Before 2020 fell victim to a global pandemic, it was going to be another Summer Olympics season. Just because we need to pay attention to viruses that threaten human lives, that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the achievements of athletes who have proven their talent and skills regardless of obstacles in their way. Betty Okino took her skills to the mats and the bars in the area of artistic gymnastics in the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain, and she has never stopped working to inspire others.
Elizabeth Ann Okino, professionally known as Betty Okino, was born in Entebbe, Uganda, on June 4, 1975. Her father, Francis Okino, was studying veterinary medicine in Bucharest, Romania when he met her mother, Aurelia Matei. After Okino’s birth, they moved to Romania for a couple of years. The family moved to Illinois in 1984, where Okino took up dancing classes, which led to an interest in gymnastics training at the age of nine. By 1988, she was competing at the Junior U.S. Nationals Championships. That Okino knew both English and Romanian gave her a boost when she decided to go into gymnastics.
In the Barcelona Olympics, Okino was part of the bronze-earning United States team, a spot she held from 1990 through 1993. One does not merely win a spot and head to the international games but has to earn a spot on the team and train with it repeatedly. When the “Károlyi Six-Pack,” nicknamed because of world-famous trainers Marta and Béla Károlyi in 1998, won the team a bronze, it was the first time that an American team had ever medaled in the Olympics during a non-boycotted year. Stories have circulated that Okino’s knowledge of Romanian helped her training with the Károlyis, allowing her and her coaches to communicate directly and for her to report on what the Romanian athletes were saying during competitions.
Okino was more than just a member of that winning team; she was also the first black woman (or girl) to win multiple gymnastic medals at the world championships in the history of the sport. Her first medals were a third place at the Junior American Classics in 1989. 1990 was a big year for Okino, as she earned a gold on balance beam and second place overall in the 1990 U.S. National Championships; she placed second all-around in the DBT Pokal World Cup and at the Arthur Gander Memorial games; finally, during that year, she finished fourth in all-around and uneven bars in the Seattle Goodwill Games, which helped the team win a silver. In 1991, she won the all-around, the vault, and uneven bars in the 1991 American Cup and got a bronze at the World Championships in Indianapolis, helping her team to win another silver medal. In 1992 at the World Championships in Paris, she earned a bronze on balance beam and helped the team to another silver medal before they all went to Barcelona.
Athletes can suffer from numerous injuries during their careers, and this was true for Okino. 1990’s competitions took a toll on her body, so she had to cut back in 1991 and 1992 so she could be capable of going to the Olympics. These injuries are the biggest obstacles she has faced as a gymnast. Her decision to leave gymnastics was also based on Béla Károlyi’s pointing out that she was an excellent dancer, even though he was one of the people urging her to keep going when she was injured. It wasn’t until 2008 that Okino would watch the Olympics again as she worked through the struggles of those injuries, including a broken back, and the loss of her first career. Yet, while other former gymnasts have spoken out against abuse, describing Marta as the “good cop” of the coaching couple, Okino maintains it was her choice and worth the pain to succeed to the level she did. However, the Béla Károlyi method is nearly the opposite of what Okino uses herself.
Olympic medals generally do not turn into post-event gold. Okino did the normal commercials that many such athletes do and even worked at Sea World for a time. Okino still does a few acting jobs from time to time, but primarily she’s used her life experience to become a teacher and motivational speaker. Okino currently promotes herself on her own website with the following words: Mindful, Playful, Elegant, and Empowering. She also runs Betty O Choreo, which teaches choreography for gymnastics artists, and Peak Training Camps for gymnasts and their parents, which focuses on positive mindsets versus purely competitive motivation that might not be the best for their bodies and their future. Okino also works for the USAG (USA Gymnastics) National Staff to help future and current Olympians.