A couple weeks ago, Sam Mikulak won his fourth straight national championship.
The gymnast from Newport Coast, who hopes to lock up his spot on the Olympic team on Saturday night, makes it look simple. But it hasn't always been as easy as it seems.
"In college, I broke both ankles. Look at this pinky, it's like my E.T. Finger. Snapped the tendon there, dislocated this finger," Mikulak said.
And the list goes on and on. But when Mikulak had a broken ankle, he spent a lot more time on one of his weaker events, the pommel horse. He got so good, they named a new technique after him.
"I came up with my own skill, and it gave me a little more passion for that event, and it's something that I've now tried to make my best event," Mikulak said.
As a kid, his best event sure wasn't baseball. He played a lot of sports, but they all pointed back to gymnastics.
"You wanna know what my baseball career was like?" he said. "My biggest moment was when I was doing a dive to catch the ball, I think I was at 3rd base, and I turned it into a cartwheel."
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No matter what he's doing, he's always having fun and always smiling. And half the time, he's dancing too.
"I've seen some comments, but I don't dwell on it. They're just like 'It needs to be professional,' and I'm like, 'Well, I am a professional and dance. I'm a man of multiple talents,'" Mikulak said.
