Costa takes part in US gymnastics championships after bus accident

Tate Costa has mastered countless departures.

Some were better than others in a sport where excellence is required and success is constantly measured. Routines are regularly refined, repeated and changed – all in the grueling pursuit of standing higher than the others on the winner’s podium.

But this landing was different for the Narragansett High School and University of Illinois gymnast. Costa was back in the Illinois gym four months after his potentially serious bus accident his freshman year.

Costa was on his way to training last winter when he lost control of his bike and slipped on an icy patch. His left foot and part of his shin were run over and he suffered, incredibly, only severe bone bruising and a sprained ankle.

“At the end of the season, I came back on the high bar where I finally managed to do that dismount,” Costa said. “I wasn’t ready to put that much strain on my foot at all, and in the end I was able to come back and do some dismounts.”

Wearing sturdy boots that, along with a bit of luck, might have saved him, he returned to the gym after missing just four competitions in his first season.

“I freaked out at the time,” Costa said. “I couldn’t move my foot for several days.”

“It was a great feeling to just be able to contribute to my team in some way this year. It’s kind of annoying when you get halfway through your freshman year and then you can’t finish it at the end. I was happy to come back and help my team as much as I could.”

Before the end of his freshman year at Illinois, Costa set his sights high. Not only would he fully recover from what he called a freak accident, but he also had his sights set on the NCAA high bar title his sophomore year.

And that’s exactly what he did.

Costa won the national title with a throw of 13,900 meters in April. And the star finished seventh in the all-around and was named All-American. Costa’s next challenge is this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas, where he will compete in a field of 34 competitors at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

“We have a championship handbook where you write down your goals for the end of the season, and I have it from last year,” Costa said. “I wrote in my handbook, ‘2024 NCAA high bar champions.’ It’s pretty cool to see it become a reality.”

The U.S. Championships come ahead of the Summer Olympics, and Costa’s performance will determine his placement in the Olympic team qualifying competitions later this month.

“I’m trying to make the U.S. Development Team, which is based on hitting a certain level of difficulty,” Costa said. “I’ve just been incorporating a lot of new skills into all of my routines in hopes of hitting that level of difficulty at the championships. And if I make the U.S. Development Team, I’m automatically qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials.”

Costa still had competitions to go after completing the high bar event during the NCAA Championships. He knew he was good on the high bar, but relied on his training at Aim High Academy, a gym in East Greenwich, so he could ignore the result and focus on the next competition.

“I still had to do floor and pommel horse and then when I finished pommel horse I looked up and then it dawned on me,” Costa said of the moment he won the title. “I had no idea during the entire competition. I was just focused on the all-around.”

For Danilo Gattei, his former Aim High coach, it was no surprise that Costa’s championship plan bore fruit.

“One of his most important traits to this day is how hard he works to achieve his goals,” said Gattei, who worked with Costa when he was younger. “That’s something even college coaches still talk about him when they get the chance. He’s the kind of kid you have to ask to slow down or take a break because he never stops.”

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