Minnesota gymnast Grace McCallum overcomes adversity to make Olympic roster

Jul. 26—The fact Grace McCallum is at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in any capacity is incredible considering everything she has been through in the past six months.

After navigating her way through the pandemic — which was extremely challenging in its own right — the 18-year-old Isanti native suffered a hand injury back in January that threatened to derail her lifelong dream.

"When I first got hurt at the beginning of the year I didn't think I had a chance of making it," McCallum said. "I thought my dreams went down the drain. I just knew it was going to be really, really hard to get back on time."

That didn't stop McCallum. She worked tirelessly to get back on track. And there she was on Sunday morning competing for Team USA in qualifying of the team competition. It was an off day for the defending champs to say the least, as the U.S. (170.562) currently trails the Russian Olympic Committee (171.629) by more than a full point for first place.

Some bright spots for Team USA amid the struggles were the GOAT Simone Biles pacing the field in the all-around, with St. Paul native Sunisa Lee not far behind. Both gymnasts will compete for a medal in the all-around at 5:50 a.m. Thursday morning.

In the meantime, though, there's some unfinished business to take care of as the U.S. trails another country in the overall standings for the first time since the 2010 world championships.

In order to take home the gold medal, Team USA will need to overcome adversity when team competition resumes at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Luckily, that has become McCallum's specialty over the past six months.

She underwent hand surgery with hopes of expediting the recovery process only to suffer a host of setbacks, including an infection and a pulled muscle in her finger. She was supposed to be out for two months and ended up missing three months.

To this day, McCallum still can't straighten the middle finger on her left hand.

"I think the hardest part was getting the range of motion back in my hand," McCallum said. "You rely on it so much for bars, obviously. It was hard to hold on to the bar for that long. I had to get the endurance back."

"The amount of setbacks I had during my injury kind of added to the stress of, 'Am I going to make it? Am I not going to make it?'" McCallum added. "When I made the team it made it that much more rewarding, and I appreciated it a lot more."

It's a moment McCallum will never forget. After watching Biles and Lee nab the automatic berths at the Olympic Trials last month, McCallum waited patiently hoping she'd done enough. In the end, the selection committee chose McCallum to compete in the team competition at the Olympics.

"I just couldn't believe it," McCallum recalled. "I actually had to turn to my friend (Jade Carey) and I was, like, 'Did they say my name?' We didn't really have time to process because we had to go to another room, get the warmups on, and go back out for the celebration. It was so crazy. It was unreal."

Asked about her recovery process, McCallum said she drew inspiration from Little Canada native Maggie Nichols, who suffered a knee injury back in 2016 while trying to qualify for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"I remember watching her work so hard to get back," said McCallum, who, like Nichols, trained at Twin City Twisters in Champlin. "That inspired me. It was like, 'If she can do it, I can do it.' That really pushed me in the gym when I was coming back. She's always kind of checking in on me. She wished me good luck. That stuff means a lot."

No matter what happens in the team competition, McCallum can take pride in the fact that she's representing her country on the biggest stage.

"It's every little kid's dream to go to the Olympics," McCallum said. "When I was about 12 or 13 I realized how hard it was going to be and how much work it was going to take. I worked really, really hard in the gym after that."

It's safe to say it paid off.