At just 5 years old, Nova Davidson already has a long-term goal for herself: to be an Olympian.
The Level 4 gymnast from Virginia took up the sport at a young age. When Nova was 2, she did her first mommy and me class with her mother Tiffany Davidson. She was just 3 when she did her first solo class.
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Fast forward to July 2024 when Nova went viral on Instagram after her mother posted a video of her practicing gymnastics moves on a beam in the living room. The video has since been viewed almost 44 million times, and it has more than 37,000 comments.
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While mom Tiffany was previously a competitive cheerleader and dad Tj is a track athlete, they're not sure where the tiny gymnast gets her skills from.
"I'm a track athlete, but I'm not flexible at all, so I don't know where she gets that from," Tj said jokingly.
"There's Level 1-10," Tiffany explained. "[Nova] is a Level 4, but she's actually not even old enough to compete Level 4. So she does two levels at a time because you have to be 7 to compete Level 4."
Nova trains 12 hours a week at her gym and sporadically when she is at home.
"I would say it's every day. Every day she's sitting here, doing some tumbling in front of the TV or on her little balance beam," Tj said. "I think the benefit of having a lot of the stuff here is she gets to play and she gets to continue to practice, but also gets to watch her favorite show."
Nova will train Level 4 this year and compete at Level 3.
In January, Nova competed in her first gymnastics meet where she won first in beam, bars and floor, and finished third place on the vault.
Of the four main gymnastics events (balance beam, floor exercises, vault, uneven bars) floor is Nova's favorite. She likes doing a roundoff back handspring back tuck.
Nova, dressed in a Team USA leotard and replica gold medals, said she was filled with "happiness" when the U.S. women's gymnastics team won gold during the all-around finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
American gymnasts and Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles are two of the golden girls that Nova looks up to.
"I think [the 2036 Olympics] could definitely be a possibility for her," Tiffany said. "If that's her goal and her dream, I think she's very talented enough to do it. We'll see. She can make it happen."
You can watch the women's all-around final on NBC and Peacock, and streaming live here, on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. ET / 9:15 a.m. PT.
