Interview | Eythora Thorsdottir

With a little over two months to go until the Rio Olympics, seventeen year old Eythora Thorsdottir is one of the fan favorites and considered by many to be a lock for the Dutch Olympic team. Thorsdottir brings a unique performance quality to the sport that is refreshing to watch. Her gymnastics is not only clean and precise, but she has a natural elegance and charisma that the crowd just dies for. After dealing with a serious back injury, Thorsdottir emerged onto the scene winning gold on floor at the Ljubljana World Cup. She was also a member of the team that helped the Netherlands qualify a full team to the Olympics for the first time in 40 years. So far this year, Eythora has been off to a solid start- winning bronze on beam at the International Gymnix and winning every event except for beam at the IAG Sport Event. At that competition she debuted several upgrades which means she'll be a great asset to the Netherlands team in Rio! Check out our interview with Eythora below. 

How did you get started in gymnastics? 
My school teacher saw that I had some talent for gymnastics in the school gym classes, so she recommended that my parents put me in gymnastics.

Did you have a role model when you were younger? 
I guess Nastia Liukin. I really loved her lines and her style!

When did you realize you had the potential to become a world class athlete? 
Well that's a difficult question. [Laughs] Umm...I think that was after the YEC in Brussels or after the EYOF in Utrecht. Those were my first international competitions as a junior. But I knew that if I wanted to get on the top I would have to keep working very hard for it.

How would you sum up the experience of your first World Championships? 
Overall it was a good experience. I went out there with no expectations because it was my first Worlds and I didn't really know how good I was compared to the other gymnasts. So I just wanted to do the best I could and see where I would end up. I was really happy that I made it into beam finals. I was hoping for the all-around final too, but I became first reserve. Of course my beam finals didn't go as planned but I learned a lot from it and was happy to know that I belonged to the top eight beam workers in the world!

Can you describe the moment you found out Netherlands had qualified a full team to the Olympics? 
Wow, well that was the best feeling ever. Throughout the whole competition I didn't even notice that we could make it into the top eight. After our last gymnast landed her vault we all stared at the scoreboard and realized we were in the top eight. We all started jumping, crying, and hugging each other. That night we all felt as if it was a dream come true. The next morning we had a little celebration!

Can you talk about your new floor routine and what character you are trying to portray? 
This new routine is choreographed by my coach Patrick Kiens. [The character] is kind of about a creature, lets say a vampire or zombie, that has risen from her grave. This is because she has died way too young and in a disturbing way. She is restless and starts bugging people, in the way of scaring them, etc. At the end she finds satisfaction and goes back to her grave. It's a totally different story, but it's fun to do something new. I like it a lot!




How much time do you spend working on the artistic component of the sport? 
Very much time! I work on it everyday with actually everything I do. With every routine I try to get it as clean as possible. Some days I work on my beam or floor choreography specifically.

The Olympics are right around the corner, does that make you nervous or excited? 
Both I guess. Of course you get more nervous than usual but it also gives you more motivation and energy.

Do you plan on adding anymore upgrades between now and then? 
I don't know yet, we'll see. I'm already very happy with the upgrades that I showed earlier this year.


Eythora competing her yurchenko double for the first time

What are your goals for the rest of this year? 
Honestly, I haven't thought of that one. I'm just really focused on [making it to] the Olympics for now.

There has been some talk of you potentially doing college gymnastics someday, is that true? If so, what schools might you be considering? 
Yes that is true. Both UCLA and Stanford have reached out to me. Honestly, I really don't know yet. Right now I'm only focusing on getting onto the Dutch Olympic Team. After that I'll start thinking about it.

Where would you like to see yourself 10 years from now? 
I hope somewhere in the musical business.

What has been your proudest accomplishment in gymnastics so far? 
I think being apart of the team that qualified for the Olympics.

Thank you Eythora! We wish you all the best in the coming months!