January 13, 2019

We Can’t Get Over This Gymnast’s Magical Floor Routine

The UCLA senior and one-time Olympic hopeful dazzled judges with a Michael Jackson-inspired exercise.

Ben Liebenberg/AP

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Katelyn Ohashi is no stranger to the perfect 10. Last year, Ohashi finished as the nation’s top college gymnast and shared the NCAA women’s national championship in the floor routine.

At the Collegiate Challenge on Saturday, the UCLA senior and one-time Olympic hopeful dazzled judges with a Michael Jackson-inspired routine for the ages, earning her a perfect score and causing the internet to erupt in joy.

Long before her routine went viral, Ohashi spoke about why she retired from elite gymnastics (h/t The Players’ Tribune).

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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