In the case of well-known gymnastics household lineages, having a mom and daughter who each competed within the Olympics as gymnasts is without doubt one of the rarest occasions to happen. Nonetheless, there may be one feat that’s even rarer. That being, an Olympic gymnast giving start to a daughter who went on to change into an Olympian in a sport aside from gymnastics.
Whereas there are 5 examples of mother-daughter Olympic gymnasts, there is just one instance of a mother-daughter Olympic mixture between an Olympic gymnast and a member of the family competing in any of the opposite Olympic sports activities. That instance occurred when 1936 Olympic gold medalist Anita Barwirth had a daughter by the identify of Cristina Hardekopf who returned to the Olympics as a diver for the 1960 Video games.
Effectively, it has occurred once more.
Cecile Landi who competed underneath the identify Cecile Canqueteau within the Nineteen Nineties and took part within the 1996 Olympics has a daughter by the identify of Juliette Landi who was simply chosen for the Olympics in girls’s diving. Maybe it’s irony that one thing that has occurred on solely two events in some other sport occurred with diving on each of these events. Maybe it’s an perception into the sturdy overlap these two sports activities share. Proving athletes with a gymnastics background can go away the game and go on to change into nice divers. This famously occurred with Phoebe Mills who gained a medal in gymnastics on the 1988 Olympics and later positioned thirteenth on the 1993 U.S. Diving Nationwide Championships.
Cecile Landi is the uncommon instance of a gymnast who turned extra well-known after she stopped competing. She rose to change into probably the most well known names amongst gymnastics followers as a result of her success as a coach. Cecile was famous for her affiliation with 2016 Olympian Madison Kocian throughout her teaching stint at WOGA. But it surely was when in 2017 that Cecile and her husband Laurent Landi had been personally chosen by Simone Biles to change into her new coach and head the rising WCC program that her teaching profession reached unprecedented heights.
Often, it’s when a coach efficiently leads a gymnast to an Olympic gold medal for the primary time that she or he has reached the top of success. For Cecile and Laurent, it was when the most important gymnast of the century undergoes a mid-career teaching change and personally chooses you to change into her new coach. And if that wasn’t sufficient, the mixed energy of Simone, Cecile, and Laurent has shaken up the American membership system.
Regardless of its comparatively new standing, WCC has change into the highest membership within the American system just about in a single day underneath the steering of Cecile and Laurent. On the 2024 U.S. Basic it had extra members within the senior discipline than some other membership. However even that wasn’t sufficient, Cecile’s teaching profession would rise as soon as extra. Final month it was introduced that following the Olympics she would pivot to NCAA teaching. Taking up the Georgia program which has gained ten Nationwide Championships in its historical past, has monumental sources, and has lengthy been in search of the coach who can lastly rekindle its former glory because the winningest program in NCAA historical past.
Cecile has change into one thing of a celebrity-like determine amongst the gymnastics fanbase and rising up that mirrored on Juliette Landi. She made the occasional look on the social media channels of each Simone Biles and Nastia Liukin. Juliette was additionally current for most of the native ceremonial occasions as WOGA and WCC celebrated the gymnasts they despatched to the Olympics. As a gymnast Juliette competed first for WOGA reaching Stage 7 in Creative Gymnastics. She then switched disciplines competing in Trampoline & Tumbling whereas representing WCC. She ultimately left gymnastics fully making the swap to diving.
However when it was observed that Juliette was having success as an elite-level diver, gymnastics social media channels started monitoring her diving profession with the subject producing sturdy curiosity from the fanbase regardless that it was a unique sport. Gymnastics followers have been monitoring her profession milestones for at the very least the previous two years. All as a result of followers had a lot admiration and respect for the dad and mom, they discovered themselves rooting for the daughter as nicely.
Juliette Landi was the feel-good story that was compelling when it first started taking form, after which had probably the most rewarding endings. The 2 years gymnastics followers spent admiring her for branching out into a unique sport and hoping she would discover success, resulted in Juliette changing into an Olympian. Juliette Landi had so many similarities to the case of Cristina Hardekopf that this developed right into a situation the place Juliette had the chance to copy an uncommon gymnastics report linked all the best way again to the 1936 Olympics, full it underneath similar circumstances, and it’s uncertain the celebs would ever align like this once more.
And Juliette did it. That’s an additional little bit of pleasure on high of what’s already a rewarding storyline.
Cecile and Juliette Landi share a diving reference to the earlier instance of Anita Barwirth and Cristina Hardekopf in 1936 and 1960. However this ultra-rare prevalence not solely options similarities in the identical Olympic sport, each examples function a household that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Cecile and Laurent are famed French gymnasts who got here to america to teach, within the course of elevating Juliette of their adoptive new nation. Anita Barwirth was a German Olympic gymnast who moved to Argentina, giving start to Cristina Hardekopf and elevating her within the nation she now referred to as dwelling.
Disclaimer: Argentina is broadly related for being the nation of alternative for Nazi battle criminals/social gathering fanatics fleeing Germany within the aftermath of World Struggle II. The Barwirth/Hardekopf household has no affiliation with this pattern. The household first moved to Argentina in 1938, previous to the outbreak of World Struggle II.
Who is aware of what the longer term might maintain for Juliette Landi, however gymnasts are inclined to carry out nicely after they swap sports activities. Some of the well-known Olympic determine skaters of the Nineteen Nineties bought her begin in gymnastics, the long-lasting Surya Bonaly. Juliette and Surya are each French, each dwell in america, and each competed in gymnastics T&T as their earlier sport.
Juliette Landi could also be an Olympic diver, however she is going to all the time be linked to the game of gymnastics. As a toddler she grew up within the direct presence of Nastia Liukin and Simone Biles. She educated contained in the halls of WOGA and WCC whereas making journeys together with her dad and mom to Karolyi Ranch. These distinctive experiences have made her an instance of what it’s like rising up whereas being a member of gymnastics royalty. Over time Madison Kocian has made a number of tribute submit on social media describing how a lot the Landi household meant to her, and each time she particularly included Juliette.
However the symbolism is that this. Again in 2016 when Madison Kocian went to the Olympics, Juliette Landi was the little child from the identical fitness center celebrating Madison as she departed and left. Now Juliette is the one going to the Olympics. Simone Biles was an enormous a part of Juliette’s life when she was rising up. Now they are going to be going to the Olympics collectively.
There may be lots of irony in the best way Cristina Hardekopf and Juliette Landi are linked by a 64 12 months previous report that has solely occurred twice whereas sharing an absurd quantity of similarities within the means of attaining it. However the largest irony of all is that there are such a lot of “future stars” photos of Simone Biles with a younger elementary faculty aged gymnast who later grew as much as change into a well-known gymnast herself. Generally they develop as much as change into well-known Olympic divers as nicely.
