Fresh off the biggest win of her short gymnastics career, 16-year-old Morgan Hurd and her coach, SIava Glazunov, landed at Philadelphia International Airport, headed to baggage claim and prepared for the hour-long drive home to Middletown, Delaware. It was a dull drill they'd performed hundreds of times before.
She is that gymnast who competes wearing glasses. She is so petite (娇小) that she looks tiny standing next to other gymnasts.
"No one is born perfect," Hurd says. "You will have imperfections. I hope more people see me and try to do sports or gymnastics with glasses. Nothing should stop you from doing something you are passionate about."
Hurd was 11 months old when her mom, Sherri, adopted her from Wenzhou, China, and brought her to Middletown. When Morgan was 3, Sherri began signing her up for various sports—gymnastics, soccer, T-ball, dance. Because of her size, most sports were tough. But at gymnastics class, being tiny and flexible was a gift. By the fifth grade, her talent had outgrown her classes, so Sherri brought her to First State.
"She stood out from the start," Glazounov says. "She exhibited that desire. She loves to impress and she wanted it always. No one ever had to tell her to work hard."
A single mom, Sherri worked as a dental hygienist for 30 years until retiring and taking a job for Discover Bank that allowed her to work from home, support her daughter's home-schooling and help her daughter's gymnastics career.
"Who would have known when I went to get that little girl in China what was going to happen," Sherri says. "This is our life now, but that is what I want for her, a life that is as fulfilling and happy as possible."
