Before they got into gymnastics, they were strangers. Through gymnastics, they became best friends.

Talking to Illinois women’s gymnast Lizzy LeDuc and UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, they appear to be lifelong friends.

“We met at level nine westerns so many years ago,” Ohashi said “We didn’t really know each other back then.”

LeDuc was raised in Texas and started gymnastics at a later age. She quickly worked her way up to be a high prospect gymnast.

Ohashi moved to Missouri when she was nine-years-old. In 2009 she made the National team. She then moved to Dallas to be a part of the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy. This is where the two athletes met.

“We knew each other from competitions before hand, but we were basically strangers,” LeDuc said. “We both moved to Dallas at exactly the same time. I started (the academy) one day and she started the next day. We were put on the same team and all of a sudden we became best friends, right at the start.”

People usually expect a friendly competition with a duo like this, but it’s far from that. LeDuc said that Ohashi is the person she looks up to as her role model in gymnastics.

“I’ve never tried to compete against her. I’ve always tried to be as good as she is,” LeDuc said. “Even though we are the same age, she’s always been one of the few people that I’ve always looked up to.”

As most best friends do, they name each other as the people that inspire them the most.

Ohashi sees LeDuc as someone she aspires to be — on and off the gym floor.

“I always thought she was someone that relates to everyone,” Ohashi said. “Everyone loves her. She’s so witty and funny. She’s extremely talented and killing it in college gymnastics. Really great to watch. She’s pretty perfect”

The two gymnasts have helped each other through a lot in the 10 years that they’ve known each other.

During her freshman year, Ohashi sustained a sternal fracture after an accident during her balance beam performance.

She was out the rest of the season, but picked up where she left off with the help of her family and friends.

“She is probably the biggest fighter I know,” LeDuc said. “No matter what obstacles she has to go through, she goes through them, always stays positive and ends up just as perfect as she was before the obstacle even hit her.”

They’ve encouraged each other along the way to become the gymnasts they are now.

The two were inseparable up until college. Now, they only see each other during breaks, but they pick up as if neither of them ever left.

LeDuc said that people have asked if they were sisters multiple times.

Ohashi said their personalities work really well together.

“When I need that one person to talk to, it’s always her, and she never fails at making me laugh,” Ohashi said. “When we go back to Texas, we have annual photoshoots that we always do. We’re still the same people we’ve always been since 2009.”

From photoshoots to exploring random places, these two are never bored.

“If you put us two together, it would be almost too much for people to handle because we’re scary similar,”LeDuc said. “That’s why people don’t like putting us two together.”

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