Activities Sports & Athletics Great Expressive Gymnast Photos Share PINTEREST Email Print Sports & Athletics Gymnastics Basics Lessons Competitions Famous Gymnasts Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Golf Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Amy Van Deusen Amy Van Deusen is a professional gymnast, coach, and writer who has contributed articles about the sport for espnW and other major channels. our editorial process Amy Van Deusen Updated October 02, 2017 01 of 13 When You Get a New Skill... Danell Leyva at the 2012 Olympics. Ronald Martinez / Getty Images I'm the king of the world! Gymnastics is the greatest sport there is! (Pictured: Danell Leyva at the 2012 Olympics.) 02 of 13 But Then...When You've Somehow Lost a Skill You Could Always Do... © Phil Walter / Getty Images How is that even possible? I was just doing these yesterday. And every day since I was nine. Gymnastics is the worst sport in the world! (Pictured: Kristian Thomas at the 2012 Olympics) 03 of 13 When You Have to Try Something by Yourself for the Very First Time... © Lintao Zhang / Getty Images How about a spot, just one more time? Or maybe you could just stand there? Please? (Pictured: Kyla Ross, 2012 Olympic gold medalist and multiple-time world medalist. No word on whether she's scared to try new skills for the first time, but we're guessing she's pretty good at it.) 04 of 13 When You Fall and Do a Quick Check to See If Your Coach Is Watching... © Streeter Lecka / Getty Images We're in the clear. I'll just pick myself up like nothing happened. (Pictured: World and Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina, having an off day on beam.) 05 of 13 When Someone Almost Crashes, Real Bad... © Ronald Martinez / Getty Images No, I promise you weren't that close to the bar. You're totally fine. I'm just going to go grab some water while you do it again. (Pictured: Aly Raisman, 2012 Olympic gold medalist, as she waited for her beam results. Raisman won a tie-break and ended up with the bronze medal.) 06 of 13 When You Find Out How Many Routines You Have to Do Today... © Getty Images Or that the conditioning changed. And your coach may actually be trying to kill you. (Pictured: A young gymnast from a Beijing gymnastics training school.) 07 of 13 When Your Teammate Takes Her Wrist Bands Off at the End of Workout... © Clive Rose / Getty Images Seriously, a washing machine could be OK here. Just give it a try. (Pictured: Beth Tweddle, at the 2009 worlds, waiting for a score. She won gold on floor.) 08 of 13 When You Know You Deserved a Score Better Than That... © Lintao Zhang / Getty Images That judge has never liked me! (Pictured: Ri Se-Gwang of North Korea, at the 2014 worlds. He actually won vault there, so this likely wasn't a moment of frustration after all. Still, his expression was too good to pass up for this caption.) 09 of 13 When You're Freaking Out Just a Little Bit During the National Anthem... © Donald Miralle / Getty Images Why is it always this song that releases the butterflies? It's like some sort of a sick joke. (Pictured: Carly Patterson at the 2004 Olympic Trials. Patterson was the co-national champion that year and went on to win the Olympic all-around title, but at the Trials, the butterflies did indeed get her. She fell multiple times on beam, her best event, and finished third all-around.) 10 of 13 When You Just Missed Qualifying by the Smallest Amount Possible... © Ronald Martinez / Getty Images. Or, missed out on Olympic gold. It's pretty much the same thing. (Pictured: Viktoria Komova, after missing out on the all-around gold in 2012.) 11 of 13 When You Want It Oh-So-Badly... © Streeter Lecka / Getty Images But of course you have to wait for the judges. Don't they know you need to know your score right now? You can play it cool though. (Pictured: Gabby Douglas, at the 2012 Olympics, before her gold-medal results were known.) 12 of 13 When You Know You've Got This Routine... © Nick Laham / Getty Images I'm going to own this one. Big time. (Pictured: Nastia Liukin at the 2008 Olympic Trials. She did own it -- she earned a spot ont he Olympic team by placing second all-around. And then later, she won the Olympic all-around title.) 13 of 13 And Then, When You Do Rock It at Just the Right Time... © Al Bello / Getty Images Gymnastics, once again, is the best sport in the world! (Pictured: Sasha Artemev after hitting a routine at the 2008 Olympic Trials.)