Katelyn Ohashi's Michael Jackson Routine Went Viral, but Her Other Floor Routines Deserve a Perfect 10, Too

This was Katelyn's first elite nationals. She's 12 years old here and finished 10th overall. Look at that sparkly leotard!

Note: scoring works differently at the elite level than it does in college, so know that your eyes aren't deceiving you when you see numbers higher than a perfect 10 attached to these older routines. What can I say? Chasing perfection is hard . . . "it's not called gym-nice-tics."

You may recognise the voice of Nastia Liukin here commentating on Katelyn's floor routine. When Katelyn was 12, she joined the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Texas, a gym run by Nastia's father, Valeri. Note: another difference between elite-level and college routines is that you do four tumbling passes on floor at the elite level, as opposed to three at the collegiate level.

At age 16, Katelyn won the 2013 American Cup, beating Simone Biles with an all-around score of 59.199 to 57.666.

Katelyn joined the UCLA gymnastics team as a freshman for the 2015-2016 season. "It's so weird being in college, because it's like, you get to cheer for literally everyone, and you're supposed to," Katelyn told Lenny Letter. "But I would get yelled at simply for cheering for Simone [Biles]. It was difficult because I think I finally had freedom, legit, actual freedom, for the first time."

Let's take a look at Katelyn's first viral floor routine, which features a spot-on moonwalk and powerful double layout as an opening pass. (Plus, check out those drop splits!)

Back in 2018, UCLA won its seventh national championship and Katelyn became the Pac-12 national cochampion on floor with a score of 9.9625. She was UCLA's first floor champion since 2010. Fun fact: Olympian Samantha Peszek (the one interviewing Katelyn, Kayla Ross, and Christine Peng-Peng Lee) was also on the UCLA team. She was crowned NCAA beam champion twice (2011 and 2015), as well as all-around cochampion in 2015.

Katelyn told the New York Times that this year's routine, which has also gone viral more than once, was inspired by YouTube videos of Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation." Here, during a meet against California, UC Davis, and Michigan State on Jan. 12 this year, Katelyn showed off her moves to a mash-up of throwback songs. She scored a perfect 10 (duh!).

Valorie Kondos Field, or "Miss Val," spoke on Good Morning America back in January about feeling "absolutely blessed" to be Katelyn's coach. "It's been such a thrill to be a part of her journey," she said. "And, to see her come in as a freshman and not really have a direction, and now, to see the woman that she's grown into . . . is such a gift to all of us." Plus, hear Katelyn talk about body shaming she endured and learning to trust the sport again.

For the second time this year, Katelyn scored a perfect 10 on floor. What makes it even better is that she got to perform in her hometown of Seattle. That smile is infectious!

After Katelyn stepped down from the elite level, she was able to rediscover her passion for gymnastics despite the body shaming and physical strain that many gymnasts are familiar with (which Katelyn delves into more on her blog). Now, she describes performing her routines for the UCLA Bruins as "home."