Poway-trained athlete to compete in Olympics

Nicole Ahsinger admits that every athlete dreams of one day performing in the Olympic Games.

She did as far back as a 3-year-old jumping on the trampoline at preschool.

“I used to joke with my mom that I’d be in the Olympics one day,’’ said Ahsinger, who is now 18 and training in Lafayette, La.

Little did she know what the future would hold.

Ahsinger, who trained at SoCal TTC in Poway, is just days removed from actually flying to Rio de Janeiro as the only woman competing in trampoline for the United States.

She leaves July 29 for a brief training camp in Houston before heading off to South America on Aug. 4 to begin competing Aug. 12.

“My event starts at 10 a.m. California time,’’ Ahsinger said, laughing. “I’ve been competing for my country since I was 11, so this is nothing new.

“But it’s a huge honor to represent my country in the Olympics.’’

The first time I represented my country was seven years ago in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was amazing, but I think this will be awesome.’’

Ahsinger was like most little girls, trying soccer, softball, piano and music theater until mom (Michelle Taylor) made her choose one.

“I wasn’t very good at other sports,’’ Ahsinger said. “I was never as dedicated as I was on trampoline, so it was an easy choice.

“The feeling of being in the air is something not many other people have felt before. I’ve been 20-30 feet in the air almost my whole life.’’

At 5-foot-3, Ahsinger is among the shortest international competitors as well as one of the youngest in a sport where most of the competitors she’ll face in Brazil are, for the most part, 26-28 years old.

It’s always been that way for her.

And yet she has persevered through it all to go to the Olympics with Logan Dooley of Orange County, the lone male competitor for the United State.

Ahsinger will have two routines covering 20-30 seconds each at the Games.

The first one will be limited to single skills while the second one will include a collection of rapid-fire double and triple skills off the trampoline.

Should she reach the finals, she would try to repeat the double and triple skills outing.

“My mentality is to do the best routines I can and make the finals,’’ said Ahsinger, who graduated from San Diego Charter School in Mira Mesa. “I just want to see where this takes me.

“If I hit my routines and I don’t win, I’ll have no regrets.’’

Ahsinger still has her eyes on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and the 2024 Olympics, perhaps in Los Angeles, as her best shots at winning a medal.

“If LA does the Games in 2024, that’s so close to home I’d have to take another shot,’’ she said. “I was actually thinking I’d never make it this year. This whole thing just happened.

“I was so shocked when they announced I made the team. Mom was even more shocked than me.

“Mom started crying and then I started crying.’’

Once her time in Rio de Janeiro concludes, Ahsinger will head home to San Diego for two weeks before heading back out on the road with the Kellogg’s Tour with other Olympians for the next two months or so.

Just another reason for her to keep training and working hard.

That’s the way she’s liked it since her preschool days where it all began.