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Athletically, Perea will contend with new ingredients at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships Aug. 9 and 11 in Kansas City, Mo. This is Perea’s first U.S. national meet on the Senior level (16 years and older) after her 2018 debut was postponed following surgery on her left knee. She’s also experienced a recent growth spurt to 5-feet-5. Perea is among 17 Senior National Team members listed by USA Gymnastics, including multiple-gold medalist Simone Biles and alternate Ragan Smith from the 2016 Olympics. “It’s definitely a good goal, to make national team as a senior, but I don’t know. There’s a lot of really good gymnasts,” Perea said. “[I’m excited] just competing again with my friends and getting back out there again.” Perea competed at her first Junior Nationals in 2015. She was added to the Junior National Team in 2016 and made her international debut in Canada. Perea has trained for nine years at Legacy, one year after its opening in Carol Stream. Legacy’s married head coaches and owners Jiani Wu and Yuejiu Li were 1984 Olympic medalists for China. “They’ve taught me everything. I owe it all to them,” Perea said. “It’s crazy. It’s fun [representing the U.S.]. It’s just a lot of pressure but you kind of channel it and compete for Team USA. You get this weird feeling, like do it for your team.” (Photo provided)
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A rising senior, Perea takes most school classes online but attended Batavia High School this past year for a Physics class. She verbally committed to compete for Cal-Berkeley in eighth grade. “I like the challenge [of gymnastics], how you constantly have to be a better version of yourself. There’s always something you could work on,” Perea said. “[On uneven bars] I feel like I can fly. I’ve loved bars since I was little.” “She’s very good on bars,” Wu agreed. “She’s always determined to do the sport, no matter how much injury she has and how much she’s hit bumpy roads. She never gives up.” A big reward arrived in late February during National Team training camp in Sarasota, Fla. Perea learned she would be part of the U.S. Senior lineup while in Italy at the City of Jesolo Trophy Feb. 28-March 3. “I was in shock, to be honest. I had just gotten back in shape and I wasn’t really preparing for anything,” Perea said. At the 2017 Jesolo Trophy as a Junior, Perea won all-around (57.225) and vault (14.325) and shared first on the uneven parallel bars (14.65) for the first-place U.S team. This time, Perea was 13th in all-around (52.167). She was thankful to compete pain-free and that the team prevailed by 1.597 points over China. “I could have done better, but it was my first meet back after a while,” Perea said. “I was definitely nervous, but it was definitely exciting to compete again.” As the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo approach, Perea and Wu plan to use nationals to evaluate her progress since surgery. “I really don’t want to rush it. I know the end goal is obviously the Olympics, but I want to take it one meet at a time, just focus on that,” Perea said. (Photo provided)