Gymnast with ties to Spa City bound for Tokyo Olympics

(From left) Caymanian Olympic gymnast Raegan Rutty stands with her mother Angel Rutty, grandfather Lou Siegel and sister Hannah Rutty in the Winner's Circle at Oaklawn. Submitted Photo.
(From left) Caymanian Olympic gymnast Raegan Rutty stands with her mother Angel Rutty, grandfather Lou Siegel and sister Hannah Rutty in the Winner's Circle at Oaklawn. Submitted Photo.

A gymnast from the Cayman Islands with ties to Hot Springs is headed to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics.

Raegan Rutty, a 19-year-old Caymanian gymnast, received an invitation to compete in Tokyo from the Olympic Games Tripartite Commission according to an article in the Cayman Compass.

Rutty's grandparents, Lou and Susan Siegel, live in Hot Springs, where Rutty has visited several times.

"I have definitely been to Hot Springs," Rutty said. "I just went there a few months ago actually. I surprised my grandfather, and I went to the race track, Oaklawn. I won my first bet that I made. I had been (to Hot Springs) plenty of times before, but I believe that was my first time that I can recall going to Oaklawn. It was really cool. I'd never been around it before, so it was fun seeing all the horses and everything and all the jockeys."

Rutty will be the first gymnast and only the ninth woman from the Cayman Islands to compete at the Olympics, and she looks to inspire athletes of all types from her home nation.

"I really want, even if they're not gymnasts, just because Cayman Islands is a small island doesn't mean we can't achieve anything," she said. "If we come together, we're an amazing country. We can make big strides forward in the world of sports or anything. I want kids to realize that if you have a dream to go after it because you never know how far it could take you."

Rutty only found out she was going to the Olympics a few weeks ago, but she was training as if she was going to Tokyo before she found out.

"I got the call, and I just started bawling because everything I'd ever gone through just rushed through my head, and I was just so grateful I stuck through and just continued striving to reach my goal," she said.

To prepare, Rutty has been practicing her routines and building up confidence and consistency while balancing the excitement and stress that comes with competing in the Olympics. She has also added more difficult skills in her routines where she could.

"It's quite hard you know," she said. "Sometimes I cry because just I'm so happy and grateful. Other times I can't sleep at night because it's just finally here. I've got everything I wanted. I try and contain it, but I do scream a little bit inside all the time."

Rutty expects one of her biggest challenges at the Olympics to be competing without a crowd in attendance.

"I think not having an audience honestly will kind of impact because when everyone thinks of the Olympics, they think of the huge crowds and everything, and I've always kind of imagined that," she said. "But you know if everything didn't work out how it was supposed to I wouldn't be going so I just have to be grateful for it no matter what. I just wish my family was able to go."

Instead of a big crowd, Rutty said she knows it will just be her during her routines. Knowing there won't be a crowd to cheer her on, she has a plan to keep herself going while competing.

"I know that everyone's still supporting me," she said. "I just know I have to keep up that energy that a crowd would usually give off and just keep myself almost hyped and pumped, and I know I'm at the Olympic Games and make the most of the experience."

An eighth-generation Caymanian, Rutty was born in the Cayman Islands and, according to a Katy Times article, moved to Katy, Texas, in her mid-teens to further her gymnastics career. The article stated she has lived with multiple host families in her time in Texas.

To Rutty, it means the world she has support from so many different people that have touched her life, and she said she couldn't have made the Olympics without everyone she's crossed paths with during her journey.

"I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying the experience," Rutty said. "I've worked my entire life. I'm making history for my country being the first male or female gymnast at the Olympic Games. I just can't wait to take it all in and just make my country proud."

Rutty will have fans cheering her on from the Cayman Islands to Texas to Hot Springs and beyond as she travels to Tokyo.

"It means everything," she said. "It's all put on my shoulders, but I don't take that like a pressure or anything. It's an honor that people look to me to represent our country. I'm the one that's going out there and making history, so it's just truly an honor and privilege. I just want to thank everyone for all the love and support, and especially all the way in Hot Springs, my grandparents."

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