The online magazine Defector is running an extensive excerpt from Nina Mandell’s A Fraction of a Point: A Gymnastics Dynasty on the Line. One Gymnast tells her story.

“Even in 2008, when she [Andrea] graduated and the streak was only at five consecutive state titles, she remembered the pressure to win being intense. At the time, busloads of her peers came down to watch the state meet too. ‘You have not only your parents, you have your coaches, you have your team, and then they also take all these students down on this bus that goes all the way down to Columbus,’ she said. ‘And you have your friends and you have the people you’re dating and all those people and you just want to do well. And you’re young, you’re in high school and you’re just thinking, oh my God, everyone’s eyes are on this team right now. It’s easy to crumble, it’s easy to hiccup a little bit…'”

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About the book.