, then he is going to work out of it into a whip back, than a back handspring into a triple back. Then to make it harder, he is going to reverse tumble out of that triple into a Rudy, or what some people know as a 1 1/2 twisting front somersault. No gymnast has ever worked out of a double back layout, or have they worked tricks into a triple back. Anne do you have more information on this tumbling pass."
"Sharon he warmed up the pass twice in warm-up. The first time he did not end with the Rudy punch front, the second time he did the Rudy, and the pass was flawless. The buzz down here is that he is going for it."
"Thanks Anne! He doesn't even need the Rudy, does he Ryan, to really better his chances of winning this event?"
"No he doesn't, he has plenty of difficulty without it, but I think he should throw it! Next year is an Olympic year, and Jett needs to impress the judges as much as he can now. The bigger impression any of the athletes can make at this competition the better it will be for them next year. He has already made a huge impression with his silver medal performance on parallel bars, and bronze in the all-around. This win could really put him as a forerunner in All-Around in next year's Olympics."
"For more information on Jett let's go to our special athlete scope on Jett Wickler!"
"Ahhhhh! There he is Mom! He is so hot!"
"Cassandra control yourself, he is way too old for you."
"I don't care! I think he's hot, and all my friends think he's hot! Now that is real hot! Besides I know him, and that makes me cool!"
I walked over to where my dad was sitting in the stands. He had a smile that only a photograph could capture. He was proud of me, and knowing that was all I needed to get me through this last competition. I owed my success in these past two competitions to him, and Uncle Jack, and their crazy stunt on that island.
"So guys this is it. If I am going to be a World Champion this is my last chance."
Uncle Jack grabbed my shoulder and said, "Remember, take what you got inside of you, and let it explode!"
"Son, remember that your mother is here with us!"
"Thanks you two for everything, I am going to make you real proud here!"
I hugged Uncle Jack, and gave him a kiss, and then I did the same with Dad. I went over to my bench, and stripped from my sweats.
Matt Hopkins, one of my teammates came up to me, and put his hand on my shoulder. In his deep southern accent he screamed, "This one is yours Wickler, go kick some Russian butt!"
I felt like I was being watched by the whole world, and my future was going to be decided right here. I was going to make it, or break it, in the next 5-minutes, and I just wished it was over, and the outcome was decided. I cleared my head of all of that, and got into my routine. I thought about the elements, and what important things the coaches told me to remember. I looked up at the apparatus I was about to compete on, and when the competitor before me finished his routine, I knew it was show time.
I took my place on the floor, and over the loudspeakers I heard them announce my name and country. This wasn't about me anymore it was about my country. The judges flashed the previous competitors scores, and I got set for my routine. The head judge saluted me, and I saluted back. My first pass was the important pass. I ran it through my head, and thought of Mom standing there by my side. I took a deep breath, and started running down the floor.
"Oh my God Sharon he nailed it! That is just huge! Now he has to focus on the rest of his routine. Too many times athletes hit the hard elements, and then forget to focus on the easy ones."
"Ryan he should be setting up for his double layout with one and a half twist! This is a very difficult landing to hit. He looks good in the air, and he stuck it! He is one pass away from literally making gymnastics history here.
"His last tumbling pass is his easiest, but it still is a difficult one Sharon. He is down, and out of his handstand, and about to start his run..."
I sucked in every bit of oxygen I could grab for my last tumbling pass. It was a pass I could do when I was 15 years old, but I still had to focus on it. It was the easy passes that sometimes broke the camel's back. I put the perfect feeling of the pass in my mind, took one last breath, and took off running. In what seemed like a split second, I was done, and there I stood saluting the judges. Cheers were ringing throughout the arena. I did it. I faced it, and I survived just fine. Now I had to do the same thing with my sexuality.
Adam Wickler watched on as his son stood on top of the podium stand. Tears ran down his eyes. He was always taught that tears meant a man was weak, but these tears weren't the tears of a man that was weak, these tears were for a man that was strong.