In the quiet moments at airport departures, final hugs hold an unknown weight. For Konnor McClain, seeing you to her father Marc and younger brother in 2021 in Texas would become a memory etched in time – the last embrace she’d ever share with her dad. Who could have known? Certainly not the teenage gymnastics prodigy who stood at the precipice of her dreams, LSU commitment secured. As she walked into the 2021 World Championships selection camp with steely determination, the future seemed mapped in chalk dust and potential. Then came the call after Thanksgiving!

Marc wasn’t feeling well, which was nothing unusual for a man who, as Lorinda (Konnor’s mother) affectionately noted, “gets a paper cut and cries.” But when communication suddenly halted, replaced later by a desperate hospital update, McClain’s carefully constructed world began to fracture. Her dad passed away on December 27, 2021. Now, in 2025, Konnor reflects on that darkest period, and what she shared has left the gymnastics world in tears.

Honestly, nothing prepares you for seeing your father through hospital glass, machines humming where laughter used to live. Konnor McClain remembers those last weeks with searing clarity. “About four times a week maybe we got to FaceTime him and talk to him,” she says. “He had a ventilator and so he wasn’t able to speak, but we knew he was listening because sometimes, like, a tear would drop from his face.” She said to the ESPN clip shared today on YouTube.

It was Christmas Day when everything changed. Her mother, Lorinda, called with urgency: “All of you guys need to get a flight right now.” They flew in on December 27. “We all got to see him. We didn’t get to touch him or anything, but we all got to look at him,” Konnor says. “I remember like standing in the window — and that’s when he took his last breath. And then you just like hear the machine flatline.”

For Lorinda McClain, raising four children- Cole, Olivia, Deuce, and Konnor- while grieving a husband was a weight no one trains for. “If anyone’s spouse has died and they have children to raise, it is absolutely the hardest thing,” she says. “You’re trying to grieve yourself, but you’re trying to raise your babies, and you know watching the pain that they go through is almost unbearable.” Konnor didn’t just feel the pain, she turned it inward. “After he passed, that’s when I started blaming gymnastics… for why I wasn’t with my family… why I didn’t get as much time with my dad as my siblings did,” she reflects. “But he was the one who wanted me in the gym.”

Two months later, Konnor returned to competition. “Something clicked. I kind of used my anger and all the pain that I suffered through, and I persevered. I made the best out of it.” And she didn’t just return, but she rose, and at the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, McClain delivered an all-around total of 112.750, beating Shilese Jones (112.000) and Jordan Chiles (111.900) to win the Senior All Around National title.

Flanked by Jones and Chiles, the three made history as the first all-Black podium in the event’s history. “It felt like he was right there beside me,” Konnor said. “He almost like helped me, because he knew I could do it. He held me up there.

Konnor McClain’s journey isn’t just a personal story, it has reached deep into the heart of the gymnastics community!

Konnor McClain’s words have left fans in tears

Honestly, if you’ve followed Konnor McClain’s journey even a little, you’d know it hasn’t been easy. Sure, she’s incredibly talented, one of the brightest names in American gymnastics. But behind the medals and routines, there’s been a story of deep personal pain that not everyone knew. When Konnor opened up about the grief she’s been carrying, the loss of her father in 2021, it hit home for a lot of people.

One of her fans summed it up perfectly: “Thank you so much for posting this. My heart goes out to Konnor. And hearing that LSU helped her rediscover her joy for gymnastics is turning me into an LSU fan.” Frankly, that’s the kind of support you don’t see every day. Fans weren’t just reacting to her gymnastics, but they were responding to her humanity.

They saw a young woman who’s been through so much, and somehow, she’s still standing. Still flipping. Still smiling.  Another fan wrote: “She’s such an amazing individual. That’s so much to handle alone, even more while continuing to climb in your sport. I’m hoping that being with Aleah has helped her through her grief since they can relate over that. The Konnor from ‘Golden’ and the Konnor at LSU are so different, and it seems like she’s blossomed.”

And truly, that’s what’s been so beautiful about watching her this season. The spark in her eyes looks different now. There’s peace behind her performances. You can tell she’s found something more than just clean landings, she’s found healing. Fans felt that, too.

“Crying here… just heartbreaking for her and her family! I hope she will continue to enjoy gymnastics!” said one. “Konnor deserves the world. I truly hope her body doesn’t keep holding her back and she’s able to fly!” wrote another. And maybe the simplest, yet most powerful one: “Love and light to Konnor as she continues to thrive, in spite of it all.”