Iowa State University Athletics
Orrego Set To Compete In Tokyo Olympics
07.01.2021 | Gymnastics
AMES, Iowa – Current Iowa State gymnast Ariana Orrego is seeing her dreams once again fulfilled as she is poised to compete in her second Olympics for her home country of Peru. Orrego becomes the first Iowa State female gymnast to qualify for the Olympic games.
She initially qualified for Tokyo 2020 at the 2019 Gymnastics World Championships in Germany in 2019.
"Ari has dedicated a tremendous amount of her life in the pursuit of and attaining the goal of being an Olympian," said head coach Jay Ronayne. "It is a tremendously rare experience to compete at an Olympic Games, in any sport. It is a very special thing. For Ari, it is even more special since she was the first female gymnast to represent her country at any Olympics when she qualified to the 2016 Rio Olympics. With a qualification to the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo making her a two-time Olympian, it is truly an amazing feat. I am extremely impressed every day with her focus, her drive, and her work ethic. Her hard work has created opportunities for her that most people can only dream of."
Orrego is no stranger to the Olympics, competing in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. She was Peru's first gymnast to qualify and compete in the Olympics. In 2016, she ended 50th in qualifications for the individual all-around.
Orrego, a native of Lima, Peru, will begin competition on Sunday, July 25, at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre with women's all-around qualifying. The individual all-around finals are set for Thursday, July 29, and the apparatus finals beginning on Sunday, August 1.
She is a redshirt junior for the Cyclones, who competed in four meets on the beam and two on the floor this season as she continued training for the Olympics at Iowa State. Orrego sat out the 2020 gymnastics season, taking an Olympic redshirt after initially qualifying in 2019.
"Right now, she is in the final stages of her preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and I know she will draw upon her experience at the Rio Olympic games to be the best athlete she has ever been," Ronayne said. "She is doing the best gymnastics of her life right now and I can't wait to see her compete in Tokyo."
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