Hundley started her four days of competition helping Team USA to a gold medal in the women’s all-around Sunday and Monday, finishing fourth individually with a high mark of a 15.0 in the vault. The U.S. beat Canada 173.8-166.5, and Hundley was the second highest finisher for the squad.
“It was such a cool experience,” Hundley said. “… We had been training so hard (at The Ranch training center in Houston), and we were doing our numbers, so I knew we were all prepared and if we all did our job, we had a chance.
“It was a tough competition, so when we pulled it off, it was so exciting and such a great feeling to get on the podium and hear the National Anthem play for us.”
Hundley followed that performance with a bronze in the uneven bars Tuesday, placing 0.075 points behind teammate and gold medalist Rachel Gowey, and a silver in the floor exercise Wednesday, finishing 0.2 points behind Canada’s Ellie Black.
“In the uneven bars, I knew I made a mistake in the all-around the day before so I was really nervous but it was a fluke in all-around finals, so I knew I had the numbers behind me,” Hundley said. “I just calmed down and took my time. I wanted to do the best I could for myself but I wasn’t expecting the medal. (It was the) same thing in the floor. When it came down to it in the end, it was so cool because I’ve never been on the podium 1-2-3 like that.”
The floor exercise comes most naturally to Hundley — no surprise given she got her start tumbling in her mother Sharon’s dance studio as a 1- or 2-year-old. She started training in a gym at age 4 and has loved it ever since, she said.
Still, that didn’t make her floor routine any easier after three hard days of competition before that.
“I was a little tired because it was four days straight of competition, but I took care of my body and did lots of therapy on my legs,” Hundley said. “Floor comes more naturally to me, so I just had to get pumped up, and it went really well.”
The overall experience of being in the Village and seeing athletes from all over the world there to compete in various sports was one Hundley won’t soon forget. This is her fifth year competing for a national team, though she just made the senior team for the first time last year.
Next up is the P&G National Championships Aug. 13-16 in Indianapolis, and from there, Hundley hopes to make the World Championships squad in October.
“It’s definitely a tough sport and it’s hard, but I’ve been training for so long,” Hundley said. “When you go through your training and it all pays off, you know you did your job and it’s really rewarding.”
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