Young Iowa City gymnast nails routine

IOWA CITY - Straight. Over-the-top. Stick. Tight.

Those were the words running through 10-year-old Adeline Kenlin's mind as she performed her balance beam routine July 27 at the 2013 Secret U.S. Challenge in Chicago.

The Iowa City gymnast had been struggling with skills near the end of her routine in practice because of their difficulty, and her coach was unsure how she would perform under the bright lights.

“I can usually tell from the beginning when she does her first leap combination whether it's going to be a really good routine or just an OK routine,” said Paige Roth, Kenlin's coach and owner of Iowa Gym-Nest in Iowa City. “So I was watching with her other coach and when she did her first leap series, she just nailed and it was really clean with no wobbles. I said to the other coach, ‘Oh she's got this.'”

Not only did Kenlin nail her routine, she won the all-around competition in the 10-11 year-old Hopes division with a 51.250 optional all-around score. She bested the second-place finisher by more than two full points, something not seen often in the competitive gymnastics world. She won every event in the competition except vault.

Beam is Kenlin's strongest event, Roth said, and something she can normally rely on. With the minor struggles she had been experiencing in practice before the event, fears of her falling during the routine were lurking in the background.

“Once I got into my routine I was calm, but before (my routine started) I was a little nervous,” Kenlin said.

Kenlin is a native of China and was adopted at a young age. She was started in gymnastics training when she was 3 years old to help build her strength. She had been malnourished before arriving ino the United States. Roth has had a hand in coaching Kenlin since she first set foot in the Iowa Gym-Nest facility.

“From the moment she was in the gym, she was a natural,” Roth said. “I actually started coaching her myself when she was just about 4. We didn't have a class to put her in for her age because of the high level of skills she was doing.”